HTC's integrated Beats Audio is just a gloried equalizer preset

[Detonation]

When you plug certain Beats headphones into an HTC integrated beats phone, a "Beats Audio" mode becomes enabled. Here's what engadget had to say about it

In addition to an all-round volume jump, it feels like you also get some bass and upper mid-range frequencies boosted on top. This harks back to our days with WinAmp and its array of equalizer knobs: we'd pump up the bass and some of higher frequencies for vocals, thereby creating a kind of horizontal 'S' shape, and then we'd leave that profile unchanged because it improved the majority of tracks we listened to. If we're right on this subject -- and we'll have to wait until our full review before we can be absolutely sure -- then effectively Beats is just a specific version of this S-curve, to which Dr. Dre presumably gave a nod, and which manages to preserve itself despite the particular acoustics of your headphones.

What a joke. Power Amp, among many other music apps, has this feature. Sure you might get some $100 headphones with the phone (assuming they don't raise the phone price), but everyone knows Beats headphones are overpriced and you're paying more for the brand name/status icon than sound quality anyways.

HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio -- we go ears-on (video) -- Engadget