Beats by Dr. Dre Studio High Definition Headphones From Monster - Black

These headphones remind me of Apple products - I reckon about £50 of the cost is the packaging. Which is a nice "surprise and delight" moment when you receive the product but actually when you analyse it why would you want your money spent this way? There's a lavish headphone case with a cabina - mine lasted 3 days before the poorly stitched hook the cabena attaches to tore away. Then there's the rather thick booklet. Looks nice. But open it up and you actually get every singe language in the world with just a couple of pages of informtion. Information so generic (to the whole range) that it's incomplete (no explanation of the fact you get two different leads in the box, one presumably needed if you want to talk).

The headphones themselves look cool, and are clearly designed for kids who believe hype and have more money than sense. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh. The headphones are stylish and generally well put together. But their whole raison d'etre is a quote from Dr Dre about people not hearing the music that was recorded. Buy these headphones and you're definitely not going to hear the music that was recorded. Bass, bass, bass. I guess if you're into bass-thudding hip-hop you may think the sound resembles what was intended. For other music genres forget it. The over-the-top bass is particularly noticeable on spoken word podcasts - which quite frankly sound terrible on these headphones.

Given that these are very expensive headphones marketed to iPhone and iPad users you'd think a better job could have been done of shielding the headphones from the noise a phone can make when electronic devices get near it. No, what you get here is constant irritating cross-interference. I'd blame the phone but my previous Boss and Sennheiser phones used with the same phone never suffered from these problems. The headphones are comfortable to wear, but make your ears sweat if worn for more than half an hour.

For the money spent I'm disappointed with these headphones. All style and hype, little sonic substance.

I've had many many pairs of headphones; closed cup/open cup, with/without noise cancelling, and most brands out there. Beats Studio are easily the worst for sound quality.

The good points first: I actually like the look. They're a bit ostentatious but they feel like good quality hardware, solid and plush. The box presentation is nice. Also I love the design of the cable jack - it is at a flat right angle so it sits flush against whatever you plug it into. This means there aren't any awkward angles to snag the jack on in your pocket or wherever. It's about time other brands caught on. I'm looking at you, Bose.

But all that is secondary. You buy headphones for the sound and the sound of these things is just appalling. The most important point I want to make is this: powerful bass is not the same thing as good quality bass. The Beats Studio have powerful bass, but it is muddy and unrestrained, the opposite of the crisp notes than come out of a bass guitar. It's like a pair of blown speakers strapped to your head. And because the bass is so powerful it overwhelms every other element of the music. The mids are acceptable, but you can't hear them. The highs are below average quality for a price tag like that, but don't let that bother you because they're totally obscured by the bass. You can't hear any detail at either end.

Aside from the sound quality, they leak noise like crazy. These things are closed cup, active noise cancelling so you shouldn't be able to hear anything if someone else is wearing them, but you can hear every note. Also I wore mine on a flight and the noise cancelling didn't block out any sound at all.

Mine sounded so bad I was worried I'd bought a fake pair, so I took them back to the shop and they replaced them with a brand new pair. Exactly the same. The lady in the shop told me they get refund claims many times more than other headphones brands.

The Beats Studio will sound good if the only other kind of headphone you've tried is the in-the-ear, ipod variety. They'll also sound passable if the music coming through them is fairly simple. But if you shop around you'll find a much higher quality sound at half the price.

I've never written a review before but feel compelled to now because I bought these headphones last week and thought the sound was incredible. Yes, there is a slight hiss from the noise cancellation but it is barely noticeable and you get used to it very quickly. I heard things in songs I never knew were there, beautiful.

BUT

I had to return them the very next day because they leak SO MUCH SOUND. It's not like just hearing someone has music on, it is literally hearing every lyric. Heard from other online reviews that people have been asked to remove them countless times. As I bought these for out and about and for travel, I had to return them as they would be totally unsuable on a bus, train or plane. I strongly suggest you think carefully about where you want to use these before you buy them as with the volume on a nice level you might as well be playing music our your phone. Even on a low level you can still hear the lyrics.

So decide wisely. If you're a DJ or something I would imagine they are marvellous but if there is ever going to be anyone around when you use these headphones, I suggest you think carefully.