Beats by Dr. Dre urBeats

Since its debut headphones were released in 2008, the celebrity-backed Beats by Dr. Dre has expanded its lineup, shed Monster as a business partner, and managed to get its products endorsed and worn by everyone from Lady Gaga to Lebron James. The new Beats by Dr. Dre urBeats is a simple and, at $99.95 (direct), comparatively inexpensive addition to the line-up. It features the familiar Beats styling, bass-heavy frequency response, and is distortion free?even at top volumes. The earphones could also be a bit more comfortable and secure-fitting, but they deliver overall solid value for this price range.

Design
Not much changes in the land of Beats designs. The urBeats features the trademark red, flat, linguini-like cable, coupled with black accents and the lowercase-B logo on each earpiece, that just about every other Beats model is graced with. (There is also a white model available.) The housing is a lightweight brushed metal that has a nice matte look to it. Along the left ear's cable, there's an inline microphone and remote for making calls on mobile devices and controlling playback and volume.

Beats claims that whether you're careful with your urBeats or carelessly toss them in a bag after use, it won't matter?they are made to be durable and tough. However, the cable is usually the first thing to malfunction on earphones, which makes any pair that has a detachable cable, like the Shure SE215 , more likely to last a long time, since you can just swap out bad cables rather than buy a replacement pair. The urBeats' cable is not detachable, and the earphones are neither waterproof nor weatherproof. Unfortunately, durability is not something we can test in the Labs, as it would require long-term regular use of every product, so I will begrudgingly give Beats the benefit of the doubt. But there is little to back up the company's durability claim, and the urBeats' overall construction seems more normal than rugged.

The urBeats ships with a small black protective pouch that is also emblazoned with the Beats logo, and a set of four pairs of black silicon ear tips in various sizes. However, getting a secure fit, and a fit that is consistent from ear-to-ear, which is essential in preserving an accurate stereo image, is not always easy and may require some fiddling, even if you are wearing the appropriate ear tip size.

Performance
As previously mentioned, the urBeats doesn't stray from the central defining characteristic of the Beats audio lineup: Big bass. Not all audiophiles and purists will be interested in a pair with such exaggerated low end, but the urBeats delivers its serious bass response cleanly. Even at top, unsafe listening levels on tracks like the Knife's "Silent Shout," which has plenty of sub-bass content, there is zero distortion?a claim several more expensive earphones cannot make.

Modern mixes for pop, hip-hop, and rock sound intense on the urBeats. Whether it's the baritone vocal delivery of Bill Callahan on "Drover" or the kick drum loop and deep bass synth hits on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the urBeats delivers serious, thumping bass. This often sounds great on hip-hop and rock tracks, but occasionally, the bass overpowers the mids and highs, and the overall mix loses its crispness and balance. Vocals can lose their high-mid frequency definition and kick drums?like the one in the aforementioned drum loop?can lose the edge of their attack, giving way to the deeper frequency content.?

Classical music, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," can sound almost comically bass-heavy, with lower register strings producing enough rumble to sound as if they are amplified, instead of acoustic, instruments. The big drum hits at the end of this piece are delivered with substantial boost, creating a thunderous delivery that, while impressive, does little for the balance of the overall orchestra.

Call clarity with an iPhone 4S was sufficient, but the iPhone isn't known for its crystal clear call clarity, so there's not much the mic can do to improve things here?but it doesn't make them worse, and conversations are intelligible on both ends.

If $100 is your general price range and you want a bass-heavy, powerful pair of earphones that won't distort, you've probably found your pair in the urBeats. But if you favor a bit more balance than bass, there are less bass-intense options worth considering, like the more affordable AKG K 350 ?and Phiaton Moderna MS 200, which is priced a bit higher than the urBeats. For a higher price, the Denon Urban Raver AH-C300 In-Ear Headphones ?is a seriously bass-heavy?but nonetheless articulate?earphone pair. The urBeats, however, is a solid option in this price range for this type of exaggerated, sculpted frequency response.

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