Despite costing more than £160 ($199), it is hard to walk down the street without seeing someone wearing a pair of Beats headphones.

But a new teardown, meaning dismantling, of the prized headphones suggests they may not be the premium product they appear to be.

A hardware-focused venture capitalist firm took a pair of Beats Solo headphones apart and claims the device contained metal 'weights' that make the headphones feel more solid and durable.

Avery Louie, a prototype engineer for Bolt who performed the analysis, notes in a blog post via Medium.com that the headphones feel 'substantial'.  

He writes: 'A little bit of weight makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable.

'One way to do this cheaply is to make some components out of metal in order to add weight.

'In these headphones, 30 per cent of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight.' 

Writing in his blog post, he says 'nearly every part of this product is snapped or glued together'.

Beats says its headphones are designed to let wearers hear 'music the way the artist would play it back for you' – with a lot of bass.

Avery writes that it's impossible to tell if the headphones' construction enhance bass, but says generic components make it 'unlikely'.

He estimates the cost of a pair of headphones, without labour or shipping, is $16.89 - a fraction of the price of the retail price and hints that Dr Dre's star power may be responsible. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3131799/A-cheap-trick-Teardown-suggests-Beats-headphones-contain-metal-weights-make-appear-better-quality.html

This smell's like horse manure..

^^ The last estimate that I saw was lower. It was closer to $14.

Beats headphones sound terrible - anyone who has ever owned a pair of decent headphones understands that Beats are vastly overpriced.