I go through 3 sets of buds a year... since they're primarily an 'activity' oriented headphone, they get yanked out when exercising, dropped and stepped on, ran through the wash in my shorts, sweated into salty non-operation, and generally destroyed at such a fast rate that I buy a couple pairs at a time. I'd have to be COMPLETELY MENTAL to spend over a hundred bucks on a pair. I'm not a big fan of on-ear headphones (worst of both worlds, bulky but with weak sound) but Bose on-ear headphones are decent enough but nothing I'd buy. They're on par with Audio Technica's that cost a third less, and inferior to Sennheisers in the same price range.