Jimmy Iovine is a sound geek.

The former record producer and current chairman/CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records has long been obsessed with audio quality. He admits to going through painstaking lengths to ensure that the various sound systems in his home, office and cars are all optimized for maximum fidelity. So it's no surprise that Iovine is frustrated by the disposable white earbuds and low bit-rates that dominate today's digital music landscape.

"When you realize that a whole generation of people are listening to music for the first time ever-ever-through those tiny, tiny earbuds, you realize we've got a problem," he says, his voice rising with emotion. "In the last decade, everyone's been focused on the stealing. But that's just the record industry losing its business model. What's happening simultaneously, and not enough people are paying attention to, is that it's also losing its soul through the degradation of sound."

About three years ago, Iovine decided to do something about this, teaming with legendary hip-hop performer/producer Dr. Dre and audiophile audiovisual hardware firm Monster Cable to create a line of headphones called Beats by Dre. The idea was to apply all the elements that go into making a hit record to the business of selling headphones-great sound, fashion sense and star power-and in doing so bring the focus back to quality over convenience.

"I felt it was the weakest link," Iovine says. "With a bad file and a bad-sounding computer, you have at least a shot at pumping the emotion back with a good pair of headphones."

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Today, Beats by Dre is a success, on track to sell more than 1.3 million devices this year, according to Iovine, which would more than double last year's sales. Although its unit sales volume doesn't crack the top five headphone brands as tracked by NPD Group, its dollar share ranks fourth at 9%-behind market leader Sony at 23%, upstart Skullcandy in second at 14% and audiophile favorite Bose at 12%.

While that growth lends credence to Iovine's quest to improve fidelity on a mass scale, it's still not clear that most consumers care that their iPod or computer sounds "degraded." Of all headphones bought this year through September, 70% were devices that cost less than $20, according to NPD Group. Meanwhile, headphones that cost between $100 and $300 captured only 3% of the year's sales. The Beats by Dre line ranges from the $120 iBeats earbuds to the $450 Beats Pro over-the-ear model.

"The $30 earphones sell vastly better than Beats by Dre," says Brent Butterworth, contributing technical editor for Sound & Vision magazine. "Some people don't care about [sound] at all, and to them it would be stupid to buy these headphones."

Which is why for all of Iovine's passion about sound quality, Beats by Dre's achievements have as much to do with design and marketing as they do frequency response and harmonic distortion.

"[They] are doing more to promote 'quality' sound to the masses than any other vendors out there," Dealerscope editor-in-chief Jeff O'Heir wrote in an October op-ed. "They are also doing it better."

SONIC DEDUCERS

The seeds for Beats by Dre were first planted when Iovine ran into Dre while walking down Carbon Beach in Malibu, Calif., where Dre owns a home. As they chatted, Dre mentioned that his lawyers were trying to get him to endorse a line of Dre-branded shoes.

"I said, 'Dre, fuck sneakers. Let's sell speakers,' " Iovine recalls.

The line is an apt one, for Iovine's plans was to do for headphones what Air Jordans did for shoes. The first Beats by Dre headphones made their debut at the Consumer Electronic Show in January 2008. Soon after, Iovine used his connections and influence in the music industry to get stars like Will.i.am, David Guetta and Eminem to wear them to premiere parties, in music videos and elsewhere.

Then, Iovine expanded the Beats by Dre line to include selected artists who had the right mix of style sense, artistic relevance and fan base, offering them their own line of Beats devices in return for a cut of the sales. They include Lady Gaga's Heartbeats, Sean "Diddy" Combs' Diddybeats and Justin Bieber's JustBeats. They also expanded into sports partnerships, most recently with NBA star LeBron James' Powerbeats, and they even made a Red Sox-branded model, introduced on opening day at Fenway Park in April and featured during ESPN2's broadcast of the game.

Noel Lee, founder/CEO of partner Monster-which handles all manufacturing and distribution for the company-says such star power is critical to the brand's success. Consumers need a reason to go into a store and take the "Pepsi Challenge" between the cheaper headphones and the higher-quality ones. Given their high price, headphones need to have a greater cultural resonance than just high-end sound to make the sale.

"I don't think it would have worked without Jimmy's marketing help," Lee says.

Design plays a role too. Skullcandy emerged in 2003 and grew to become the world's second-largest manufacturer of headphones by focusing on them as fashion accessories. Iovine took a page from this book and turned to design expert Robert Brunner at Ammunition Group to create Beats by Dre's look and feel. Brunner was formerly the top design executive at Apple, preceding iPod designer Jonathan Ivy, and was recently honored as one of Fast Company's 100 most creative people.

The result is a trendsetting line of headphones hawked by a veritable who's who of the entertainment and sports worlds.

"They've really revitalized the headphone market," Sound & Vision's Butterworth says. "They've created headphones people want to own. Look at the Sennheiser line. Here's a bunch of well-engineered headphones, but there's no lust there. They're just headphones. Beats have great design. They have a cool logo. They're well-made. For someone who wants to look cool, these are a great thing."

Next: Do They Sound as Cool as They Look?