Customer Reviews

Beats by Dr. Dre Tour Mobile with Control Talk In-Ear Headphones

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

Admittedly, what drew me first to this set of earphones was the design. Since I've owned many other high quality earbuds before with similar looks (Shure E4C, Bose, Apple, Senns.), I was looking for something different to go along with my new Zune HD. At first, I was a little skeptical because of some so-so reviews on the net. But because I could get these by just cashing in miles (18,000) from United Airlines at their online store, I decided to go for it.

After using these for about 3 weeks now, I can say that I am very happy with them.
First the positives: Nice build quality.
The material and fit/finish looks top notch. From just the look, one will get a sense that these are quality products. The flat cable is indeed tangle-resistance. During use, I either wound the cable around my Zune or just shove the whole thing in my pocket. After which, I could just shake it a few times, and the cable would be unwound. Could never do the same with my other earbuds.

Sound quality. Great, no disappointment. A caveat here is that you have to get the right fit, and this goes for all types of earbuds. I first tried the medium earpiece, but these were too small. I could never get a good seal so the sound was tinny with non-existant bass. I then switched to the flange-type (I call it christmas-tree) and ended up using the biggest ones. With these, I could get and most importantly, retain a nice tight seal, even during a work-out. The result is a powerful, tight bass with smooth mids. The highs are just right, not shrilling. With these, I can listen to music for a long time without fatigue.

Design. This is just a personal preference, but I like the design. Makes them stand apart from the all the other white earbuds that everyone has. Although the photos seem to suggest that these may protrude out pretty far from the ear, in actual use, they are quite flushed once put in. I think the reason for this is that there's a slight angle to the ear piece, which fits the contour of the ear more.

Now the negatives: A little hard to find the right fit. Yeah for some reason, it took me some time to find a good fit for these phones. With my other ones, I had a lot easier time.
The weight of the flat cable is a little heavy. During a long run, I need to use a clip so that the cable don't pull down and loosen the seal of the earbuds.
The extra ear pieces only come a little plastic bag. With the Apple in-ear phones, the earpieces come in a nifty capsule, which makes it easier to locate and store.

I would recommend these to my friends. Just make sure that you get the real ones from a reputable retailer, as I've read that there are fakes out there.

August 2010: Update. My pair of Beats Tour met an untimely demise through no fault of its own. During one of my flights, while the jack was still connected to the armchair audio, I had accidentally hit the jack with my knee. This caused the jack to snap in half.
I decided to call Monster to see if this was covered under the warranty. Surprisingly, they just said to send in the broken pair and they will send out a replacement, which just arrived last week. The new version of the Beats Tour has an updated jack with a 90 degrees bend instead of straight. I think this will definitely help out on the accidental breakage. I still love the Beats Tour and very impressed with Monster's warranty and customer service. But I now use a pair of Sennheiser PCX350 on my flights instead of the Beats Tour.

Ok, I'm not one to bash any item, I over pay for a lot of things in Life... BUT... Let me tell you about these Headphones!!!

1st Off - Here's what Nice, Tangle free Design is EXCELLENT, should be the standard for all Headphones here on out.

Ok, thats it, thats all I got on the Pro's of these headphones!!

The CON'S Other than tangle free, EVERYTHING!!! 1st pair left earpiece went out, 2nd pair has exposed wiring everywhere, that little volume Control, the red cable comes out and you can see the wires.. On the earpiece, where it is black then right before the red cable there is a little silver piece.. well, that is plastic and poorly made plastic and it comes right off. If I were to seriously price these on construction quality, I promise I am not Lying, not more than 10 bucks! Im not being ridiculous either here, these are absolutely horrible when it comes to construction.. Apparently these have not gone through ANY Quality Assurance test whatsoever! I'm not an Audiophile so i can't sit and tell you that they sound tons better than other headphones.. Sound wise, when they work, sound great.

Sorry, long review, but until these have gone through to Version 2 and get updated with better quality construction, I would not recommend ANYONE buying these..

Oh, and AMAZON, NICEST, BEST COMPANY EVER, i feel soo bad for them selling these horrible headphones. They gotta eat the cost of shipping these back and forth for all the returns. Plus they are incredible when it comes to customer service, super responsive, super nice on the phone. They should pay you to take these out of their inventory, don't let the headphones crappy quality reflex on Amazon's great service...

I've used several in-ear headphones that have either died within 6 mos or didn't give me the sound that I was looking for. I cant give an audiophile type of review because it's not that deep for me. These headphones provide extremely deep bass. Some may feel they are overpriced, but paying that price is a choice.


I was looking for headphones that would primarily be used with my cellphone (Blackberry Tour) and iPod Touch. I did have the Beats Solo and although they provided great sound, they just weren't the type of sets to have on while driving. The control talk mic does all it's designed to do.


The bass is very deep and sound isolation- well lets just say, I don't hear a thing once these puppies are cranked up!! I'm also impressed that the cord is flat; something I havent seen on any other headset. It would take a LOT of work for the cord to ever become tangled.

Just received my In-Ear Beats today, so this is my first impression.

(1) Packaging & Marketing:
Excellent! Yes, we ARE paying for the packaging so I can see where some of the money goes. The in-ear Headphones themselves are in round black container with two sets of rubber adjustment sets inside.
The headphones come out of the packet easily (you can do it with one hand)
and the actual headphones look GREAT. Black glossy case setting with a silver center and a red B.
Packaging and marketing: *****five stars

(2) Quality:
Although some have questioned the quality I beg to differ. For starters, the red cord fitting into each headphone is tight, there are no gaps. This is a major design flaw with less quality product. You do not want gaps when it comes to electronic connections for obvious reasons. The end of the cable fitting into the 3.5 jack is also tight. The seem to put an extra piece of hard plastic there as well. The jack itself is gold plated for solid connections.
Quality: *****five stars

(3) Fitting:
The out of box rubber fittings didn't fit at all.
The headphones easily fell out. Changed to the larger pair of fittings and bingo,
solid fit. The red cord is flat and doesn't get tangled easily. The headphones are designed to fit deep into the ear, almost on a slight slant...something I am not used to. I can see how some reviewers do not like how these feel. It will take some getting used to. What I do like about them is the weight. They are very, very light.
Fitting: ****four stars

(4) Sound:
Ahh, this is where the rubber meets the road. Once the headphones are properly placed in your ear,
the sound is very, very good. I have to note that I use a headphone *amp Fiio E5, (I'll explain why in a minute). Best I have heard from an in-ear headphone thus far. As a matter of fact, I own the Sennheiser HD428, and the in-ear Beats are close to the quality of the Senn's, considering they are an in-ear headphone. Bass is deep and tight, the highs are excellent, and the mid-range is well balanced.
Sound: *****five starts

(5) Price:
I paid $90, and to me these buds appear to be well worth it. Again, I just received them, but will do a follow-up. If you think $90-$100 is a lot to spend on headphones, and it is, consider dinner for two and a movie plus gas for the car will run you about $100. When the movie is done in 2.5 hrs, your money is gone. Didn't like the movie, too bad. At least with Beats, all you have to do is change the track, and you will have quality sounding music for years to enjoy.
Price: ****four stars

*Headphone amp: The reason I use the Fiio E5 headphone amp is for sound clarity. Music sounds much better when the proper power source is applied. Best $20 bucks I have spent in a long time. Try it and you'll be amazed also.

Ok so I'm not going to write a good review about a subpar performing product. I had initially purchased Monster Turbines since I was in the market for some higher quality performance headphones, I wish I didn't return them to get these.

First thing to note...I received 2 pairs of these in a week first pair left earbud blew out after <5hours of playtime, second pair there was a clear cracking/background sound not present on my original track.

I am not a earphone professional or anything like that however I do know good sound when I hear it (i may be a little biased since I like bass but still)...These earphones were far from the quality their price tag suggests. I payed 149.99 for the Beats with Controltalk and let me tell you they sounded similar to my $10 skullcandy earbuds they didn't pick up mid range well and the bass seemed to overwhelm other parts of the songs. After much speculation I decided to return the replacement pair for a refund of my money. Needless to say I would not recommend these to anyone that actually wants good sound quality. I have since purchased MEElectronics M21Ps and these produce a better sound quality for 1/3 the price.

et al. Pros: Dr Dre's name, controltalk function, Amazon takes returns

Cons: bad sound quality, earphones blow out easy, hard to find comfortable earbuds, build quality not good compared to other monster headphones

I got this headphones around April 15, today is May 17 and the volume control already doesnt work, the sound quality is not the same now as the beginning, too much noise even though I keep the volume down, the tips keep falling out of the headphones, all around one of the worst buys I've ever done

I received these as a gift and once I found covers that fit my ears the sound quality was great. Until they died the next day. Thats right, the first pair I got died the second day I used them. I exchanged them for a new pair, and this second pair worked for 3 weeks and then they died in the same way. The left earbud stopped emitting sound entirely mid-use.

I am returning this second pair and getting something else. I suggest no one else buys this product either.

Firstly the sound is not as good as imagine. Maybe it was my over-expectation the sound has nothing but bass. It works OK to the hiphop music. But it does not work to any other music types. What is even worse is, after 3 months purchase, the left earbud didn't produce the sound any more. That really upsets me with such short period of time of durability. Then I've contacted the customer service for return by email since I reside overseas. The service was so bad that not answering my question promptly and correctly. I need to repeat asking same question over and over. The company does not reimburse the shipping too. For overseas customer that means we have to bear the shipping fee that is due to the wrongdoing of product itself.
In nutshell to all.. it is highly, highly unrecommended.

I should have done greater research. I purchased this as a gift and for the first 3 minutes, they worked great. Then, along came minute number 4, fuzz, fuzz, fuzz. The left ear phone began to experience incredible static. Bummer. My advice...go for Kliplsch. I replaced the "beats" with the Klipsch s4i and....wow...what a difference. I should also say that Amazon did a great job making it right for me. Bottom line, beats NO. Amazon, YES.

Bought these headphones from best buy and the left ear died during the second use. Returning them tomorrow, should've heeded some of the other people's advice on here. Don't buy these!