[Stuart]

I do not own a pair, but have tried various models with various kinds of music. They sounded good playing Hip Hop. Absolutely awful playing anything else. The £70 set of Sennheisers I settled on outclassed all the Beats headphones I tried, some of which were over twice the price.

Even on Hip Hip, the Sennheisers were close in quality to the Beats headphones.

That, combined with the fact that Sennheiser actually make headphones that are *used* in studios, rather than headphones that are merely endorsed by producers and singers persuaded me to buy the Sennheisers. Endorsements can be bought. A good reputation (which Sennheiser headphones have in studio circles) can only be earned.