Getting "called-out" for not wearing the Beats

[bowei006]

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Nice thread 

 I joined that forum just to keep an eye on that thread. Although I wouldn't say Skullcandies are as bad as the other brands. Their Aviators didn't sounds too bad to me, at least it destroyed the Beats Solo HD in every pretty much every way.
 

i have also heard about hwo Skullcandy is trying to move up in the world too
 

 

[vlenbo]

Out on ranks, bose and beats are the most beatup brands and skullcandy (most of their rigs) have been also whipped by audio-philes right?

 

[ac500]

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http://www.headfonia.com/shure-srh-940-detail-monster/
 
Mike is pretty well known and trusted and has a lot of source materials. again, opinions and ears differ
"Most of the harshness, sibilance, and extreme compression on mainstream recordings will be very audible" 
It's not much but it did mention it and that's what i based it off of. 

I read that review several times long ago, and he definitely isn't saying the SRH940 is sibilant. There's a bit difference between the headphone adding unnecessary sibilance, and reproducing recording so faithfully that sibilance embedded in the recording shows up.
 
The SRH940 treble is of sufficiently high quality that songs sibilance embedded in the recording will be clearly heard as such. The same is true for my laid back HD650s, it's just that the sibilance is covered up so that it's in the background. The SRH940 itself manages extremely smooth and crisp highs without sibilance, assuming the recording is quality.
 
I hope the distinction here is clear -- it's a rather important one (recorded sibilance versus headphone sibilance). There's no getting around sibilance which is a flaw of the recording itself, except with laid back headphones that actively suppress certain details in hopes of hiding ones we don't want (but in doing so they lose out on detail on good recordings).
 
The point is that, as with all revealing detailed headphones, bad recordings sound bad, good recordings sound good, and brilliant recordings sound brilliant.
 
A sibilant headphone will result in sibilant artifacts in even brilliant quality recordings, as is the case of the Pro 900 unfortunately, to some extent. It might not be noticeable if you don't hear easily above 15khz though, but it's bothersome enough to my treble-sensitive ears.

 

[177555]

Quote:

Nice thread 

 I joined that forum just to keep an eye on that thread. Although I wouldn't say Skullcandies are as bad as the other brands. Their Aviators didn't sounds too bad to me, at least it destroyed the Beats Solo HD in every pretty much every way.
 

Haha, welcome aboard! It's been a really... Interesting experience for me.
 
Agreed. I just can't justify recommending the Aviators over the M50s. I'm always looking for new stuff to recommend, though. The V-Moda M80s are getting quite a lot of attention after I showed them how pretty they are. My topic/thread is some kind of headphone social experiment!
 

 

[Parall3l]

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Out on ranks, bose and beats are the most beatup brands and skullcandy (most of their rigs) have been also whipped by audio-philes right?

In the order of how much bashing they get IMO
 
Beats > Bose > Skullcandy
 
IMO, due to the prices Skullcandy headphones have, audiophiles don't complain about them as much, but with the Beats, its another story, the Studios are by far my most disliked cans.

 

[bowei006]

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Uhh I'm pretty sure he didn't say it's sibilant. There's a bit difference between actually adding sibilance and reproducing recording sibilance faithfully. 
 
The SRH940 treble is of sufficiently high quality that songs sibilance embedded in the recording will be clearly heard as such. The same is true for my laid back HD650s, it's just that the sibilance is covered up. The SRH940 itself manages extremely smooth and crisp highs without sibilance, assuming the recording is quality.
 
I hope the distinction here is clear -- it's a rather important one (recorded sibilance versus headphone sibilance). There's no getting around recorded sibilance except with laid back headphones that actively suppress certain details in hopes of hiding ones we don't want (but in doing so they lose out on detail on good recordings).
 

I knew/know there were two kinds. I was almost going to not post the link and quote but then said what the hey. I thought i remember reading many many times that they were sibilant..mus have been on something else
 

 

[vlenbo]

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I made a topic on a gaming site one of my friends likes a lot. The members are almost all teenagers, and I can't say I like the site at all. The time I spend on it is helping people with tech-related stuff since they really need help and few others are actually knowledgeable enough to provide that help. I've gotten a lot of good practice explaining things and dealing with people who are not very technologically inclined. They drive me crazy a lot, but It feels good to help when I have some free time.
 
One thing I noticed is that they're very susceptible to marketing. They rave about Beats, and I'm sure you guys have heard it all by now. I've been sent angry PMs, been flamed countless times resulting in deleted topics and posts, and I've gotten myself quite a reputation. I just keep my cool, and show them why they're wrong without making them feel threatened. Watching them defend Beats is quite comical, actually. Some of the vocabulary they use is just is really funny. Still, I weep for my generation.
 
This topic has gotten much more traffic than I could have ever imagined, and I can safely say that I've turned quite a few people away from Beats, Skullcandies, Bose, and other similar names and showed them the audiophile-approved alternatives. It's mostly low-budget stuff, and I recommend the Meelectronics M6 and Koss Portapro and KSC75 very often. However, occasionally, I get some big budgets! I've recommended people HD650/600s, Ultrasone Pro 900s, Beyerdynamic DT880/990s, Grado SR325is, UE Reference IEMs, and many more (all with proper amplification).
 
I could go on, but this is already a wall of text.
 
TL;DR: I helped a bunch of kids on a gaming forum with their tech questions and problems, and ended up being their "headphone guy." They were all convinced that Beats/Skullcandies/Bose were the best headphones, but I showed them audiophile-approved headphones, and got "called-out" numerous times in the process.
 
Just thought you guys might find this amusing. Poke through the thread and see what I've dealt with! I've put in a lot of time and effort. Page 76 has a pretty good example. Throughout the thread, there's just a consistent frequency of pointless, inane pro-Beats posts.
 
http://www.thetechgame.com/Forums/t=2070772/buying-headphones-get-advice-here.html

I'm glad that your thread didn't get that bad, even at page 13. One dumb guy thinking 4 pairs of beats were so good and didn't think any cheap phone would suffice or kill the thing. XD, if we had to be fair with prices, any can, especially the A900x, can kick beat's own existence out of earth. Koss, beyerdynamic DTs, damn...
EDIT: They're all horrible at trolling man, they suck so hard! Oh well, it's funny like you said to read stuff like that. No one will listen to them anyways.

 

[vlenbo]

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In the order of how much bashing they get IMO
 
Beats > Bose > Skullcandy
 
IMO, due to the prices Skullcandy headphones have, audiophiles don't complain about them as much, but with the Beats, its another story, the Studios are by far my most disliked cans.

Thanks for the clarification, there should be Beats = or more than bose, XD, to be fair at least.
 
Yeah, the good ones they've got are not so bad in pricing, the horrible ones  either, but meh.

 

[177555]

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I'm glad that your thread didn't get that bad, even at page 13. One dumb guy thinking 4 pairs of beats were so good and didn't think any cheap phone would suffice or kill the thing. XD, if we had to be fair with prices, any can, especially the A900x, can kick beat's own existence out of earth. Koss, beyerdynamic DTs, damn...
 

Yeah, they don't stand a chance arguing with me, so I shut them up and get them on track pretty quick. I put out flamers before there can be a firestorm. Reason is my most powerful weapon! I only have issues with them when they refuse to listen to it.

 

[vlenbo]

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Yeah, they don't stand a chance arguing with me, so I shut them up and get them on track pretty quick. I put out flamers before there can be a firestorm. Reason is my most powerful weapon! I only have issues with them when they refuse to listen to it.

Next thing you know they'll say is ....I've tried the recommendations you said secretly, they suck compared to my awesome 350 dang dollar beats! TOO MUCH BASS is great for me man! You guys follow me! To strawberry fields! pfft, I believe people weren't far off when they said "Apple, beats, and bose = cult" Reason is a powerful weapon indeed, it takes a lot of brains to do that hahaha XD. Not to be offensive to them.

 

[177555]

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Next thing you know they'll say is ....I've tried the recommendations you said secretly, they suck compared to my awesome 350 dang dollar beats! TOO MUCH BASS is great for me man! You guys follow me! To strawberry fields! pfft, I believe people weren't far off when they said "Apple, beats, and bose = cult" Reason is a powerful weapon indeed, it takes a lot of brains to do that hahaha XD. Not to be offensive to them.

I try to warn them if the sound signature will be drastically different, but I still worry they'll prefer the Beats for all the wrong reasons. I don't have much faith in them.
 
It's pretty funny, because I can write a really nice, inviting, and detailed post explaining why Beats are no good and some moron will post, "get dre beats bro their the best bass." Guess who they listen to? Makes me want to just throw in the towel sometimes. I did once, but within a few days, there were too many uncontested Beats threads popping up!

 

[Parall3l]

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I try to warn them if the sound signature will be drastically different, but I still worry they'll prefer the Beats for all the wrong reasons. I don't have much faith in them.
 
It's pretty funny, because I can write a really nice, inviting, and detailed post explaining why Beats are no good and some moron will post, "get dre beats bro their the best bass." Guess who they listen to? Makes me want to just throw in the towel sometimes. I did once, but within a few days, there were too many uncontested Beats threads popping up!

 
Try showing some of those "morons" some of the threads Head-Fi, nothing like opinions of people who own $1000+ gear to shut people up.

 

[crinacle]

 
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Try showing some of those "morons" some of the threads Head-Fi, nothing like opinions of people who own $1000+ gear to shut people up.

Usually I win the arguements by telling them NOT to listen to anyone BUT Google.
 
Example: searching "*head-fi approved brand* vs beats". Works every time, even the Beats fanboys can't contest the first-page results.

 

[Agony]

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I have before by some of my friends that have beats. I ask them if I can feel their $300 plastic or maybe even get a listen of that $300 dollar sound. Then I have them listen to my $130 dollar Crossfades and feel the $130 solid metal plating. With most, I can see the shame on their faces right when they listen to my headphones and when I tell them how much I spent, I love it. Others still claim their beats sound better. Stubborn... they know deep down they've been ripped off.

It's funny how people try to justify their purchase, I did the exact same thing you did with my M-80s, and they looked surprised when I played a Noisestorm (D&B) track. They said, "Turn off the bass boost EQ, that's probably why it sounds so good."
 
I showed them the EQ was off and they asked how much it was.
 
Then they said, "Oh. Well, my Beats are better. What brand are these though?"

 

[bubblyjock]

I told my wife which headphones I wanted for Christmas (Sennheiser HD 650's) even showed her the cheapest place to find them.  Well she did get them for me which I am still happy about.  Well we opened them at my family's Christmas, we traveled to her hometown today to see her family.  We talked about what we got and she said I got some ridiculously expensive headphones.  Well they asked how much and she said $300, well her friend who was there immediately says "OOOO you got some Beats, did you bring them with you, I hear they are amazing!!"  I say no I got some Sennheiser's and yes they are amazing.  She says "Huh never heard of them, I hope you didn't waste your money, because aren't the Beats and Ludacris headphones pretty much top of the line"  I just said "don't worry she didn't waste our money"