Monster Beats

Short-Term Use (8.00)

The Beats are comfortable. The only issue we had with comfort was with the band not having enough padding. The degree to which the band was uncomfortable varied around the office from ‘not really’ to ‘very.’ The consensus: probably not a huge comfort issue. The headphones didn’t squeeze our heads, and the padding was comfortable.

Of course, we recommend giving these a wear before buying, in the rare instance that your head and comfort standards don’t match up exactly with the people in our office. The odds of this are extremely rare, but still merit mention. As a general rule our comfort score should only be used as a vague barometer.

Extended Use (8.00)

The band issue got on our nerves ever-so-slightly as we wore them, but otherwise the Beats make for a comfortable headphone experience. We never forgot they were on, thanks to the weak band padding, but we never felt like they were crushing our heads. One thing to note: if it’s a hot day outside, the Beats — like all over-ear headphones with faux-leather padding — will turn the space inside the cups into ear ovens.

Cable Connectivity (6.38)

The Beat comes with two male-to-male 1/8-inch audio cables, both 49.25 inches long (4 feet, 1.25 inches; about 1.25 meters). The reason there’s two is because one has a microphone dongle on it, for those kids with their iPhones. Compared to most over-ear headphones, the Beats don’t have very good cable connectivity. They do, however, allow you to hook up your own, longer audio cable.

Also included is a 1/4-inch adapter and an airplane adapter.

Customizability (2.50)

The Beats don’t come with many customization options in box, but then again, most headphones don’t give you any options at all. First of all, the cups can tilt, which will help the Beats conform to a wide variety of heads. They can also collapse, which but not in a way that’s particularly useful for DJs looking to mix with one ear since the open end of the cups always point inward. Compare the Beats’ collapsibility to the Ultrasone HFI-2200s’, which allow the cups to face outward.

The Beats do come with a spare cable that has a microphone on it for use with cell phones, iPhones, or anything else that can use a tiny mic. Now you can hook your company BlackBerry up to your Beats by Dr. Dre headphones for optimal professionalism.

Portability (4.00)

The Beats are actually pretty portable for over-ear headphones for a few reasons. First of all, they collapse into themselves, making for a smaller overall package. This collapsibility allows them to have a much smaller case than ubiquitous design introduced by Bose and subsequently copied by every other noise-canceller’s manufacturer.

The beats also come with a fairly short cord, which is the perfect length for connecting to a pocketed media source. This being said, the Beats aren’t nearly as portable as in-ear headphones because of sheer size. If you don’t like wearing in-ear headphones, the Beats would be a good, portable option.

Maintenance (4.00)

Removing the cup padding on the Beats is a bit less straightforward than on most headphones. They don’t just snap on and off; you kind of have to wiggle the pad around to get all the latches to unhook. Also, don’t grip just the pad: it’ll come off its panel really easily, and it’s annoying to fit back on if it does.

Once you’ve gotten the padding and their panel off the Beats, you need a small Phillips-head screwdriver to remove the three outer screws. If you want to get at the driver itself, you can also unscrew the even tinier, innermost circle of screws, although a typical screwdriver will be much too large for the job. Once the screws are out, the panel comes off and you can gaze upon the Beats’ innards. We don’t think you’ll have much of a problem with dust getting in here, but it’s nice for the mechanically inclined should something go wrong, or for modders with itchy soldering-iron fingers.

As a minor aside, the Beats also come with a cleaning tool: a soft cloth you can use to polish fingerprints off the headphones’ glossy plastic.

Other Features (2.00)

Mute Button
If you’re too lazy to take off the Beats, and too distracted to flip the on/off switch, you can always employ the mute function. Pressing the ‘b’ above the on/off switch will temporarily mute playback.

Battery

Sadly, the Beats live and die on their batteries. Without them you can’t play back your music at all. This is typical for noise-cancelling headphones, but a few noise cancellers, like the Creative Aurvana X-Fis, will play back your music without batteries: you just will have to listen without the benefit of active noise cancellation. Also, and potentially more troubling, when the batteries get low, we noticed the playback randomly started to sound blown out. Keep your Beats’ batteries charged; once that LED fades from red to yellow the Beats can get a little lax with how they handle sound.

Active Noise Cancellation

The Beats do have the enviable feature of noise cancellation, but unfortunately, it’s not so much a bonus feature as it is a mandatory setting.