In-the-ear, on-the-ear, and over-the-ear headphones all sound different. They also have their respective benefits and drawbacks. We set out to explore which kind of cans provides the best mix of noise isolation, comfort, price/performance ratio, and sound quality with a wide range of music.
ROUNDING THINGS UP
For this roundup, I focused on headphone models priced less than $300. I then solicited some advice from Harman International’s Director of Acoustic Research, Dr. Sean Olive (seanolive.blogspot.com), who is also a former president of the Audio Engineering Society (aes.org/aes/seanolive). Dr. Olive and his colleagues have been at the forefront of headphone research, and Harman provided a number of headphones for this evaluation.
After auditioning them, I settled on the JBL Reflect Mini in-ear monitors (IEMs), the AKG N60 NC (noise-cancelling) on-ear headphones,…
