[yooss]

 
Quote:

I don't know why it's so difficult for brands like Sennheiser or Beyer to design headphones that look "cool" to the younger market. If Skullcandy can do it, better engineers should be able to do the same. But they continue to make ugly headphones like the HD280 that appeal to no one. It's just simple human instinct to be drawn to shiny colorful things

maybe the engineers think they will lose their pride by making shiny headphones with red cord. Well most people(and the companies) here are biased toward the idea of good SQ -> no need for a bling design. Well the upper the steps you go, the cleaner the design gets(I'm thinking of grado right now), but no design appealing.
 
Well then there's the extreme, the Jade pre production model(as I recall, correct me if I'm wrong) and the HE series from HD. HE-4, 5LE, 6 all share the similar design, and maybe 3 also will. 
 
And of course in business, creativity and different approaches always makes money.

 

[Saulot]

Perhaps they simply aren't interested in making too many changes to appeal to that market, though Sennheiser has experimented a bit with the look of some of their products.  But ultimately, not every company is going to be interested in going for every market.

 

[Cron]

Quote:

maybe the engineers think they will lose their pride by making shiny headphones with red cord. Well most people(and the companies) here are biased toward the idea of good SQ -> no need for a bling design. Well the upper the steps you go, the cleaner the design gets(I'm thinking of grado right now), but no design appealing.

 
Funny, I always thought Beats are one of the cleanest looking phones out there - yes, they are shiny and they have red accents, but the basic form is almost minimalistic. Certainly more so than HD800.
 
Just an observation about design, not commenting the sound (as I haven't heard them).
 

 

 

[DjAmTraX]

I think the Beats Studio looks good, just don't like the hiss it makes when no music is playing with the noise canceling on.

 

[wind016]

Tube amps hiss too...  Not a big deal really... 

 

[DjAmTraX]

Quote:

Tube amps hiss too...  Not a big deal really... 

My Bellari HA-540 doesn't hiss.  A headphone that is designed for portable use (no with an amp) should not hiss IMO.

 

[wind016]

It would depend on the impedance of your phones used with the tube amp. My low impedance ATs hiss with my Woo 6SE, but I love the sound character so much that I consider it to be part of the charm of tube amps. High impedance cans were always quiet with it though. I also havent heard a completely silent ANC system, so I can't fault Monster Beats for that.

 

[Xymordos]

I think beats are better than bose and skullcandy...
Beats doesnt sound THAT bad, its jsut that the price is What...if it sounds like skull candy, then people would obviously go for skull candy
So the high price and so many people buying it must mean that the sound quality is probably the best out of the heavily marketed headphones out there.
The current trend is looks. If a headphone looks good, they'll buy it. There are people who would just hang headphones on their necks coz they look good, but they dont actually listen to them.
 
I bought my first pair of headphones - the XB700s coz i thought they looked really unique. I compared them to my CX300II in the sony shop and thought they sound pretty similar. But when i got home i realized that the XB700s were better in every way - clarity and quality. CX300II have much more bass quantity though, but they were muddy. When i compare the XB700s to Beats, i can see that the money on beats are just not well spent.
 
Any decent headphone producers dont do marketing. Even a big brand like sony doesnt market their headphones that much. Also, none of the shops usually sell good headphones unless you really spend an effort looking for them. So all the kids walk in to their shopping malls, and instead of seeing good phones, they see Beats. So the brand name of beats is stuck in their heads, if Senns did that marketing strategy, im sure a lot more people would buy them.
 
In fact, in Hong kong, more people are starting to get Senns, coz all of the music shops use their headphones as demo, and the headphone section in the cd shops are filled with senns. 

 

[blitzraider]

Sorry guys but what's product x?

 

[WhiteCrow]

^^^ i dun know man the HD448 are pretty classy.

 

[HibyPrime]

Quote:

Err...anyone else have trouble making any sense of OP's "story"?
 
OP, so you're saying that we shouldn't bash the Beats because they're more expensive and worse sounding than "headphone X", and therefore, making "headphone X" more enticing to younger consumers, and ultimately creating "18 year old audiophiles"? Thus, we should be thanking the Beats for sucking and indirectly creating "18 year old audiophiles"?
 
Seriously, whatever you're smoking, I hope you're planning to share!

 
 
I'm not saying thank them, I'm just saying don't hate them so much.
 
Ok, since you didn't get it, I'll simplify

 
iPod buds -> Skullcandy -> Beats
 
Though the SQ of the skullcandy is absolute trash, they are still marginally better than the ipod buds (referring to their full size or supra-aural phones, their buds are just as bad). Monster beats are light years ahead of anything I've ever heard from skullcandy, but they are still a fair way behind anything considered 'HiFi.'  It doesn't take a genuis to extrapolate this a little bit.
 
And no, I don't wanna share.  Lets just say my s**t is so good, I've been to every planet in the solar system 

 
Quote:

How could Dre know what good headphones are when he doesn't know what good music is?
 
Oh yes, I went there.

 
Oy.

 
Quote:

I don't know why it's so difficult for brands like Sennheiser or Beyer to design headphones that look "cool" to the younger market. If Skullcandy can do it, better engineers should be able to do the same. But they continue to make ugly headphones like the HD280 that appeal to no one. It's just simple human instinct to be drawn to shiny colorful things

 
I think they are starting to get the hint.  Q701 and HD 598 come to mind, and I'm sure theres more than just that in the last few years.
 
For some reason, it's quite rare for one to be an engineer and an artist.  Those who are though, are usually of the best in both fields and far more successful.  Personally, I think the two kind of go hand in hand - math aside, most forms of engineering are an art form.
 

 
They don't HAVE to make these things symmetrical.

 

[ThePhoenix924S]

I personally find Sennheiser's higher-end (HD6x0/ HD800) to look rather nice.  And why do the looks really matter if they're on your head and you're enjoying musical bliss? Besides, Sennheiser is German, so consider them to be like the Porsche of design.  The HD6x0 would be the 911, which is classically designed and has stuck with a well recongnised and generally well-liked tradition.  The HD800s would be the Carrera GT (or now the 918 Spyder), with the lower Sennheiser models being compared to the Boxster and Cayman.  Just because they don't look as different as everything else doesn't mean that they are terrible to drive. Quite the opposite in fact.
 
Obviously this is a weird analogy, but I thought it made sense; so I apologise if it doesn't.

 

[HibyPrime]

Quote:

I personally find Sennheiser's higher-end (HD6x0/ HD800) to look rather nice.  And why do the looks really matter if they're on your head and you're enjoying musical bliss? Besides, Sennheiser is German, so consider them to be like the Porsche of design.  The HD6x0 would be the 911, which is classically designed and has stuck with a well recongnised and generally well-liked tradition.  The HD800s would be the Carrera GT (or now the 918 Spyder), with the lower Sennheiser models being compared to the Boxster and Cayman.  Just because they don't look as different as everything else doesn't mean that they are terrible to drive. Quite the opposite in fact.
 
Obviously this is a weird analogy, but I thought it made sense; so I apologise if it doesn't.

 
The analogy works perfectly, and I agree that Sennheiser makes awesome looking headphones.  I want to say that the design isn't modern enough, but I'm not sure thats what it really is, they do have a very modern design.  I guess it all comes down to 'bling' lol.  When it comes to Grados (extreme example), many people will like the retro design, and a lot of younger people will just see it as 'old'.
 
When the average joe needs to buy a car, they get a low end or even used car.  It's only the rich folk, or those who really want performance (and are willing to eat kraft dinner every night to afford it) go for the Porsche.  You could say that the beats are like the 2010 Camaro, faster than the average Civic, but will get completely dusted by a Porsche.

 

[luvs2squizz]

I'd call the Beats a 'gangsta' SUV and Skullcandies a riced out honda civic

 

[wind016]

I think Skullcandies are the tricycles