Beats, you should probably be familiar with them by now. If you were to see a person walking around with headphones around his neck or on his ears – they’re most likely going to be a pair of Beats by Dr Dre Studios or Solos… What are they? They are overpriced, cheap headphones that are endorsed by some very famous people. The most famous pair of Beats is the Studios. I’ll admit, they look sleek, but they don’t feel this way!

Many people have reported easy snapping of the headband on the studios, as well as a flimsy battery cover, and ear cups that are easily removable. But their cheap build quality doesn’t seem to stop thirteen year old kids from wanting them. Not only are these headphones made of terrible materials, but they have terrible sound quality… They are known for being very bassy headphones, which a typical teenager seems to like, but what they don’t realize is that the bass is drowning out the mids and the highs in the music. The instrumental separation in a pair of Beats is awful, you aren’t able to differentiate each drum, guitar or bass sound. You aren’t able to hear each instruments clearly. How much do these muddy, bass-heavy headphones go for? They can be bought at Best-Buy for $300… You’re probably wondering “why would such crappy headphones be sold for such a high price?”. The answer: marketing tricks. HTC is the current owner of the Beats line, and the previous owner was Monster Cable. I have to hand it to Monster for their genius marketing, though. Their main marketing trick is to use famous celebrities and artists to promote these headphones. The headphones are mainly endorsed by the famous rapper, Dr. Dre, who others claim to be the second most awesome rapper alive. They have also paid many other celebrities such as: Will.I.Am, Skrillex, Ellie Goulding, Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber, Zedd, David Guetta and the worst rapper of all time: Lil Wayne to wear these headphones. Just watch this video and you will see all of the things that they’re trying to put into your head:

Click this to watch the video (it’s YouTube don’t worry) .

Hopefully, you finished that video and you have continued to read this, and I hope you’ve noticed the kind of (excuse my language) bullshit that they said in that video. It was all lies, lies and lies. “I wanted to work with Dr. Dre, because you know there are many kids today that are listening to really cheap headphones and they’re not getting the quality you should be hearing”. True, but your “Beats by Dr. Dre” aren’t going to help solve that problem. It’s really funny because Beats are exactly that – cheap headphones and you aren’t getting all the quality you should be hearing, especially for $300 headphones. “I want my fans to hear a change in what they’re used to hearing”… Well then your fans are going to hate you. Also, did you notice that Justin Bieber didn’t wear his headphones once in the entire video? If you are a celebrity endorser for Monster or HTC you’re just as bad as the companies, you don’t care about anyone else, and you don’t care that you are scamming them, you just care that you are getting paid. I just can’t get over the fact that people don’t realize that. I mean come on, you’re selling $300 headphones that are worse than the Apple stock earbuds that come with iPods and iPhones. Beats doesn’t even give out the specifications for their headphones! Why isn’t that illegal?!

Why would you want headphones that are endorsed by crappy artists? Seriously! Today’s music is complete crap! Why would you want headphones that are endorsed by someone like Lil Wayne, a person who rhymes the “n” word with the “n” word?! Although, there are some good artists that endorse these headphones, but I believe that some of them should be left out of the mainstream game. Zedd, is one of my favourite electronic artists, and he is one of the celebrities that endorse Beats by Dre. What I like about his music is that most people I know, don’t listen to Zedd because they’ve never heard of him. I like to be unique and listen to music that others have never heard of before. But some of the celebrities that endorse these produce terrible music, and I don’t get how the parents don’t realize that their own kids are falling for this game that HTC is playing. It’s not really the kids or the parents to blame however, it’s mostly the company and the lack of effort to warn people that is to blame. If you were to walk into an Apple Store, you’ll see Apple “Geniuses” recommending Beats, because they don’t care if you get a good product or not, they just want money because after all – it is their job. They are salesman which means they SELL stuff. If you worked at an Apple Store or a Best Buy you could get fired for driving customers away.

You shouldn’t buy something because it’s in right now, or because it’s hip or cool… Maybe these Beats, after a year or two will be dead, and all of this is just another fad. We’ve all been through phases, right? I remember back in elementary school, we used to play with finger skateboards and wear shoes with wheels on the heels (aka “Heelies”). To anyone who’s reading this, I want you to be unique, and not waste money on a product that you think will make you “cooler”. There are cheaper headphones out there that sound at least twenty times better than Beats by Dre. So why go for a pair of headphones that sound like crap and are overpriced, when you can have cheaper headphones that are built and sound better?

Headphones that match price of Beats by Dre, and are 50x better:

There are tons of headphones that outperform Beats that are only a quarter or less of the price, but I’m going to recommend some pretty good ones if you’re planning on buying Beats.

Beats by Dr Dre Solos: $160 at Best Buy

- Recommended:

1. Audio Technica ATH-M50 – $120 on Amazon

2. Sennheiser HD 518 – $130 on Amazon

3. Sony MDR-V6 – $70 on Amazon

Beats by Dr Dre Mixrs: $250 at Best Buy

- Recommended:

1. Phiaton PS 500 – $154 on Amazon

2. Grado SR 225i – $200 on on Amazon

Beats by Dr Dre Studios and Executive: $300 at Best Buy

- Recommended:

1. For people who want A LOT of bass: Sony MDR-XB1000 – $315 on Amazon

2. AKG K550 – $300 on Amazon

Beats by Dr Dre Pros: $400-$450 at Best Buy

- Recommended:

1. Sennheiser HD 650 – $360 on Amazon

2. HiFiMAN HE-400 – $400 on Amazon

If you’re interested in more headphones please check out these links:

http://head-fi.org

http://headphone.com

TOP 10 headphones under $500 - http://www.headphone.com/selection-guide/top-picks/10-best-headphones.php

TOP 10 headphones - http://www.headphone.com/selection-guide/top-picks/top-picks-for-audiophiles.php