Beats By Dr. Dre Solo HD Review

The most amazing and second most expensive headphones ever?

Hello my name is James and I enjoy purchasing over priced headphones. I know that that is the first thing you thought of when you read the title of the post. However if you have have read my review of the Beats By Dr. Dre Pro then you will know that they are simply amazing headphones with mind blowing bass. My main issue after months of use was that they were not exactly portable headphones which is something that I was lacking. I had cheap buds that I could toss in my bag or use for riding my bike, but I didn’t have a pair that were light weight that I could throw into a bag and get amazing sound out of. I was extremely happy with my Pros and I will use them all the time, but right before I left for Romania once more I accidently packed them up. I was too lazy to go through all my boxes so at the last minute I ran up to Best Buy and bought my second pair of BBDs. So after 14 hours in the air and several weeks of watching movies and listening to movies I have finally decided if my purchase was worth it. Read on..

Features

The BBD Solo HDs have a lot of features built right into them, but also lack a lot of features like their big brother the BBDs Pro. The Solo HDs were built for portability and you can tell because they are able to fold in completely and reduce their size by half. Additionally they come with a nice pouch which you can completely zip. The pouch also has a few pockets to store cables in and even a nice little handle to carry it around with you. These headphones also come with Monster’s ControlTalk attachment which is simply another cable which plugs in and allows you to control playback & volume on your iPod, and it can also allow you to make hands-free calling on your iPhone. Unfortunately for me I do not use any of these devices at all so I could not make use of them, but from what I understand they work great. The big HD addition here as far as features go is their new design/material which basically makes them unbreakable, and also a great improvement in bass over the standard Solos. Unfortunately these do NOT feature the swivel design of the Pros or the Y-Splitting capabilities.

Design

I am honestly blown away by the design of these headphones. They are extremely light weight and I would say almost too light weight, but I can not complain. The tri-fold collapsible design is great for storage and the storage pouch is really nice. They do have a shiny design to them however which is extremely finger print prone, but I haven’t had too many issues with that so far and I am using them non stop. They are marketed as “Over-Ear” head phones, but do not be fooled they are definitely “On-Ear”. At your local Best Buy you should be able to try these out. One thing that you will not be able to judge is the comfort. Since they are on your ear Monster has provided a lot of cushion to comfort your ears. The main cushions on the ear almost have a suction feel to them which is odd at first, but after a few listens you will really start to enjoy them on your ears. After 14 hours in the air I can honestly say that they did not hurt my ears at all. I did move them around from time to time, but this is expected with any pair of headphones. I also feel like they are extremely sturdy even though they are plastic. The Pros are all metal and crazy and I was fearful of buying plastic headphones, but I was able to completely bend them out with no issues at all just like the videos on the official Beats website.

Sound Quality

Just like the BBD Pros these things hit HARD with the bass. I listen to a lot of hip-hop and rap music and they sound absolutely astonishing. I did not honestly think that a pair of on ear headphones could handle so much bass. This is the first pair of headphones that I can honestly say will blow your mind when you put a bass heavy track on. Obviously the BBD Pros hit harder, but if you are looking for bass then you have found the right pair of headphones with the BBD Solo HDs. Additionally I listened to a lot of rock albums and also watched a good deal of movies for The Movie Podcast and they sounded absolutely great. Highs, lows, sound effects, and even that great surround sound effect are all here. These things will make you want to listen to more music hands down.

Value

Headphones are an investment and these will set you back around $200. Even on Amazon they come in around $180, but they are about $180 cheaper than the Pros which is nice. I spent a lot of time at best buy and any decent pair of headphones were anywhere from $150 to $200 so even though these were at the high end I honestly feel as though they are great value. They will last you a long time, look stylish, and have the best bass you can get out of any pair of headphones in this price range.

Conclusion

Even though I hate Monster as a company for their over priced cables that they pushed on just about everyone I have to give it up to them for hooking up with Dr. Dre and creating some of the most amazing headphones that you can buy. I will be rocking them Beats all over Munich this weekend, that is for sure, and I can honestly recommend them to each and everyone of you.

BBDs Solo HDs are available on Amazon right now!

Bonus photos (cause you love me so much):