Here’s a quick review of the Solo and Studio headphones made by Monster for their Beats by Dr. Dre line, and 2 reasons why you shouldn’t buy them.
The Good
There’s a lot to love about these headphones, which shouldn’t be a surprise, looking at their premium price-tag ($200 for the Solo’s, $350 for the Studio’s).
The design is probable the only reason I ever considered spending so much money on a pair of headphones. They’re sleek and simple. No extras added for design sake. If you like the work Jonathan Ive does for Apple, you’ll love the looks of Monster’s white headphones they made under the Dr. Dre label.
The sound these headphones produce isn’t for everyone as there’s a bit more bass in it. But I like some extra eardrum massaging. Even the Solo’s made me appreciate music even more, letting you hear much more details than any other headphones I ever tried.
With every headphone you buy in this line, you get a carrying case (soft case with the Mono’s, hard case with the Studio’s) and 2 cables: One regular cable, and one with iPod controls and a mic built in, perfect for Skyping or hands-free calling. Even the packaging is great, a nice hard box that flips open lovely.
The Bad
Both models leak sound. A lot. I couldn’t watch an episode of Lost in bed with these headphones on without waking up Gwen. Instead, I had to use some inner-ear headphones that makes your ears feel like someone poked a pencil in it for an hour.
This doesn’t apply for the Solo’s, but the Studio’s need batteries in order to be used. Not just to make the noise canceling work, but all the time. As I spend up to 12 hours a day listening to music or podcasts, I need to replace/recharge the batteries every week.
About the noise canceling: Dr. Dre’s use white noise to block out the lower sounds. You can still hear people speak in the back, but it blocks the lower tones great (like most of the sound an airplane makes). This white noise has one big downside: It’s incredible annoying when you’re in a quiet place and want to listen to music. You can actually hear the white noise! In situations like this, I’d like to disable the noise canceling, but you can’t.
The Ugly
I bought the Solo’s in December at San Francisco Airport. Figured I could use a decent set of headphones, and it would make the 12h flight back to Belgium more comfortable. For a pair of on-ears, they were the best headphones I ever used. Then, one month later, I take them off my head and this happens:
The plastic breaks in 2 pieces. I never expected this to happen. After all, I treat my hardware with the utmost respect. Never threw them on the table, always put them in the carrying case when not in use, always was careful putting them on my head…
I thought it was a fabrication error. Only problem was I bought them in the US, and threw away the receipt, not expecting anything to happen to a $200 pair of headphones if I treated them right.
So I’m pretty much screwed, and swear to never buy a pair of Dr. Dre’s again. I go back to using regular, El Cheapo headphones I have at home, but notice that none of them provide me with the same quality of sound as the Dr. Dre’s did. So I ignored everything people were warning me for and decide to buy myself an early birthday present: Studio’s.
Well, at least they survived a month longer than the Solo’s:
I was furious. After what happened with the Mono’s, I treated this pair even better, and again the plastic breaks.
I’m seriously disappointed in Monster. They must have made a fortune with the Dr. Dre product line, but apparently, that’s all they care about: Money.