I have used the usual 'in ear' headphones that come with the iphone and the ipod touch etc and to be honest after a short amount of time they usually start hurting my ears, or worse keep falling out when I am walking the dog. I wanted to try something a little more designer and spend out a little more than the freebies that I have already, and so far I have been really pleased with the Beats headphones. I have been able to keep them in for much longer without the throbbing on my ears and the sound quality is very good. I particularly like the stereo effect when sounds seem to zip from one ear to the other. The balance and equalisers are set to a good level. Overall the headphones seem to be made of a good quality and I have been pleased so far with them.