Hi Tom, thanks for reading and for the question. I don’t normally review earbuds or in-ear monitors because I don’t find most pairs personally comfortable. I don’t enjoy the sensation of isolating tips on in-ear style headphones, and it exacerbates my personal ear wax issues. I’m sorry!

Crinacle is the one-man gold standard for earphone and IEM reviews. He checks out pairs from every price range, and if you scroll through his rankings lists you’ll find recommendations for products ranging from eight dollars to thousands of dollars. His letter grade system is among the toughest in the review business, so a B or a C from Crinacle still means the product sounds pretty good.

The Sony MH755 is the most commonly-recommended budget IEM, if you can find one that isn’t a fake!