It has been discovered that Beats headphones contain metal weights within them to make them feel premium.
The cost to build the luxury Beats headphones is only about $20, with the metal weights being added to the devices to make them heavier and feel more valuable.
A teardown of Beats Solo headphones posted on Medium revealed that the gadget contains four metal parts that make up 30 percent of the weight of the headphones. The metal parts collectively weigh 36 grams, while the rest of the functional parts of the headphones collectively weigh 86 grams.
To be noted is the fact that the four metal parts do not provide the headphones with any function at all. The parts are there only to add weight to the product, which "makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable."
"Beats by Dre headphones are garbage. Besides their crappy sound, they're basically designed to break," wrote tech news website Gizmodo.
The Daily Mail reported that some comments on Gizmodo, however, make claims that the metal parts do have certain functions of providing hinge and slider functionality while allowing the loudspeaker cone to vibrate freely, though the statements have not yet been verified as true.
Estimated costs for all of the components that make up the Beats headphones come to a total of $16.89, which is very cheap as the retail prices of the headphones usually go over $199. In addition, $7 of the cost is for the packaging of the product, with the speakers of the headphones costing only less than $1 each.
The findings are not surprising for PCMag, with the website stating that several $100 headphones sound better than Beats headphones, with no product by the brand ever entering the list of best headphones as reviewed by PCMag.
The over-the-ear headphones being worn in public by customers such as those designed by Beats, however, is not a product that is geared towards functionality. These headphones are fashion products, and the Beats brand is such a strong one that people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a product that does not sound the best and contain metal parts to make them heavier, just to have the small "b" on the side of their heads while they are in public.
