Moneybox

I've often wondered who it is that's buying these very expensive Beats By Dre headphones, but the answer turns out to be "lots of people" and the company scored 40 percent of US headphone sales over the Christmas season.

That's an awful lot. And while the headphones sound fine to me, they're definitely not better than competing offering from Senndheiser, Grado, Etymotics and other manufacturers that aren't associated with hip-hop icons. It's a real branding success story.