Whether you’re attempting to listen to music or movies at home without disturbing others, or trying to hear the beat in noisier environments, a good set of headphones can come in handy. We’ve just completed our testing of several new headphone models, which range from portable insert-style earphones to over-the-ear headsets designed to be used at home. When you combine our evaluations of home and portable models with those that use active noise-canceling technology, there are now almost three-dozen tested models in our headphone Ratings (available to subscribers).

While you can easily spend more than $200 for a highly rated model, you don’t have to—we found several models with excellent or very good sound for less than $100, and a few for considerably less. The two least expensive recommended models in our Ratings cost only $20 each.

Our latest tests include not only new models from established brands, such as Bose, Grado, Koss, Sennheiser and Sony, but also some headphones from newer brands, such as Skullcandy, Ultimate Ears, and Monster. We also tested a new model from Auvio, RadioShack’s new headphone/cable brand.

Also, you might also notice that our headphone Ratings now include not just sound-quality scores, but descriptions of the overall sound. We hope this additional information is helpful when choosing between models that might have similar sound-quality scores, but different sound attributes (such as better bass response or a boosted midrange). Keep checking with our blog for other headphone news, including Ratings updates. —James K. Willcox