What are the best earphones and headphones?

Not much info to go on...

I don't use in-ears much and the pair I carry are the Sony MDR E11LP

Budget headphones worth looking at are the Sure SRH240, Sony MDR ZX100 or XZ300...the Monoprice 8323 also gets great reviews and has the advantage of interchangeable leads, it isn't the most comfy headphone, sounds great though.

I collect headphones and change them all the time...I like one set with my iPod and prefer another for watching video or TV on the laptop...and then i'll stick on another set when i'm out and about...don't use in-ears much sorry.

What do you care about more: portability or quality?

If you care about portability more, then get earphones. If you care more about sound quality, then go for headphones.

Headphones with thinner wires break more, and in that case you wouldn't want to spend too much. Also, headphones with the foam covers on them tend to leak sound, which should be avoided, especially if you're on the bus a lot. If you're looking for headphones, tend to get something cheaper because $10 headphones actually have really good sound quality. As for earphones, they break alot more than headphones, and if you go through enough you will start to realize what brands are good.

If REAL quality is an issue, you should stick to REPUTABLE brands only such as B&W, Sennheiser (most affordable), Shure, Grado, Denon, AKG, Audio-Technica (NOT to be mixed with Technic which is utter rubbish as well!), Etymotic or Beyerdynamic. Things like V-Moda, Klipsch, Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Philips are ONLY "okay-ish" indeed. Please do NOT fall a victim to FASHION ACCESSORIES by buying Boombox, Ministry of Sound, Sol/Republic/Revolution, Noontec Zoro's, Benetton, a-jays, iFrogz, Marley, Fanny Wang, Razer, Karl Kani, WESC, Turtle, JH, Dr.Dre/Beats/Solo, Ludacris/Soul, Koss, Skullcandy, Lady GaGa, Skullcrushers, Monsters nor Bose, because they are ALL seriously overhyped and overpriced "fashion blingbling gimmicks" with a very poor durability and sound quality, NOTHING else (and those who try to claim they are good do NOT know ANYTHING about QUALITY anyway!), BE THEM FAKE OR NOT!

Again, please do NOT focus on the thumping bass that just distorts everything else, instead go for GOOD audio quality IN GENERAL.