Tong Family

Seems like everyone wants one for this Christmas and the price spread has never been wider. Like sunglasses, these are hugely marked up item, so you can literally pay from $10 to $10,000. Wirecutter has a pretty good handle on it. (personally I’ve always like the Etymotic ER-4i and ER-6, but that’s another story). Headroom.com is a great resource for reviews.

• In ear. These are actually wonderful if they fit in your ear. Monoprice makes a $30 set called the 8320 that is comparable to $100 ones elsewhere.
• On the ear closed. If you want to be cool like Dr. Dre, then the Audio Technica ATH-50  at $110 seems like the ones to get. Reasonable cost. We have a similar model that is noise cancelling. Amazingly good sound. The ATH-50S is the straight cable vs. coiled version. The Shure SRH440 is just as highly rated at $87.
• On the ear open. The Grado SR 60i at $50 is the budget choice and sounds very good. Superlux HD-660B seems like it has a very linear response. It doesn’t block ambient sound though but at $50 like the Grado, it’s hard to beat.