Sennheiser CX 95

The Shure SE420 is the current isolation champion. The Sennheiser CX 95 has better overall audio quality, with a particularly low distortion. Both have a split after a very short length of cord, which makes them both very portable (though the CX 95 has a much better case). The Shure SE420s also come with a bunch of different sleeves, but they also cost a lot more. Both are about as cost-efficient. really this one comes down to you and what you’re personally looking for. If you want isolation, then the SE420s are better. If you’re looking for better overall audio quality, then the CX 95s are a good choice. If it were up to us, we’d probably side with the Shure SE420s more often than not, but only because in-ears are typically for people on the go and people on the go benefit more from isolation than superb audio quality.

Sennheiser vs. Sennheiser, brother against brother, a match to truly match all matches. Actually this one is a bit anti-climactic: the MM 50 iPs win pretty handily. They do better and cost less. The only benefit the CX 95s have that the MM 50 iPs don’t is the really short cord. This feature really works best for joggers and people on the move, but the ear buds just didn’t stay in as well. The MM 50 iPs are also cheaper and have a mic and control button.

The ER6is are strong competitors. True to their name, they isolate very well. They also have great audio quality and are relatively cheap. The CX 95s, however, are a bit cheaper and offer slightly better overall audio quality. In this case we’re really torn, because we value isolation over audio quality on in-ears. Try both, but we’d probably recommend the ER6is over the CX 95s.

The V-MODA Vibe Duos are slightly cheaper than the CX 95s, but we don’t think they offer quite as much. The CX 95s trump them on audio quality, but the Vibe Duos look better overall and come with a handy mic and control button. This makes them great for use with cell phones or (select) media players. We think we’re going to lean towards the CX 95s on this one, because the extra cash gets you a better value.