[silverbax88]

It's like this: Beats headphones are worth about $50, at the most. Noise-cancelling in an office, you barely need to pay anything, because "noise-cancellation" is achieved by the headphones picking up background noise with a small microphone and then playing a dampening noise in reaction to a sound wave. This is easy when the background noise is constant - that's why "white noise" in offices works so well. But if the noise is varied, it's impossible to predict how loud or soft the next sound wave is going to be, and headphones are always slightly behind in reaction, as it is. So that's why sometimes it seems like noise cancelling headphone work awesome, and other times the seem like any other pair of headphones.

So you're not paying for better noise cancelling when you pay more for headphones. You are paying for superior sound quality.

If you are going to drop $200 on a pair of 'good' headphones, even noise canceling, I'd suggest getting some Audio-Technica, which are superior to everything out there, even Bose. Most are less than $200.

My experience: I own a small broadcasting company.

[gdilla]

THough it's not about the headphones. It's about the style and brand. Everyone knows the iphone isn't the best bang for your buck feature wise in smartphones. Everyone knows Nest costs $60 to make on your own. But the point is, mass market needs stuff that looks good, performs well, and where design was matters (looks/functions well for most people).

[morbius]

The only thing Beats headphones have going for them is their looks (which IMO is average at best).

Headphones are appliances, not complex gadgetry. Beats are poorly designed and built appliances. Most that buy them don't know any better, and there are far more well-designed headphones on the market that have a discernibly better sound than do Beats. It doesn't perform well, and its design is average.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50x isn't as sexy a headphone as a Beats Pro, but its sound more than makes up for the difference.

It's just simple economics as to why the other brand is more popular. Have you EVER seen an Audio-Technica ad?

[EpicEng]

The parent was responding to someone who was discussing the quality of the beats headphones. He wasn't touching on the strategic element of this acquisition.