I ran across these last night on CNET.com. I don't own any Beats but I have listened to a few (and disregarding Monster), they're fairly decent for their type of target music. I also don't mind the styling, although I'm a bit tired of seeing them around every adolescent's neck that I run across. I do agree that they are WAY overpriced.

These seem to be styled similarly and I personally like the flat headphone cable. I wish I could buy a separate one for my Shures. But for $99, it seems like a better value. The only negative is that it's not completely sealed since it sits on your ears vs over your ears. I read several reviews on the net and most are positive and agree that the value is there.

http://www.amazon.com/Fashion-Steel-Rein...ds=noontec+zoro

On a side note, I was in China last month and saw a lot of the fake Beats in many of the shops. I considered taking a pair home just for kicks. I even demoed the Beats Solo in the local Apple store just to get the right reference point. Some fake ones 'look' very close, even down to all the packaging and cables. However, you can only fake a look, you can't fake a sound. They ALL sounded so muffled, as if you were listening through a pillow. (And I know that's not how Beats normally sound...) However, try explaining what 'muffled' means to a shopkeeper with limited English. No small amount of cash was worth paying for any of those things.

Last edited by oldskoolboarder; 07/23/12 05:42 PM.