[PG21]

Tribe Called Quest have been one of my favorite artists, especially Midnight Marauders. Wu-Tang/The Roots/Mos Def/2pac should also be added to the artists named above

There are still rappers today who've rapped for a while but haven't gotten the respect they deserve. Namely AZ

Back on topic.. I tried the beats at best buy and they were extremely loud. Couldn't listen for more than 5 seconds without having a headache

 

[CapQ]

C'mon, Ice Cube wrote most of songs and Yella did most of production for NWA....
Dre shined when he escaped out of NWA IMO

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif But as a producer, Dr. Dre has shined, more than he did rapping as part of NWA. Anyway, as others have said, they are good but overpriced and sounds not what you'd expect considering the demographic they target (a good and a bad thing depending on your view). Also there's massive thread on these phones and well, I hate to say you've fallen for the 'rapper' stereotype. Thing is rap producers and MC's are among the most appreciative people in terms of music yet when they create music, no-one appreciates them which is well ironic. Thing is Dre does care for sound quality as stated in that thread. The only thing that's damaged his ears is natural ageing. Also music fans do realise that artists do listen to music outside their genres especially rap artists..gees..honestly... e.g. Sampling used in Nas' Illmatic album: Illmatic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[CapQ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif There lies the problem with rap, too much sampling and not enough original creativity. Most rap artists can't even play an instrument.

Hip Hop is a copy and paste genre of music. That is its charisma. The best era of Hip Hop is Golden Age when sampling is legal....

 

[CapQ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wenhui /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah but the creativity comes out in the form of their lyrics, which is the message they're sending across. (though I agree there's too much sampling at times)

Hmmmmm I think I love your avatar. Just wondering who she is?

Anyway, mates, attention please, Gangsta Rap do not equal all hip hop genre.
Most of hip hop sample from Jazz/Funk and represent conscience lyrics....

Try Common -- come close, you guys gonna love it

 

[Calexico]

I listened to the Beats at an Apple Store. It was pretty good but not really worthy of its price tag, although I honestly didn't get enough time to listen to really form a true opinion (I was in a rush). Something about them made me feel sort of uncomfortable, but maybe that's just because I'm not used to such big headphones.

I strongly disagree with a lot of these stereotypes against rap, but that's for another time

 

[Peter Pinna]

And now, a post that is actually on topic:

I heard the Dr. Dre headphones in an Apple store attached to an iPod. The music that was playing on the iPod was not my selection and it was rap. Believe it or not, the Dr. Dre headphones had trouble handling the bass coming from the iPod. I could tell what the bass was supposed to sound like but the Dr. Dre's distorted the bass and could not reach the full depth of the lower bass frequencies. If the bass on the Dr. Dre's sounded this bad coming from an iPod, it would probably sound much worse coming from a dedicated amp.
By contrast, this was my only experience with Dr. Dre's. I listened for about 2 or 3 minutes. Perhaps I had a faulty pair of headphones. Or, perhaps there was something wrong with the iPod or maybe the recording itself. Whatever the reason, deep bass did not sound good on the Dr. Dre's the one and only time I listened to them.

 

[tygger]

I have finally pulled a plug on those as a gift to the kid. He mostly listens to hiphop, punk core and electronics and spends a lot of time in Moscow subway (a hell of a sonically aggressive place) on his daily commute to college. He also claims he can't stand IEMs.

Since there is no local store where I could audition the Beats I have read almost half of the 30-page thread here before placing a bet on ebay.

I spent full two hours with the cans listening to the music I know well and to some less familiar tracks both from iPod and Corda Move hooked to USB of Mac Pro desktop. I tried to compare the Beats to some phones I own of the same or lower price range - RS-325i, PK-1, ER-4S and K601 - all of them very different and representing various approaches to sound. I also threw in a pair of ES7 - the phones I dislike, but the only classic closed backs in the household.

My verdict in a nutshell - the Beats are plainly very bad headphones.

First, they hiss. The active NC circuitry is always on and when you put them on first thing you hear is the hiss. It's not loud at all, but well-spread across the spectrum and quite annoying. More about it later.

Second, they leak badly. They're super-closed on the inside, so to speak, the sensation emphasized by active NC, and absolutely open on the outside. Possible problem with listening to offensive lyrics in a public place.

Third, they just sound bad. One of the simplest tests I always run on a pair of headphones is comparing a fragment of a chamber piece played with catgut and synthetic strings. Usually, the difference is clear. With the Beats any violin sounds amplified, no difference of string material is heard. There is no instrument separation in a string quartet, not speaking of a symphony orchestra. Mixed choir sounds mashed, with no group separation (Grado is able to discern individual voices). Even in rap music, the complex layering in, say, a song by Antipop Consortium is completely lost. I attribute this to above-mentioned hiss, which eliminates a lot of higher-harmonic information responsible for timbral differences.

Fourth, they really do isolate.

Sorry for long post.

 

[CapQ]

nice drop, seems Beatz only got good looking and that's it.



Quote:

Originally Posted by tygger /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have finally pulled a plug on those as a gift to the kid. He mostly listens to hiphop, punk core and electronics and spends a lot of time in Moscow subway (a hell of a sonically aggressive place) on his daily commute to college. He also claims he can't stand IEMs. Since there is no local store where I could audition the Beats I have read almost half of the 30-page thread here before placing a bet on ebay. I spent full two hours with the cans listening to the music I know well and to some less familiar tracks both from iPod and Corda Move hooked to USB of Mac Pro desktop. I tried to compare the Beats to some phones I own of the same or lower price range - RS-325i, PK-1, ER-4S and K601 - all of them very different and representing various approaches to sound. I also threw in a pair of ES7 - the phones I dislike, but the only classic closed backs in the household. My verdict in a nutshell - the Beats are plainly very bad headphones. First, they hiss. The active NC circuitry is always on and when you put them on first thing you hear is the hiss. It's not loud at all, but well-spread across the spectrum and quite annoying. More about it later. Second, they leak badly. They're super-closed on the inside, so to speak, the sensation emphasized by active NC, and absolutely open on the outside. Possible problem with listening to offensive lyrics in a public place. Third, they just sound bad. One of the simplest tests I always run on a pair of headphones is comparing a fragment of a chamber piece played with catgut and synthetic strings. Usually, the difference is clear. With the Beats any violin sounds amplified, no difference of string material is heard. There is no instrument separation in a string quartet, not speaking of a symphony orchestra. Mixed choir sounds mashed, with no group separation (Grado is able to discern individual voices). Even in rap music, the complex layering in, say, a song by Antipop Consortium is completely lost. I attribute this to above-mentioned hiss, which eliminates a lot of higher-harmonic information responsible for timbral differences. Fourth, they really do isolate. Sorry for long post.

 

[milkweg]

Well, if Dr. Dre put his name behind these terrible headphones then I can only surmise that it is all about the money and nothing else. Just like it is for most rap artists. I guess the reason I hate rap the most is not the music so much but the tough guy act and gang signs they all like to put on. That just turns me right off so I don't even want to listen to their music because I don't like what they represent.

 

[orangehole]

I listened to these at a local Best Buy. To me they sounded pretty crappy for the money they were asking. Right next to them was the Bose display which I was not impressed with. Maybe it's my ears and I am not a bass junky but my Senn 555's sounded better than all of them!

 

[Hoeboe2k]

I was listening to these @ the apple store. I was listening to Superstar by Lupe Fiasco cause that is one song I know decently well that was there.

I wouldn't say they sound below average like Bose, but they didn't sound good. They are decently clear but there is a slight hiss. And when the bass dropped on the track, they started distorting. Yes I know it's hard to believe that a "hip hop" targeted headphone would distort at that but it did. Maybe it was the iphone or maybe it was distorted. However, from what I did hear, if this was I would say around the $150 area, they would be a pretty decent buy but not at the $350. That is pure lunacy. It sounds more full and less tinny than the Bose headphones I had tried so it is maybe a little better than Bose? I don't konw but I wouldn't take it over my DT770 Pros as a reference, even if it was a little cheaper.

 

[yukihiro]

I went to the Apple store today and tried the Beats out. I was hoping they would have ES7's for me to try since I heard some Apple stores carry them, but I guess not where I live.

Anyways, the Beats look pretty cool. They looked/felt cheaper than they do in pictures, but not bad overall. I played a few songs that I knew and wasn't blown away by the sound quality but they were decent.

Since trying out the headphones at the store doesn't really allow me to sit and really listen critically, I can't give any detailed opinions on the Beats.

I'm not much of a critical listener, but I'd say they sound a little better than my old sr80's (but it's not like I had my sr80's side by side to compare). Everything seemed fairly well-balanced to me. However, as previously mentioned, I did experience some distortion, which really killed it for me. It could have just been the headphones I was trying since they've probably been abused as a floor model, but I definitely heard distortion once in a while.

I went over and tested the Bose Around-Ear Triports and the Beats sound better than the Triports by a pretty good margin. The Triport bass was really overpowering IMO. Then I went over to the Bose On-Ear Triports and they sounded awful. I can't believe the on-ears are more expensive than the around-ear's. The on-ears had an extremely bloated bass and the sound wasn't very good at all.

So the Beats definitely beat out the Bose Triports, but don't really compare to headphones in it's price range ($350). Compared to my Grado sr325i's, the Beats sound more like ~$100-200 headphones.

 

[s.c]

IMO, the product is well design. I think this is the first phone that has a continue design language. The curve, parting line and the detachable cord...etc. However, the feel of plastic is kind of cheap to my taste and the sound quality does not worth $300.
 
To me, it is a pure marketing hype. Think about the company who produced it. Monster who charge audio cables for a fortune suddenly making a value headphone is out of the equcation.
 
but I must admit it is good looking. Thanks Ammunition Design.

 

[HeadCaseSupreme]

Monster's Beats lineup is OVERPRICED and UNDERPERFORMING gear for yuppies. You buy 90% designer headphones and 10% SQ(if that much,I have mercy).
 
The Solo  are plagued by bloated bass that bleeds over the midrange so badly they sound as bad as Sony's MDR-XB300! The issue here the XBR-XB300 can be had for very little money and do not claim "High Definition" or any special hoopla.
 
The Solo HD (high definition...sure)are a less bloated version of the pathetic Solo. The two good points is quality cables and comfort, SQ is clearly sub par. I cannot stand these londer than a few seconds as they butcher any musical message the artist wanted to pass.
 
Now on to the Studio, better SQ than the two above. Around $300 asking price you can do so much better for alot less SQ wise. The competition comes from the Bose NC headphones, these being what they are the Studio fares well.
 
The latest Monster beats named the Pro for short are well built will please its intended audience of would be DJ's. These offer "fat" bass and are ok as far as DJ style headphones go. However you can do clearly better. try Pioneer HDJ2000 (tank like build and good SQ).
 
I purchased them all as curiosity items , I wanted to hear how much hype they were pushing. ALOT
 
Lets just say I will not part with my serious cans over these designer fashion toys. Only very few headphones in my view qualify as tools to peer into the recorded performance offering enough neutrality and transparence. These Beats beat up any good acoustic recording with a baseball bat and please the iPod fashion crowd.

 

[DoctorZoidberg]

Quote:

IMO, the product is well design. I think this is the first phone that has a continue design language. The curve, parting line and the detachable cord...etc. However, the feel of plastic is kind of cheap to my taste and the sound quality does not worth $300.
 
To me, it is a pure marketing hype. Think about the company who produced it. Monster who charge audio cables for a fortune suddenly making a value headphone is out of the equcation.
 
but I must admit it is good looking. Thanks Ammunition Design.

Did you really have to bump this thread from 2008? There are plenty of Beats threads from this year on the last 3 pages.