Best Earphones $121-$200

Best Less Than $60 | Best $61-$120 | Best $121-$200 | Best $201-$349 | Best $350 +

How we do it

Updated on May 11th 2011

12 people (4 females and 8 males) among employees, friends and family members, voted, on each price range, for the earphones that sounded and fitted their best. We limited the songs to 7: Cello Concerto in A Minor, Take Five (Dave Brubeck), It's a Beautiful Day (U2), Viva La Vida (Coldplay), Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash), One More Drink (Ludacris) and Iron Man (Black Sabbath). Each person could skip between any of those 7 songs with each earphone model on a given price range group of models. They had to listen to at least one time each song with each model before voting for their favorite model on each price range.

This price range is the "most congested", meaning we liked many models in this range for different reasons and it was difficult to narrow it down to less models. In this price range, the new Shure SE315 earphones are our favorite because of its removable cable design, comfort, fit and overall sound quality. The Swiss designed Audeo PFE112 comes in second place in this price range. It's made by Phonak and has a more refined mid and high frequency delivering great detail but not so much bass. Our third place went to the Turbine. They are great for bass lovers. Etymotic HF5 took the forth place for sound but when fit and comfort are put in the mix, the d-JAYS were the clear choice between these two.