I used to think that Bose is THE brand when it comes to headphones and home theater..until i moved to the US and found out there are way overpriced (blame it on their aggresive marketing) and u can find many other brands with better products at a fraction of their price. Beats by Dr Dre is also bit overhyped in opinion. Its good for those who like hiphop music as its bass heavy (it is a Dr Dre brand after all)

I'm no means an expert but from the brands that i've tried, i would suggest Sennheiser & Audio Technica beside Etymotic. For under $150 Senn HD595 and the ATH-M50 are pretty good stuff.. check out their reviews on Amazon to get a better idea.

However if looking for a decent pair thats easy on the wallet, for under $50 the Senn HD238 and HD202 are worth checking out.. which are comparable to the $100 Bose models.