Panasonic ErgoFit In-Ears vs Final Audio Design E3000 (2017)

The Panasonic ErgoFit RP-HJE120 (2013) is a great Canal Earphone for its $10 asking price.

The Final Audio Design E3000 (2017), however, is merely passable at its $44 price point. If you're considering buying a Canal Earphone in the $30 range, you might want to check out some of its competitors.

The Panasonic ErgoFit RP-HJE120 (2013) has done great in a couple of roundups conducted by highly trusted sources that perform objective in-depth testing, like CNET, Rtings, SoundGuys, and Tom's Guide - it earned the "Best wired earbuds under $10" title from CNET, "Cheapest Earbuds With Decent Performance" from Rtings, and "Bang for your Buck" from SoundGuys. Any product that's held in high regard by such reliable sources should be considered by anyone that's looking for a Canal Earphone at this price point.

Taking a look at the Final Audio Design E3000 (2017), it got featured in roundups from two reliable sources that conduct their own testing - Head-fi and Wirecutter (NYTimes) - but it fell short of earning a top spot in either.

We conducted an analysis of all of the review data that we could find on these two products. First, we focused on sources that tested and rated both of them, like Head-fi, and learned that they all showed a preference for the Final Audio Design E3000 (2017).

Then we took a look at the highest review scores that these two Canal Earphones received. We found that the Panasonic ErgoFit RP-HJE120 (2013) managed to earn a rating of 8 from CNET, whereas the Final Audio Design E3000 (2017) got its highest, 9.1, score from reviewers at Head-fi.

Lastly, in order to better compare them to the rest of their competition, we averaged out their review scores. The Final Audio Design E3000 (2017) managed to get 9.1 out of 10 - considerably better than the 7.4 review average of Canal Earphones in general - whereas the Panasonic ErgoFit RP-HJE120 (2013) earned 7.2 points.

It should be said that doing a direct Panasonic ErgoFit RP-HJE120 (2013) vs. Final Audio Design E3000 (2017) comparison might not be entirely fair due to the difference in their prices - some sources don't put much weight on value for money and thus tend to give better review scores to more expensive products.