Here, I'll shed some light on this. I was unfortunate enough to be sucked into the marketing of the Beats. I purchased some Studios at BestBuy in NYC this summer. Soon after, I realized that this couldn't be the best and did some research. I'm about to purchase some AT M50's and I'm looking into amps, a DAC, and a better sound card for my comp. I know about 10 people who purchased Beats these holidays. The main reason is, people think that these are the best of the best. No one knows about Sennheisers or Denons because they're not sold at their local electronic store. By the way, the main reason people buy the Beats is the intangible 'it' factor. I just feel bad that I was sucked into it