If you are an audiophile, the last pair of earphones you would accept are the free ones that come bundled with your smartphone. A good pair of earphones can really enhance that workout at the gym or enliven the commute with every sigh and gun shot on Netflix right in your ears.  When Apple eliminated the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, customers were understandably upset but this only meant that the phone had better sealing for moisture and wireless headphones would now have to be an option even if they were expensive.

The various types of headphones are:

• Noise cancelling headphones: These cancel out external ambient noises by blocking steady sounds of low-frequency. While some earphones eliminate noises passively where the ear cups reduce certain level of outside noise, few other headphones performs active noise cancelling by emitting certain frequency of sound to block ambient noise.
• Mic’d headphones: These have built-in microphones whose cord have remote control buttons to toggle between music and phone calls. These headsets are mostly compatible with Android or Apple devices (any one at a time) and come in variants like in-ear, full-size and wireless designs.

With so many configurations of headphones paired up with cell phone deals, here are the 3 main categories to help you choose a pair of headphones.

1. Over-ear / around the ear headphones: The ear cups surround the entire ear providing immersive sound and comfort. But their makes them less portable.
2. On-ear headphones: The ear cushions rest on the ear directly and weigh lesser than the around the ear counterparts.
3. In-ear headphones / or earphones: These have removal tips that are placed on the entry of the ear canal thereby isolating outside noise.

There are various brands out there for earphones, some professional some budget. Here’s a quick list of some of the best brands for earphones.

Budget – Panasonic, JVC, Anker, Plantronics
Mid-level- Skullcandy, Sennheiser, Beats
Expensive – Audio technica, Audeze, Abyss