Monster Beats By Dr. Dre / High Definition Studio Headphones / Black

"Beforei fork out for these i prefer having my music in mp3 format, i read in reviews of the earphone versions of these that the music quality can suffer a bit unless its on cd or vinyl, is this true?

Ty for any help"

There is an element of truth behind that yes. MP3 is a lossy audio codec, its very nature means that when its converted to MP3 it loses alot of the 'unneccessary' parts of the audio file. CD quality is far superior to MP3, consdierably better tbh, if you think about it this way, the highest MP3 bit rate a file can have is 320 kbps, a CD that would be in 'Redbook' format (standard audio type for CD's) would have a bit rate of 1412 kbps per file, thats over four times more bit rates per second, just think of all the 'unneccessary' stuff the MP3 file is getting rid of, its an awful lot to be fair. Even other Codecs like .wav and .flac are far superior to MP3, with FLAC being the huge preferance as far as im concerned. IF you have expensive, top end Hi-Fi equipment and then plug these level of headphones into it them (well they claim their monitoring headphones so...) you will hear the difference between an MP3 and a CD quality file. If you dont, or you're listening to an iPod then you probably wont hear the difference. Hope this helped :)

This is no joke! this beauty is far the best set of headphones availible on the market. Despite the scary price, these headphones have an amazing sound quality, ive been using them for a while now and i have to say that many headphones that i owned werent even half as good as this baby ;-) When you'll hear the sound coming from this set of headphones you will surely fall in love with them as the sound will be like something you've surely never heard in your life before. I myself think that they are worth the price as they also are quite tough but enough of my chit chat! try 'em for yourself and trust me! You will NOT regret your choice! You'll simply be in a musical heaven from the day you recieve and open this baby ^_^ They are WORH giving a go and I can assure you that you will not want any other set of headphones for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME ;-)

Could not find a single shop that had these out on display for me to try so I took the leap of faith. And what a leap it is!
Firstly the price - You pay for two brands: Monster who pride themselves on precision cables and hardware; and Dr Dre, one of the music industries greatest talents. You are buying a piece of precision kit that has been designed for the style conscious. You also feel like you have just spent £250 when you open the box, everything is well designed and has its own logical place. The box is a feat of great design in itself.
The music - The precision of the beats is simply incredible, they reproduce David Grays 'Life In Slow Motion' with such depth I can practically hear where the instruments are around me. Kanye Wests '808s and Heartbreak' sends chills down your back and you can here every haunting note. Coheed and Cambria 'Good Apollo... Volume 1' is simply stunning, the drums sound so alive you could just as well be in the drumkit; the guitars are perfectly crisp and you can hear every breath the artist inhales. The beats really shine though on Eminems 'Eminem Show' - the bass is rich and is has so many levels that I just never heard with other headphones or even a JBL Onstage Speaker System. There are so many depths of beats in 'Say Goodbye Hollywood' that it is just mind blowing. Clearly the Beats excel when it comes to rap/hip hop, the bass is just so clear.
The Design and Fit - They fit as snug as any headphones could. The leather ear pads are extremely soft and fit around my ears perfectly. The one thing which is maybe not seen easily on the pictures is that the size of the speakers are rather thick. To see how they fit have a look around on the web, they may stick out too far for some people to be suitable.
All in all I would recommend them absolutely. Also, Play.com is the cheapest play I could find them. Delivery took around 3 days.
*All music that I used to compare has been encoded with Apple Lossless format. Hope this helps anyone.

I bought a pair of these on a trip to chicago recently. I tried them vs more expensive sony noise cancelling phones, and these come out on top by far. Crisp delivery, sensational bass that leaves your head reverberating, when I wear them in the street I have to sing along, the purity of sound moves you. you will never, ever use those white earbuds with your ipod again if you buy these (except for sport, these are too heavy for running about in). They look cool too. go for it.

The truth is i have not purchased this item; however i did get to try them at a bestbuy in the states.

The sound is truly awesome; the fit is snug, the bass, tops and mid range are amazing... And all delivered at a comfortable volume without being too loud.

You would have to be a serious vinyl head to get the most of these as i feel the superior quality these headphones deliver may be lost if you are just a mp3-loader playing downloaded tracks.

I ain't no expert but i know when something sounds good - so if you like to hear the tunes as they were meant to be heard buy 'em.