[soundstige]

Unfortunately, the perceived opinion of the masses tells very little when it comes to quality. It's not like 'audiophiles' don't like bass or something. The uneducated masses enjoying extremely bassy, "head-massaging", dull headphones is in the same category as the fact that most people who drink socially do it with cheap beer and cheap high-proof, unrefined alcohol instead of well-aged wines or liquors; the fact that most people consider pre-packaged, shelf-stabilized supermarket foods better-tasting than fresh-made food -- same goes with fast food and their common 'addictions'; the fact that the entire movie industry has been dumbed-down to explosions, explicit violence, oversexing, and infantile plots in a simple exercise of natural selection.
 
Again, don't get me wrong -- I love a good beer, a good romance, a good fight, a good burger, and good bass; but the masses have their palates routinely and universally dulled in every category of perception on such a regular basis that they are in no way a measurement of what is actual quality. They're victims of constant exaggeration and can only seek that without enlightenment.
 
Quote:

I hate to break it to the audiophile community, but the audiophile sound is not appreciated by the majority of the people who roam this planet. Beats for all intents and purposes is producing a sound that most people prefer. According to the audiophile crowd, they sound terrible, but according to the masses, which is what any smart company looking to make money would target, they sound great. I would be willing to bet that in a blind test, using popular modern music, 70 to 80 percent of the people would pick the beats over a headphone say, like the ATH M-50, or even an HD-800. I do not think these people are stupid, or have been fooled, this is just what they like. 

 

[Billyjoegunrack]

Quote:

their world is easy and one dimentional.... more bass = better performance. if only our lives were so simple...

Different folks, for different strokes mi amigo. I suspect they enjoy the visceral experience a headphone like beats gives them. So much of the music people listen to today has large bass in it. Most people aren't sitting around trying to pick up every little nuance of a 24/96 Diana Krall record. Music is supposed to be fun, and the sound that comes into their noggin from a pair of beats headphones is fun and enjoyable to most people. Being audiophile smug gets us all nowhere.

 

[Billyjoegunrack]

Quote:

Unfortunately, the perceived opinion of the masses tells very little when it comes to quality. It's not like 'audiophiles' don't like bass or something. The uneducated masses enjoying extremely bassy, "head-massaging", dull headphones is in the same category as the fact that most people who drink socially do it with cheap beer and cheap high-proof, unrefined alcohol instead of well-aged wines or liquors; the fact that most people consider pre-packaged, shelf-stabilized supermarket foods better-tasting than fresh-made food -- same goes with fast food and their common 'addictions'; the fact that the entire movie industry has been dumbed-down to explosions, explicit violence, oversexing, and infantile plots in a simple exercise of natural selection.
 
Again, don't get me wrong -- I love a good beer, a good romance, a good fight, a good burger, and good bass; but the masses have their palates routinely and universally dulled in every category of perception on such a regular basis that they are in no way a measurement of what is actual quality. They're victims of constant exaggeration and can only seek that without enlightenment.
 

This whole line of thought is the cause of nothing good either. If you are here, you are doing your duty as a good little Rand Corp. term "consumer." This thing where you pretend to be enlightened because you are more obsessed with every little nuance of headphone could be easily criticized as a waste of human energy as well.  Some people have better things to do with their time. This is nothing but I am better than you smugness at its worst that spills from this place way too much. Some people hear a neutral sounding phone and it sounds lifeless and lacking in energy. So audiophile smug suggests they are dulled down, uneducated, get over yourself.

 

[soundstige]

It seems that you could only offer an insult in response to my genuine, well thought-out post. I'm not sure why you feel so slighted, and chose not to address any of my points.
 
Quote:

This whole line of thought is the cause of nothing good either. If you are here, you are doing your duty as a good little Rand Corp. term "consumer." This is, I am better than you smugness at its worst. 

 

[viralcow]

sQuote:

This whole line of thought is the cause of nothing good either. If you are here, you are doing your duty as a good little Rand Corp. term "consumer." This thing where you pretend to be enlightened because you are more obsessed with every little nuance of headphone could be easily criticized as a waste of human energy as well.  Some people have better things to do with their time. This is nothing but I am better than you smugness at its worst that spills from this place way too much. Some people hear a neutral sounding phone and it sounds lifeless and lacking in energy. So audiophile smug suggests they are dulled down, uneducated, get over yourself.

 
I don't see any "smugness" from his post. Sure, calling the masses "uneducated" seem uncalled for, but he didn't mean it in a condescending way. Do you think the average beats user has tried/experimented with different sounding headphones to find one that really suits his/her musical tastes like many of us have on this forum? No. If he really did that and still chose beats then I'm happy for him. But for the most part the average beats user just buys into the marketing and blindly believes that what they hear is the best out there.

 

[Tsujigiri]

Quote:

Unfortunately, the perceived opinion of the masses tells very little when it comes to quality. It's not like 'audiophiles' don't like bass or something. The uneducated masses enjoying extremely bassy, "head-massaging", dull headphones is in the same category as the fact that most people who drink socially do it with cheap beer and cheap high-proof, unrefined alcohol instead of well-aged wines or liquors; the fact that most people consider pre-packaged, shelf-stabilized supermarket foods better-tasting than fresh-made food -- same goes with fast food and their common 'addictions'; the fact that the entire movie industry has been dumbed-down to explosions, explicit violence, oversexing, and infantile plots in a simple exercise of natural selection.
 
Again, don't get me wrong -- I love a good beer, a good romance, a good fight, a good burger, and good bass; but the masses have their palates routinely and universally dulled in every category of perception on such a regular basis that they are in no way a measurement of what is actual quality. They're victims of constant exaggeration and can only seek that without enlightenment.
 

+1 on that. And Beats didn't even get so popular because people prefer their sound to other headphones. They were pushed onto the market by strategic placement in music, tv shows, and commercials for other products that Beats struck cobranding deals with. There was no conscious decision on the part of the consumer to prefer Beats products over others; they buy Beats because that's what they've been taught to want, and they don't know any better. Consumers have much less choice than we think they do; look at the sunglasses industry. Pretty much all the popular brands out there are owned by Luxottica, as well as all the well known optics stores and the second largest vision insurance company. They lower the quality of their products and jack up the prices, and the average consumer is almost forced to go along with it because no one knows about the obscure, independent manufacturers that offer a better product.

 

[Billyjoegunrack]

Quote:

 
I don't see any "smugness" from his post. Sure, calling the masses "uneducated" seem uncalled for, but he didn't mean it in a condescending way. Do you think the average beats user has tried/experimented with different sounding headphones to find one that really suits his/her musical tastes like many of us have on this forum? No. If he really did that and still chose beats then I'm happy for him. But for the most part the average beats user just buys into the marketing and just believe that what they hear is the best out there.

I am going to to turn this around on you a little,  give you a little taste of what you sound like. 
 
Most people in this forum are a bunch of nerdy losers with a life so boring they have enormous amounts of time to spend expounding upon every little detail of a consumer good. These people see themselves as enlightened creatures because they spend thousands of dollars obsessing over every minute little detail of a headphone. Did you here me? A headphone. And because they obsess, and over analyze the 6 or 7 headphones lying around their house that barely sound different from one another, they see themselves as superior beings wasting their time the proper way.  
 
These people would for the most part never bother with such a thing, because they don't really care. They don't have a passionate relationship with headphones. They don't care enough about your hobby to even notice, so they leave you alone. Unlike some of the people here, who have their smug little analysis and criticism at the ready at any moment to bash these folks because the dare to be content with their beats.

 

[soundstige]

Thank you for helping to elucidate the concept I'm trying to convey. And of course I didn't mean uneducated in an insulting manner -- like I said, I consider the average person a victim of this process of over-exaggeration. It's not "uneducated" in any meaning of being less important or worthy as a person, but as an opportunity to take control of your own situation and learn that there's more out there, more details in music beneath the glossy, oversimplified surface people are given as part of highly consumerist culture. Same with food, movies, books, academics, and just about any part of culture.
 
Quote:

 
I don't see any "smugness" from his post. Sure, calling the masses "uneducated" seem uncalled for, but he didn't mean it in a condescending way. Do you think the average beats user has tried/experimented with different sounding headphones to find one that really suits his/her musical tastes like many of us have on this forum? No. If he really did that and still chose beats then I'm happy for him. But for the most part the average beats user just buys into the marketing and blindly believes that what they hear is the best out there.

 

[soundstige]

You seem like you're only interested in taking other peoples' information as derogatory insults and then trying to "one up" that perceived insult. I can't see anything I or viralcow said as coming from a position of superiority. People with superiority complexes usually try to avoid situations where their peers learn the same things they do -- I'm trying to spread information and education as far as possible so everyone can enjoy things even more than they already do. 
 
Quote:

I am going to to turn this around on you a little,  give you a little taste of what you sound like. 
 
Most people in this forum are a bunch of nerdy losers with a life so boring they have enormous amounts of time to spend expounding upon every little detail of a consumer good. These people see themselves as enlightened creatures because they spend thousands of dollars obsessing over every minute little detail of a headphone. Did you here me? A headphone. And because they obsess, and over analyze the 6 or 7 headphones lying around their house that barely sound different from one another, they see themselves as superior beings wasting their time the proper way.  

 

[Billyjoegunrack]

Quote:

+1 on that. And Beats didn't even get so popular because people prefer their sound to other headphones. They were pushed onto the market by strategic placement in music, tv shows, and commercials for other products that Beats struck cobranding deals with. There was no conscious decision on the part of the consumer to prefer Beats products over others; they buy Beats because that's what they've been taught to want, and they don't know any better. Consumers have much less choice than we think they do; look at the sunglasses industry. Pretty much all the popular brands out there are owned by Luxottica, as well as all the well known optics stores and the second largest vision insurance company. They lower the quality of their products and jack up the prices, and the average consumer is almost forced to go along with it because no one knows about the obscure, independent manufacturers that offer a better product.

I think Beats sound the way they do so that they could appeal to the most amount of people to gain the biggest market share. Their sound is this way not because it was cheapened or not well thought out. These headphones sound the way they do because when a large group of random people put them on, this is the sound most will be attracted to. Most people are not audiophiles, and the audiophile signature would not sell nearly as well. 

 

[soundstige]

And this is a good thing? Why not care? I try to care about anything in life. What is the point of living if you don't care? There's so much time in the day, you have nothing to do but to fill it with things you care about. Family, entertainment, yourself -- how is there anything wrong with being as interested as you can be in as many things as you can be?
Quote:

These people would for the most part never bother with such a thing, because they don't really care. They don't have a passionate relationship with headphones. They don't care enough about your hobby to even notice, so they leave you alone. Unlike some of the people here, who have their smug little analysis and criticism at the ready at any moment to bash these folks because the dare to be content with their beats.

 

[soundstige]

I don't think the market testing for Beats has ever been as rigorous as that. There has long been a tradition of overpowering bass in consumer audio goods. People filling their cars with subwoofers only instead of full-range speakers. Consumer-oriented stereo systems coming with multiple bass-enhancing presets. Headphones being marketed as "extreme bass". Beats simply cashed in on a perception among people that has gained traction in recent decades. Same reason why movies are all orange and blue now.
http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-hollywood-please-stop.html
Quote:

I think Beats sound the way they do so that they could appeal to the most amount of people to gain the biggest market share. Their sound is this way not because it was cheapened or not well thought out. These headphones sound the way they do because when a large group of random people put them on, this is the sound most will be attracted to. Most people are not audiophiles, and the audiophile signature would not sell nearly as well. 

 

[viralcow]

Quote:

I am going to to turn this around on you a little,  give you a little taste of what you sound like. 
 
Most people in this forum are a bunch of nerdy losers with a life so boring they have enormous amounts of time to spend expounding upon every little detail of a consumer good. These people see themselves as enlightened creatures because they spend thousands of dollars obsessing over every minute little detail of a headphone. Did you here me? A headphone. And because they obsess, and over analyze the 6 or 7 headphones lying around their house that barely sound different from one another, they see themselves as superior beings wasting their time the proper way.  
 
These people would for the most part never bother with such a thing, because they don't really care. They don't have a passionate relationship with headphones. They don't care enough about your hobby to even notice, so they leave you alone. Unlike some of the people here, who have their smug little analysis and criticism at the ready at any moment to bash these folks because the dare to be content with their beats.

 
Hoooooly crap.
It's obviously clear you aren't reading what I wrote, or anyone else's post for that matter. Go back and re-read, word for word, what I said and maybe you'll realize your little rant is completely irrelevant.
 
And no, I don't obsess over worthless details of a headphone, nor do I have 6 or 7 headphones lying around the house. I'm just searching for the best possible sound quality that I can afford, so I can enjoy my music more. I'm not trying to feel superior or become a "self-expert" on headphones so I can have a shred of self esteem or whatever story you've likely come up with. Nerdy losers? You're trolling and flamebaiting at this point.

 

[Tsujigiri]

Quote:

I think Beats sound the way they do so that they could appeal to the most amount of people to gain the biggest market share. Their sound is this way not because it was cheapened or not well thought out. These headphones sound the way they do because when a large group of random people put them on, this is the sound most will be attracted to. Most people are not audiophiles, and the audiophile signature would not sell nearly as well. 

Actually, no, it looks like they do sound that way because they weren't well thought out.
 
http://gizmodo.com/5981823/beat-by-dre-the-inside-story-of-how-monster-lost-the-world
 
Beats didn't have anything to do with designing the headphones; Monster did the design and determined the sound. They wanted to make a product with high audio quality, but failed because it was Monster's first attempt at headphones and they weren't even that good at what they were doing before. Monster just produced another ripoff product like they're known for, and Beats didn't care because they just needed them to look good; they could make up for any other deficiency with marketing.

 

[Billyjoegunrack]

Quote:

Actually, no, it looks like they do sound that way because they weren't well thought out.
 
http://gizmodo.com/5981823/beat-by-dre-the-inside-story-of-how-monster-lost-the-world
 
Beats didn't have anything to do with designing the headphones; Monster did the design and determined the sound. They wanted to make a product with high audio quality, but failed because it was Monster's first attempt at headphones and they weren't even that good at what they were doing before. Monster just produced another ripoff product like they're known for, and Beats didn't care because they just needed them to look good; they could make up for any other deficiency with marketing.

These headphones were designed by Monster, but the sound signature came from Dr. Dre. These phones were greenlit based upon his approval of the sound signature. A sound signature that was created and approved through many many prototypes. Dr Dre knows just a little about what kind of sound the mass market prefers, it is his stock in trade after all. Logic tells me they produce the sound they were intended to, and based on the response they have gotten, they hit a home run.