Beats by Dr. Dre EP

The Beats EP is available in a choice of black, blue, white and red. The lightweight build sits securely on the head, with size adjustments, a padded headband and rotating earpieces all adding to wearing comfort. Only the artificial leather coverings cause an issue, causing the skin to sweat underneath when worn for long periods of time.

The Beats EP can be attached to all common smartphones and mobile devices via mini-jack connection, with the extra-wide cable specially designed to prevent knots and tangles. A hands-free function is also integrated into the inner tech of these headphones, with a one-button remote control allowing for access to functions like call acceptance and playback control. It’s also Siri compatible. The only major gripe here is that you can’t jump forwards or backwards through titles for track selection.

Sound

The first impression of the EP is a rather reserved one, with the headphones failing to either deliver sound that’s either loud or powerful. After some getting used to this more muted sound, the device turns out to deliver a balanced audio character. There’s no pronounced overemphasis of bass at work here. Instead of say, a bass boost, these headphones deliver a more harmonious arrangement of low bass, midrange and high frequencies. There’s also no issue with hardness here, with the playback volume only serving to heighten listening pleasure when increased.

Spatial sound and stereo staging aren’t superficial additions here, but instead reproduce the true characteristics of the recording. The insulation against external noise is sufficient here, but the shielding of device volume is not as adequate. As such, expect the EP to earn you some annoyed looks by fellow passengers on the train or bus if you enjoy listening at high volumes during your morning commute. The speech quality of the hands-free microphone, unfortunately, fails to convince and should have been a lot better considering the price range. It’s also disappointing to see that the manufacturer does not provide much in the way of technical information. This is typical of Beats, but the question remains as to why the manufacturer continues to conceal such data from its enthusiastic consumers.