Best In Ear (earbuds) under $100?

trav0810

The wife has been listening to her iPod a lot at work lately and has been using the buds that came with her phone. She is wanting something a little better, but these are just going to be ran off of her iPod, not any kind of a headphone amp or anything. Just looking for the best deal between $50-100

zingo

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

jdjohn

^^^+1 on the Klipsch. I recently bought that exact model and am very pleased with them. I have not tried a huge variety of earbuds over the years, but these are by-far the most balanced I have used. Maybe not a huge amount of bass, but enough, and great detail in the mids and highs. I don't listen to a lot of bass-heavy music anyway, so maybe they are better in that regard than I give them credit for. And using different sizes of the rubber inserts can help 'seal' the bass in if needed.

jeremymarcinko

I had these klipsch. They were a little over $100. Pretty nice sounding but the ear pieces would stay stuck in my ear canal and my wife had to remove them with tweezers. Twice this happened. Had to wait half a day once. The more I tried myself the deeper it went. Anyway the right side died after a year or so maybe a little longer.

I would honestly go Bose for earbuds.

https://hifiheaven.net/shop/Klipsch-X4i-In-Ear-Headphones?language=en&currency=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhPfkBRD0ARIsAAcYycFN3rNUxtMcuJkyrR8nB9aXcECUdf8c5KMnZ8jchO91r24o1oSZ61caAkZNEALw_wcB

msg

haha, just like that scene from Fletch!

WLDock

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

I would honestly go Bose for earbuds.

I got some nice Bose bluetooth ones for my daughter for Xmas and they are nice.

Also, if one wants a decent budget Bluetooth to work out in, cut the grass, etc and nor worry about damaging or loosing, the TrebLab XR500 has to be one of the better values out there.

https://www.amazon.com/XR500-Headphones-Waterproof-Sweatproof-Secure-Fit/dp/B01G60GO7K

My Son thought they sounded better than his BEATS wireless.

trav0810

Thanks guys. Gives me some food for thought. I had already been looking at Klipsch since they were pretty reasonably priced

Irrenhaus

I have this one's and they are very good. Sometimes I use them more than the Shure 425's and good price.

https://www.mezeaudio.com/products/meze-12-classics-gun-metal-wood-earphones

Cheers

trav0810

zingo wrote: »

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

I just noticed they are running a special on the refurbished R6 for 19.99!

Bgoodfella

Am i the only one that has trouble keeping the in ear buds, in my ears? ive tried out various different silicone tips on the ones where its available and they seem to fall out all the time. also the standard ear buds never want to stay in either... ive been trying to just find something that doesnt pop out while im at the gym. will any of these recommendations work?

Irrenhaus

Bgoodfella wrote: »

Am i the only one that has trouble keeping the in ear buds, in my ears? ive tried out various different silicone tips on the ones where its available and they seem to fall out all the time. also the standard ear buds never want to stay in either... ive been trying to just find something that doesnt pop out while im at the gym. will any of these recommendations work?

Here.

They have a very good fit.

https://www.shure.com/americas/products/earphones/se-earphones/se215-sound-isolating-earphones-hear-it-all

Cheers

mlistens03

I like JBL headphones, but I've personally never tried their IEMs. But they get my recommendation.

Bgoodfella

I will have to check both of those out thank you guys for the recommendations :-)

msg

trav0810 wrote: »

zingo wrote: »

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

I just noticed they are running a special on the refurbished R6 for 19.99!

Yay! Good thing the rest of us can telepathically mine the link from your brain, otherwise we'd miss out.

rooftop59

msg wrote: »

trav0810 wrote: »

zingo wrote: »

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

I just noticed they are running a special on the refurbished R6 for 19.99!

Yay! Good thing the rest of us can telepathically mine the link from your brain, otherwise we'd miss out.

Here ya go: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-earphones-refurbished

trav0810

rooftop59 wrote: »

msg wrote: »

trav0810 wrote: »

zingo wrote: »

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

I just noticed they are running a special on the refurbished R6 for 19.99!

Yay! Good thing the rest of us can telepathically mine the link from your brain, otherwise we'd miss out.

Here ya go: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-earphones-refurbished

thank you. Doing a Google search for that model and seeing where they are on sale would have probably been far too much work! LOL

teekay0007

trav0810 wrote: »

zingo wrote: »

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

I just noticed they are running a special on the refurbished R6 for 19.99!

I wonder if the refurbishing process includes clearing of all cerumen deposits...

trav0810

teekay0007 wrote: »

trav0810 wrote: »

zingo wrote: »

I like Klipsch for wired in-ear: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r6-ii-headphones

I just noticed they are running a special on the refurbished R6 for 19.99!

I wonder if the refurbishing process includes clearing of all cerumen deposits...

No, they give you that for free!

jdjohn

Bgoodfella wrote: »

Am i the only one that has trouble keeping the in ear buds, in my ears? ive tried out various different silicone tips on the ones where its available and they seem to fall out all the time. also the standard ear buds never want to stay in either... ive been trying to just find something that doesnt pop out while im at the gym. will any of these recommendations work?

One of the features of the Klipsch are the oval-shaped silicone tips. Most earbud silicone tips are round, but our ear canal openings are oval-shaped, so the Klipsch in theory should stay-in better.

acmf74

Been very happy with the Klipsh and Polks Nue Voe & Nue Era

trav0810

jdjohn wrote: »

Bgoodfella wrote: »

Am i the only one that has trouble keeping the in ear buds, in my ears? ive tried out various different silicone tips on the ones where its available and they seem to fall out all the time. also the standard ear buds never want to stay in either... ive been trying to just find something that doesnt pop out while im at the gym. will any of these recommendations work?

One of the features of the Klipsch are the oval-shaped silicone tips. Most earbud silicone tips are round, but our ear canal openings are oval-shaped, so the Klipsch in theory should stay-in better.

According to Jeremy, they stay in VERY well!

trav0810

I bought the refurbished R6 for my wife. Now, she has only ever used whatever came with her phone or the iPod, but she is really impressed with these.

pkquat

I happened to see this a few days ago. I will also add the refurbished R6 sound quite good overall. I just wish they had a mic/pause button. I also got refurbished X4i's. In theory these should be much better, but the bass is severely lacking. Reading some of the reviews they are supposed to be "flat" and accurate, but many mention the lackluster bass. There is some talk of break in so I will see, and also if my ears adapt, but I doubt it. They may be flat, but the roll of is steep. While listening to a few tracks with 4 few bars of bass only riffs, or bass and drum, the low end is just not there, its mostly the overtones. I think my Polk M4 speakers have less apparent roll off. The midrange is pronounced, but yet seems to lack some clarity. They don't sound "flat".

If you find a store that carries "AUVIO" headphones they might be worth a shot. RadioShack carried them. I consider them a sub $50 headphone these days with many being in the ~$25 range. I get a few pair in case they get lost stolen or damaged. They are an every day pair. The QC is not tight, so that is why I recommend a store to listen to a few of a given model range. I brought my own clean ear pieces and never had an issue taking some for a test listen. Some of the cheaper ones actually sounded better and that some of there more expensive ones. Some even include a zippered case. They got some $15-20 plastic ones where 3 out of 4 sounded pretty good and beat the sound of their metal ones. Compared to the R6 I would say the plastic AUVIO are about a 7. They are not as flat and loose a little detail, but overall have a pleasing balanced sound. Sadly I have a few pairs of other brand ~$50 or more retail priced earbuds (mostly purchased on sale etc. for less) that sound like crap. I also use Comply ear pieces most of the time. Very good noise blocking and they stay in the ear well even on hot days.

The main reason I bring up the Auvio brand is I stumbled across a model they made 6+ years back that were only about $30 with iControls. They were light metal and sounded AMAZING. Deep rich bass detailed bass, but not boomy and clean clear midrange and highs. The QC was pretty good on these. They beat a number of $100+ earbuds I tried at the time. They even came with a semi-rigid zippered case. I may update with the model number if I can find an old box. Sadly AUVIO is a generic off brand that makes a run of products and moves on to the next marketing design. They stumbled on something really good. I wish they kept it around longer.

Irrenhaus

Not sure is I can pots this here but here are some good reviews of IEM under $100 granted one was $230 but still good.

No Affiliation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyg-J22jR14

Cheers

PSOVLSK

I know the OP has already found what he was looking for, but just thought I'd throw these out there. Tough to beat for $30 IMO:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BTYOL38/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

gyosa

Look into Final Audio ....
I have a pair of the E2000 I use as beaters when not using my 2nd gen QJays....

The finals are less than 50 bucks and sound great
Bk