Easy listening: The best earphones

A new kind of earphones allow you to enjoy music in loud places without blowing your eardrums out. Money Magazine field tested a few. Here are our top picks.

Harman/Kardon EP720
Harman/Kardon EP720
Cost: $150
Comes with: Both rubber suction and foam earpieces, in one comfortable, flexible size each; case that holds iPod too
Sound quality: Sound balance is off. They tipped toward high frequencies and therefore lacked strong bass.
Volume needed: 55 percent
Bottom line: Good noise reduction, but sound quality doesn't match the equally expensive Shure.
Grade: B-

Creative ZEN Aurvana

Apple In-Ear

Shure SE210

Harman/Kardon EP720

Sennheiser CX-300

V-MODA Bass Freq
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.