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A perfect example of why you can sell anything if you market it good enough.  You can find $50 headphones that sound just as good, but everybody wants the name.

http://allhiphop.com/2014/05/13/dr-dres-beats-by-dre-cost-an-estimated-14-to-make/

I think with most things you're paying for the brand. Nike/Adidas/Gucci t-shirts probably cost cents to make but sell for $30-200 or something. Dr Dre was just a genius at marketing these things by getting celebs to wear them - free advertising and it paid of. Now he's half a billionaire because of it. Fair play to him.

People are this stupid all the time, what do you expect? I believe in paying for quality, but I always do my research first and find out about the manufcaturer and where they get their stuff from. We had a horsemeat scandal in the UK if you guys remember that, exact same thing, everyone saw the brand, looked at the price and then bought it without even stopping to think where all that cheap meat was coming from.

Yeah, I'm not about to hate on the guy for making money out of these people, it's their stupidity that allowed him to get rich in the first place.

I personally bought Beats headphones. The new Mixr ones, all black. Here's what I have to say:

They're shit. They have little support, and they make my ears hurt. I own around 5 other headphones (music fan :P), and none else have any problems. The sound quality is decent, and the bass is good, which I like. If I didn't get these cheap on eBay, I would've been pissed.

Don't buy them. Go with Sony, etc.

classic f-ing junk... this stuff makes me sick! GREED FUELS ALL

Personally I never understood the beats craze.  But at university there are some people that use them as a fashion statement more then headphones.

I personally like quality at a cheaper price, and not wearing a banner across my head for a company.

Doesn't really count as "fashion" either.

What's funny is sometimes I see teenagers around my neighbourhood wearing fake beats around their neck. I searched them up and their a couple dollars from China.

I think that's funny.

Beats are uncomfortable and horrible. I buy $1 headphones at the store with just as good quality. (They always break within a month tho lol)

This isn't the only headphone brand that does it. There's a company called skullcandy that also makes such overpriced shit popular among street kids.
Not many people actually buy akg or shure to show off. Fashion...

It annoys me that the bad products get all the attention! I wish that the companies that make the good products like senheiser and shure would get some attention so people could actually find a taste for good audio quality.

That's a little different, though. With that scandal it was the abattoirs & meat processing plants that were cutting corners by using cheaper horsemeat to replace the beef or whatever and thought they could get away with it. Everyone was duped by their coin from the supermarkets to the customers. Nobody really knows what's in any of their food so that's why tighter regulations are needed in my opinion.


Are you sure they're not fake? These sound like complaints of the cheaper knock-off versions, though Beats headphones are notoriously bass-heavy.


Why not? It's just like a fashion accessory, but useable. No different to wearing a hat or headband or something. People quite clearly do only wear them for the fashion / brand even if they wont admit it.

I agree! Beats by Dr Dre success is a result of genius marketing to the point where people are paying a lot mostly because of the brand. General consensus today is that these are the headphones to have. Ofcourse, there are better or similar quality headphones to be had for less cost, but at the end of the day it's about if most of the customers are happy with their Beats, be it the brand or the quality, they will buy it.

Personally, I admire Beats by Dr Dre because they have a good piece of business, and also I have thought about how you would go at marketing headphones and I really come up with nothing unless I would be famous or have a person of authority with me when it comes to sound.

Beats by Dr Dre are able to have these margins because they are the benchmark of headphones, and because they own a huge marketshare they can charge nearly whatever they want. Anyone trying to undercut them, or sell somewhat quality headphones for cheap, most customers will now think these products are bad because of their low price. All of this is a result of marketing, and it is not exclusive to this market, for example cosmetics comes to mind where good marketing from a famous person can create high demand on incredibly cheap products because of said famous person backing it usually leads to a desirable brand.

I don't really think it is different, sure the circumstances were different and the style of corruption, but in reality if they had thought a bit instead of being semi-conscious consumers as people almost always fucking are and buying up the stuff without thinking about it that wouldn't have happened to them.

Say what you will about the Marxists, but Marx had a point about consumer culture, especially in western countries, people are being brought up to buy shit without thinking about it.

They market them by getting famous people to wear them. Firstly Dre will get all his artists to wear them in public and in their videos likely for free (Eminem 50 Cent etc), then they will give them out to other artists for free in the hope they wear them out in public. Then they pay other artists and athletes to wear them and that has a knock on effect as it's seen as cool and the new brand to have and it spirals from there. I remember seeing a video of the Manchester United squad getting off their coach before a game and pretty much every other player had a pair or beats headphones around their neck. Just look at all the pop videos too. From Jessie J to Nicki Minaj they always feature beats headphones or products prominently.

Yes. A know a lot of people who bought Beats because they like the red cables. They think they look cool and is a conversation starter. If you are serious about music and sound quality, Shure is a much better choice.

I just bought one a week ago , now i feel i paid more for it :(

Takes a lot to stamp your name on a brand. Thats why they cost so much. But I aint buying, so hats off to those that are.

To find the cost of the product you also have to factor in how much they are spending on marketing those suckers by paying the NFL and music artists to say they are good.

It's interesting that Shure and AKG got props yet no one has mentioned Sennheisers.

+1, using HD 429's and absolutely loving them.  Can only imagine how great $2-300 ones would be

It's kinda funny, when you compare them the only way Beats win is in design style, despite the 4x price difference

http://versus.com/en/beats-by-dre-studio-vs-sennheiser-hd-429s

I'll have to agree with others mentioning Sennheisers. People only seem to buy from the big name brands, because they think it's better. Seems to happen everywhere. Another noticeable one is the Shoe Industry, with Nike and Adidas.

When I am looking to buy something, I try not to focus on the big guys, but research on the small ones with good reputation.

Sennheiser Momenutum represent 😊

I am not surprised at all. Most of the things we are buying are really cheap to manufacture after all. If you knew that clothes and electronics manufacture costs are you would be surprised.
Most of Apple stuff which is overpriced as hell: "According to a teardown report from research firm IHS, the components and manufacturing cost of a 16GB iPhone 6 cost Apple $200.10. The device is selling for $649 in the U.S. without a contract with a wireless carrier. That gives the device a profit margin of about 69%" No surprises there.

I'm not surprised at all that Beats headphones cost 14 $ per unit and sell 20 to 30 times more expensive ... How much money it costs to make an iPhone and at what price they sell?.