Beats headphones use weights to simulate being a premium product

There’s no shame in admitting that you fell for the Beats By Dre scam, millions of people have thanks to impressive ad campaigns and a bit of trickery. When I say trickery, I mean things like putting metal weights inside headphones in order to give users the sense that the headphones are more durable and solid, and therefore more premium. This “premium” feeling is what convinces people to drop a few hundred bucks on a pair of mediocre headphones. 

Despite costing more than £160 ($199), it is hard to walk down the street without seeing someone wearing a pair of Beats headphones. But a new teardown, meaning dismantling, of the prized headphones suggests they may not be the premium product they appear to be. A hardware-focused venture capitalist firm took a pair of Beats Solo headphones apart and claims the device contained metal ‘weights’ that make the headphones feel more solid and durable. Avery Louie, a prototype engineer for Bolt who performed the analysis, notes in a blog post via Medium.com that the headphones feel ‘substantial’. He writes: ‘A little bit of weight makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable. ‘One way to do this cheaply is to make some components out of metal in order to add weight. ‘In these headphones, 30 per cent of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight.’ MailOnline has contacted Beats for comment on the claims, but has yet to receive a response.