[Pual]

My $0.02 on bad parenting in this thread (and reinforcing the many people who rightly suggested not making these kids materialistic):
 
I was born into a "privileged" family, my father grew up in a 1200 sq ft apartment with 3 brothers, a sister, his parents, his grandparents, and his uncle. He slept on the floor until he was 16 when his older siblings moved out.
 
I went to private school (~$30,000 a yr for high school.. yeah.. crazy) and I didnt get allowance or anything - like most of the other "rich kids" I went to school with. I started working at 13, and got *one* thing for my birthday and christmas - usually something like "I need a new laptop for school cause my 4 year old one is dying" so they'd split the price with me. These are people who go out and buy a new porsche every 6 months.
 
I learned from a kid how to manage money, and what it was worth. The *worst* thing you can do to kids is screw that up, I know so many people my age (22) who cant handle money, still expect their parents to do everything for them (and their poor parents cant afford it after 4 years of college payments) and end up setting into crap jobs and always being in debt.
 
Yeah, its an "extreme" connection from giving you kid beatz cause it "makes her happy"
 
You know what made me happy as a kid? A good home made dinner. Seeing my family on thanksgiving or christmas who I havent seen for a while, or spending time with friends.
 
I saved up from 13-17 and used all my money to buy a crappy used jeep for $4,800. All the kids at my school drove BMW x5's and camaros (yeah, tying into a recent comment about camaros).
 
I actually ran into a good friend from HS the other day, he updated me on a lot of the kids who were given everything. Most of them dropped out of college, many work at places like subway or best buy, and four (out of 51 graduating kids) are in prison while most of the rest are broke, on drugs, or, on a rare chance - actually doing alright.
 
Go figure.
 
Added bit:
I have the opportunity to work for my family - I could make a corporate salary (a lot) but I don't. I also learned something - money and things aren't everything. I'm a competitive power lifter (horrible paying job.. aka.. no money) and I work as much as I can otherwise (20-30 hours a week) as a personal trainer. I make way less than most people on here, I'm sure - but I guarantee I appreciate my headphones more than many - especially some kids mentioned here.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

My $0.02 on bad parenting in this thread (and reinforcing the many people who rightly suggested not making these kids materialistic):
 
I was born into a "privileged" family, my father grew up in a 1200 sq ft apartment with 3 brothers, a sister, his parents, his grandparents, and his uncle. He slept on the floor until he was 16 when his older siblings moved out.
 
I went to private school (~$30,000 a yr for high school.. yeah.. crazy) and I didnt get allowance or anything - like most of the other "rich kids" I went to school with. I started working at 13, and got *one* thing for my birthday and christmas - usually something like "I need a new laptop for school cause my 4 year old one is dying" so they'd split the price with me. These are people who go out and buy a new porsche every 6 months.
 
I learned from a kid how to manage money, and what it was worth. The *worst* thing you can do to kids is screw that up, I know so many people my age (22) who cant handle money, still expect their parents to do everything for them (and their poor parents cant afford it after 4 years of college payments) and end up setting into crap jobs and always being in debt.
 
Yeah, its an "extreme" connection from giving you kid beatz cause it "makes her happy"
 
You know what made me happy as a kid? A good home made dinner. Seeing my family on thanksgiving or christmas who I havent seen for a while, or spending time with friends.
 
I saved up from 13-17 and used all my money to buy a crappy used jeep for $4,800. All the kids at my school drove BMW x5's and camaros (yeah, tying into a recent comment about camaros).
 
I actually ran into a good friend from HS the other day, he updated me on a lot of the kids who were given everything. Most of them dropped out of college, many work at places like subway or best buy, and four (out of 51 graduating kids) are in prison while most of the rest are broke, on drugs, or, on a rare chance - actually doing alright.
 
Go figure.
 
Added bit:
I have the opportunity to work for my family - I could make a corporate salary (a lot) but I don't. I also learned something - money and things aren't everything. I'm a competitive power lifter (horrible paying job.. aka.. no money) and I work as much as I can otherwise (20-30 hours a week) as a personal trainer. I make way less than most people on here, I'm sure - but I guarantee I appreciate my headphones more than many - especially some kids mentioned here.

I want to buy this man a beer.
 
Very best,

 

[brrgrr]

No chance at the new Sony XB line?
Fortunately my brother is blown away by $50 JVC's.

 

[Pual]

Quote:

I want to buy this man a beer.
 
Very best,

 

Hah, Thanks man. I do love beer! Only when bulking though. Gettin' in contest shape at the moment, haha.
 
Its tough with so many hobbies, but I do my best. just got my first "real" headphones - DT 990 600 ohms.
 
Trust me - you don't want to see my food bill

 

[streetdragon]

If Op's bro had Asian parents.....

 
speaking of work my parents made me do part time work at my dad's office doing 12 hour shifts 5 1/2 days a week over my holiday break (yes, my friends are all playing online games together at that time) to get enough money to buy my HD558 the next year

 

[Rosbife]

People have pretty much covered it already, but this is just my .02:

If he can't appreciate your 800s and whatnot, and if he just wanted the Beats because of reasons, then getting a counterfeit set would be literally the same as getting original ones. He wouldn't notice it soundwise, although his world might end if he realizes his are fakes while his friend's are original. /sigh

Aside from that, you either get him a set of cans you know are good quality and value, as opposed to Beats (don't really want to jump on the "Beats sux" bandwagon, but man, do those have pathetic bass bloat), or you conclude that an 11year-old is neither to be spoiled nor usually reasoned with, and as such no quality headphones would ever suit him at his age.
 
Imho, he shouldn't simply cry "I want Beats" and get Beats, just as he shouldn't get equally pricey headphones just because he wanted expensive ones to start with. I would have him taste improvement over the years and, above all, "value money", which I feel would be destroyed by gifting him such expensive headphones at such an early age. 

You mention he's starting to develop an early love for music - well, all the more reason for me to assume it'd be best for him to have a continuous notion of improvement, as opposed to jumping right onto high-end gear by age 11.

 

[wolfetan44]

Quote:

People have pretty much covered it already, but this is just my .02:

If he can't appreciate your 800s and whatnot, and if he just wanted the Beats because of reasons, then getting a counterfeit set would be literally the same as getting original ones. He wouldn't notice it soundwise, although his world might end if he realizes his are fakes while his friend's are original. /sigh

Aside from that, you either get him a set of cans you know are good quality and value, as opposed to Beats (don't really want to jump on the "Beats sux" bandwagon, but man, do those have pathetic bass bloat), or you conclude that an 11year-old is neither to be spoiled nor usually reasoned with, and as such no quality headphones would ever suit him at his age.
 
Imho, he shouldn't simply cry "I want Beats" and get Beats, just as he shouldn't get equally pricey headphones just because he wanted expensive ones to start with. I would have him taste improvement over the years and, above all, "value money", which I feel would be destroyed by gifting him such expensive headphones at such an early age. 

You mention he's starting to develop an early love for music - well, all the more reason for me to assume it'd be best for him to have a continuous notion of improvement, as opposed to jumping right onto high-end gear by age 11.

Why are we trying to teach him the,"value of money"? Who cares, this isn't Parent-Fi is it? Just get him a pair of headphones. 

 

[devouringone3]

Quote:

Why?

 
It went from "Wanting to own Beats headphone", many good, intelligent opinions and helpful reactions (some are being against, others for the Beats), to "raising a child to be materialistic, a blind consumer and a mindless capitalist", car example, Ultrasone and jokes, laughs and empty posts, anti-Beats sign, downfall.
 
The OP should come back with news.
 
 
*edit: Never mind, I had not refreshed my browser and seen the new page. We're back on track

 

[wolfetan44]

Quote:

 
It went from "Wanting to own Beats headphone", many good, intelligent opinions and helpful reactions (some are being against, others for the Beats), to "raising a child to be materialistic, a blind consumer and a mindless capitalist", car example, Ultrasone and jokes, laughs and empty posts, downfall.
 
The OP should come back with news.

OP should

 

[devouringone3]

Quote:

You mention he's starting to develop an early love for music - well, all the more reason for me to assume it'd be best for him to have a continuous notion of improvement, as opposed to jumping right onto high-end gear by age 11.

 
Buy him a cheaper, better, just as stylish but far more original pair of headphones... that you think will be good for him – of course discuss together and you evaluate his need beforehand: if he needs style give it to him, but in the form of something a lot better sounding. Form follows function, but function is what really matters, about any product. He might be unhappy about them at first glance, only because they are not the Beats he had hoped for, but he will learn to appreciate gifts fallen from the sky for what they are, and, slowly, when he will grow to love music and loose his illusions about the Beats a few years later, he will come back to you with a sincere "thank you" for not having made his very first pair of headphones "Beats by Dr Dre".
 
 
What the heck, get him some Fidelio M1, Kotori 201, I don't know.. you're the one working in a hi-fi shop helping clients finding what they need!

 

[dleblanc343]

I'm bringing him to my store this weekend, and I'm literally going to make him try all the headphones we have that are in the price range. And I'm only going to ask him to show me the one that sounded the best to him. From there we can reason, and as someone mentioned in this thread, ask him to name qualities that make him want the diamond tears so bad (which hopefully he'll have a hard time doing).
 
He shouldn't be biased, he's not the type of kid to be like "the diamond tears sounded waay better" just because that's what he wants.
 
The odds of him liking those phones best out of ~15 headphones are very slim in my opinion.

 

[Pual]

Quote:

Why are we trying to teach him the,"value of money"? Who cares, this isn't Parent-Fi is it? Just get him a pair of headphones. 

No, this isn't parent-fi, but some people on here seem to be good people, and most likely good parents, and actually care about people ruining their kids even if we're not related. Also - why post if your attitude is "screw it just buy the twerp whatever" I try using forums to learn and.. oh.. help other people.

 

[wolfetan44]

No, this isn't parent-fi, but some people on here seem to be good people, and most likely good parents, and actually care about people ruining their kids even if we're not related. Also - why post if your attitude is "screw it just buy the twerp whatever" I try using forums to learn and.. oh.. help other people.

We don't need a 6 page topic on this though. I don't really know why I posted to be honest, just bored.

 

[keppa]

True that this is getting out of hand, but still have to say that I'm not big fan of counterfeit products of any kind. If the kid is going to get the Beats he's craving for, then better learn him respect the value of his gift and not give a cheap-o for him to break. No matter if breakage happens anyhow, but it would be good that the kid then knew the amount of money lost and that things aren't for free and therefor can be broken. Anyway, I understand perfectly the whole discussion of getting him an unhyped and better value for money headphone, but hearing what you say I would say that only way not to get the kid dissapointed opening the present is to get him what he's asking.

 

[Golila3]

Haha... I think this is one of, if not, the most interesting thread I've read in a few weeks. Great topic (although I don't think you wanted it to be this way)  Subscribed ^_^

I actually received my first pair of proper headphones as my Christmas present from my older sister. I was determined to buy beats at the time and my sister probably would have bought beats for me anyways, but the salesmen there actually strongly suggest that I buy something else, so I ended up with the ATH-ESW9s after trying a few tracks. Maybe you could take him to a Hi-Fi store nearby and let the kid talk to the shopkeeper instead of taking him to Best Buy where the Momentum plays the softest song with the lowest volume ever. Like hell a 11 year old is gonna like it! 

Best Of Luck! Please save the kid