darthspudius: Beats are just a brand made for hip hop loving idiots who don't know any better. The quality of the headphones themselves suck major balls. I mean, they're truly terrible. Get yourself some Sennheisers instead. Not only can you get headphones of different shape and sizes, but they are consistently good.
hedwards: That was my recommendation.
But, for the amount of money that Beats cost, you can pick up a pair of Grados. Not their top of the line, but ones that aren't their cheapest either.
Personally, I went with a pair of $60 Sennheisers years ago and they're more than good enough for just about anything that one might want to listen to. Perhaps not good enough for professional work, but far better than any sources of audio that non-professionals are going to be listening to.
You gents are a bit mistaken, actually. The original Beats were exceptionally good -- *if* you like your music
LOUD -- hard rock *or* classical. Unfortunately, they've since gone to shit. I bought mine at Best Buy and tried everything they had -- Beats Original were the best, hands down, including the pricier Beats models, which were less comfortable and didn't have better sound quality. Now it seems they've really gone to shit, just like Apple.
That said, they'd have been pointless for you all along, because who the hell wants to listen to Frank Sinatra or Ethel Merman at max volume??? o.O