Every brand if headphone maker has released lemons before, unfortunately the hipsters and audio snob few chose beats as their default whipping boy.
The difference is, Beats has released mostly lemons.
Always worth remembering - Beats is the biggest headphone brand in the world with a gigantic US domestic 60% share of the over $100 market
Popularity doesn't equal quality. Justin Bieber was the biggest thing in music for a while, but you won't find me pumping him through my system (well, maybe "Baby"
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and virtually every other brand has tried to imitate beats styling in some form of fashion, Yamaha, Sennheiser to name but a few
Of course. If a competitor is making money without the product to back it up, you better copy what they're doing right. Beats did their marketing right, even if it wasn't to an audiophile's liking. No one's trying to deny that.
but the solo2 pulled a sucker punch on them all be being more subtle in the style dept. and now with a superior sonic signature - have now brought audiophile sound to the masses - everybody is an audiophile now - lol.x
One, only the ones buying the Solo2 are getting quality sound for the price. Apparently their other models are still okay at best. Two, it takes more than good gear to be an audiophile. It's a hobby, not a purchase.
Like Tyll states in his YouTube review:
"because with this headphone they have just brought to the world the headphone that is most likely to be the most commonly sold headphone in the world, they've brought to that really good sound and so for the next little while beats is going to be selling really terrific sound to people and people are going to be getting their first experience with really good sound as the artist intended essentially".
Stigma schmigma - true audiophiles don't hold such and appreciate quality sound regardless of brand.
Sure, you're exactly right we shouldn't judge the Solo2 because of the brand!
Likewise, though, we shouldn't judge the brand by the Solo2. Every company produces lemons, and every company produces happy mistakes. From their first headphone, Beats has produced expensive headphones with a focus on style and branding, with sound quality ranging from okay to downright bad. They've produced a couple good headphones, including one that's very competitive for the price, but that doesn't invalidate the rest of their product line. I'll respect the Solo2, assuming other reviews are in line with Tyll's or I get a chance to hear them myself, but I'm not ready to respect Beats yet. Let's see if the trend towards quality continues first, hm?
