Gadgetory

headphones are your smartphone's bestfriend they're nearly as ubiquitous as smartphones themselves and they let you listen to music games or video and make and receive hands-free calls without disturbing those around you many smartphones including the iPhone come with a basic set of headphones that have a microphone and remote on their cords but most included headphones like Apple's ear pods kind of suck with a poor fit mediocre sound and a cable that turns into knots right in your pocket you can spend hundreds of dollars on getting great headphones to go with your new smartphone but if you just want something better than came with a phone and don't want to spend a fortune there are countless options available for under fifty bucks a good replacement headphone offers three things great sound great fit and a microphone so you can still make phone calls some offer volume controls but that's not as common in this price range and the compatibility with volume controls varies from smartphone a smartphone and they should be cheap and easily replaceable so it's not a problem if you lose them send them through the washing machine or just wear them out over the course of a year or two if you're looking to replace your ear pods or other bundled headphones the best overall option are Panasonic's TCM 125 these basic black headphones are super lightweight comfortable to wear for extended periods of time and most importantly sound fantastic they include a microphone and remote for play and pause controls but unfortunately no volume and they come with three different size tips to fit a variety of years the Panasonic stayed put in my ears whether I was swiftly moving to catch the next subway train or flapping my John a long conference call Panasonic's also have a balanced sound profile for a variety of music and audio sources they sound great for pop rock metal classical hip-hop podcasts and more it sounds so good that I often forgot I was wearing inexpensive headphones and not more high-end models and the best part about the TCM 125 is just how cheap they actually are you can easily find these for about half the cost of Apple's $29 ear pods it's not a big deal if you lose or break these you just buy another pair the one area where the TCM 125 don't blow away the competition is with heavy bass response if you want more bass in your headphones the sony MDR xp-50 are the ones you should get they're a bit more expensive than our top deck but they offer a lot more bass response in the Panasonic's the downside is they don't sound as good overall and aren't as versatile for different types of music they're also a bit heavier and larger than the Panasonic's but they're still comfortable and fit my ears well didn't really fall out Sony's also have a nice cord that resists turning into a ball of knots in my pocket there are many other options across the field but none of them really fit as well or sounded as good as our top techs the Yurbuds inspire 400 are sweat proof and designed for wear during a workout they do a really good job of staying in your ears while moving they also have a remote with volume control that works with the iPhone but they just weren't as comfortable or as good sounding it's Panasonic's similarly the urban ears krantz and are packed with nifty design features like the ability to lock the ear buds together for storage a fabric covered cord and a built-in cable ties so you don't have to worry about knots they do a good job of staying in my ears but they don't sound as nice overall compared to my top picks the others that we tested all had a tendency to just fall out of my ears whenever I moved turned my head or just took a sip from a water bottle it was difficult to get many of them to make a proper seal which leads to lower quality sound and makes them fall out easier the best options like the ones we already mentioned have designs that lock the headphones in your ear so they don't fall out it turns out you don't have to settle for Apple or Samsung sin fear your headphones almost every option we tested we're better than the headphones that come with your smartphone if you just want the best overall headphones without spending more than 50 bucks you should get the Panasonic TCM 125