I can totally understand Digitalfreak's beef and reason for venting.
Clearly anyone who had delved further into the realm of headphones, and I mean beyond the pad swapping, EQuing and buying portable headphones amps, but rather as stated, serious modding, driver installation, rewiring, extensive testing of FR, square waves, acoustic and sonic crucial testing, would find anyone swearing by the Beats (anyone of them), Bose or earlier models of SkullCandy as 'the best sound for anyone who is serious about music' offensive, arrogant and downright misleading.
I'm not a serious modder and I can attest to just how annoying and infuriating this can be, especially when said headphones would cost nearly twice if not 3 times more than other headphone that would ACTUALLY produce the 'sound' that experts would consider is meant for 'serious music listeners'.
That said, the average consumer is what he is. I wouldn't be as condescending to call them stupid, but rather ignorant and ranging to as far as mildly informed. We've all been there at one point or another. If we're semi educated and have some expertise on one thing, I'm pretty sure that there are other fields we're simply not. This is why I always try to implore the benchmark of objectivity.
But I guess this varies from area to area, country to country and city to city. Most here who shared those stories have had the personal experience with certain arrogant and ignorant/uninformed individuals who got in their face with those beats, and then claimed them to be the beginning and end all of headphones. So yeah, that one person who was wearing the HD650, AudioTechnica M50's, AKGQ701, Grado 80i/60i/Shure 840/440 would definitely be ready to burst.. either in laughter, shrug or a lecture about acoustics, hi-fidelity and sonicness. However, in my case, one who constantly taking the public transit, subways/trains .. I come across people wearing the Beats... and mostly they are late teens 18 to 35 range.. And mostly would either be Solos and Studios, but more studios than not. I've seen the Pros only twice (one white and one Silver) And this is while I was sporting the SRH440's. No one, and I mean no-one had came to me, approached me with any imposition or challenge or anything of that sort. And even stared a few dead in the eye for a few minutes, and nothing. Just went on their way peacefully. I've also seen people with AKG, Audio-technica and Sennheisers. But from what I've seen, Sony's are worn most prominently, then Some Sennheiser/Bose and then rarely those Higher end ones. And I can't even say that I've seen any Grado worn outside. Though I did see the other day this dude wearing the 650's, which was a nice surprise. But other than that, it's those white I-buds. So, from this I can sort of make an educated generalization that if one of the majority of those average consumers decides to finally upgrade from the i-buds, goes into the Local Best-Buy/Futureshop or other, auditions the selection, which would mostly consist of a highly rigged Bose Station, Sony V500DJ (unampped, which sound tinny), some higher grade Skull-Candy (again, unampped), maybe the Sennheiser HD448, The Solos, Studios and The Pros... Now, pricing asides here, which will impress and give that average consumer the biggest shock per sound... and I'm talking from ibuds upgrade.
It will most likely be those Studios or Pros or even solos.. Due to the overbloated Mid-Bass. And clearly the mids and His (for whatever they may be), are still more impressive than the Ibuds on any day. So if that average consumer has that $350 - $450 to spend, and he wants a portable headphone.. what do you think he'll buy and then show off as the best sound ever?
It's just that.. Shameless marketing at play, definitely.. But trust me, I've had many that asked me for headphone advice, and yes, many did mention right of the bat the Bose for being really of good sound. And my immediate response was, 'well, Bose are good for certain things, Comfort, Noise Cancellation... But... if you're looking for sound quality, for that price you pay, I can name you at least 10 different headphones that are $100 cheaper that would sound better.' Same goes for those who mentioned the beats..
And I am someone who auditioned all the beats extensively, and truth to be told, I liked what I heard from the Pros... But I would not pay that price...
Where are ya' all folks live that you get so much challenging with people wearing beats... I was never called out, not even once..
Just curious.
