HV/1A myself. Great headphone. Wish they still made them. I don’t trust anything currently available to be any good at all. Still have mine but of course the foam is long gone.
I hope your son is at least responsible with his stuff. I got Beats for mine last year. By the end of January they were lost.
A friend of mine is an audiophile. While working towards his PhD in neurophysiology, he supported himself by working at a high-end audio store. Jacques Cousteau came in as a customer, wanting to buy a very expensive stereo.
After ascertaining that the system was for his personal use, my friend tried to sell him a different system which cost much less. He explained that the more expensive system would be a waste, because at his age he could not tell the difference. There was a shitstorm and my friend lost his job.
Luckily for him neurophysiology is a much better paying field than sales.
Yea, but you should see what he tells his patients and/or test subjects. “We’ll take that nerve out. You don’t need it at your age. You won’t even feel it.”
Heh. It’s actually publish or perish in research, though.
“Uhh…Dr. Audio stopped by while you were sedated and took out your frontal lobe. He said he figured you’d gone numb after dealing with your eighth teenager, anyway…” 
Generally, in the world of high-end audio, price does make a difference. The key with a home stereo setup is to get the best amplifier you can afford, because even speakers that cost 10K won’t get their full use without a quality amp. Age does deteriorate your hearing, but even an old man can typically hear the difference between distorted, muddy crap and crisp, hi-fidelity sound. I’m not sure what your friend was trying to do, but that is about the worst example of salesmanship I think I have ever heard.
The foam’s back in production! Mine wore out and Koss had stopped making them, then I found some packing foam soft enough to use, then it wore out. I had about given up until you jarred my memory and I looked again. Thank you.
I’m old, deafish, and now with loud tinnitus, and I find quality audio gear is MORE important, not less.
Awesomness! I’m getting replacements. Thanks!
Well damn, this thread is depressing. I mean, I knew Beats were over priced headphones but I didn’t know they were THAT crappy of a product.
(Sigh) Still gotta get them though, kid hardly ever asks for anything. Last year his Xmas gift cost me a grand total of $50. (A video game) So I guess it evens out.
Thanks for the responses guys.
Similarly, I was a sales manager in household appliances and electronics (around 2008-2009) for a retail place and there was a big push of 720p/1080p and most customers were just starting to understand the difference. I was “talked to” multiple times by my higher manager. Typically, we were dealing with people buying their first flat screen TVs, but we would see people pay extra for 1080p on a TV the size of a computer monitor. I don’t know where I heard it at the time, but would explain to people that they shouldn’t buy up to 1080 in certain cases (cite). Also, I would have customers come in and buy the highest end television they could, then take it home and attach it to their SD cable connection (or OTA) and wonder why it wasn’t a better picture.
These talks always turned around – they would suggest we always upsell everything. I would say something similar to “Sure, why not…” but continue doing what was best for the customer. Customer is happy, and when they need something else, they come back to me and my sales are good. After the second time we had the conversation, my manager claimed ignorance about what was said to customers, as we typically had highest sales in the district, so they didn’t make much of a fuss.
Shakes, Apple now owns Beats. I assume they have them in-store for listening, if there’s an Apple store near you. I have no opinion either way but I suspect you’ll find them less crappy than suggested here.
You can see the range in their online store. Beware cheap deals elsewhere, there are lots of counterfeits around.