Kendall Roy's Earbuds in Succession

Season 4, Episode 2. Kendall Roy is wearing Master & Dynamic MW08 true-wireless earbuds in the back of a Maybach. Because of course he is.

The Scene

In Succession, every prop is a character decision. Logan Roy's reading glasses. Shiv's coat. Roman's phone case. The costume and prop departments at HBO chose every visible item to communicate something about the person wearing it. So when Kendall Roy appears in Season 4, Episode 2 wearing Master & Dynamic MW08 true-wireless earbuds, it's not an accident — it's a statement about who Kendall is and who he wants to be.

The MW08s are not AirPods. That's the point. Kendall Roy would never wear AirPods. AirPods are what normal people wear, what his employees wear, what the people in the lobby of Waystar Royco wear. The MW08s are $300 earbuds from a New York-based luxury audio brand that most people have never heard of. They're the earbuds you buy when you want people who know to know that you know.

The likely variant is the Mercedes-Benz edition, given that Logan Roy travels in a Maybach in the same episode. Master & Dynamic and Mercedes-AMG have a collaborative partnership, and the MB edition features a matching gunmetal case — the kind of detail that Succession's prop team would absolutely coordinate.

The Gear

The Master & Dynamic MW08 is a premium true-wireless earbud built from stainless steel, ceramic, and sapphire glass. The 11mm beryllium drivers deliver a warm, detailed sound signature that skews audiophile rather than bass-heavy. Active noise cancellation and transparency mode are both available, with a total battery life of 42 hours including the charging case.

Master & Dynamic, founded in 2014 in New York, positions itself as the Bottega Veneta of headphones — premium materials, restrained design, no logos screaming for attention. Their products have appeared in Emily in Paris, various fashion editorials, and now Succession, cementing the brand as the default choice for fictional characters with unlimited budgets and specific taste.

The Mercedes-Benz edition adds a co-branded charging case with a gunmetal finish and Mercedes-AMG insignia. It's the same hardware inside — the upgrade is purely aesthetic, which is exactly the kind of distinction that a character like Kendall Roy would care about deeply.

"What earbuds was Kendall Roy wearing in Succession season 4, episode 2?"— Digital Trends headline (April 2023)

Why It Matters

Succession ran for four seasons and won 19 Emmy Awards. Its cultural influence extended far beyond television — the show's costume and prop choices created real-world demand for the brands it featured. The "quiet luxury" fashion trend that dominated 2023 was largely driven by Succession's wardrobe, and the same principle applied to its tech props.

Master & Dynamic reported a spike in MW08 sales and web traffic following the episode's airing. The brand was already well-regarded in the premium audio space, but the Succession placement introduced it to an audience that previously defaulted to AirPods Pro or Sony WF-1000XM5. For a brand built on understated luxury, the association with Kendall Roy was perfectly on-brand.

The earbuds also represent a broader trend in Succession: the show's characters don't use mainstream consumer products. They use the premium version, the limited edition, the one you have to know about to find. It's wealth as a form of secret knowledge, and the MW08s are a perfect expression of that ethos.

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