"dope design"?
That right there is all I had to read to know this was going to be bad >.>
Beats are marketed as studio headphones. Studio headphones (or at least studio quality) should be balanced/neutral, no?
Would you say these are studio quality?
You spent more on the Studios than your other 2 "quality" headphones combined and even then you said it yourself, you prefer the other 2 pairs for recording/critical listening.
If you still don't think it's a marketing scam I suggest taking a look at this page: http://www.head-fi.org/t/619494/beats-are-magical-and-other-nearly-criminal-marketing-schemes

Next, there are other, higher quality/better value portable headphones.
Let's take the Audio Technica ES10 (a bit more expensive than the studios, probably closer to the price of the pros). Great audiophile level sound, nice shiny cups and quite portable. The Studios are quite large, require batteries (I've seen lots of people get stuck in the middle of their commute without a set of spare batteries) and barely isolate in the first place.
Or what about IEMs? Just the size of IEMs makes them incredibly portable. I carry my Shure SE535 in my pocket. They isolate better than beats and sound better (this comes down to personal opinion, I'm not a basshead).


For bassy headphones there are other options as well. I've seen a brand new pair of AT Pro700mk2ANV go for $200 recently. Personally it has a nicer color scheme and it has a similar basshead sound, of course for a lot less.

I don't understand how spending over $200 for the logo adds to great value (you said it yourself, you're paying 70% for the brand).
Or how design gets 5 stars when you even listed build as a con and they require batteries for seemingly no reason (since the ANC does such a poor job).

If people laugh at you for wearing good headphones while they remain completely ignorant. Let them laugh. At least you'll have a better listening experience. The last thing I think about when I bring my HD800 outside is whether I look like part of the beats army or not.

"As modern music sounds relatively boomy & full of (electronic/digital) instruments nowadays, perfectly balanced audiophile and monitoring headphones can't capture the EMOTIONS that the artists and producers aimed at."
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I don't mind one man's opinion, as it's merely one man's opinion. But the above statement is the very epitome of the word rubbish! A 'perfectly balanced audiophile and monitoring headphone' is FAR MORE likely to capture the emotions, as it doesn't (more or less) color the sound that the listener was intended to hear in the first place...
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I believe you owe it to your ears to hear a few 'audiophile and monitoring headphones.'

There are a ton of better looking, better sounding, and lower priced headphones than beats.
Also, the Sennheisers you said you had are pretty crappy as well. Just saying.

Before joining Head-fi I may have been more open to this review. Last year, I made the mistake of purchasing Ludacris Soul SL300's which are almost identical in every way to the Beats Studio. At the time, I thought they sounded good. Fast forward to 100 or so headphone auditions later and I realize how poor Beats and Souls sound comparatively. Specifically, everything is just muddy and lacking detail along with one-note "thump, thump" bass. I think if you go to some high end audio stores and take your time sampling, you might have a similar experience. You could even go to Best Buy and try the Denon DN-HP1000 that will give you superior bass (cleaner, tighter, more musical), greater detail and superior build quality at half the price. Some other bassy headphones that, IMO blow the Beats away at a similar price point include the PSB M4U2, Audio Technica ATH-PRO 700MK2 (same as the HP1000), Fidelio L1, AKG K550, Denon AH-D400 and probably the upcoming V-Moda M-100.

1. Yes they're fashion headphones, but that's not an excuse for them sounding subpar. Look at the Phiaton MS400, Audio Techncia ES7/10 or ESW9/10JPN, or V-Moda M80. They're arguably fashion headphones, and they sound pretty dang good.
2. Yes they are a marketing scam. They've been touted as, "What the artist wants you to hear." Uhm, overblown bass, recessed mids are what the artist wants you to hear? No they're not. Yes, it's natural to say your headphones are the best ever, but other companies are at least...a little more honest. Monster is describing their headphones as neutral and analytical, while they're anything but.
3. You CANNOT argue that packaging is worth 70%. Any design dropout can think of using a plastic unibody headband like that (my Audio Technica ATH-2 from the 70's has a similar headband, except it, you know, is durable and looks ugly because the people of the 70's were weird).
4. Who in the world would take a ridiculous headphone (other than the really dedicated) like the HD700 in public anyway? It successfully fulfills zero requirements for portable listening. And you care about being laughed at (the entire premise is incredibly unlikely), that's a self-esteem issue you need to fix. No need to compensate through headphones.
5. Are the Beats even fashion statements anymore? They're like...four years old. I figured everyone would move on to something else by now.
6. I'd hate to travel with the Studios because they leak way too much sound for a "closed" headphone. I don't want people knowing I listen to Cher.
7. To be quite frank, the HD202 and HD280 aren't anything to brag about if you're trying to justify your love of Beats...even I like the Studios more than either of those. Try a Phiaton or V-Moda and get back with us.

"Dr. Dre have stated during the press conference that they made Beats (Studio, that time) as the kind of headphones that represents what a modern music should sounds and feels like, NOT what all kinds of music should EXACTLY sounds like.
When he said that it makes the music sounds like the way artists & producers wanted us to hear, he could be right. As modern music sounds relatively boomy & full of (electronic/digital) instruments nowadays, perfectly balanced audiophile and monitoring headphones can't capture the EMOTIONS that the artists and producers aimed at."
hahahaha

How does Dr. Dre know how all other artists and producers want their music to sound? What is the point of having producers for each song/artist when apparently everyone just wants bloated, boomy bass. It is my opinion that headphones (along with the amp/dac) are merely a window to the music and should initially be as transparent as possible. The user can then personally choose how to tweak the sound to their preference. The Beats go off the assumption that their signature is how everyone should listen.

Also, most of the other headphones that people compare with these for much cheaper are not "perfectly balanced audiophile and monitoring headphones" but rather fun sounding headphones geared as those who want a particular sound. The thing is they do that much better and with better fidelity that the Beats, and that is why they are bashed.

Off of their website: Beats Studio headphones are the icons that bring you sound the way it was originally intended.
This bothers me because it is not true. They measure poorly, and I'm referring to things such as distortion and frequency decay. They claim to let you hear the music as intended, yet they have audible distortion...

"As modern music sounds relatively boomy & full of (electronic/digital) instruments nowadays, perfectly balanced audiophile and monitoring headphones can't capture the EMOTIONS that the artists and producers aimed at."

This is a joke, right? Increasing the bass more on a headphone does NOT mean it conveys the artists' emotions. Monitoring headphones are designed to convey the music as it was produced to begin with. If the artist wanted you to feel the emotions of the artist, it would be captured in a studio monitoring headphone. I am quite certain jazz bands don't want their bass guitars sounding flabby and bloated, and the high-pitched brass instruments being quiet relative to the bass. The Beats Studio headphones do that quite well, and if you think the Studio's somehow convey these bands' emotions, I think you would be directly insulting them.

If you're going to bash "audiophile-approved" headphones, you should at least form a basic understanding of what it is you're bashing, which you clearly don't based on the aforementioned analysis.

Actually, just read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/beats-headphones-expand-dr-dres-business-world.html?_r=1

"His interest in getting into the headphone business was prompted by what he calls a steady decline in the quality of audio equipment and of recordings, as they have been compressed into digital files. That process allows more songs to be loaded onto a mobile device, but doing so eliminates some of the music’s complexity.
At that time, Mr. Iovine said headphones had become a commodity, and “everything that came out kept making the sound worse, and worse and worse.”
...He dismissed those who criticize the sound quality of Beats. Competitors use fancy equipment to determine how headphones should sound, he said, whereas he and Mr. Young simply know how they should sound.
“The way we hear music is almost the opposite of the way these sound companies hear music,” he said."

Yup, forget graphs and objective methods, their hearing is what's correct. More correct than decades of research.

This review is ridiculous. It seems like the reviewer was so desperate to make a counter-culture review that he completely forgot what this site was about, or the actual primary goal of headphones.

Yes, they are fashion headphones. So what? That doesn't mean they get a free pass for being ****ty. Look at V-MODA, who do everything the Beats can do better, and even better than most headphones available today, while still being "fashion headphones". This is Head-Fi, not Project Runway. Looks come second to audio.

At first I thought this was a legit review but as i kept reading I suspect that he's a troll.
"When he said that it makes the music sounds like the way artists & producers wanted us to hear, he could be right. As modern music sounds relatively boomy & full of (electronic/digital) instruments nowadays, perfectly balanced audiophile and monitoring headphones can't capture the EMOTIONS that the artists and producers aimed at."
My friend and I A/Bed his Beats Studios (which he had to send back about 2-3 times for the same headband problem) and my Sennheiser HD598 with the same equipment and different genres. The first thing he noted besides the "lack of bass" on the HD598 was the RICHNESS and the EMOTIONS (amongst other things) of Adele's songs which I believe is considered "modern music."
"For those of you who wonder if I'm one of those "Beats Army", I'm NOT.
I own a pair of Monster Beats Studio (Red) for my travel headphones due to functionality & looks.And I own a pair of Sennheiser HD 202 for my home studio recording & DJ set on-a-budget, and a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro for critical video & audio editing and HDSLR separate audio monitoring. Solely because of the quality."
I had a pair of HD202's and I think any Beats headphones blow them out of the water, except in the price/performance ratio. I've only heard the HD280's in a Best Buy with some pop song they had there and I thought they were alright but almost boring. My point is that you're comparing the Beats Studios to some not-so-great headphones. The Beats are about $300 while the HD280's are about $100. You should compare headphones of similar price range to the Beats, or at least something in the same category like the Sony XB500 or Audio Technica M50.
One last thing. The fact that you act as "being right and everyone else is wrong" while you claim that we're acting that way is utterly insulting which would explain why everyone's flaming you. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. What I think is the best for me may not necessarily be any good for you and vice versa. All we try to do is use our knowledge and experiences to try to help people find the perfect headphone for various situations whether it be within a certain budget or not. If you think the Beats are your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine with me and I don't care that I think they're overpriced and bloated if it's your perfect solution.

When i tried beats (with my not experienced ear) Wow! its so loud and.... boomy.
When i tried my first grado (with my not so experienced ear)...plugged it in, then switch to my favorite rock track..and it change the way I appreciated music.. all in less than 5 minutes.. I will never forget that magical moment *sniff*

Beats suck when you look at the Priceerformance ratio.

"IT'S A FASHION HEADPHONES! My goodness you guys seriously (-_-).... Why are most of you guys (with all due respect) comparing it with audiophile headphones?? Of course it's not gonna win. It's like comparing a newly released fancy-looking casual laptop with a 5 years-old gaming laptop for their ability of playing hardcore games"
Disagree with the review, but I was shocked when reading this. Beats are overpriced. You can get ATH-M50, HFI 580 and DT770 for half the price, which sound a lot better. Who cares that the beats aren't audiophile headphones. They are still in competition with other headphones, and can't even reach XB500 level. WOOOOOOOW. And if the beats are not going to win against audiophile headphones in the same price range, or with headphones that are half its price, LOWER THE PRICE! The problem is people like you would pay these absurd prices and give beats by dre (monster) business. Also, as miceblue stated, increasing bass does not mean it conveys the artist's emotion. The overall sound presentation, detail in the highs and mids, and the texture and quality in the lows convey the artist's emotion. Listen to audiophile headphones in the same or less price range, and then throw your beats in the garbage and say goodbye. Audiophile headphones = Quality..... Beats = Quantity.

I do not like m50, but the m50s are much better than the Beats