Best Earphones $350-Plus

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

How we do it | Updated on June 17th, 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.

The new Shure SE535 sounds sweet - mids are unbeatable and we really like the new design making them fit quite better than the old SE530. For an overall warmer playback experience and more robust bass using your iPod or iPhone, the UM3X is the best performer. These come in two versions: with fixed cables or with removable cables. They are also a great choice for professional musicians for stage monitoring.

Over $350, both Westone and Shure units outperform the Sennheiser IE8 on sound quality, comfort and fit.