The bottom line

Most people who end up with a pair of EarPods will have received them bundled with another Apple product. While some of them will opt for better sound through third-party headphones (and Macworld will continue to recommend the purchase of third-party headphones for a substantial upgrade in sound quality), many (most?) people will happily listen to the EarPods, never realizing they're getting a much-improved listening experience compared to Apple's previous toss-ins.

If you don't have a set of EarPods, are they worth spending $29 for? In the world of headphones, $29 is fairly inexpensive, and if you're simply looking to upgrade from existing Apple earbuds, or to replace a lost or broken set, I can recommend the EarPods--they're easily worth their retail price, especially considering that they include an excellent inline remote/microphone module. Similarly, if you're committed to using earbuds--because of their convenient size and lack of sonic isolation, for example--the EarPods are a worthy contender: Although there are earbuds available that are better overall, those models come at a significantly higher price, and they usually involve sacrificing a substantial portion of bass frequencies. To improve upon the EarPods' audio quality without spending a lot more money, you'll have to look beyond earbud-style models to other types of headphones such as full-size 'phones, canalbuds, and canalphones.