Topic: Best $100 or less Earbuds?

[airbladder]

I like ear buds more than iems for casual listening.  I use sennheiser cx300II and love them.  They sound good, are way under the 100$ Mark, and don't block everything out.  They have good isolation but I still have some awairness of my surroundings.  For me this is safer to use with a portable player and causes less problems with the wife.  At a certain price point I don't want to just throw headphones in my pocket because I am afraid to break them.  But with these i dont get stressed out every thime they get ripped out of my ear when I am doing yard work.

[audBall]

So, I've had a pair of Etymotic ER-6's since 2005 that originally cost me $80. I just noticed the other day that one of the channels stopped working. I've read stories of people running their sets through the wash and they ended up still working fine. My guess is there's a cable issue or something going on inside the housing. They have always been stored in their soft case and never really experienced any 'trauma' that I'm aware of.

Anyone ever fix theirs? I may have to start looking into the some of the recommendations in this thread.

[Brian Skalinder]

I've had a  channel on my ER-6s stop working for two different reasons:  <1> bad cable, and <2> clogged filter.  Not much to do about the first problem, except repair or replace (and I'm all thumbs, so can't help with DIY).  For the filter, it's a breeze to remove / replace.  Your ER-6s should have come with a filter removal tool, and possibly extra filters.  Both are available for not a lot of money from Ety:  http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6-acc.html

If you have the filter removal tool, but not replacement filters, remove the filter and see if it helps.  If yes, that was your problem, and simply replace the filter.  If not, the problem lies elsewhere.

[audBall]

Thanks for the response, Brian. I forgot about the accessories that originally came with these. Unfortunately, swapping in a new filter didn't fix the issue.

Oh well, a 9 year run wasn't so bad.

[raymonda]

Hi folks.

Currently I use some very cheap Sony earbuds with a rockboxed Sansa Clip Zip player. The Sony's are nowhere near flat, and it takes about a 12dB treble boost on my player to compensate.

What would you recommend for $100 or less? I'm not looking for something that overemphasizes the bass. How flat can I get for this modest amount of money?

Brands? Models?

I have Grado RS1-I's at home with a great DAC for "serious" listening. These buds will be for all other non-critical situations.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Chris

Late to the dance here but if you like grado you'll like thinksound ms01. Think grado with actual bass you can feel and hear.

[phanophish]

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=8320

I'll chime in here for the Monoprice 8320s.  Super cheap and sound surprisingly good for the $$

[cybergaloot]

Another se215 vote here.  Sound is very good, cable is robust but also replaceable if the need arises and they're comfortable.  There are definintely better sounding IEMs out there, but I don't think there's a better value in the $100 range.  Note also that Head-fi.org and headphone.com also rate these very highly in the $100 range.

   I have created a monster.... LOL

Agreed 100% on the se215.

And yet another vote for SE215. I use them to mix on the fly at the club and they give me the isolation I need in a loud environment and the sound quality seems pretty good to me. Great bang for the buck!