I have never seen a set of MonsterCable Beats by Dre at a store, Apple, Best Buy or otherwise that weren’t broken.  Often times there is a short in the cable or one of the ear-pieces is falling apart or, as in this case, falling off.

Today I witnessed two sets of Beats by Dre, completely obliterated, sitting next to each other as if all is well, while, just across the aisle, two sets of the competing Bose headphones (Quite Comfort 2 and 3) looked and performed perfectly.

Clearly a sign of the Monster Cable quality, or lack there of.  Their build is like their performance. Immediately pleasing before succumbing to the flaws of sacrifice.  Form over function. Volume and extended bass over balance and fidelity.  The competition, namely Bose, might make horrendously overpriced home theater equipment, just like Monster Cable.  They might make products that fall apart and aren’t worth the cardboard boxes they come in.  But at least their headphones stand up to normal wear-and-tear, as well as display model wear-and-tear.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject.  How is it that all of these headphones get such prime placement and are all the Best Buy people will really try to sell you, along with the Sennheiser HD 238 Precision, when the absolute BEST over-the-ear headphone they sell, the set with the absolute highest performance/price ratio is left in the corner behind the Monster Cable display?  They have the new and improved (wow was that even possible) Koss PortaPro.

No, the PortaPros aren’t sound isolating, much less sound canceling like the Bose and Monster Cable headphones.  It’s not even lined with luxurious faux-leather or encased in some kevlar and chrome chasis.  It’s simply the best sounding over-the-ear headphone for under $100.  If I had to choose any over-the-ear headphone to buy with a budget, this would be the one.  They are incredibly light, incredibly comfortable and the performance is astounding.  I’d even go to say that they over-perform headphones costing upwards of $200 like the Bose, Sennheiser, Grado, AKG…

How much? I got mine for $30 on Amazon.com and did I mention they come with an international, lifetime warranty.  They are known to replace or repair your broken headphones even if you don’t have your receipt.

Anyways, I’m going to quit this rant.  It just annoys the hell out of me that an incredible headphone like this, which is actually selling for $30 off retail for this limited edition model at Best Buy right now, is overlooked by customers and employees of consumer electronics stores because they have no real knowledge.

Don’t even get me started on their home theater or photography departments.  Holy shit.