[KyungMin]

ATH M50 Sony MDR-V6 Shure SRH440

 

[loremipsum]

I'd say you should try to talk to her and maybe steer her away from the Beats, maybe show her some pics of the ES7 or something and explain about how much better they sound, etc., and if she still wants the Beats just get the Beats. Like the saying goes, the customer is always right. If she's going to be happier getting the style headphones than with the good-sounding ones, so be it
 
Being a teenager, I often find myself disappointed in how little my generation cares about value (and not just with headphones, either). Every time I see somebody at school wearing Beats or Skullcandy or whatever I shake my head while I think about how much better they could've done with the money they probably spent. It's pretty sad

 

[yoyojoe]

this is just a lot of ranting 

 

[shnitz]

I agree, this thread has gone off the rails.  Guys, let's let the OP come back before we continue this discussion.  He/she hasn't posted in the last 3 pages.

 

[dub Beatz]

I remember when I was a teenager. The iPod had just come out, and I asked my parents for one for Christmas. Christmas morning came and I got a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra. I was a very appreciate child and pretended to love it. Let's be honest though, my friends had credit card thin iPods and I was walking around with a friggin tape player haha. My mom told me she intended on purchasing an iPod but after talking to a store employee, he convinced her to go with the creative. Sure, it had more space. Sure, it probably had better features. That's not why I wanted the iPod however. I wanted an iPod because all of my friends had one, and they were cool. I was made fun of day after day for being the only kid without an iPod, and I felt terrible because I didn't have to guts to tell my mom and dad I didn't like what they got me for Christmas. Like I said, I was an appreciate kid. Take it from me man, you can get her something other than the beats, but just remember, she's 16. Not only that, she's a SHE. Girls tend to make these types of things more of an issue than guys. Of course, eventually I learned that it didn't matter I was the only kid without an iPod. I realized my parents got me a gift that they thought was better, and were only looking out for me. A 16 year old won't realize that though. As much as it literally kills me to say this, just get her the damn Beats lol. 

 

[Rokusha]

Quote:

I remember when I was a teenager. The iPod had just come out, and I asked my parents for one for Christmas. Christmas morning came and I got a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra. I was a very appreciate child and pretended to love it. Let's be honest though, my friends had credit card thin iPods and I was walking around with a friggin tape player haha. My mom told me she intended on purchasing an iPod but after talking to a store employee, he convinced her to go with the creative. Sure, it had more space. Sure, it probably had better features. That's not why I wanted the iPod however. I wanted an iPod because all of my friends had one, and they were cool. I was made fun of day after day for being the only kid without an iPod, and I felt terrible because I didn't have to guts to tell my mom and dad I didn't like what they got me for Christmas. Like I said, I was an appreciate kid. Take it from me man, you can get her something other than the beats, but just remember, she's 16. Not only that, she's a SHE. Girls tend to make these types of things more of an issue than guys. Of course, eventually I learned that it didn't matter I was the only kid without an iPod. I realized my parents got me a gift that they thought was better, and were only looking out for me. A 16 year old won't realize that though. As much as it literally kills me to say this, just get her the damn Beats lol. 

 
What he said. I had a few similar experiences myself
 

 

[soundeffect]

similar to all the other stuff kids are into that are just cool to own in it's own time period: tie dye shirt, hyper color shirt, slap bracelet, Nintendo power glove, converse shoes, charm bracelet, treasure trolls, banana clips, beanie babies, silly putties, magic 8 ball, mood ring, laser pointer, stickout rims for cars, hydrolics for cars, pull out stereo, MJ's thriller jacket, atari, turbo graphic 16, neo geo etc. now the beats.   It doesn't matter if it's just flat out silly and expensive to buy, it's all about the bandwagon effect. It's just fun to own because it's cool and my friends has it.

 
anything else is just an imitation version

 

[Argyris]

Quote:

similar to all the other stuff kids are into that are just cool to own in it's own time period: tie dye shirt, hyper color shirt, slap bracelet, Nintendo power glove, converse shoes, charm bracelet, treasure trolls, banana clips, beanie babies, silly putties, magic 8 ball, mood ring, laser pointer, stickout rims for cars, hydrolics for cars, pull out stereo, MJ's thriller jacket, atari, turbo graphic 16, neo geo etc. now the beats.   It doesn't matter if it's just flat out silly and expensive to buy, it's all about the bandwagon effect. It's just fun to own because it's cool and my friends has it.

 
anything else is just an imitation version

 
I guess my DT880 is just a wannabe Beats or Bose...poor me, I don't have what the cool kids have. 

 
But you're absolutely right and I'm not snarking your post. I had forgotten about some of the things you listed. You forgot pogs, yo-yo's, and Pokemon cards and probably a billion other things, but that just proves your point. This stuff comes and goes.
 
The only thing is that, in this case, it's a little different because many fads are their own progenitors and spawn (often poor) imitations. How much "pog-ier" can you get than a pog? I'm sure there were imitations--non officially-sanctioned knock-offs. In our case it's the opposite--headphones have been around since the beginning of the century (did you think beyerdynamic invented them? Think again), but now we've got big name/small engineering companies coming out and "bling-izing" them. In this instance there are headphones that achieve the purpose of...well, being headphones...much better than the "imitators" from Monster, Skullcandy, and Bose. These companies didn't invent headphones and wait for others to come along and copy them. They, in essence, attempted to "imitate" a quality product and continue to fail miserably at fooling the people who can really tell the difference.
 
Sadly, there are three-and-a-half of us, and we're all here on Head-Fi. (Exaggeration intentional, don't get offended).
 
I don't think the OP is coming back, but if so, then I say buy the kid her Beats. With luck she'll grow up to realize how dumb fads and peer pressure and all that teenage high school stuff are and learn to appreciate a well-made, quality product, even if it's not FOTM. And, if not, well, what can you do? She's certainly not going to learn that lesson at 16.
 
Conversely, you could give her a Best Buy gift certificate and let her get her own Beats. Theoretically she could get something else with the money, so the actual decision to purchase the Beats wouldn't be yours.

 

[shaggy]

Quote:

I remember when I was a teenager. The iPod had just come out, and I asked my parents for one for Christmas. Christmas morning came and I got a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra. I was a very appreciate child and pretended to love it. Let's be honest though, my friends had credit card thin iPods and I was walking around with a friggin tape player haha. My mom told me she intended on purchasing an iPod but after talking to a store employee, he convinced her to go with the creative. Sure, it had more space. Sure, it probably had better features. That's not why I wanted the iPod however. I wanted an iPod because all of my friends had one, and they were cool. I was made fun of day after day for being the only kid without an iPod, and I felt terrible because I didn't have to guts to tell my mom and dad I didn't like what they got me for Christmas. Like I said, I was an appreciate kid. Take it from me man, you can get her something other than the beats, but just remember, she's 16. Not only that, she's a SHE. Girls tend to make these types of things more of an issue than guys. Of course, eventually I learned that it didn't matter I was the only kid without an iPod. I realized my parents got me a gift that they thought was better, and were only looking out for me. A 16 year old won't realize that though. As much as it literally kills me to say this, just get her the damn Beats lol. 

While I mostly agree with all of this, I think if the op were to buy some other headphone that would still be considered fashionable, such as the the es9 or some phiatons, and that sound good, the cousin wouldn't feel left out, especially when she hears how crappy her friends' beats sound in comparison. But I guess this could go either way. YMMV

 

[soundeffect]

lol, pogs that is a cool game and yo yo I use to be able to do some cool tricks.  I guess I should throw in marbles too.  I'm sure I'm missing a lot.  What I meant by imitation (I'm sure you caught this, but never hurt to clarify) is that, what kids and teens see in there eyes are totally different than what older folks see.  It's a total different value system.  I mean throw in the esw9 and they think wow nice headphones, but why did you waste that much money on it for when you can get the beats?  This actually happen to me when I showed my little brother girlfriend who heard the beats solo.  Thank goodness my brother didn't feel the same as he asked for my xb700.  She didn't even comment on the sound quality (17 yrs. old by the way).  So basically to her eyes, the esw9 were just imitations.  I'm sure these examples can go on and on and the examples lately have all been pretty much the same point on this thread.  I didn't care that she didn't notice my esw9's because I understand. When I was younger, I wanted transformer toys (the metal version not the cheapo plastic one now days) not no hot rod toys and If I would have gotten the hot rod, I wouldn't have the memories I have now. It's all about fortress maximus
 
Quote:

Quote:

similar to all the other stuff kids are into that are just cool to own in it's own time period: tie dye shirt, hyper color shirt, slap bracelet, Nintendo power glove, converse shoes, charm bracelet, treasure trolls, banana clips, beanie babies, silly putties, magic 8 ball, mood ring, laser pointer, stickout rims for cars, hydrolics for cars, pull out stereo, MJ's thriller jacket, atari, turbo graphic 16, neo geo etc. now the beats.   It doesn't matter if it's just flat out silly and expensive to buy, it's all about the bandwagon effect. It's just fun to own because it's cool and my friends has it.

 
anything else is just an imitation version

 
I guess my DT880 is just a wannabe Beats or Bose...poor me, I don't have what the cool kids have. 

 
But you're absolutely right and I'm not snarking your post. I had forgotten about some of the things you listed. You forgot pogs, yo-yo's, and Pokemon cards and probably a billion other things, but that just proves your point. This stuff comes and goes.
 
The only thing is that, in this case, it's a little different because many fads are their own progenitors and spawn (often poor) imitations. How much "pog-ier" can you get than a pog? I'm sure there were imitations--non officially-sanctioned knock-offs. In our case it's the opposite--headphones have been around since the beginning of the century (did you think beyerdynamic invented them? Think again), but now we've got big name/small engineering companies coming out and "bling-izing" them. In this instance there are headphones that achieve the purpose of...well, being headphones...much better than the "imitators" from Monster, Skullcandy, and Bose. These companies didn't invent headphones and wait for others to come along and copy them. They, in essence, attempted to "imitate" a quality product and continue to fail miserably at fooling the people who can really tell the difference.
 
Sadly, there are three-and-a-half of us, and we're all here on Head-Fi. (Exaggeration intentional, don't get offended).
 
I don't think the OP is coming back, but if so, then I say buy the kid her Beats. With luck she'll grow up to realize how dumb fads and peer pressure and all that teenage high school stuff are and learn to appreciate a well-made, quality product, even if it's not FOTM. And, if not, well, what can you do? She's certainly not going to learn that lesson at 16.
 
Conversely, you could give her a Best Buy gift certificate and let her get her own Beats. Theoretically she could get something else with the money, so the actual decision to purchase the Beats wouldn't be yours.

 

[loremipsum]

I like the giftcard idea. That way you don't feel bad about buying Beats and she's still happy. Plus you don't have to worry about getting the "wrong color" or whatever

 

[shnitz]

Geez, you guys are acting like someone would have to cry him or herself to sleep if, god forbid, he or she spent actual money on Beats headphones.  It's just a purchase, and chances are that the owner will enjoy the sound produced by them.  Grow up.

 

[dub Beatz]

I am going to have to cry myself to sleep... Especially if the OP tells us he's buying the Beats for sure...

 

[yellowjeep]

First the OP was never buying Beats. His aunt was going to for his cousin. Second if she wants them because her friends have them she isn't going to be happy with anything else for the multitude of reasons already discussed in this thread. If she wants Beats and here mother is willing and able to buy the Beats for her thats what she should get. She won't be happy with a "superior" set of phones because thats not what she wants. Girls esp HS girls are weird like that... heard mentality and so on. (guys are too but to a lesser extent, IMO) 
 
 
In conclusion, let her get what she wants. I would be willing to bet my entire collection of gear that she cares very little about a bunch of "experts" and "audiophiles" think compared to her immediate group of peers.  

 

[Oggranak]

Not all girls are like that. I know people who want the beats because they actually just don't know what else there is. They're completely open to other options once they know that such exist. And 16 isn't so irrational an age, teens at 16 certainly aren't as bad as, say, a 14-year-old, when it comes to being open-minded.