I can't go back to cheap headphones, really. It makes a BIG difference.

If you listen in noisy environments, I'd bet active-noise cancellation is good for your hearing though

Ooof, I dunno… You can probably get by with cheap headphones, but they’re probably one of the objects you’ll spend the most time with and a good set can really make a difference. Good noise cancelling is essentially a requirement for me to live.

Personally I had way too many quality issues at that price range. An earbud would be randomly quieter than the other, the battery of an earbud would die, the Bluetooth would suck, or they would be unusable for phone calls. I bought refurbished $100-something headphones for $70 and haven't needed to buy any more since.

Hard disagree. I mean yeah, if you're only listening to speech, garbage quality headphones are where it's at.

But if you listen to music, a decent pair makes an absolute world of difference. It's like night and day. Like comparing a tin can to a music concert.

You don't have to spend a zillion dollars, though. A good set can absolutely still be had for cheap, but you just have to do your research first.

For podcasts and audiobooks and even incidental music listening $10 panasonic buds go the distance for me.

When I'm sitting down to enjoy music at home, then it's the $80 sony studio monitors. Still excellent value.

Give me my headphone socket back, phone makers :(

No way. I got a pair of Phillips Fidelio open cans, and they are absolutely incredible.

Yup, really wanted ANC ones for on the train and very happy with my €50 Edifiers. Sound fine and the ANC is good. Watched tons of reviews on XM5s and Bose QCs which only seem to offer meaningless improvements.

I do also own good cans and DAC for when I'm at home, but paying over €300 euros for something you'll only use in noisy environments and fussing over audio quality you won't be able to optimally enjoy anyways is silly.

As an audiophile I agree. There are now a lot of quality cheap headphones and earbuds on the market and I still use a lot of my cheap ones despite have a pair of Sennheiser hd600s (300$).

For headphones use the Koss KSC75. For earbuds use moondrop chus, three are also some new cheap items and you should look at those too. Basically watch crinacle on YouTube. Also using an EQ to adjust the sound of your headphones can make them sound much better.

I'm admittedly not a huge audiophile, and these days I don't have many uses for earbuds or headphones in my daily life, but while $40 or so earbuds used to serve me just fine sound-wise, but I went through a lot of them. My earbuds lived a rough life, getting mangled up in my pockets, bags, the occasional trip through the washing machine, etc.

Then I got a pair of Shure earbuds after doing a bit of searching around for the most indestructible ones. I didn't get their highest -end model, I think they ran me about $100, but they've held up for like a decade at this point. Part of it is probably that I'm a bit more careful with them than I was with cheaper buds, but they've still seen plenty of abuse and neglect.

They don't get much use anymore since my phone doesn't have a headphone jack, but I'm pretty sure I can buy a Bluetooth adapter or USB cable and slap it on them if I felt the need because the cable is replaceable, which is nice.

I haven't gone earbud shopping in a decade so I can't really say if their quality has held up, or if there are better options today. I haven't quite gotten onboard with Bluetooth buds yet, so I can't really comment on them.