If you’ve been to a dance festival in the last year or so, you’ve probably seen a pair of Beats By Dr Dre headphones in action. At Parklife, Diplo was sporting his pair custom-designed by Ninja from Die Antwoord, while at Stereosonic Benny Benassi had the distinctive red-and-white around his neck too. Hip hop entrepreneur Dr Dre has pitched his headphone range directly at music enthusiasts, particularly those who consider themselves bass fiends.

With a roll-call of musicians and DJs getting behind his product too, the ever-growing Beats By Dr Dre empire is doing a good job distracting everyone from the fact that Detox is still M.I.A. Of course, you don’t have to go to a festival to glimpse Beats headphones: just get on any bus or train and you’re sure to spot a pair.

Alongside the many offshoots from Beats By Dre (the ‘Artist Series’ from mainstream names like P Diddy and Lady Gaga; the ‘Beats Audio’ range; a ‘Studio’ design for music professionals, and the list goes on), there’s also this hook-up between the Monster – the powerhouse behind the headphones – and HTC smartphones.

The full name for the latest package is HTC Sensation XL with Beats Audio, and in Australia it’s available exclusively through Vodafone. Just as Dr Dre has the music-obsessed in his sights with Beats By Dr Dre, so too is HTC pitching its smartphone at…well…people like us. After all, the tag-line is ‘Feel Every Beat’.

The phone comes bundled with a tailormade Beats By Dr Dre headset (so you can be synchronised and colour-coordinated: always important), making the lofty claim of ‘the best sound and sight you can get on any mobile device’. While every mobile device isn’t on our radar, an extended play around with the HTC Sensation XL shows it’s a standout companion for anyone permanently plugged in to music.

First up, there’s the Super LCD screen. It’s big (4.7 inch in fact), luminous and sleek, meaning music videos, festival footage or live streams look slick on the handset. It also helps that it comes bundled with a pair of headphones that far outstrip the flimsy, sound-bleeding in-ear buds that accompany most mobile phones. Special software on the HTC itself raises the standard of the audio too, with an emphasis on crisp, deep bass. The music player is also sharp and intuitive – particularly handy if you’ve got an extensive library.

A couple of other things should please anyone who plans to put the handset through its paces with regular use. The battery life has been increased from earlier models (good news if you plan to listen to four-hour DJ sets while playing in-phone games), and it now comes with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor (translation: it’s quick even when multiple apps are running simultaneously).

There are a lot of other features to recommend the phone outside of its audio nous – things like a Sense 3.0 update, a powerful front-facing camera and yes, the capability to actually call people – but really the music is what matters here. If you can’t go anywhere without a pair of headphones affixed to your head, this is a package you’ll probably want to look into.