I got sennheisers recently for £20 and they are pretty great. I'm sure there are plenty of expensive headphones with better sound quality around, but I don't feel any need to get much better than this! They are really loud, cancel all noise, and i can hear parts of songs i've never heard before. also are helping me be more careful in mixing my own music.
Also the people getting these beats headphones are iphone toting glasgow students in their 20's, so i guess the status symbol thing is 'i have money. look how i waste it ha ha'. i'm steamed!!