Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones

My good friend, CNET's very own Jasmine France, recently lent me a set of the Monster Beats by Dr. Dre headphones to “check out.” Monster announced the Monster Beats a few months ago with the company’s biggest PR boost coming in Beijing when the entire US basketball team showed up rocking the headphones. Congrats to someone!

As headphones go they’re pretty sweet. Obviously they handle lows really well and the mids and highs are likewise solid. Lately though, I’ve been rocking a set of the Grado Labs SR80s, and while they sound plenty good, they’re uncomfortable as Hell. The Monster Beats, on the other hand, are extremely comfortable. Of course, when it comes to DJ-style headphones there’s no beating Sony’s MDR-V600 Studio Monitor Series Stereo Headphones. The cups flip around so they’re perfect for “real DJs.” Kudos aside, the MDR-V600s are an older design that don’t take modern technological innovations into consideration. For instance, the Monster Beats come with a ton of different audio adapters. There’s the standard 3.5mm plug for MP3 players and stereos. They also ship with an airline adapter. But what’s really cool is the music-playing cell phone adapter that also boasts a speaker.

While these features are all well and good, the Monster Beats are $350. That’s kind of ridiculous. Add to that that they require a battery and the noise-cancelling apparatus in the right cup rattles if you’re moving around I find myself thinking that the Monster Beats, while they sound great, represent more of an admirable first offering as opposed to something that everyone should run out and buy right now.