devhen said:

I'm pretty sure the Headroom/Innerfidelity graphs only show passive isolation.

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Tyll's measurements on IF are with ANC enabled unless otherwise stated afaik. Beats Studio and Bose QC15 will further not operate with ANC off.

More complete datasheets from IF (from the ANC shootout):
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BoseQuietComfort15.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/MonsterBeatsStudio.pdf

The lack of LF isolation on the Studio indicates bad ANC performance (my understanding is that ANC will primarily act upon frequencies below 1khz, and frequencies over 1khz will be handled by passive isolation). Tyll also specifically admonished the ANC performance on the Studio (in the big shootout review) as "pretty poor." They're yet another headphone that has ANC (someone previously mentioned that Beats has done a great job of making "ANC" a buzzword for new headphone shoppers) as a "feature" despite it not actually delivering - likely because they half-assed it (like they half-assed everything else about the Beats).

I remember reading about ANC a while ago, and finding a comment along the lines of "to truly innovate in the field of ANC, requires monumental engineering resources and talent" - Bose spends quite a lot of money and time to make the QC headphones work the way they do. And there's a lot of imitators that basically just rig up an LED on a switch (at least in terms of the end-result).

For comparison, here's an example of a decent passively isolating headphone:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicT70250Ohmsn01111.pdf

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lebomb said:

  Lots of products are overpriced.... i-anything for example.  People still buy the product. 

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nooo, that's not the same. 
Apple products are actually from every single point very different from other companies offerings  and in many cases better no questions asked (I'am not saying they are overall better, I'am not Apple fanboy, but there are plenty of good arguments from both camps) 
 
While beats sound like many 3 times cheaper HPs could easily sound with a bit of EQ. And that sound is no better, it's just muffled in your face bassout some people THINK they prefer... 
... Until they try HP's which are worth their price, but often they simply don't have a chance. 
 
Beats have good marketing, but that's all. 
It's like playing the same ****ty song over and over again and gradually starting to like it. 

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smoger said:

nooo, that's not the same. 
Apple products are actually from every single point very different from other companies offerings  and in many cases better no questions asked (I'am not saying they are overall better, I'am not Apple fanboy, but there are plenty of good arguments from both camps) 

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Apple products are usually far better engineered, rather than being the strongest technical performer.

I would correct that as far better designed, not always engineered.
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tus-chan said:

 
Apple products are usually far better engineered, rather than being the strongest technical performer.

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People strongly dislike Beats for strong and logical reasons. I myself am more dissapointed with Beats than anything. We are talking about headphones endorsed by Dr. Dre, quite frankly one of the best Hip-Hop/Rap producers around. The man has years of experience with expensive and elaborate sound gear, he is a perfectionist that spends and extrodinaraly long amount of time to make sure something sounds absolutely perfect. 

Dr. Dre could have made the Beats something he would actually use to master music with, he could have made them the best headphones they claim to be. Monster and Dre could have given consumers amazing sounding headphones with excellent build quality and durability. Instead they are a total sham. My co-worker has a pair of Beat Studios and I'm afraid to hold them, they fail fragile and easily breakable. My JVC-HRX700 headphones that were $30 feel better built than the Studio's and cost 1/10th as much. On top of build quality issues, they flat out sound terrible. It isn't even a case where sound quality wise they are $150 headphones with excellent build quality and style selling for $300, hell I would be perfectly fine even with that. Beats headphones typically sound on par with headphones that cost around $50, and the sound quality of my HRX700's is far superior to that of the Beat Solos and Solo HD's. Studio's are absolutely beat in sound quality by Shure SRH-840's Audio Technica ATH-M50's, etc. 
 
There is one positive about Beats though, it has sparked interest in headphones again, and I do believe under ever Beat's user there is future audiophile somewhere.

Yes. Perhaps the best thing about Beats is their poor construction. Since they're mainly sold to teenagers on the move, they're all going to break quite quickly, and when they do their owners may think twice about buying Beats again. That means they'll be looking into alternative brands, which means the possibility of future Head-Fi newbies seeking advice. And you can be sure those of us giving advice here won't be recommending Beats (or Skull Candy, or Bose, or...).

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pp312 said:

Yes. Perhaps the best thing about Beats is their poor construction. Since they're mainly sold to teenagers on the move, they're all going to break quite quickly, and when they do their owners may think twice about buying Beats again. That means they'll be looking into alternative brands, which means the possibility of future Head-Fi newbies seeking advice. And you can be sure those of us giving advice here won't be recommending Beats (or Skull Candy, or Bose, or...).

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lol that's funny.
 
However, how many people here do you think hate on the Beats/Skull Candy/Bose without trying them personally?

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money4me247 said:

lol that's funny.
 
However, how many people here do you think hate on the Beats/Skull Candy/Bose without trying them personally?

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Far fewer than one would think.  I think we've all had a run in with a friend's Beats or Bose sometime in the past, or Bose for that matter.  As for hating on Skullcandy?  I don't think those are even noticed unless it's the Aviators... and those have a pretty good opinion.   

money4me247 said:

However, how many people here do you think hate on the Beats/Skull Candy/Bose without trying them personally?

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I think the tendency to group Bose, Beats, SkullCandy (and whatever other mainstream/popular products) into a single straw man (of course because we need to tell everyone that we're cultured, and demonstrate it through hatred and talking about what we don't own :rolleyes is both indicative of this trend (not actually trying any of the products, and just following the echo-chamber's advice), and problematic on a number of other levels. I've also found that over the years, generally in basher threads, the more vocal the basher, the less experience they actually have with the product(s) they're talking about. h34r:

dont hate beats, just dont care enough for it. bose qc15 sounds decent to me, skullcandy aviator sounds decent to me too. 

As Mentioned Own Two pair of beats. Mediocre at best. Skullcandy Hesh, Paid 4 bucks for em and I got taken at that. Bose IEM 2 great fit system and very good sound.
 
Want a good laugh. Go to ebay and do a search "headphone as is" and see what results you get.
 

I don't get it a year ago bose were hated almost as much as beats, now not so bad then M50 were loved 2-3 years ago now not so much love. Of course beats and skull candy were always hated. Now I can't seem to stop seeing the dt770 being the replacement recommendation over the M50. Wonder if those in a year or two be the next hated.

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soundeffect said:

I don't get it a year ago bose were hated almost as much as beats, now not so bad then M50 were loved 2-3 years ago now not so much love. Of course beats and skull candy were always hated. Now I can't seem to stop seeing the dt770 being the replacement recommendation over the M50. Wonder if those in a year or two be the next hated.

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initially, I thought it was because of the price/sound quality ratio, but a lot of people hate on the Beats and go buy options that are even more expensive for very slight variations in sound quality/signature. I believe it simply is "us" vs. "them" type of distinction. It appears to be that audiophiles (us) just always has hate for the popular uneducated consumer choice (them), and some audiophiles like to really flaunt "their more advanced audio pedigree" by putting down other "inferior" choices.
 
That being said, I doubt that the Beats are actually a good value for their sound, but I have heard them and they are definitely not as terrible as some people make them sound to be. The cheaper Beats do have bad plasticy build quality and very extreme bass, but the Pros have solid build quality and if you have the extra cash to spare for a very pricey colored bass-heavy pair of headphones, it's really not that big of a deal. There are definitely cheaper alternatives that sound clearer or more balanced, but I feel like people are looking for different things when it comes to headphones.

The Pros do not have solid build quality at all. The hinges are designed in such a way that they sever the wires inside after they've been swiveled a few times. The rest of the headphone can break pretty easily, too, probably due to planned obsolescence.
 
Anyway, there are a lot of cheap, crappy headphones that are popular with consumers that members here don't care about. People hate Beats because in addition to offering an unacceptably poor product, they spread lies about them in their advertising and generally just rip off the consumer.

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pallentx said:

I had an open mind about Beats initially. I appreciate the attention to styling detail. After hearing them, its clear that's all they have.
 
Its not like some people like BMW and others prefer Lexus, or Cadillac.
 
Its like a Yugo with a body kit and a fancy paint job, a celebrity endorsement, and a huge marketing budget trying to pass itself off as a Ferrari equivalent and selling at that price point. Bring it to an exotic car show and you're going to get laughed at. 
 
Everyone hates to see an inferior product be so successful when its completely based on hype and marketing and not on the products own merit. The iDevices may be over-priced, but you will find many enthusiasts that love them because they are quality products (though it pains me to say it ).
 
It also goes back to a long tradition for hate for Monster.
I'll refer you to this gem from 2004 - http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/monster-monsters.php
This pretty much sums it up

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Please stop spreading false information.  This pie chart doesn't have any data next to it, nor is it even sourced.  As far as I'm concerned, the above chart is usually representative of confidential information.  Not to mention that this pie chart was grabbed from a bias article anyway that talked about how "zit-faced" retail selling associates claim electronics will kill unborn babies.
 
On another note, there is nothing wrong with spending more on A&CP dollars than to manufacture a product.   You have to sell a product some how and if you're product is a commodity item, most likely your manufacturing costs will be low anyway.