"We asked our editors three questions: what are your favorite pairs of earphones - not headphones? Why? And if you had to choose just one, which would it be? Our answers are below, and most interesting in that different users with different listening preferences have gravitated to many similar earphones. Of the group, only one editor noted a preference for full-sized headphones, and no one recommended clip-on earphones, lanyard earphones, convertibles, wireless, or hybrid earbud-canalphones. Feel free to add your picks to the comments section at the bottom of the page." - Jim Norris from Bookmarklet

I've been using the Shure E2c's for >4 years now, and absolutely love them. They're leaps and bounds better than anything else I've tried (that didn't cost $$$). They were about $100 when I bought them, but are probably a bit cheaper now. It's slightly irritating to pay $15 for a few pieces of cheap foam, but I've only had to do that once in >4 years, so that's not too bad. - Joel Webber

I dig Shure, too. FTW - Mona Nomura

I'm not very well-versed on headphones -- all of mine in the past have been whatever cheapo set came with whatever portable music device I happened to be using at the time, though I've stayed away from the stock Apple headphones like the plague -- but I use Bose In-Ear headphones at work and love them. - Brian Chang

Etymotic ER-6i. They make flying economy a bit more bearable :) - Tudor Bosman

I am using Etymotic ER-4P since 2007 and happy with them. - ashish

Srsly what's up with their site? It flashed and jumped around for a few seconds and completely froze up. Twice. Is it the ads? - Itachi

Same here Dhanaan. Remove the hash on the end and it worked fine for me: http://www.ilounge.com/index... - Michael Leggett

I second the Etymotic ER-6i in ear phones. Not the greatest for bass, but accurate and good at blocking ambient noise. - Alex Scoble

Ah, I see. Thanks Michael. - Itachi

Has anyone listened to the difference between a pair of the ER-4P and ER-6i? Similar technology must drive both, but there is a $100 price gap. I'd be willing to pay the price if the sound was really that much better. - Bill Strathearn