Monster Beats Solo HD (PRODUCT)RED Headphones with ControlTalk

Build and comfort: These cans are compact. I don't know how durable these are. They seal good on ear and gives good isolation. 
 
Sound: People are saying that beats have earth shattering and well extended lows. These are complete lies. The bass in non existant. What's existant is something heavily bloated around 150-350hz range. 150-300hz isn't considered bass (150hz could be). First time you put them on, you think that people who say beats are bad are lying. But as the music progresses, you feel everything being dissolved in that bloated 150-350hz range. I find £40 xb600, even £20 xb30ex (which is an iem) to be sounding so much better than solo hd. 
 
Verdict: £130 will be burnt if one pair is bought. 

First off, I'm going to say that I didn't pay for these, they were a gift.
Second of all, I do like them, they work well for me

Ok so long before I had any audiophiliac knowledge, I wanted beats for the boomy sound, good looks, and because I was a bit insecure to be completely honest. In spite of this, I had still heard other headphones which sounded better than the muddy mess that attacked my ears upon receiving my gift and was prepared to return them, when I tried on an off chance to run them through my dad'so amplifier. The difference was the single greatest difference I had ever heard amplification make to a headphone, even to this day. These headphones work nicely, at a 200$ level when you treate them right, but are remarkably demanding. iPods and whatever they use for display in store do no justice for these. Sounds decent, but, the average consumer looking for a nice bassy but good headphone is not in possession of a decent amp, and even if they do, it takes away from the point of these which is to be portable. Big mistake, Beats. My guess, from close listens is that they took whatever driver was in the original studio and jammed it into a smaller frame, which sounds like a good thing, but there was a reason why the beats studio sounded better; the active noise cancelling coupled with the amplification effect added value for your average joe who doesn't have a clue about bitrates, frequency response, or preamplification. Either way, I'm not entirely sold on the value, but it's far from what head fi makes it out to be. In terms of comfort, I have never had a problem, but friends of mine have experience some clamping and fatigue after listening periods longer than an hour or 2. Durability... Well I have had them for 3 years now with no problems, but the cables seem to fall apart constantly, which is a big no no with a headphone of this cost IMO, but not an uncommon one. Maybe I just treat my cables like ****.

Opinion as it pertains to marketing:
You dun goofd Beats. The poor reproduction under normal portable conditions gives the impression to the listener that they are paying an enormous premium for the product. Relying on it being someone's first decent headphone works for a time, but with companies like Sennheiser waiting to snatch up disgruntled beats customers their long term market strategy is doomed unless they rework it to be more easily driven, cool the bass down a bit, and do some serious damage control in terms of overall opinion on the company. No, they will aren't and will never be open headphones with a flat response, they intentionally color the music for bass lovers, and they will never be a Superlux of value, but these headphones are actually decent, and need to be able to show that they are more effectively.

NOTE: Burn in time was about 20 hours, made a pretty big difference, toned the bass and sharpened the treble. Mids still iffy.

Bottom line:

IF you have a decent portable amp, don't mind carrying around said amp, enjoy bassy headphones, and like the looks, go for it.

EDIT: I am lowering the rating of these to 2.5 stars. I was too easy on these cans, better off getting ue 4000s.

For $200 headphones, I gotta say these perform pretty abysmally. I'll tell you about 3 things: design, comfort, and sound. I borrowed these for a week for the purpose of studying them, and the friend I borrowed them from assured me they're real.
 
Design
These are a nice looking pair of headphones. The sleek design shape and shiny finish make these aesthetically pleasing in a somewhat flashy way. It feels kind of like they were designed to be flashy and easy to show off, especially for high schoolers that want to brag about them.
 
While the thick plastic headband makes these headphones look strong, they're actually pretty flimsy. The plastic that makes up the headband is brittle and feels like it could break easily if you stretched it a little too far. I had to be very careful while handling these, because I felt like if I wasn't they were going to break. I didn't even bother testing these to see if they could stand up to dropping, because I was almost sure they'd break if I did. Considering the $200 price tag, you'd expect something a little more solid.
 
 
Comfort
These aren't very comfortable to wear, but at least they're not painful. After about 30 minutes, they start feeling like head clamps, so I had to take them off for a few seconds and put them back on. Not a deal-breaker, but it's still annoying.
 
 
Sound
Bass is definitely the strong point of these headphones. It's very abundant in the sound signature. While I personally like this, anyone seeking an accurate frequency response should steer clear. A problem with the bass was that it sounded somewhat "mushy," not punchy like the bass on my Sennheisers or Bose. I prefer punchy bass over mushy bass.
 
Mids are nothing to brag about. They're present but sometimes a little overshadowed by the bass. The clarity isn't so good either.
 
Treble is vieled and rolled off at the top. Some detail is also missing too.
 
 
Conclusion
I know it sounds like I'm bashing these headphones, but I'm really not. I'm simply judging them from the $200 standard, and from the $200 standard, they're horrible. If I was judging these from the $40 standard, these would actually have gotten a 4 star rating. If we ignore the price, these aren't horrible headphones. But when you buy these at the normal price, you're overpaying by $160. Is the Beats brand really worth that?