[TotallyGreen]

I am planning to buy a pair of headphones for my teenager for Christmas.  I've been telling him I won't spend more than $100 so he's been researching headphones to meet that criteria.  He found the Sennheiser HD 461.  But now I realize that I could get a pair of Beats Solo2 headphones for less than $90 on Black Friday (BF deal + employee discount plus a couple of other other promos).
I have not been able to find any reviews comparing these 2 items because they are in different price points.  Can anyone tell me, if cost were the same, which is actually better (remembering, of course, this is for a teenager)?

 

[Voxel-1]

What does your teenager want? Open or closed? Over-ear or On-ear? Bassy or neutral? It will be hard to research for headphones if you don't know what you want.
 
I haven't heard either of your choices, but I think you are under-utilizing the budget if you get those Beats (not saying that Beats are bad)

 

[TheProCitizen]

The big question is whether your kid wants to look cool, or have high quality audio. If he just cares about having decently good sounding headphones that look cool, beats is probably the right choice, presuming you can get them for as cheap as you say. I can't personally speak for the HD 461's, and probably no one else on headfi, at least not yet, because they are so new. However, if your son wants high quality audio, definitely choose the sennheisers. Sennheiser makes quality audio, and the 461's will probably be pretty good. If you want something tested and well liked, sennheisers 439's are well liked and even just a bit cheaper. You can look at reviews for those on headfi, just search HD 439.

 

[EekOZ]

The big question is whether your kid wants to look cool, or have high quality audio..

Nailed it!  
 
Agree with all that was said in the rest of The ProCitizen's post too...spot on. If fashion statement, Beats for sure but if audio quality, Sennies are likely to be the better option. 

 

[smy1]

The beats 2.0 I pretty fun and sounds great. Honestly I will prefer the beats over my hd 558 but that's me maybe he can look into the vmoda m80s

 

[TheProCitizen]

Also, if your son has been researching his options thoroughly, then he probably knows what he's after. Research is always good.

 

[TotallyGreen]

Thanks for all the feedback - went with one of the sennheiser over the ear models and he loves them!

 

[EekOZ]

Awesome, glad he loves them and good choice.