Constructive "Anti-Beats" headphone discussion - Page 17

customer phsycology is very important in getting a product sold, the way they create the sense of want and desire in the customers (using dr.dre's name, his bullshet quotes about music quality in the headphones and phoney sound science and apple's catchy and simple to understand phrases etc etc) to buy their products

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Originally Posted by billybob_jcv 


I'm not sure I would consider a guy that felt the need to get 7 or 8 degrees instead of a job a good source of advice.
What is a television useful for? Better yet, what is music useful for? Or fiction literature? Or a silk necktie? A Ferrari is no more "useful" than a Toyota - unless your use case is to display conspicuous consumption or get over a twisty mountain road in the least time. Companies try to make products that are desirable. Usefulness is simply one aspect of desirableness, and it is often not the primary driver of a consumer product.

Lol, he's got enough capacity for a job. Just by accepting a 6 month consultancy contract he earns more than I would in 5 years. Of course, many of these degrees were sponsored- by companies I suspect.

Anyway, I think you've got the wrong impression of what I meant by useful. It's not in the sense of composed of only water, raw foods, oxygen, blood, heart, organs and other things at the basics of what one needs to survive ! Useful doesn't mean 'what is necessary for survival.' It's 'having a beneficial, practical use.'

It's a relative point rather. People whipping out their 10 inch ipads to take a low quality photo when they have a camera and a camera phone in their pockets. You see the alternative Is actually far more appealing- even they admit it- but they like brainless lemmings continue to use their £400 ipads to do stuff that they would be able to do much faster, efficiently and effectively on other equipment. For me a smartphone makes the ipad useless as does the netbook or other tablets in existance before the ipad. Err, I've got this ipad to check my facebook says the guy who has facebook loaded on both his laptop and smartphone. Useful??

A TV is not useless.  It's a massive source of knowledge, entertainment and the focal point of so many conversations at the dining table in households across the world in the past 50 years. Xbox couldn't work without it and please don't tell me my xbox is useless (GOW 3). I'm sorry, even though I'm not an avid fan of fiction literature, no one can deny how inspiring and enriching to millions books like lord of the rings or harry potter have and continue to be. A ferrari is probably mostly a fashion statment, but having had a few rides (fast rides) in super cars myself I can tell you the experience is on a complete different planet than that of say a two door toyota yaris. It's not just looks, trust me. If the innate human thrill for speed ceased, the usain bolt may as well look for a new job. I know people who LIVE for this thrill in driving fast powerful cars, where if you take it away from them- it would be like ripping out an internal organ. It's probably the same for many of us at headfi. A good way of realising the importance of something in a system is to see the effect of taking it out. Imagine no music, no headfi, no audiophilia - quite hard isn't it!

How can you have 7 or 8 degrees in computer-related disciplines? The only computer related majors I can think of at universities are computer science/engineering and information systems..  Maybe you mean 7 or 8 technical/networking certifications from less formal schools? Way different from degrees.

Not that I disagree about Apple. I see them as an industrial design & advertising company first and technology company second. I'm a computer science student and would never buy a Mac, but I'm also an Apple shareholder because I think their business approach is brilliant. I don't think many people love technology. They treat it as a necessary tedious part of life to endure. If you cover it up in intuitive menus and a pastel egg shell then you're ahead of the curve, ahead of this clueless industry that assumes everyone else loves "optimal scalability and customization" just because some of us do.

Beats on the other hand, even though I jokingly called them Apple earlier in the thread, isn't really that brilliant. In fact it's borderline retarded. It's a $19.95 product jacked up to hundreds of dollars via celebrity endorsements. There's no innovation going on at all. They're no easier to use than any other headphones, they have inferior build quality (Apple usually has great build quality), etc.

I think we all remember what it was like to be a pre-teen and how every new thing you wanted to save up for would revolutionize your existence and get you all the girls. That's what Beats live off of. "Hi, I'm Neanderthal the professional inflatable ball chaser and I wear these silly looking low-resolution headphones... AND YOU CAN TOO!". At that point thousands of teenage boys are creaming their pants. I got the latest Etnies skateboard shoes in 8th grade and must have acquired 15-20 new girlfriends THAT DAY. Who cares if they looked like clown shoes?

And after that, since they start popping up on top seller lists and have hundreds of rave reviews, unsuspecting buyers from other demographics who don't have the time/interest for research end up buying them as well. Even if many/most of these innocent "aftershock buyers" seem disappointed and eventually replace them, you still have a multbillion dollar brand.

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Originally Posted by machoboy 

How can you have 7 or 8 degrees in computer-related disciplines? The only computer related majors I can think of at universities are computer science and information systems..  Maybe you mean 7 or 8 technical/networking certifications from less formal schools? Way different from degrees.

 

No, they're all degrees in computing topics from major universities (UK (london and cambridge), Germany and one/two in the states I think). Postdocs they call them, on top of undergrad, masters, phds- STOP. Who gives a monkeys about this anyway!!?? My point was that people who dislike apple on the computing and technology are not all noobs.  And anyway, my personal view is that degree's are becoming increasingly useless year by year, at least here in the UK (long story).   

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Originally Posted by JonnyRocket 

I just LOL'ed

I'm sure you've met a few of these in real life.  We laugh about it here, but when it happens in real life I worry about the future of the species.

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Originally Posted by CantScareMe 

Xbox couldn't work without it

As I just happen to use my 360 without a TV, I must beg to differ here.

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Originally Posted by RokBoks 

Gonna go with glitched the solos especially sound horrible...and for 179is etc I just can't believe people could get scammed so bad... Honestly $6 in ear JVC's sound equal or better than i'll dare say the studios. The solos where the single most horrible piece of audio i've ever heard... I don't think it's as bad here in UCSD as UCLA seeing as I've seen some M50's some HD25-1 II's some skull candy aviators and lots of portapros even some PX200-ii's! Nonetheless beats of all kinds are everywhere...

Can't agree with you more. My FX40's sound better than the entire Beats range. :/

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Originally Posted by pro1137 

So, I asked Beats Customer Support about the frequency response and impedance of the Beats Pro headphones. ANY other headphone company would be glad to answer this, because it is important for someone who cares about audio and wants to get the best out of their product. But, guess what? Beats decided that that information is redundant to the average consumer.

What am I, an idiot? No. Try again, Beats.

Doesn't Bose do the same thing?

I know I'm probably in the minority here.  But really who cares?   If someone wants to buy beats, why should I care?   We could go ON and ON about tons of other brands / industries.   Fancy clothes dont make you any less naked than cheap clothes.   Expensive watches don't keep time much better than cheap casios.

I personally don't feel that spending $$$ on an aftermarket cable makes any sense.   You know what, I've never started a thread about it, nor do I care if someone else spends their money on them.

If you don't like a product, or company, or marketing pitch, just don't buy it.

Why we need all these threads baffles me.

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Originally Posted by CDewey 

I know I'm probably in the minority here.  But really who cares?   If someone wants to buy beats, why should I care?   We could go ON and ON about tons of other brands / industries.   Fancy clothes dont make you any less naked than cheap clothes.   Expensive watches don't keep time much better than cheap casios.

 

I personally don't feel that spending $$$ on an aftermarket cable makes any sense.   You know what, I've never started a thread about it, nor do I care if someone else spends their money on them.

 

If you don't like a product, or company, or marketing pitch, just don't buy it.

 

Why we need all these threads baffles me.

I'm completely with you on this one. The only reason I can think as to why these constantly keep popping up is because people feel better about themselves for putting down stuff that a good number of people like. But surely people aren't that petty, right?

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Originally Posted by Currawong 

 

Interesting thread. I'm not sure anyone can be constructive about a destructive topic. 

 

I don't think Apple products are a valid comparison. I've known people in Apple and friends of mine have friends who work there. The people in Apple are very very dedicated to making high-quality products and not just shoving generic components in boxes as cheap as possible, which has become the norm in the PC industry (and as for the price discussion, you are buying the OS and other Apple software with the product, not just the hardware). The only thing I've seen Bose dedicated to doing with their speakers is shoving cheap parts inside boxes, then spending their money on advertising and fancy demo rooms that are set up to sound impressive for potential customers. Sure their noise-cancelling headphones are the best out there, but that is because they have it patented, so no-one can make noise-cancelling headphones that are as good!

 

The thing is, I'm sure Bose and Monster are capable of designing and making great gear, but, in many cases, they've decided instead to make fancy-looking and mediocre gear that is heavily marketed instead. Skullcandy have gone in the right direction hiring somebody to design great-sounding headphones and the results so far have been good.

I think the digital silence noise cancelling can compete. The company is owned by wolfson to begin with!

I'm really happy with the noise cancelling on my DS-321Ds. It just works

I find mindlessly bashing the Beats is like bashing Apple products. You are not doing anything by saying "Beats sucks" without being constructive about it. Even that, if people are happy about their purchase, I don't see the point of bringing them down, unless they are being a jackass about it.

Basically, if no one is asking for my opinion, I'd prefer to keep it shut, that is unless I feel that what they are saying is hurting someone else. If people are open to their discussion, or if I feel I can say something about their purchase of Beats or whatever without offending them, then I will throw my 2 cents.

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Originally Posted by eke2k6 

I'm willing to bet that half of you bashing the beats have never even heard them, or if you have it was probably in some loud Best Buy with pairs that have had their drivers rattled out by hundreds of teenagers every single day.

uhh I'm pretty sure most of us have heard them especially since you can try them in many shops..

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Originally Posted by CrystalT 

With the exception of the Solo, Beats DO sound good. They're decent headphones that are marked up between 50-200% due to marketing, and ignorance.
 

lol 50%-200%

I'm pretty sure the solos cost 6 times as much as they should and the studios/pros cost 4.

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Originally Posted by SanjiWatsuki 

For what it's worth, I'm willing to bet that the newer lower-end Skullcandies, like the Hesh 2.0, will beat the Sennheiser HD201s.

 

But they cost 5 times as much around here.