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For The Love of God...Do Not Buy Souls
Jun 9, 2012 at 5:40 PM Post #46 of 160
Quote:
gwarmi said:
 
 Yep - RS1i's on my head every day on Melbourne public transport over here - it does scare school children every now and then though
 
 'Why is that man wearing wooden headphones Mummy?'
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I use sr225s outside because I dont want too risk scratching the wood but even still they get alot of attention, I get asked about them all the time.
 
Jun 28, 2012 at 10:00 PM Post #53 of 160
The average consumer is an idiot and we shouldn't be shocked by this nor should we assume it only happens with audio equipment.
 
People overspend for pre-assembled desktop computers that use inferior parts and make PC enthusiasts wonder What they are thinking.
 
People buy the iPhone without knowing anything about competing products or being able to tell you even one specific thing that the iPhone does better than [insert flagship Android phone].
 
People walk into Best Buy and buy whichever TV is the best deal and has the best features (according to the salesman) while posters at avsform would cringe at the thought of using a salesperson as a sole means of research. Not to mention, posters would argue that the average buyer has no idea what true color representation is (which is why so many have been purchasing low-end LEDs with terrible over-saturation).
 
There are plenty of other examples. When you really care about a particular hobby or interest, you are likely to spend time and money figuring out what the best available products are. I'm a PC geek and I would never, ever buy a pre-built PC nor would I spend $2000+ on a laptop (unless I specifically needed a feature unique to that laptop). Furthermore, posters here know what quality audio is and are happy to pay extra for it.
 
I work in an electronics shop and the average consumer is both uninformed and uninterested in quality sound. The most common phrase I hear is: "Hi, I'm looking for a cheap pair of headphones that sound really good." I typically either tell them they have to choose one of those demands or I just recommend whatever we have on sale in their price range. Why? Because even if I told them about the few 'OK' pairs we carry, they would almost never be interested in spending 3-4 times as much money because they don't believe it will make any difference. To most consumers, music quality is no different on a $20 headphone and a $70 headphone, while headphones like the Beats are assumed to be amazing simply because they are priced so highly. Most of my colleagues generally recommend the Beats as being the best headphones on the market, and I've never heard a customer question those statements.
 
It is pretty annoying and funny at times, but I wager that if I gave one of these people a $1500 setup (cans + dac + amp) to listen to next to the Beats, they'd probably have a hard time admitting that the Beats sounded worse. In fact, since most "quality" consumer headphones are so damn bass heavy, they'd probably think the Beats were still the clear winner because of all that bass goodness (lol).
 
Jun 28, 2012 at 10:21 PM Post #54 of 160
Quote:
sonic boom said:
I know a clown that think his scullcandy earbuds are better than any pair of headphones you can buy, and that they sound just as good as my hd800s.
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speaking of which, there is another clown that i know off that thought the solo's were better than a HD800 just because the sennheiser's look ugly and beats look oh so sylish and FABULOUS
 
Jun 28, 2012 at 10:22 PM Post #55 of 160
Agreed 100%.  I like my iPhone for specific reasons that I can discuss for infinity and a day but that's a whole different story :wink:
 
This is what I hate.  I can't tell you how many people I know come back with something because "the guy there said it was so good!"  My god.  Makes me crazy.  I have friends that actually are engineers and understand at least a basic level of how audio equipment works tell me that Beats have to be better because, well, look, Monster says they're amazing, Monster makes good stuff, and well, they're so expensive.  Plus they look good so there!.  I had a pair of V-Moda Phazes that sounded better than Beats Tours, and that was about the nail in the coffin.  Couldn't convince him.  Now, those actually sound pretty good, but sure as hell not $150 good.  No way.  Hell you can get NEW TF10s for that, but even baring that a set of S4is will rock those no problem for a bunch less.  Simple as that.
 
Having been afflicted with the "curse" of having more interests that I can keep track of, I've run into this a bunch.  People that can't even begin to understand why ANYONE would buy a Gary Fisher when that $99 Walmart special is so nice.  It's frustrating to be passionate about something.
 
Jun 28, 2012 at 10:32 PM Post #56 of 160
Quote:
audio-phile said:
Agreed 100%.  I like my iPhone for specific reasons that I can discuss for infinity and a day but that's a whole different story :wink:
 
This is what I hate.  I can't tell you how many people I know come back with something because "the guy there said it was so good!"  My god.  Makes me crazy.  I have friends that actually are engineers and understand at least a basic level of how audio equipment works tell me that Beats have to be better because, well, look, Monster says they're amazing, Monster makes good stuff, and well, they're so expensive.  Plus they look good so there!.  I had a pair of V-Moda Phazes that sounded better than Beats Tours, and that was about the nail in the coffin.  Couldn't convince him.  Now, those actually sound pretty good, but sure as hell not $150 good.  No way.  Hell you can get NEW TF10s for that, but even baring that a set of S4is will rock those no problem for a bunch less.  Simple as that.
 
Having been afflicted with the "curse" of having more interests that I can keep track of, I've run into this a bunch.  People that can't even begin to understand why ANYONE would buy a Gary Fisher when that $99 Walmart special is so nice.  It's frustrating to be passionate about something.
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Yup. I too have/have had a few different hobbies where my knowledge far exceeds that of a typical consumer. Some of my friends would then ask for my advice with certain purchases, or at least acknowledge that I probably know what I'm talking about because I spent hundreds of hours researching or testing products within the hobbies.
 
But some just don't get it, and for these people marketing is typically the key to their buying decision.
 
When iPhone first came out it was THE phone to buy, even if the average consumer had no idea why it was supposed to be better than the competition. Once Android began to took off and legitimate competitors were released, many Apple fanboys still refused to acknowledge that another phone might do some things better than the iPhone. Even worse, when asked "Tell me what it is your phone does better than that Android phone" most of them were so uninformed that they simply couldn't, and would just say things like "Apple makes good products." Reminds me of your Monster comment :)
 
What's funny though is that Android fanboys have been taken in by the same type of hype. They are so anti-Apple that it is inconceviable to them that iPhone could do anything well compared to Android. No matter what iPhone 5 does, it will be the worst phone on the market to these guys. Even funnier, Samsung (in Canada at least) has reached a level of hype-driven hilarity with Android fanboys that now rivals Apple's fanboys. I personally know a few people who were/are anti-Apple and touted the merits of Android, even when they didn't understand what the iPhone offered. Soon it became all about the Samsung Galaxy S lineup. Why? Because Samsung spent millions more on marketing than other Android developers, and their advertising techniques now resemble Apple's. The Galaxy S III just launched and I've spent a bit of time with it. It's a great phone sure, but it has its flaws, some hyped features are very underwhelming, and many review sites have commented that it doesn't best the HTC flagship. But, these people I know are convinced that the GSIII is the absolute best and nothing I can say will change that.
 
When you don't know What you're talking about and are too lazy or uninterested to seriously educate yourself, you're prone to making uninformed and poor buying decisions based on word of mouth and marketing.
 
PS: My smartphone comments are made objectively. While I own an Android device, I sell both iPhones and Android devices and believe both have their merits and value for different types of consumers.
 
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