"Audiophile" snob detected.
Believe me, I'm a minor league "audiophile snob" at best/worst, depending on your prospective. But there's a big difference between recognizing that a company like B & W has made it's name based on generally excellent, truly high-end audio products, while companies like Bose and Beats are companies that have made their named based on marketing generally mediocre products.
The biggest problem I have with Bose and Beats is that you can absolutely find not just equal, but significantly better options from other companies at much better price points. They are low quality products sold at far too high of a price point. They're simply a terrible value in my mind. And I could say a whole lot more about Bose and their manipulative marketing over the years, but if you're curious, use a search engine. There's plenty of dirt.
One could certainly argue that B & W products don't necessarily offer a great value oftentimes, and for many people, I would certainly agree. But by no means does that undermine the fact that any way you shake it, the B & W products tend to be excellent in quality. And ultimately, it's simply a different business model that generates the higher price. There's a much smaller market for high end audio gear, yet R & D costs tend to be higher to develop it, manufacturing costs are significantly higher as well, and material costs are higher. For these companies to stay in business and continue making products for a niche market, they have to make a healthy profit. Again, I would never argue that they're an excellent value for all people, but for those that demand the highest of quality audio reproduction, B & W might actually be among the lower-priced options, and thus a good value.
Not everyone needs high end audio gear, let alone would many people have the room to even keep some of B & Ws speakers over the years. But no one really needs most of Bose's products (I'll fully admit that they do excel in certain areas of the audio world, but as for the speakers and home systems, it all boils down to successfully marketing low-quality crap) nor do they need Beats headphones. Again, there are just too many options out there that are of a higher quality and sold at a much better price.
(The same problems with Bose and Beats are also problems with another popular audio product, Monster Cables. Again, mostly garbage sold at a huge markup for no real good reason. Their guitar/instrument cables have some value however given that they have a lifetime warranty oftentimes and seeing as guitar/instrument cables take a lot more abuse in a live setting, that can come in very, very handy to a lot of people. I still don't use them, but I understand why some do in performance settings.)
If you still think that anything I've said makes me an "audiophile snob," then fine, I'm an "audiophile snob." But to me, it all boils down to a product's quality and value, not how well they employ marketing gimmickry to sell crap products with huge margins.