The headset and the cable are separate, you plug one end of the cable in the headset, and the other on the phone. Now the cable has a built in microphone, volume up/down, and mute button.
When I plug in the cable the right way, i hear very loud hissing and very little music. I plug it in the wrong way and I hear the music fine but ONLY if I keep holding the mute key.
It works fine on my blackberry 9700 and ipod.
Anyway it worked fine if I swapped that cable for any other audio cable, I just need one that is not 3 meters long.
Finally if anyone is interested:
-The beats Tour earphones work fine with N900
-The beats Studio HD work great using the red cable with N900
-The beats Solo apparently not.
-Did not test the Lady Gaga heartBeats.
