Earphones/buds

ok i know its probably been asked a million times before, but just thought i would ask.

Got an iPhone, love listening to music, but imo the standard apple earphones absoloutly suck! I was willing to just keep them but that was until they broke on me the other day. The inline controller never worked, the left speaker kept crapping out, and then they simply fell apart!

So rather than just getting another pair, im looking to invest in a decent pair of earphones.

Speaking to alot of mates they all own 'in ear buds' and they said that they would never go back to a traditional headphone set. Apparently the in ear phones are alot better.

Doing a bit of research there is a lot out there, and i can read all the descriptions i want, but nothing is better than personal opinion and experience. So i thought i would ask, who has a pair and are they any good? If i were to buy a set, what should i be looking at. Also i dont want to spend too much, i seen some that go up to $400 and i just dont want to spend that much. Preferably something around $50, but the absoloute max i am willing to go is $100 (an im not talking retail price, if there are some cheap decent pairs on ebay or something, i dont really care, just so long as they are good and not OVER priced)

Try KSC 75s. Raving and more importantly unanimous reviews online

Also, there is a huge thread about which headphones etc to get at the top of the board....

"RECOMMENDATIONS- Approximate prices are new from a reputable retailer

$0 - $20
Over-the-ear - Koss UR 20 (~$17), Koss TD-61 (~$20)
Earbuds - JVC HA-FX34P (~$15), Panasonic RP-HJE160-A (~$12)
On-ear - Koss KSC 75 (~$14)

$21 - $40
Over-the-ear - Sennheiser HD 202 MK II (~$30)
Earbuds - Denon AH-C360 (~$40), Sony MDR-EX57LP (~$27)
On-ear - Sony MDR-Q68LW (~$22)

$41 - $80
Over-the-ear - Sennheiser HD555 ($79), JVC HARX900 (~$60)
Earbuds - Maximo iMetal iM590 (~$45), Etymotic MC5 (~$66), Sennheiser adidas PMX 680 (~$60)
On-ear - Grado SR 60i (~$79), Beyerdynamic DTX 35 (~$43)

$81 - $120
Over-the-ear - Sennheiser PX 200-II (~$86), AKG Acoustics K-240 (~$90), Audio Technica ATH-AD700 (~$100)
Earbuds - Klipsch Image S4 (~$80), Yuin PK2 (~$80), Etymotic ER-6i (~$85), Shure SE115 (~$92)
On-ear - Grado SR 80i (~$100), Sony MDR-7506 (~$85)

$121 - $200-
Over-the-ear - Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (~$160), Shure SRH750DJ (~$150)
Earbuds - Etymotic HF3 (~$140)
On-ear - Grado SR 125i (~$150), Sennheiser HD 25-1-II (~$190)

$201 - up
Over-the-ear - Denon AH-D2000 (~260), Sennheiser HD 800 (~$1,500), AKG K 702 (~$270)
Earbuds - Klipsch X-10i (~$250), Grado GR10 (~$400), EArsonics SM3 (~$300)
On-ear - Grado SR 225i (~$200), Audio-Technica ATH-ESW9A (~$270)"

Klipsch S4 in ear buds are legendary.

Read the sticky.

That felt good.

Boz

ok i read the sticky, but i done a bit of research on my own and this is sort of what i have came to as a conclusion.

First of all, it seems like i cannot find one bad review about a Klipsch product, in particular the Image S4

But i also feel the need to do a bit more research,

Sennheiser- I dont really see what is so good about them, but everyone tells me that they really are no.1 when it comes to audio, seen a few good reviews on the CX300, but they do seem very over priced!

Monster- relatively new company, but good reviews on both the Jamz and the Turbine.

Skullcandy- not the best for quality, but they look gorgeous, and they are alot cheaper than some of the other brands!

JVC - little bit of a shock for me, but they look alright, AND THESE HAVE SPARKED MY INTEREST: http://www.jvc.com.au/headphones/in-ear/ha-fx1x

Logitech- Great reviews but price again!

^^^ all just my opinion! So Please, i am just new looking into this, please help me out, i really dont want to make the wrong decision before i go out and buy one!

Skullcandy: Aesthetically pleasing to some people (not my taste personally) but avoid like the plague if you care about sound quality.

Monster: The only worthwhile IEMs they've produced are the turbine series. The turbine pro copper/gold/mileydavis models are very respected. Everything else they have is pretty much garbage though including the beats/jamz model.

JVC - A good company, their FX700 is among some of the best top of the line IEMs in the market, especially for orchestral music.

Ultimate Ears (AKA Logitech UE since the merger): Another good company with a solid line of IEMs. I'm not sure how the recent merger with logitech will affect their products in the long run but at the moment they are doing quite well. Occassionally the UE TF.10 goes on sale on amazon for $100. You can grab a pair off ebay for around $120-130. For that price, they are excellent IEMs (balanced, relaxed sound) and a very tough contender to beat.

Sennheiser: Great company but I wouldn't call them #1. Their flagship IEM the IE8 is well-liked. I've owned them for a few months and found that as far as IEMs go, the IE8s have one of the widest soundstages (rivaling headphones) in the market; it makes them quite immersive. The tight and well defined bass was one of my favorite aspects about them.

Klipsch: A newcomer to the IEM market. They're more known for their speaker lineups in the home theater department but so far they are doing quite well. I've owned the S4, X5, (brief), and X10.

Anyways, my recommendations for the $100 range:

Headdirect ReZero or Etymotic MC5/3 (neutral)

Klipsch S4 or Monster Turbines or Hippo VB (bassy, warm)

Brainwavez M2 (never tried but heard good things)

Shure SE215 (never tried but heard good things)

Radius DDM HP-TWF11 (occassionally you can find it on sale for around $100)

If you can spare an extra $50, I strongly recommend the Fischer Audio DBA-02. They are my favorite IEMs in the $150-350 range. I currently own the DBA-02, Klipsch X10, and a pair of 1964 Custom Quad driver IEMs.

Here is a good resource (not definitive however, get more impressions before you buy something): http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478568/multi-iem-review-176-iems-compared-dunu-ares-crius-added-06-15