If you guys believe that you cannot have a great auditory experience with a pair of earbuds on which you haven’t spent a fortune, then you are mistaken. You can totally get high-quality sound without exceeding the limit of $100. And since we like making your lives easier by providing you simpler solutions for everything – we have compiled a list of best earbuds under $100 for you after hours and hours of hard work.
At a Glance: Our Choices for The Best Earbuds Under $100
With its MicroDrivers and sound isolation up to 37 dB, Shure SE215-K is an excellent choice for you if you want to listen to high quality and detailed sound. Likewise, it is a great choice for musicians for monitoring purposes.
For those of you who love listening to music while carrying out physical activities like workout or running or anything that makes you sweat a lot, the Bose SoundSport will make an ideal choice for you due to its sweat resistance and superb quality sound production.
Featuring some really heavy duty bass, Sony MDRXB50AP should be your number one choice if you are on a budget. These earbuds produce excellent quality HD sound and feature some interesting specs, which make them as good as any high-end earphones.
Carrying a super stylish and trendy look, 1MORE Tripe Driver In-Ear Headphones will give you a dynamic music experience in full HD sound. The beautiful packaging cases of these earbuds are just to die for. Not only are they durable but also travel-friendly.
The simple yet very elegant and lightweight design of the Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear Headphones makes them ideal to be carried around while traveling. These earbuds are excellent at what they are meant for i.e. music listening and will enhance your audio experience to a much superior level.
Top 5 Earbuds Under $100 Comparison Chart
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Best Earbuds Under $100 Reviews
1. Shure SE215-K
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If you are looking for the best of the best earbuds within the range of $100, which do not just carry a very classy look but are also very efficient in their performance, then Shure SE215-K are the ones for you.
These earbuds are extremely comfortable to wear, and they snuggly fit into your ears without falling out or feeling loose.
You will fall in love with the transparent packaging they come in, and their three available colors, clear, translucent black and special edition white give them a supreme look.
The packaging of the earbuds contain the earbuds, of course, a cleaning tool, user guide, carrying case and a sleeve fit kit that carries 3 different sized pairs of flexible and soft ear sleeves.
Although these earbuds are going to give you a pretty dandy look but not as much to be shown off to others.
Using their MicroDrivers, these little bad boys produce a very high-quality and detailed sound and are ideal for even the professional musicians for monitoring purposes.
Their sound-isolating sleeves halt the interference of any background noise by giving you as much as 37 dB of isolation, hence making your audio experience more delightful.
The beauty of these earbuds is that they give you the sound quality that is comparable to any good quality headphones. You can have them for both personal listening and professional use, as they won’t disappoint in any of the cases.
Lastly, these earbuds come with a detachable cable that greatly minimizes the chances of any damage and makes them last for a longer period than most of the other earbuds.
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2. Bose SoundSport In-ear Headphones
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Another great choice for premium sound, if you can afford to spend the whole of your $100 budget, is the pair of earbuds from Bose SoundSport for Samsung and Android phones.
Their design comes with extra comfort for your ears and the 3 different sizes of the StayHear tips ensure that they impeccably fit into your ears without falling outside.
The sound quality is so good that it’s just going to blow your brains away. Well, don’t worry, not literally! If you are a music buff and it’s hard for you to compromise on the crystal clear sound, then you are just going to love it.
With its TriPort technology, it is going to make your experience with even your already listened songs much better by providing you natural and crisp sounds. You will fall in love with your classic favorites all over again.
One thing that we specifically love about Bose SoundSport is that they are sweat and water resistant. So, now you can wear them all you like while exercising or running even if you sweat like anything as your sweat doesn’t have the power to do any harm to them.
However, the volume control on the earbuds does not carry this feature, so you have to be a little careful with it.
This pair of earbuds comes with an additional clip and a matching and lightweight protective case for securely carrying them around, which makes them an ideal travel companion as well.
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3. Sony MDR-XB50AP Extra Bass Earbud Headset
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For those of you, who are on a budget and want to stay as close to the lower side of the $100 range as possible then we have got one for you as well in the form of Sony MDR-XB50AP.
With a multitude of interesting features, these little monsters are too good for their minimal price. They feature soft silicone ear buds that don’t just aptly fit but also reduce the ambient sounds.
However, if you move or sweat a lot, they are not going to hold their place and might drop off, and they are not the most comfortable ones to be worn for extended periods. But, for smaller periods they won’t feel uncomfortable at all.
If you love bass, then you will love these earbuds as well because their built-in 9 mm drivers will provide you a killer and steady bass that you can only imagine.
The sound quality of these earbuds might not be the best, but it’s still pretty good. However, their standout feature is their bass, as mentioned above, which is even better than a lot of high-end models.
The earbuds come with a built-in microphone and a multi-function control button for controlling your music.
That’s not just it; they are also quite durable and can be worn during outdoor activities without getting damaged. At a price of only $38.99, these little bass makers are a total steal.
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4. 1MORE Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones
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These famous Earbuds by 1MORE have the honor of being tuned by the globally celebrated sound engineer Luca Bignardi to deliver you the perfect sound quality as per the perspective of a music artist.
Design wise, these earbuds carry a pretty stylish and premium look, and they come in a very attractive case that makes them even more appealing.
You will commend the level of comfort they provide you while being inside your ears. Their unique tilted angled fittings ergonomically fit into your ears, preventing the chances of falling out.
These earphones feature three drivers, 2 of which are dual drivers and 1 is a separate dynamic driver. Working together, they provide such an outstanding sound that will make your audio experience worth every penny of their price.
They are especially good for producing exceptional and steady bass and treble with a very high-resolution sound. You will find the sound very clear, loud, crisp and even quite adequately deep.
One thing that might bother you about them is that they are not so ideal for playing jazz music. So, if jazz is your only preferred genre, these might not be the ones for you.
You can use them with a lot of your gadgets including Android, iPhone, iPad and even your gaming systems due to their high level of compatibility.
They also feature a MEMS microphone.
The package of the earbuds includes 9 sets of ear tips (6 silicone and 3 foam), a storage case, a traveling case, shirt clip, and an airline adapter.
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5. Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear
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The last but certainly not the least is the pair ofSennheiser Momentum in-ear headphones that carry a very simple yet sophisticated design. They might not have a very stylish look like many others, but you will certainly love them for their minimalism.
The earbuds come with different set of ear tips for providing you a custom fit, and their in-canal design efficiently minimizes all the background sound for providing you with extraordinary clarity. You can keep them in your ears for hours without irritating them at all because of the light weight of these earbuds.
What we really liked about these earbuds is the quality of their sound which is on par with a lot of high-end earbuds. Although priced at around $100, they are considered to be an expensive set of earbuds. However, their high-quality sound makes them worthy of their price.
These earbuds feature a tangle-free cable with an in-line remote having 3 buttons and a microphone. The earbuds for both ears are distinguished by the markings on them so that you do not have to struggle with which one goes to which ear.
They have been constructed with a stainless steel material that ensures the sound is delivered to precision. Also, the dynamic transducers of the earbuds make certain that you get minimum distortion while listening to your favorite music. The earbuds come with a foam pouch and 4 different sized ear tips.
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Qualities of Good Earbud Headphones
- Good quality earbuds always have the capability of providing even sound quality throughout the whole frequency range. In simpler words, if a specific sound, from the music you are listening to, is overpowering the other sounds or if it’s causing to lose the details of the other sounds then it means the sound is not even.
- So, remember this as a deciding factor that the earbuds must produce clarity in details with everything in a completely balanced manner.
- The quality of the construction material has to be high. Earbuds aren’t something that you would like to buy every other day as $100 isn’t that small of value for a lot of people. A good quality and durable pair of earbuds are going to last for a much prolonged period that you can only think of.
- Earbuds that are not comfortable enough are not worthy of being called good quality earbuds. Most of you like to keep wearing them for multiple hours, and if the comfort factor is missing, then you may end up with extremely irritated ears.
- The level of comfort is also dependent upon the fitting of the ear plugs into your ear canals. A pair that comes with multiples ear tips to fit everyone’s size is ideal for providing maximum comfort.
Factors to consider before buying the Best Earbuds under $100
Manufacturer Name
A lot of people don’t pay heed to this point considering it’s worthless to think about the brand name because they are buying cheaper earbuds. But, let us tell you, the make of the product makes a lot of difference.
If you go for an obscure manufacturer’s product that claims to have all the specs equivalent to all the first-grade earbuds, then believe us, you will never get the same superior sound quality that you will get in a reputed brand’s product with lesser specs.
Secondly, those low-grade earbuds are built with a very poor quality material, and they also expose your ears to permanent damage. Why take all that trouble for such a small difference in price?
Now it’s up to you to decide whether you want good sound or more features. Good sound quality, right? Yeah, good choice!
Integrated Microphone
Some of you may not have any use for it because your prime purpose might be to just listen to music. That’s completely understandable and correct approach to some extent as the integrated microphones make one side heavier that makes the earplug prone to falling off.
But, as per our suggestion and expertise, we’d say it is advisable to go for earbuds that come with an in-line microphone. Earbuds are something that you carry around everywhere, and you don’t know when the microphone might come in handy.
If you are worried about the quality of the microphone, then let us tell you, whether they are high priced or low priced, you will get almost the similar quality. However, if you don’t want it at all, there is no harm in neglecting it.
Earbud Categories
You are going to find a lot of different categories of earbuds that are designed to fulfill different purposes.
As you saw above, some of the earbuds are specialized in isolating the ambient sound, some are meant to provide you some stellar bass, and some of them are meant to be used while working out.
Here, the ball is in your court to decide the type that you want to buy. If you are a bass lover, then go for the one that provides extra bass, if you want overall good sound quality and then any of the above-listed earbuds would do totally fine.
And we understand that how easy it is to get distracted while searching for your earbuds, especially when you come across a lot of options online, but, do not make this mistake and stick to your preferences and select the type that you initially thought of.
Final Verdict
Markets are loaded with earbuds of different qualities and various brands that fall under the range of $100.
So, it’s not hard to find the options. Instead, it’s hard to find the correct or the best option. Most of the people look for an overall excellent sound quality and for that we’d recommend you try our top listed Shure SE215-K and you will surely thank us later.
But, if you want some other specialties then you can choose any other from our featured list, as none of them is going to disappoint you in any manner.
