[kixxit]

says you...  do you walk down the street with a megaphone trying to convince the thousands of people wearing them that they're "doing it wrong"?  educate us sonic heathens!

 

[ninjames]

What I generally don't understand about many responses to such reasonable questions is that "why" the responder believes this or that is never given.  "It sucks because it sucks because I say so"???  Having said that, I find actually answering the "why" is easier said than done.  Big words and esoteric sonic terms are thrown around like confetti.  So, Mr. Noob, I will say that I agree with DJHoro on this.  For the most part, it's really difficult to understand why the Beats would "suck" until you've heard them back to back with a pair of headphones that don't "suck".  Neutrality is a difficult thing to come by.  I've recently purchased two pair of $500+ headphones (and some highly praised amps) that are lacking in one way or another. Neither of them will do dubstep the same justice that the Beats Pro will because they both seem to try to do well across the spectrum instead of excelling in one area (bass).  However, if you're listening to classical stuff (I generally don't) "neutral" headphones work well because they don't have to achieve sonic greatness at either end of the spectrum.  Generally speaking, the midrange is where it's at.
 
Why:  I like the Beats Pro better than the Bose QC15's because the Beats have better and cleaner bass impact while the QC's tend to smear the bass across the midrange, creating a bit of a muddled sound.  The Beats midrange is fairly recessed, but if you're listening to a lot of electronic music, this might not matter to you.  Also, the QC's have a slightly annoying "hum" that seems to be caused by their noise cancellation.  See how easy that is to understand?  Just kidding. I think finding the perfect analogy to explain something is what these blogs tend to be about at best - especially when no one is bashing anyone or anything.

See, but the Beats don't "excel" at bass. That's like saying I'm great at math because I can write numbers over and over.

 

[kixxit]

can't argue with that - i don't disagree at all..  still - it's relative to what one has had the chance to compare it with.  if the best bass you've heard is from the impala 6  blocks away, or the cerwin vega ht 3 houses away, then the beats win by a long shot!

 

[obobskivich]

What I generally don't understand about many responses to such reasonable questions is that "why" the responder believes this or that is never given.  "It sucks because it sucks because I say so"???  Having said that, I find actually answering the "why" is easier said than done.  Big words and esoteric sonic terms are thrown around like confetti.  So, Mr. Noob, I will say that I agree with DJHoro on this.  For the most part, it's really difficult to understand why the Beats would "suck" until you've heard them back to back with a pair of headphones that don't "suck".  Neutrality is a difficult thing to come by.  I've recently purchased two pair of $500+ headphones (and some highly praised amps) that are lacking in one way or another. Neither of them will do dubstep the same justice that the Beats Pro will because they both seem to try to do well across the spectrum instead of excelling in one area (bass).  However, if you're listening to classical stuff (I generally don't) "neutral" headphones work well because they don't have to achieve sonic greatness at either end of the spectrum.  Generally speaking, the midrange is where it's at.

Why:  I like the Beats Pro better than the Bose QC15's because the Beats have better and cleaner bass impact while the QC's tend to smear the bass across the midrange, creating a bit of a muddled sound.  The Beats midrange is fairly recessed, but if you're listening to a lot of electronic music, this might not matter to you.  Also, the QC's have a slightly annoying "hum" that seems to be caused by their noise cancellation.  See how easy that is to understand?  Just kidding. I think finding the perfect analogy to explain something is what these blogs tend to be about at best - especially when no one is bashing anyone or anything.

I agree with your premise, but also agree with a lot of the criticisms levied against the Beats products. Honestly after starting to follow Head-Fi again, I had to "learn about" the Beats (years after they came about), and I decided to go try a set out since there was an in-store demo nearby. I figured "hey, the Bose headphones aren't as terrible as people make them out to be, but they aren't the best headphones ever made and I personally find them uncomfortable so how bad can these really be at $400?" - and my gripe is simply that at $400 there's options that do everything the Beats set out to do, better, and in many cases in a more comfortable package. Sometimes cheaper. Sometimes better looking (imho). Almost always lighter.

So no, they aren't terrible, but it's kind of the old "better exists for the money" argument. Especially when you consider that for *marginally* more money you have your pick of some of the best headphones ever made (like the HD 650 and ESP/950). If they were $200-$300, and the AH-D2000 was more expensive than them on the street, I don't think they'd take any flak here.

 

[kixxit]

agreed.  for my part a little knowledge has become a dangerous thing - especially where my bank account is concerned!  Having learned for myself that there is bigger and better out there for any given price range, wading thru the hype has been entertaining, informing and frustrating.  What to chose?  There are moments where I (almost) wish I didn't know any better, so I could buy a pair of beats and get on with enjoying the music in and of itself - regardless of all the sonic merits and (sometimes) pretentiousness of the audiophile "high end".
 
and then i put on my D7000's/HE-500's and melt. 

 

[holden4th]

The Beats are a good headphone with a somewhat strange sound that I suppose is trying to cater to a specific music consumer market. My only issue with them is the price. They are aimed at bass heads but for about one third of the price you can get a headphone that beats the Beats (pun intended) into the ground and those are the Audio Technica ATH M50s.
 
The Beats are indicative of the most important law of today's consumer society and I'll deliberately misquote here.
 
It's not a matter of whether you win or lose - it's how you LOOK while playing the game.
 
If people don't understand this then Beats are definitely for them.
 

 

[vinland029]

Quote:

The Beats are a good headphone with a somewhat strange sound that I suppose is trying to cater to a specific music consumer market. My only issue with them is the price. They are aimed at bass heads but for about one third of the price you can get a headphone that beats the Beats (pun intended) into the ground and those are the Audio Technica ATH M50s.
 
The Beats are indicative of the most important law of today's consumer society and I'll deliberately misquote here.
 
It's not a matter of whether you win or lose - it's how you LOOK while playing the game.
 
If people don't understand this then Beats are definitely for them.
 

Of course it's not just the looks, also look at how much Monster pays for the marketing. Do agree with regard to your point on the M50s too: they are of course also far superior in comfort. (look at them cushy earpads!)

 

[ProjectDenz]

What annoys me is that they market the Beats as the kind of 'reference' quality used by professionals. So when the drones buy them they think "oh this is what reference sounds like". And then they will just automatically assume reference headphones should be bassier than a 1000W RMS car sub going full blast.

 

[kixxit]

speaking of the ATH M50's, do you know how they fare against the AKG 550's? assuming the beats are a distant 3rd place.

 

[ProjectDenz]

Quote:

speaking of the ATH M50's, do you know how they fare against the AKG 550's? assuming the beats are a distant 3rd place.

 
AKG K550's are technically very superior to the M50, but their sound signatures are very different. I don't know to much other than that about the K550 so you will need to search around.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

What annoys me is that they market the Beats as the kind of 'reference' quality used by professionals. So when the drones buy them they think "oh this is what reference sounds like". And then they will just automatically assume reference headphones should be bassier than a 1000W RMS car sub going full blast.

 
That probably makes me more upset than anything else... I have come across more than a few people that think Dre actually uses Beats Studios in his studio.  Comments like that indicate such an extreme level of ignorance that I don't even feel like taking the time to address them.

 

[kixxit]

Quote:

 
That probably makes me more upset than anything else... I have come across more than a few people that think Dre actually uses Beats Studios in his studio.  Comments like that indicate such an extreme level of ignorance that I don't even feel like taking the time to address them.

There's ignorance, then there's WILLFUL ignorance.  Who's going to buy Beats if they know about better sound?  The kids who think (insert high end audio mfgr here) are not cool or are ugly as sin.  You were a teenager once - don't even try to deny!  You can blame Dre for better marketing, or you can blame Denon, Beyerdynamics, etc for poorer marketing.  Great sound = great advertising.  Just ask the masses!

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

There's ignorance, then there's WILLFUL ignorance.  Who's going to buy Beats if they know about better sound?  The kids who think (insert high end audio mfgr here) are not cool or are ugly as sin.  You were a teenager once - don't even try to deny!  You can blame Dre for better marketing, or you can blame Denon, Beyerdynamics, etc for poorer marketing.  Great sound = great advertising.  Just ask the masses!

 
Willful or otherwise, ignorance results in damage to the fabric of a society.  And for the record, I don't blame Dre at all.  His (and Iovine's) marketing prowess is something to behold.  I'm bothered by the perpetuation of ignorance.  If people want to buy/own/wear Beats I honestly don't have a problem with that.  And if Beats fans wanna say that they look sick, I'm fine with that because guess what, they look sick!  But when they start telling their ignorant friends about how Beats are the best sounding headphones evah...
 
BTW, I was totally a teenager once!  And at 16, I was rocking a pair of MDR-V6s while it seemed like everyone else had a pair of those God forsaken Fontopia buds.
 

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein​

 

[vinland029]

Quote:

 
AKG K550's are technically very superior to the M50, but their sound signatures are very different. I don't know to much other than that about the K550 so you will need to search around.

 
I've heard both, and I would say the K550s are whole lot more transparent and revealing. But if you're after bass, the M50 would give the impact. The K550 does better with less impact but it goes low - very low. Also the K550s are alot more neutral and laid back with a larger soundstage. The M50s have recessed mids: not to my liking. Just my 2 cents.

 

[obobskivich]

Willful or otherwise, ignorance results in damage to the fabric of a society. 

These kinds of comments scare the ** out of me. We've gone from "Beats By Dr Dre from Monster headphones are not a good value proposition or high quality consumer electronics product relative to other offerings from competitors" to "damage to the fabric of a society" - I mean really...what's next? Beats are responsible for the diseases of the first world? AIDS? cancer? dyslexia? C'mon - if you want to talk trash about popular consumer products because it's edgy that's fine, but at least be honest about that. And include other fashion accessories and branding campaigns in your wholesale condemnation of a few hundred million people as well. Finally, if you're going to quote someone famous as an appeal to authority, quote something that they actually said. :rolleyes:

We believe that we know something about the things themselves when we speak of trees, colors, snow, and flowers; and yet we possess nothing but metaphors for things — metaphors which correspond in no way to the original entities. - Nietzsche