It’s not easy to buy good headphones these days. There are so many companies that produce good stuff. Choosing is impossible. Especially when you are OCD and everything has to be perfect. Well, I’ve discovered the perfect headphones: The Beats By Dre ‘Studio’ Headphones, which cost $229. I previously owned a pair of plain old Apple earphones. But after listening to a friend’s Sennheisers one day, I couldn’t tolerate the crappy Apple earphones any more. I have been testing the Beats rigorously for the past three months, and now my friend’s Sennheisers sound like those Apple earphones. ;)
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I had a great experience unboxing the Beats. It’s similar to unboxing an Apple product. The Beats come in a huge box with a lot of goodies. Firstly, there’s a nice little carrying case that is good quality. Then there are two audio cables, which are really high-quality. One has a built-in microphone called iSoniTalk, which works really well with my iPhone. Also included is a 1/8-to-1/4″ adapter that helps you connect the Beats to professional equipment and the usual suspects like cleaning cloths and batteries.
Aesthetically, the Beats “Studios” are really appealing. Once your eyes lock onto them, it’s hard to tear them off. This is the main reason I wanted them. They are available in two colors, black or white, but can be customized using Colorware.
The music experience is simply great! The crispness of the audio really gets me into the music. These are awesome, full-range heaphones that balance all the lows, mids and highs very well. For bass lovers, this is definitely a must-buy as there’s a lot of bass thumping in your ears to keep you immersed in the music.
Something I was really skeptical about was the noise-cancellation features, before actually using it of course. To my surprise, the noise-cancellation actually works better than all the Sennheisers I have tried, mind you, I tried many high-end ones before settling with the Beats. I’d say that the ear cups contribute a lot to this as well by completely sealing any ambient noise. It really does justify the need for external battery power too (The Beats are powered by two AAA batteries that go in the left ear cup). The battery life proved to be just good enough (I changed the batteries just twice in three months, even after mistakenly leaving the headphones switched on multiple times for good 10+ hours). Another thing I want to mention is that the extendible headband is great. Everyone I know says the Beats are comfortable, so they should do just fine for most head sizes. Also, the ear cups are really comfortable for long journeys, in case you are wondering. I had them on for seven hours on a road trip and it felt really comfortable. The build quality is simply great.
The only issue that needs to be addressed is sound leakage. The Beats leak a lot of sound, even at the medium volume levels. It is really annoying when people ask me to lower the volume in public places, multiple times. Other than this, these headphones are definitely excellent. In short, music to my ears. For anyone planning to buy some neat, high-end heaphones, definitely check out the Beats at your local Apple store or other outlet.
