I'm a bit of an audiophile myself, so I wouldn't listen to Beats, but I do think "bad" is a value judgement. I want a neutral reproduction of the music, and I get that with my Grado's. The Beats customer wants lots of thumpy bass. We each get what we want.

This is exactly it - they give a 'fun' listening experience that people enjoy, and mistake for sound quality. They're paying a high price for a brand and experience, rather than for the quality of the components, like many other premium brands.

I don't wear them, but I don't hate the people who do (though I'm not huge on Beats' "the way it was meant to sound/the way the musician intended" branding)

"they give a 'fun' listening experience that people enjoy"

ding that's the crux of it. people want something that makes them feel good, which often isn't something you can quantify in a lab. so rather than trying to build a better headphone, beats built the equivalent of a booming car stereo strapped to your head, and that evokes a very specific emotional response for most of their customers.

fwiw: i have a pair of Bose QC15 cans that i got as a gift from work. i think they're crap for reproduction purposes, but the experience they're designing for is noise cancellation.

Quality is in the eye of the beholder, and there were several blokes sporting them on the U-bahn train this morning, all much cooler than me.

It's not really, when frequency response is a measurable quantity - sound quality can be, and is defined, and Beats do not fare well[1]. But you're right, they do look cool, and they have a fun listening experience.

[1] http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/monster-beats-dr-dre-so...

They should join the 'Vinyl sounds better' camp in mistaking what they prefer for what is objectively better.

I once tried to help someone with a pair of beats headphones that they purchased as a present for a relative. The complaint was that they didn't sound right.

I tested them out. It was horrible, it sounded almost like what it sounds like when a stereo headphone jack is only partially inserted -- on three different devices and two different pairs of headphones.

They suck and are a major ripoff.

Whenever something advertises beats audio, I know that it's not a product for me.

They have come a long way since 2011. I'm listening to my post-Dre-branded Beats right now and they sound good. And I like to think I'm not just one of the gullible sub-human tools the people participating in this thread enjoy thinking they're so far above.

I have also read a lot of complaints about their streaming app being just plain garbage as well.

I've been using their streaming app since it was released and it's fantastic. It puts the others to shame IMO. I'd been using Spotify for about 4 years before Beats. The volume and quality of playlists they have created is amazing and the app design is quite nice. I find it great for discovering new music (and you still have the option to search the catalog too).