The Best Earbuds Under $100

If you're looking for new earbuds under $100, Velodyne's vPulse In-Ear Headphones, at $89, are the ones I'd recommend. 

To say that the headphone and earphone category is crowded would be an understatement. There are hundreds upon hundreds of models, all with their own sound and style, some of which cost as little as a hamburger and fries, others as much as a used car.

But why earbuds? And why the best earbuds under $100? The answer to the first question is portability. Just like we all celebrated the downsizing of the discman into the MP3 player, having a pair of earbuds that you can ball up and toss in your pocket, purse, or backpack is tremendously convenient. Big, over-ear headphones'even ones that cleverly fold up into a smaller package'just can't fit in all the same places. The answer to the second question is quality. For under $100, you can get a pair of durable, portable earbuds that sound really, really good. There are more expensive pairs out there that offer superior sound quality to the models we'll discuss, but frankly, casual listeners aren't likely to see a big enough jump in sound quality to justify that higher price tag. And you have to ask yourself if you'd want to spend several hundred dollars on a product that gets sat on, rained on, and yanked around as much as earbuds typically do.

But first thing's first. Your ears are not identical to my ears. And make no mistake: these things are really going in your ears. So it's just a fundamental earbud reality that no single pair will satisfy everyone in terms of comfort or sound.

That being said, I think the Velodyne vPulse buds are the best for the price when evaluated by those two central earbud criteria: how comfortable they are to wear and how they sound in the real world compared to other headphone in this price range. Let me explain why.

Up until this year, Velodyne was known for making really good subwoofers. The vPulse is the company's first stab at headphones. But nearly everyone agrees that the company was successful in putting their bass-master pedigree to work on a smaller scale. In his Audiophiliac column on CNET, high-end audio enthusiast Steve Guttenberg called them a "bass lover's delight." An early review on headphone enthusiast forum Head-Fi was subtitled "Bass lovers rejoice!!!"

The thing is, whether you realize it or not, you're probably a bass lover. Today's radio pop is fairly bass-heavy across the board, and popular headphones like Monster's Beats by Dre and Bose's Quiet Comfort cans are generous with the bass, even though they don't expressly advertise it. It's a very bassy world we're living in.

Now, sets like the Beats by Dre have been routinely dismissed by serious headphone types for being too bassy. They're bassy at the expense of the overall balance of sound; bassy to the point that it obscures detail at the mid- and high-range. And when you're listening at home, that balance is something you'll want. At their best, a good set of home headphones, like our favorite, the Audio Technica ATH-M50, will reveal new richness in your favorite music. They'll give you an accurate picture of how that music was supposed to be heard.

But earbuds are a slightly different beast. Their use is typically not confined to the sonic vacuum of your own home. They have to compete with the rumble of the subway, the roar of a jet engine, or just your own huffing and puffing on the treadmill. In general, when you're using earbuds, it's more a matter of entertainment and diversion than rigorous sonic analysis. Of course, accuracy is still a primary concern when talking about earbuds. But it's also important to consider how they'll sound when you're out and about.

Yet another factor to consider is what you're listening to. When it comes to most contemporary pop music, if you're cranking up compressed digital files on unforgivingly accurate headphones, things won't sound very pretty. Guttenberg, in a different piece, explains as much. "Trust me on this: you wouldn't want a superaccurate speaker or headphone if you mostly listen to contemporary, heavily compressed music; there's simply too much distortion and aggressive treble on today's music, so you'd probably be happier with speakers or headphones with boosted bass and softened treble to take the edge off."

The vPulse don't sacrifice bass quantity for bass quality

So, back to the Velodyne vPulse buds. I don't want to give the impression that they don't have great sound quality. They do. But every earbud has a slightly different sonic personality, and the vPulse's is certainly a bit more bass-heavy than that of some of its competition. What I'm saying is that's a good thing.

Reviewers agree.

David Carnoy at CNET gave them an "Excellent" 4/5 star rating. He says they "offer excellent sound, highlighted by impressive bass response." But unlike many of the headphones that pump bass to a fault, vPulse do it right. "The sonic emphasis here is on bass," Carnoy explains, "but the key is that the vPulse delivers quality in addition to quantity ' the low-end is deep, full, and tight, motivating you to seek out tracks in your library with potent bass lines that lesser headphones can't handle with as much aplomb'In the final analysis," he concludes, "the vPulse manage to do something many headphones that accentuate bass fail to do: sound pleasing."

Over at Head-Fi, user ljokerl, who has been maintaing a staggeringly comprehensive mega-review of earphones for over 2 years (comprising over 200 models), gave them an overall value score of 9/10. "The vPulse does a good job of combining user-friendliness and functionality in a single package," he writes. "The sound combines solid bass rumble and depth with slightly subdued ' but still clean and detailed ' mids and highs. The bass can be a touch overpowering on some tracks but normally remains well-behaved for such a bassy earphone, making the vPulse highly suitable for anyone in search of a reasonably-priced headset with plentiful rumble and power."

But don't be mistaken: just because they bring the bass does not mean that these are only suited for Skrillex. Guttenberg, in his aforementioned review, noted that "Listening to a great live recording of Jeff Tweedy singing 'Jesus, Etc,' I heard the vPulse projecting a big, wide-open soundstage, bigger than most in-ear headphones'other in-ears sound puny by comparison," though he found the bass "much too ripe in [his] quiet apartment." Still, he says, the vPulse sounded "gorgeous" when listening to a song built around finger-picked guitar and offered a "lush balance" when playing an orchestral film score.

Though in that initial review he had reservations about the bass in quiet settings, Guttenberg returned to the vPulse in a subsequent column that set out to identify the best earphones under $100. In it, he succinctly weighs the matter of "accuracy" against real world experience'and rules in favor of the vPulse: "Back to the Velodyne vPulse; it's not the least bit accurate, but it sounds great. Amazon sells it for $89, and there's nothing remotely close to that price that sounds better with a wide range of music, to my ears."

Ken Rockwell, a well-known photography guru who also has also reviewed a respectable share of audio gear, admits that he's usually not an earbud guy but says that the vPulse are "the very best I've heard. I enjoy listening to these for hours and hours on end. Don't use them for mastering," he advises, "but use them for enjoying music, especially if you demand to hear the deepest fundamentals, and I'm sure you'll enjoy them as I do."

The vPulse are one of only two sub-$100 pairs of buds listed in Head-Fi's Summer 2012 Buying Guide, and while the accompanying blurb does point out that they don't lead the pack in detail and soundstaging, the reviewer says that "the vPulse's bass is emphasized'without adulterating the mids. In fact, the vPulse's mids and treble seem to breathe freely, and the overall balance is just what I'd want when I feel like listening to a bass-emphasized in-ear."

A reviewer at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity said "they sound like Velodyne all the way . . . a.k.a. very, very good," and a writer at Tech-Kings.net concluded, "After having played with the vPulse earphones for several weeks, scrutinizing and enjoying, if we were in the $75-125 price range, the vPulse would be a finalist without question."

After a long weekend of testing the vPulse (alongside some of the competitors I'll discuss below), I have to agree with the professional reviewers.

Though for the last few years I've been content to rotate through a stable of crappy $30 and  $40 buds (the rate at which I lose and/or destroy the things prohibiting a more serious investment), the vPulse served as a reminder that earbuds could sound as great and feel as comfortable as full-size over-ear headphones. Listening to R. Kelly's new album, I was able to pick out basslines that had eluded me in my first dozen or so listens. Old Stevie Nicks favorites sounded warm, full, and familiar. And the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds Sessions, a four-disc collection of scraps and outtakes of the band recording their seminal album, sounded huge and intimate at the same time. When I was listening to the disc that contains the album's vocal tracks sans instrumentation and first heard the Brothers Wilson and co sing the titular line of "You Still Believe in Me" in exquisite five-part harmony directly into my ear, I was forever a "good" earbud convert.

One quibble I have with the vPulse is that it is, relative to other models I was testing, a quiet pair of earbuds.

Getting a nice, powerful sound required listening at roughly half-volume on my MacBook, and if I really wanted to rock out at levels undoubtedly detrimental to my long-term aural health, I'd have to crank my MacBook or iPhone up to 75% or so volume. When I was using the vPulse to play a podcast on a flight, I ended up listening at my iPhone's full volume. If you get a good seal, the vPulse do a pretty damn good job at blocking out external sound'when I was listening at my customary 50% volume, I could see my friend talking to me from a few feet away, but couldn't register a single sound he was making'and at no point did the buds fail to get loud enough for me to listen at the level I wanted to. But if you're someone who really likes to crank their tunes, and I mean really crank them, the vPulse might not be up to the task.

Anyway, aside from having a sound profile that makes sense for how we use earbuds these days, the vPulse get the other half of the earphone equation right, too. That would be comfort and usability.

Unlike our former pick in this category, the Shure SE215, which use an over-the-ear cord configuration that requires some patience and practice to get right, the vPulse's design is pretty standard earbud fare (we'll compare the SE215 and vPulse at greater length later in this piece). The vPulse's cable is a typical, straight-down deal, which means you can pop the earbuds in and out easily, like you're probably accustomed to with other pairs you've used in the past.

The vPulse's flat cable helps prevent those rage-inducing tangles

The vPulse comes with 10 silicone ear tips in four different sizes, so you'll likely find one to fit your hearing holes. Guttenberg found them "extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time." His colleague Carnoy notes that the vPulse are a bit larger than your average earbud, but they sit "comfortably nicely in your ear thanks to an angled stem (or post), and the aluminum housing doesn't pinch up against the inner ear lobe." In his mega-review, Head-Fi's ljokerl noted the lightness of the housings and gave them a 4/5 for comfort overall. I found much the same. The second-to-largest pair of tips offered a good seal (and subsequently a nice, full sound), though they didn't feel like they were filling my ear quite as oppressively as the Shures. I've left them in for a few several-hour sessions without any fatigue.

The cable on the vPulse is flat, like a piece of linguine, which is a little strange and makes these a bit more conspicuous than other earbuds. But that flat design significantly reduces the dreaded cable-tangle, one of the most consistently frustrating scourges of the earbud era. Again, seems like a small thing, but once you spend a little bit of time with a pair of earbuds that unfurl almost magically, you'll grow to loathe the unknotting ritual that's required by other pairs. One thing about the cable: it's shorter than most. 3.7 feet. That's actually perfect for walking-around, phone-in-pocket listening (I'm 6 feet tall and the cord was pretty much the perfect length, though there were a few inches to spare), but it doesn't give you a lot of latitude for leaning back in your chair when you're working at a desk, and if you like to keep your music-playing device in a cargo pocket or a low-slung purse, it could be problematic. Velodyne, give us a longer option next time, please!

The vPulse was designed specifically for Apple products, and in-line volume and playback controls let you turn up or skip through tracks on iPhones, iPads, and iPods. It's got a built-in mic, too, though it's made to work with the iPhone and CNET's Carnoy says he had trouble hearing callers while using them with his Android-powered Samsung Galaxy G3. They come in black and blue.

I think the vPulse are an excellent pair of earbuds for most people. But as I said, there are hundreds of models out there, some of which are very good, so we should take a look at a few of those, too.

Our old pick in this category, the Shure SE215, is still a worthy competitor. Shure's a big name in audio, so the SE215 are likely the only pair we'll discuss here that you might be able to find in a brick and mortar store nearby, and they deliver a great, detailed sound all around. In Lifehacker's 2011 headphone round-up, head Head-Fi'er Jude Mansilla named them his budget pick and said they offer "a level of performance well above [their] price," though that round-up was conducted before the vPulse was released. In my tests, the Shure SE215 was definitely on par with the vPulse in terms of sound quality, though I'd characterize their overall tone as a bit brighter and more aggressive. Vocals were somewhat crisper than I found with the vPuse, and the bass, while not as pronounced as it was in Velodyne's buds, was strong and well-defined. For comparison, in his Head-Fi thread, joker gave the vPulse a score of 7.4 out of 10 in sound quality and the SE215 a 7.8. Frankly, I thought both sounded really, really good. The SE215, however, was certainly louder than the vPulse: where Velodyne's in-ears generally took a 50% volume, Shure's were plenty loud at 25%.

The two models weren't as even when considering comfort and fit. The SE215 has an angled earbud design, chunky plastic housings, and a cord that is intended to be worn over the top of your ears. Once you get them fitted in just right, they are snug'it's like they're hardwired into your dome, for better or worse'but getting that fit takes a little bit of trial and error. Even when you know what you're doing, the process takes more effort than one would like. It's essentially a two-handed operation. You have to kind of stretch your ear open with one hand, fit the earbud in, and guide the cable around the back of your ear with your free fingers. Taking them off requires the same effort, just in reverse.

This putting-them-in-and-taking-them-out factor might not seem like a huge deal on paper, but when it comes to the overall experience, I found the ease of use to be a significant advantage for the vPulse. Especially when you consider that many earbud listening sessions are brief affairs: you throw 'em in for a few subway stops, tug on the cable to pull one out when someone's talking at you, etc. It's like the difference between a pair of well-worn loafers you can slip in and out of with ease and a pair of combat boots you have to cram your feet into and then lace up for good measure.

There are definitely be some, I'm sure, who will prefer the slightly brighter, more balanced sound of the SE215 over the laid-back, low end-focussed vPulse, but I can't imagine anyone finding the SE215 more comfortable to wear or easier to use. Still, I'm confident that both of these earbuds would be nothing short of revelatory for those who have endured Apple's stock buds, or others of their tinny, ill-fitting ilk, for any period of time.

To be explicit, we prefer the Velodyne VPulses ove the Shure 215s.

The Shure SE215, our former pick, sound great but aren't the most straightforward to wear

These aren't the only good sub-$100 buds out there, though. If you're looking for a more neutral earbud with a standard, cable-down design, another good bet is the $99 HiFiMAN RE-ZERO in-ear. They're a Head-Fi user favorite, and in his super review ljokerl gave them a sterling 10/10 for value. Basically, they're the most accurate earphones you can buy for $100, though as Guttenberg explained, accuracy is not always the be-all and end-all when evaluating earphones. Joker agrees, noting that their scrupulously neutral sound profile is "not for everyone." But if you know you're bass-averse, these are definitely noteworthy. They also might be kind of tough to get your hands on, as they come from a smaller outfit.

The Klipsch IMAGE S4, at $79, are another long-standing consumer favorite'they have a solid 4/5 stars on Amazon after a whopping 1,400 user reviews'though many users have reported that the S4's flimsy cable can fray and split in a matter of months, something you don't have to worry about as much with the vPulse's tough, flat cable. In my testing, these were a distant third to the vPulse and SE215.

You may be wondering if you can get away with spending less. You can. Here's what you'll lose.

Our favorite cheap buds, the Monoprice 8320, which you can get for a baffling $9, weren't totally blown out of the water by the more expensive brethren, but its limitations were clear in back-to-back listening. Compared to the vPulse, the Monoprice offered significantly less-disciplined bass and a good deal less detail in the highs and mids. If the vPulse made me feel like I was inside the music; the Monoprice made me feel like I was listening to the music from a decent boombox at very close range. It also seems like the thin cable of the Monoprice buds would quickly succumb to general earphone abuse in some way or another. Still, for the price, I was impressed.

Finding the right pair of earbuds can be daunting'just take a peek at Head-Fi threads like ljokerl's seemingly never-ending earbud mega-review or ClieOS's "concise" listing of over 100 earbuds catalogued meticulously by sound-profile. But the Velodyne vPulse, at $89, seems to me to be a nearly perfect modern earbud. It's got enough bass to stand up to planes, trains, and the other noises that make up the dull roar of city life, but it's still got enough detail in the mid- and high-range to keep audiophiles coming back. It's a highly comfortable pair of buds, even during marathon listening sessions, and it's easy to slip in and out of your ears on the go. Plus, think of all the time you'll save not having to untangle its cable.