Broken earbuds, need <$100 replacement

[Gray]

Hey all, yet another poor college student here. Broke my Earbuds today on the Metro, and I want to pick up a great sounding semi-premium replacement for under $100 or as low as possible without sacrificing too much quality. All my time browsing here has made me a bit of a novice audiophile. However, every cent I save on these buds the closer I am to replacing my D2 with a J3.

I currently have a Cowon D2 (with a broken touchscreen and no warranty so all I can do is get to the music player, barely) and my previous buds were Sony Mdr-ex75 which sounded pretty good (again, novice audiophile here). Between the commute, work, and down time, not having music just might make me homicidal, so I want to replace them ASAP.

As far as what I want, I'm mostly concerned about price. Noise cancelling/isolation/blockage is a must since I commute on the Metro. I listen to a lot of kinds of music from classical to heavy metal, so I don't think there's any specific type to try and tune for. I do like hearing the bass though, so that would be a plus. No asymmetrical cords though, I hate those. And if some sort of anti-tangle cord exists, please god yes. Good looks, carrying case is nice but not a plus. Also I don't care what it is, if the product has an i in front of the name (iMusic, iSuck, iEtc.), i will not buy it. Also I'm in the US if that makes a difference.

I've been combing through here all day but I'm not sure which set is a good buy on my budget. All these reviews seem to be urging me to blow hundreds on a set of buds and that's just not going to happen.

tl;dr:
...any suggestions? Please? Pretty please?

[CrowdAds]

[Syndrome]

JR.com has the Panasonic HJE900'd for 78$ shipped right now. I ordered me a set but they aren't here yet. At 130USD they were said to be the best value in IEM's. And that was only a few months ago, so at 78$ I'm sure they're just that much better.

[steinburger1109]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

JR.com has the Panasonic HJE900'd for 78$ shipped right now. I ordered me a set but they aren't here yet. At 130USD they were said to be the best value in IEM's. And that was only a few months ago, so at 78$ I'm sure they're just that much better.

Oh. My. Lord. Where did you find this deal!?

Finally my lurking is paying off! I was going to suggest the Zune Premiums as a decent IEM for only around $40 or the Hippo VB for $79 but seeing this deal... My mind is blown. Mine are on their way.

[Adub]

http://www.jr.com/panasonic/pe/PAN_RPHJE900/

[steinburger1109]

Haha yea, I was more referring to how does one come across something this momentous. I already googled it.

[Syndrome]

lol, I was just referred by another person as are you. That and reading all the new interesting threads on ABi sometimes actually pays off.

[Gray]

Seems unanimous that these are a good set so I went ahead and bought it, thanks guys.

[rickysio]

Enjoy your new IEM, and be happy you bought it for about a quarter of it's original price ($220 I think?).

[steinburger1109]

Well, not THAT much... MSRP was 139 USD. FYI.