Not exactly a huge surprise. Now with the Apple thing I'm even more wary of getting them. Don't wanna be getting stuff with features exclusive to Apple, **** off with that.
What I like about Beats is some of them are wireless but come with a 3.5mm jack and cord. That's because my old ass drums only have a 3.5mm for headphones.
I've been leery of buying expensive headphones because of how many cheap ones I've broken over time. I have a $30 JBL option too, in case I can't make a decision in time.
To dive deeper I actually have three models of Audiotechnica....
- A corded one since 2005 I've used for my drumset (they've been beaten and battered, pulled out of sockets, never broke).
- A new corded one I bought a couple years ago for my drumset (been more careful with these, very comfortable).
- A hybrid headphones which I use for my gaming systems and listening to music (I'll go into this one into more detail).
I was looking at all models ranging from Sony to Bose because I wanted a hybrid headphone or one that is both bluetooth and wired (so I can choose which options I want at specific times). I've had multiple bluetooth speakers from like five companies to test out a threatre-like sound at home. Every single one I've tested always came with a noise interference and a huge lack of quality sound, where I was really dissasified. These included JBL, couple of Sonys, and other brands around all prices and models (actual headphones to specific theatre models). Then I figured that I would cheque Audiotechnica because they models for literally everything. I probably did a good month of research and found these...
Which perform exactly what I wanted going from my laptop to my Xbox to my television to my phone. The pros for them is you can take them anywhere, they have outstanding sound quality, comes with carrying case, durable, comes with a wire where you can also talk via your phone, and comes with a charging kit for the wireless portion. The cons are they don't have amazing battery life, they charge slowly than I would prefer (I've only charged them from my laptop though), some hiccups in Bluetooth quality at times, and (strictly for me) they can get uncomfortable at times. Another con is that the bluetooth doesn't hook up to every single item, it's not really a limitation of the headphone, but certain technology. For instance, you cannot make it pair with your Xbox because Nazisoft doesn't allow you (have to buy certain models). It didn't pair with my Sony television either. I hear you can buy an adapter to make it sync with a PS4, but haven't read too deep into it as of yet. I did buy a sound system for my Sony 4k which allows me to pair my headphones with it. You just gotta be caution because just because it says bluetooth doesn't mean it will work (such as the case for A LOT of TVs).
The more expensive the headphone, the higher quality you get in sound and more comfortable they become. I will say that Bose, though ridiculously expensive are absolutely worth with the price. They make great products. Beats as mentioned here, suck in every way and form. Sony have hit or miss products so I really pay attention to the negative reviews (such as durability). JBL's higher brand stuff are good, wouldn't trust their cheaper items personally. Personally, music is a huge part of my life so I gladly will pay for expensive headphones and will never buy a pair under 100 bucks, but that's just me.
What you want to look for in a headphone (specifically over the ear headphones because they give you best sound quality) is the headphone's "driver" which will be in millimeters. So for example these Sony's here (which I also looked at)...
Have a 40 mm driver producing better sound quality than those less than this number. If you can find the highest driver mm as possible with the lowest price as possible, then you you're finding yourself a really good deal. But as RL said, you should have shopped on Black Friday because Amazon had some really good offers.
E: Tell me if you cannot see the Amazon products, because it is showing up as "invisible" blocks for me.