I was in a large electronics store browsing while my teenager played some sample video games on a 52-inch plasma screen, and I saw a demo station with Beats Studios there. So, I thought I'd try them out. Of course, the demo station has pre-set music snippets, none of which I'd heard before (rap, some R&B).
The bass is obviously huge, even rumbling, and not as boomy and oppressive as I thought it would be. Mids were a bit shy (could have been the EQ/mix on recording of the pre-set music), and the highs were crisper and cleaner than I thought they would be. So the overall SQ was pretty good, if you are a monster bass-head.
But the soundstage was atrocious. If you think Grado's have a flat soundstage, listen to these. Everything was just jam pressed up against your ears -- no sense of space or instrument separation -- just a flat wall of sound. It was very fatiguing and un-inspiring.
The price, tho, made everything worse than that -- guess they are hoping all rap/hip-hoppers will have profitable side-businesses that make $300+ reachable.
The bass is obviously huge, even rumbling, and not as boomy and oppressive as I thought it would be. Mids were a bit shy (could have been the EQ/mix on recording of the pre-set music), and the highs were crisper and cleaner than I thought they would be. So the overall SQ was pretty good, if you are a monster bass-head.
But the soundstage was atrocious. If you think Grado's have a flat soundstage, listen to these. Everything was just jam pressed up against your ears -- no sense of space or instrument separation -- just a flat wall of sound. It was very fatiguing and un-inspiring.
The price, tho, made everything worse than that -- guess they are hoping all rap/hip-hoppers will have profitable side-businesses that make $300+ reachable.