In ear headphones $150 or less

I vastly prefer to listen to a pair of speakers because of the stereo field and the 3 dimensionality it projects in front of you, but when i can't, i am ok with my open-back sennheiser 598 ($130), and in-ear focal sphere ($85).  
I have had a lot of in-ear, shure 215, 115, senn cx-3, klipsh 4, jbl 22, cheap jvc, and others forgotten.... my favorite is the focal because of how comfortable it is, how it does isolate, and how it does articulate without any extremes. And i had it for under $100.  Great for the office.

I highly recommend the Massdrop Hifiman RE00. When it's available On massdrop it's about $40 dollars.  The Venture Monks are also a bargain at $5. Checkout www.massdrop.com they actually have a lot of IEM headphones at decent prices.  The only drawback with purchasing with a bunch of people together is that the shipping and delivery takes time..the obvious benefit is the negotiated lower prices. 

Portlandlay would be intrigued to know your findings, as you stated the search through reviews and recommendation for that right balance can be quite an endeavor.