[KG Jag]

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Personally I think it is brainwashing that I now consider $200 headphones middle of the road and $50 headphones as disposable cheap when in 2010 the i would not have spent more than $20.

I'm willing to bet that you washed your own brain.
 
If so, it's not the same thing.
 

 

[rhodan818]

Quote:

I'm willing to bet that you washed your own brain.
 
If so, it's not the same thing.
 

 
I'm happy with what I'm spending. I know that I am not ready nor really care enough to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on equipment. I've reached my level of interest for now, I have found it and continue to find this headphone game a great source of entertainment. I just find it funny that my perception of this market has completely changed. I shipped out for overseas travel and was purchasing headphones for a trip, and thought that $15 was too much money. I had lost interest in music and am pleasantly surprised to rekindle that interest over the last few months. When I started I was using music to listen to headphones, and now I'm moving a little bit more towards using headphones to listen to music. I think the official price points from what I have read somewhere is that the premium headphone market starts at $40, and while I don't think there is an official metric for the super-premium market it gets hard to find more than a handful of consumer class pairs over $300 that are mass-produced. 
 
On a side note I would love to see actual statistics on the headphone market, but I don't know where to find it.
 

 

[GL1TCH3D]

 
I'm happy with what I'm spending. I know that I am not ready nor really care enough to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on equipment. I've reached my level of interest for now, I have found it and continue to find this headphone game a great source of entertainment. I just find it funny that my perception of this market has completely changed. I shipped out for overseas travel and was purchasing headphones for a trip, and thought that $15 was too much money. I had lost interest in music and am pleasantly surprised to rekindle that interest over the last few months. When I started I was using music to listen to headphones, and now I'm moving a little bit more towards using headphones to listen to music. I think the official price points from what I have read somewhere is that the premium headphone market starts at $40, and while I don't think there is an official metric for the super-premium market it gets hard to find more than a handful of consumer class pairs over $300 that are mass-produced. 
 
On a side note I would love to see actual statistics on the headphone market, but I don't know where to find it.
 

I'd like to know statistics too. I read an article about beats and they mentioned that beats owned 53% of the market and that's not even including fakes which I believe dre encouraged at the beginning.
Also, for those who say they raise visibility, if a good pair of sennheisers were put in every bestbuy then that would raise visibility to, no?
At my local bestbuy the only headphones about 100$ are the skullcandy aviators, the bose line and beats line. If they removed all that crap and put in some nice senns, beyers, shures, etc then that would raise visibility to good higher end headphones.

 

[satanigatan]

I've actually owned beats before, true story.
 
Before I even knew they were hated (not trying to play the hipster card, I promise), I had bought Beats Studio because at the time, they were the only wow headphones being sold at my Best Buy (and I didn't buy stuff online back in the day). I spent a good amount of time with them, and then one day my buddy had his ATH-M50's with him. And when I compared them side by side, I preferred the M50's. And while I then went on a long journey of trying out almost all the big name brands (Sennheiser, Grado, Audeze, Denon, HiFiMan,AKG), I still managed to give Beats another chance with the Beats Pro in 2010. 
 
And I honestly did not think they sounded that great. Are they as awful as some say? No. They didn't sound terrible at all. But they were never IMO well built or did sound incredibly well. They certainly never justified the price. Well, the Pros are actually built like a tank (I was talking more about the cheap Studio headphones, that feel like plastic). But the Pro feels like you are wearing a hunk of metal on your head, and I never liked their design.
 
I by no means consider myself an audiophile. If there is such a term, I guess I'm a casual audiophile. In that, I do care about quality. But I also don't take this hobby as seriously or passionately as most of you. So I can only speak for myself and my ears, but I always found Beats to be a very subpar product.
 
It's not as bad as some say. But I get the annoyance. You have a headphone that isn't special, and it's the most sold and advertised product on the market (and sold at a higher price based on this idea of excellence). But then again, I would compare beats to Mainstream pop. The demographic really isn't aimed at you. So why get upset? Does anyone here think the average music listener is going to find appeal in the HD-800 or LCD2 (even if they were much cheaper)? The only way to sell to a mass market, is to give a watered down product. It's why two and half men is one of the most watched shows on TV. It's inoffensive, and has a wide appeal. Compare that to a more clever/niche comedy, and suddenly you turn off a lot of viewers. Similarly, Beats have come up with a design (aesthetic appeal), and marketing that just really appeals to a lot of people. 
 
 

 

[bowei006]

Putting good headphones at BestBuy won't work. most don't understand or know a good sound signature sadly. they have These3 things  COMMMFOORT, GOOD LOOOKS, MOOOAAAR BASSS, BANDWAGOOOON

 

[satanigatan]

Agreed, that really is how they market headphones there. 
 
I mean, I got the studios back in the day (I think it was 2008), and the only thing they (Best Buy) offered was skull candy and cheap Sony headphones. I know some Best Buys are changing (including HD-800s to their line up), but that's few and far between. Most Best Buys really only have Bose and Beats on their big display. So to your average buyer, you have all these cheap haedphones lined up on the shelf. Then this HUGE display for Beats and Bose. And it's like okay, so these must be the best headphones they offer here. 
 
But that's another reason why Beats are so successful. A lot of stores carry them (whereas other headphones are not carried by major retailers, you have to go to specialty shops). Hell, when I was flying out of LAX, there were vending machines at the airport that had Beats you could buy for your flight!

I know these vending machines carry other times (I believe they are actually Best Buy vending machines). But what other headphone has their own vending machine at an airport. 
 
Quote:

Putting good headphones at BestBuy won't work. most don't understand or know a good sound signature sadly. they have These3 things  COMMMFOORT, GOOD LOOOKS, MOOOAAAR BASSS, BANDWAGOOOON

 

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Putting good headphones at BestBuy won't work. most don't understand or know a good sound signature sadly. they have These3 things  COMMMFOORT, GOOD LOOOKS, MOOOAAAR BASSS, BANDWAGOOOON

There are other headphones which offer those things too with the price to match.

 

[Uncle00Jesse]

If it weren't for beats, I'd have never found or gotten into headfi. I was in target one day and saw the monster i-beats for $100. They looked so cool but I thought I'd do some research before dropping a c-note. That led to head-fi, and many many more c-notes later I'm here today

 

[GL1TCH3D]

If it weren't for beats, I'd have never found or gotten into headfi. I was in target one day and saw the monster i-beats for $100. They looked so cool but I thought I'd do some research before dropping a c-note. That led to head-fi, and many many more c-notes later I'm here today

What started me on my journey was finding some nice audio technicas on amazon by pure chance. I started to look into them more and here I am today after just ordering a pair of beyer t5p

 

[ChronorSonar]

I think satanigatan hit the nail on the head.
 
Beats is doing well because they have become very popular.  Their line is available practically everywhere, at least here in the USA.  So I would venture to say that their success is attributed to 75% marketing/advertising and maybe 25% to their actual sound.
 
*Napkin stastics

 

[nicholars]

I just find it scary how the vast majority of people are taken in by these sorts of things.... I think it says a lot about mainstream "pop" and "beats" type people and the fact that this is the majority and not the minority.... I find it quite worrying personally that these people form the  majority of people in the world... I think the overall average IQ of these types of people must be a good 30% lower then more intelligent people with good taste in music and headphones who actually are the minority. This fact both worries and saddens me at the same time.

 

[Hey Meng]

Just to continue the Beats brought me to Head-fi thing:
 
The first decent headphones I got were some 60 dollar Sony headphones. In retrospect they were probably not very good but I loved them at the time. But after about a year they were falling apart and eventually I lost them, presumably at a friend's house. They sounded great to my ears because I was used to I-pod earbuds so these were a huge step up. After that for the next year or so I just used some 10 dollar disposable headphones that were very blegh. I really missed the Sony headphone I was using but I didn't even know what they were called. And at this point in time I had no clue about the true audio-bliss I was missing out on.
 
So after that year of using cheap headphones I finally got enough money to spend on a good pair. Of course, i had no idea what a "good" pair would end up being. I went to F.Y.E. to audition some headphones. I was impatient and auditioned the headphones there for like a couple minutes each. Looking back, that was extremely stupid of me and I put almost no thought into my decision. I had a large amount of money to spend and I wasn't sure what I was looking for. I was willing to settle for Beats Solo as my safety purchase if I wasn't sure of the other things I tried. I thought the Beats would be a good headphone to fall back on because they were expensive and everyone loved them so they had to be good! I talked to a worker there about the SOUL Sl150s vs the Beats Solo. He advised me to get the SOULs and so I did.
 
I was actually pretty happy with those headphones, but I ended up looking up comparisons between the Beats and SOULS once I got home (Yes I looked up the reviews AFTER I bought them. What was i thinking?). Most of the comparisons were in the SOULs favor which made me happy that I made a somewhat wise purchase. I stumbled upon something comparing them or talking about one of them on some site called head-fi.org. I browsed through the site and slowly came to realize how foolish my purchase was. But thanks to the SOULs and by extension the Beats, I had made the first and most important step to put me on the right path. A month or so later I got Beats Pro refurbished despite the advice I read here (I guess I wasn't totally converted at that point). I liked em, in fact I still do. Just recently I bought V-moda M-80s. This was probably my first informed headphone purchase and by far my best!
 
So I guess i wouldn't really have made it here without the Beats. And I really do respect Beats for doing such a good job of brainwashing the public with their marketing and all that.
 
Sorry if my post was a little all over the place or somewhat off topic. I'm quite tired. 

 

[davidgotsa]

So you went with the T5p after all? Let us know what you think of them. I was in the same situation and got the ED8, will be getting them next week.
 
Quote:

What started me on my journey was finding some nice audio technicas on amazon by pure chance. I started to look into them more and here I am today after just ordering a pair of beer t5p.

 

 

[obobskivich]

What on Earth are you talking about? First off, you cannot fix any can with any amount of EQ; FR is not the be-all end-all. Second off, the Denon D2000 *are* extremely popular, and *do* sell in huge quantities and are *still* liked. The same can be said for Sony as a brand overall, and last I saw they held majority market share. Just because something is popular does not mean it is hated; it has to earn that reputation just the same. It just gets amplified when you happen to be popular *and* abysmal, because you're easier to take shots at (opposed to something obscure and abysmal). 
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It funny to see so much hate here for a product that sells. Know one forces someone to buy them. If people like them then who cares.  To say they sound like garbage is full of ****.  They sound good for bass can.  If it was sold in the mid $150 to $200 range for the Pros they would be a good can for the money. They can be EQ'd just like any other can talked about here.  If Denon d2000 sold millions then someone will find something to hate about. That what happens when things get popular.  
 

Last I read (and I forget where), Sony was still leader-board for headphones overall, with somewhere around a quarter of the overall headphone market (consider everything that Sony makes for a minute though; this is like saying Intel is the leader in semiconductor manufacturing - it's not without some qualification); Monster/Beats were supposed to have edged Bose out of the #2 spot, but within Beats' target demographic (that 18-24 and $300+ segment), I think they're number one. If you feel like spending the money, there's this:
http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/headphone-manufacturing.html
 
If you buy it, do let me know if my numbers are wrong or not. 


Quote:

On a side note I would love to see actual statistics on the headphone market, but I don't know where to find it.
 

 

 

[KG Jag]

Quote:

 
I'm happy with what I'm spending. I know that I am not ready nor really care enough to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on equipment. I've reached my level of interest for now, I have found it and continue to find this headphone game a great source of entertainment. I just find it funny that my perception of this market has completely changed. I shipped out for overseas travel and was purchasing headphones for a trip, and thought that $15 was too much money. I had lost interest in music and am pleasantly surprised to rekindle that interest over the last few months. When I started I was using music to listen to headphones, and now I'm moving a little bit more towards using headphones to listen to music. I think the official price points from what I have read somewhere is that the premium headphone market starts at $40, and while I don't think there is an official metric for the super-premium market it gets hard to find more than a handful of consumer class pairs over $300 that are mass-produced. 
 
On a side note I would love to see actual statistics on the headphone market, but I don't know where to find it.
 

Here's an article that presents a reasonable breakdown of market segments for headphones of all types:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide
 
Certainly reasonable people can differ, but most reasonable people will say it's in the ball park.
 
Whether you spend $15 or $1,500 on a can, at least get a quality product relative to the money you spend. 
 
Of course following the crowd that chases the latest cool thing has never been in my DNA.  It's that behavior that gave us European sports cars in the 60's and 70's (looked great and were fun--on the rare occasions they started and ran), pet rocks, cabbage patch kids and beanie babies.