We feel ripped off because you are getting ripped off. We’re paying for marketing hype, for pretty colors and celebrity endorsements.

I recently bought an (overpriced, or at least pricey) pair of headphones. It was the first “yuppie purchase” of my life—things are going better now, and headphones are fundamental to my craft or trade: blogging.

I need a pair that folds, or has a case that will protect it—I ride a bike, and move from cafe to cafe, to home to lunch, several times a day. I work in, say, three to six spots a day. They need to be tough, and travelable.

I want them to look cool—simple, without a ton of hype crap all over it.

I want them to be quality, sound-wise—but they don’t have to be amazing—I use them for blogging videos in lousy, mostly.

I need a mic so I can use the headphones with my iPhone for conference calls, walking around the streets of Boulder, since I don’t have an office (saves money, and I don’t like offices).

And I’ve since returned that pair of headphones—it didn’t fit my big head (no jokes, please), and the fit hurt my ears .

I got a new pair, but this new pair had an un-eco pair of batteries in it for noise-canceling ridiculousness—batteries are poisonous to our earth, and unnecessary for my use. Worse, you forget to turn off the batteries once, the headphones are useless.

I got a new pair, and they’re great so far. Thing is, though I’ve traded two pairs in, and all three pairs have been fancy and all, you have this feeling that you’re paying far too much for a bunch of marketing overlaying wires and Made in China un-fair-labor mass-produced crap. So I was relieved to see the above image, and read through the below discussion, via reddit.

For an intelligent, knowledgeable discussion of quality headphones vs. price vs. marketing hype…Reddit.