Big shocker: Beats headphones cost $20 to build, and they're made to feel heavy and valuable with four completely nonfunctional pieces of metal, according to a teardown posted to Medium. At least they're actually built to spec; as Gizmodo reported in 2010, the vast majority of under-$50 earbuds are bought from a small group of suppliers. 
 
 This has never been a controversial topic here at PCMag. We've long asserted that plenty of $100 headphones, such as the bass-heavy AKG Y50 and more balanced Marshall Major II, sound better than Beats, even for bass fanatics. Not a single Beats product makes it onto our "best headphones" list, even though Beats is frequently cited as owning over 70 percent of the market for premium headphones. 
 
 First of all, don't get het up over bills of materials. This meme comes out every time there's a tech teardown, especially of an Apple product: the iPhone 6 "costs" $200 to make. The Samsung Galaxy S5 "cost" $256. Both of these phones sold for $650. What are you getting for the margin? R&D, marketing, software development, inventory, and support, for starters. Apple and Samsung are both building their own CPUs now, for instance. That development work doesn't come cheaply, and the phone sales are subsidizing it in ways that don't show up on the BOM. 
 
 OnePlus has actually shown with the OnePlus One that if you use off-the-shelf parts, keep no inventory, and forego almost all profit margin, you can sell a top-class smartphone for $299. But that price meant it couldn't put its phones in stores, make deals with carriers, or even satisfy online demand for more than a year. Yes, if we didn't have the carrier middlemen hiding up-front prices through subsidies and monthly payment plans, the price of a good smartphone might now settle between $400-$500. But let's at least acknowledge there's a lot to building a product beyond the bill of materials. 
 
 The Power of Brand 
 
 Over-the-ear headphones worn in public aren't really primarily a function-oriented product for most people, anyway. They're a fashion product. 
 
 This fact drives some people totally nuts, but it's simply true. Many fashion products have functions. Take jeans. Jeans run from five to five hundred dollars. They obviously have a function, and if they didn't perform their basic function of covering and protecting your body, they wouldn't sell. But the difference between $50 and $250 jeans is look and label—that might be the look of the jeans yourself, or the way your body looks in them. Expensive jeans exist to be looked at by others. 
 
 Ditto for Beats. The company's iconic marketing campaign, with its buckets of paint, is totally visual: Beats paint you as a Beats owner, in a community with all the other Beats owners, a tribe of taste. Beats leak sound because they know their owners want you, the bystander, to know what they're listening to. They're young, brash, assertive and in-your-face. They're the giant car subwoofers of headphones. They remind me of when teenagers were obsessed with Nextel, as much for the public chirp of "I've got a message, everyone!" as for the free push-to-talk calling. 
 
 You might hate that, but let's not pretend you're not making your own headphone fashion choices. Take the Bose SoundTrue headphones. I've often heard Bose called out as the alternative to Beats, but they're also decent but not best-in-class designs. They do, however, show that you're a Bose user, or aspire to be one: an upscale professional, maybe a frequent flier. Bose won our Readers' Choice award not because it has the best headphones, in my mind, but because of the demographics of our Readers' Choice voters, who tend to be older male professionals. 
 
 Once more, this is fine. Don't pretend a fashion choice is not a valid choice. It may not be a choice you want to make, though, and the rub for Beats is that it's increasingly looking like a choice Apple doesn't want to make. 
 
 Forget About Dre 
 
 It's clear that the Beats brand is not the Apple brand, and the position of Beats headphones in the Apple stable is getting more and more uncomfortable. Apple scrubbed away all the Beatsiness of Beats Music to create the new Apple Music, but if you wipe the paint off Beats headphones, you won't be able to charge $200-plus for them any more. 
 
 Apple didn't buy Beats for headphones; it bought the company for music industry connections. Jimmy Iovine came out on stage at the Worldwide Developers Conference, rambled for a while, and then went back to doing what label executives do best: screwing artists, who won't be paid for the first three months of their presence on Apple Music. It's a powerful testament to Iovine's skill and relationships that everyone except Taylor Swift seems to be staying with Apple Music nonetheless. 
 
 But that leaves me wondering where Dr. Dre, and his brand, now lie. When Apple bought Beats, Dre was very visible. But we haven't heard much from him recently. According to Variety, around 50 percent of Beats employees have left their jobs since the acquisition and Apple has already started to kill new Beats hardware lines. 
 
 Beats' loud, divisive fashion personality doesn't fit with the broader, calmer, more inclusive Apple brand. I wouldn't be surprised to see, over the next year, Apple shut down the headphone hardware business and Dr. Dre move on to his next entrepreneurial project, with Iovine staying as head of Apple's music empire. ||||| Dear Lifehacker, 
 
 I’m in the market for a new pair of headphones, and I’ve been eyeballing the Beats By Dre Studios. I like a lot of bass in my music, but some people tell me they suck and are overpriced. Are they actually horrible, or are these people just snobby audiophiles who like to hate on popular headphones? Will I notice a difference? 
 
 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 Bickering Over Beats 
 
 Dear Bickering, 
 
 People have been asking us this question for years, so let’s settle this once and for all. 
 
 
 
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 As snobby as (some) audiophiles may seem, they’re right on this one: Beats are...not great. Not only are they not worth their price, there are a lot of headphones that will give you better sound—with lots of bass—for less. Here’s the issue surrounding these fashionable cans, and what we recommend looking at instead. 
 
 The Problem With Beats 
 
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 I tried Beats years ago, before my foray into high-end headphones, and I thought they sounded awesome. Since then, I’ve tried numerous other headphones, but never really hated on Beats. I assumed that people hated Beats just because it was fashionable to do so. I figured they were decent enough quality, but overpriced due to the brand name. However, I recently tried a pair of Beats Studios again, and was shocked to find that I was wrong: they really aren’t very good at all. 
 
 Many audiophiles would have you believe Beats are bad because have too much bass. I disagree. It’s that they have too much low quality bass, with even worse mids and treble. If you want to hear what Beats sound like, pull up your equalizer and ram the midbass frequencies up. Hear that loud, boomy, awful noise? That’s what Beats sound like. There’s not nearly enough definition to make the bass sound good, and it drowns out nearly everything else in the music—which is probably okay, because the treble and mids sound like they’re coming from inside a well. The Pro and Executive lines are supposed to be somewhat better than the Studios and Solos (I haven’t tried them myself), but are still far more expensive than they should be. 
 
 Many audiophiles will tell you that you “shouldn’t” be using a headphone with such emphasized bass. In my opinion, that’s bull. Bass can be fun! Listen to whatever sounds good to you. But if Beats sound good to you now, you’ll be shocked when you hear something with high quality bass—for less money. 
 
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 That’s right. We don’t have to tell you that Beats are overpriced. When you buy a pair of Beats, you’re paying for style and branding. If that’s what you want, then go for it—we have no vested interest in what you wear on your head. But if you’re looking for awesome sound, we have some headphones you might like better. 
 
 Bass-Heavy Alternatives to Beats 
 
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 So what should you buy instead? If you search around the internet, you’ll find a lot of articles recommending a bunch of random high-end headphones, but we know that’s not what you want. You’re looking for something specific: bass, and lots of it. You probably listen to a lot of hip hop or electronic music, and bass-heavy cans are going to make it sound awesome. Some of these headphones may be good for rock and pop, too, but those genres usually excel with a more balanced headphone. 
 
 Five Best Headphones When it comes to headphones, we know "best" is definitely a subjective term. There are… Read more Read 
 
 Here are a few recommendations for bass-heavy Beats alternatives: 
 
 Denon AH-D600 ($268 on Amazon): In my opinion, these are the ultimate Beats alternatives. They’re a little less portable and they don’t have active noise cancellation, but they have some serious, high quality bass slam. It drowns out the mids a tad, but overall the rest of the sound is much clearer and more balanced than Beats’. All that for $30 less than the Beats Studios. 
 
 V-Moda Crossfade M-100 ($299 on Amazon, shown above): These are the only headphones on the list that I’ve never heard, but word on the street is they’re the other ultimate Beats replacements—and for around the same price as the Beats Studios. They are much more portable than the Denons, so if that’s important to you, they’re worth looking at. 
 
 Audio Technica ATH-M50 ($149 on Amazon): Audio Technica’s insanely popular M50s are not quite as bassy as the others on this list, but still have a but of extra punch in the lower end. Their higher end is also a tad brighter. This would probably be a good headphone if you listen to genres other than just rap or electronic. 
 
 Shure SRH750DJ ($149 on Amazon): Not quite as popular as either the above contenders, the SRH750DJ has some really nice bass boost that doesn’t drown out the mids quite as much. Treble suffers slightly, and they aren’t the most comfortable things in the world, but they’re worthy of their small but loyal fanbase. 
 
 Ultrasone HFI-580 ($183 on Amazon): Like the M50s, most of the Ultrasone line has a nice bass boost, but the treble tends to be on the brighter side (even brighter than the M50s, in my experience). Check out the 780s ($234 on Amazon) if you’re willing to spend a bit more. 
 
 Sennheiser’s Momentum and Urbanite line ($85 and up): Since the original publication of this article, fan-favorite headphone manufacturer Sennheiser came out with two bass-oriented lines that come in different sizes and prices, just like Beats. Both are solid. The Momentums are a bit more balanced, good for bass-loving rock enthusiasts, while the Urbanite line is more of a strict Beats alternative, complete with booming bass for rap and electronic listeners. 
 
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 These are far from the only bassy headphones out there, but if you’re considering Beats, these are some of the most oft-recommended replacements at a few different price points. I highly recommend you listen to a few before you run off and buy one (as my impressions and tastes will differ from yours), and you should also check out this giant thread at Head-Fi which has a ton of information on bass-heavy cans. And, of course, check out our headphone buying guide for other tips and info if you don’t have a lot of experience with headphones. If you’re looking for something on the cheaper end of the spectrum, check out our list of the best $20 headphones, too. 
 
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 But whatever you do, give them a try, then go back and listen to Beats. I guarantee you won’t want headphones by Dre anymore. 
 
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 Sincerely, 
 
 Lifehacker 
 
 ||||| The sneaky designers at Beats by Dre employ a clever trick to make you think that the company’s plastic headphones are durable products worth the premium price. 
 
 Beats by Dre headphones are garbage. Besides their crappy sound, they’re basically designed to break. And yet they sell millions of pairs of headphones. It’s practically a perfect business: Take crap and sell it for a fortune. How do they do it? In part it’s marketing, and you know, Dr. Dre. But there’s more. 
 
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 A detailed teardown (via PopMech) of a pair of Beats’ immensely popular Solo headphones conducted by hardware-focused venture capital firm Bolt has some answers buried beneath. The headphones are incredibly cheaply made. The company cuts corners everywhere it can; gluing pieces together instead of using screws, and reducing the amount of tooling wherever possible. Amazingly, for all the company’s claims about precision sound design, the headphones use freaking off-the-shelf drivers! 
 
 None of this is all that surprising because Beats are, after all, terrible and fragile. The crazy part is that the headphones are so cheap that Beats actually needs to add weight to make them feel heftier. From the Medium post: 
 
 One of the great things about the solo headphones is how substantial they feel. A little bit of weight makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable. One way to do this cheaply is to make some components out of metal in order to add weight. In these headphones, 30% of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight. 
 
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 Here is an image illustrating this point: 
 
 On the left, all of the components that actually do something. On the right, four pieces of metal designed specifically to add weight to the product. Image courtesy of Bolt. 
 
 
 
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 I was not aware of this particular trick. Obviously, product designers use all sorts of aesthetic design cues to make things look fancier than they really are, but in this case, it’s downright deceptive. Mostly though, it’s amusing. The cans are so dainty, Beats felt the need to beef em up a little. 
 
 [Medium via Popular Mechanics] 
 
 Update June 26, 2015: Some people are contending that the above teardown is based on knockoffs. I contacted the design firm behind the original Beats at the time of publication, but I recieved no response. I’ve reached out to Apple/Beats on this matter, and I’m investigating with our in-house pair of Beats Studio headphones. If we definitely learn that these headphones are knockoffs, I’ll update. 
 
 ||||| It’s nearly impossible to be on a train, fly on a plane or walk down the street without spotting the iconic “b” logo. Beats has been extremely successful in marketing its headphones and now enjoys large market appeal. But with a sky-high retail price of $199, is there more to Beats than meets the eye? 
 
 Luckily the Beats headphones are fairly easy to disassemble, despite a few pesky glue joints. 
 
 Lots of optimizations are to be expected in a product manufactured in the millions of units: snaps and glue are used for assembly rather than screws (which require lots of human manipulation) and almost every part is injection molded plastic (which is essentially free at high volumes). 
 
 Anytime I take a product apart there are a few exciting surprises to solve some tricky problems. Here’s what I found for Beats: 
 
 Use of metal components to increase weight 
 
 1/3 of the entire weight of the headphones comes from metal weights. This is a somewhat common trick to make products feel more substantive. 
 
 One of the great things about the solo headphones is how substantial they feel. A little bit of weight makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable. One way to do this cheaply is to make some components out of metal in order to add weight. In these headphones, 30% of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight. 
 
 The two larger parts are cast zinc. Cast parts are similar to injection molded parts in that there is a tooling cost and a per-part cost. Compared to injection molding, the tool is marginally more expensive, but the per-part costs are higher, and the tools do not last as long. 
 
 The brilliant thing here is that the two large metal parts are not mirror images of each other- they are actually the same part! This means that only one tool would need to be made to produce both parts, which saves money in tool design and number of tools. It also makes the headphones easier to assemble, since there are fewer unique parts. 
 
 Complex mold design of headband 
 
 The most complex part on the Beats product. Complex cams, slides and sequenced ejector pin marks. 
 
 This part probably has the highest tooling cost of any of the parts in the headphones, because it requires many cams in order for the part to be released from the mold. Cams allow for parts of the mold to move perpendicular to the parting line. These extra parts have to meet perfectly, in order for the parts to be molded properly. It is easy to tell what direction the two halves of the mold pulled apart from the round dots you can see in the photo above — those are ejector pin marks, from where the part was pushed out of the tool. 
 
 From the flashing along the long snaps at the top of the part, I can tell there are two side actions that were used to create the undercut. You can see parting lines in the part right under the snaps, and at the bottom of the circle. 
 
 Close-up of witness lines on inner ear cup frame. Many actions and slides are necessary to create this complex part. 
 
 You can also tell that inside the circle where the ear cup goes, there were actions to create the pins that the ear cup swivels on — the witness lines are visible, even though it has been post-polished. 
 
 Minimal use of screws 
 
 Both parts of the ear cups are made from two totally different molds so a to avoid the extra screw holes on the right cup. 
 
 Screws are cheap but are tedious to install, hence nearly every part on this product is snapped or glued together. You can see how the number of screws are optimized at the cost of cutting two more molds by comparing the left and right speaker grills and speaker cups — one of them has an extra two screw holes. Screws are great here because they make sure the PCB does not rattle around near your ear- however, they could have shaved off some assembly time by using heat stake bosses, or simply trapping the PCB between the red plastic and the ear cup. 
 
 Complete commodity earphone drivers 
 
 So, do Beats by Dre headphones really enhance the bass? I couldn’t tell from the product teardown but the generic drivers make it seem unlikely. I was impressed, however, by the look and feel that was achieved with so few parts.
– So you either bought a pair of cool Beats headphones, secretly pined for them, or hated them outright as a pricey con. Looks like—bing!—option three may be correct, according to a new round of media reports. "Beats by Dre headphones are garbage," writes Mario Aguilar at Gizmodo. "Besides their crappy sound, they’re basically designed to break." For evidence, he points to a teardown of Beats by Dre Headphones at Medium, which says the product feels strong and durable partly because of a few metal pieces. "In these headphones, 30% of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight," the report says. Designers also saved installation time by using screws minimally, says Medium, and added generic drivers that likely don't deliver the promised extra bass. What's more, the parts without labor cost just $16.89, a far cry from the $199+ price tag. For audiophiles, Lifehacker reports that "Beats are ... not great," delivering less quality sound and even less bass than other more affordable products—including Sennheiser's Urbanite and Momentum lines ($85 and up), Shure's SRH750DJ ($149), and Ultrasone's HFI-580 ($183). Meanwhile, Dr. Dre has been lying low and roughly half of Beats employees have left the company since Apple acquired it, PCMag reports. Perhaps, the magazine says, Apple will cut ties with Dre and leave the headphone business entirely.