[GearMe]

Beats are for poor people.

 
Sarcasm...right?

 

[thatBeatsguy]

   
Sarcasm...right?

Not exactly. I mean, a world-class rig will cost two thousand bucks ($1000 headphones, $1000 DAC, amp) on average. I guess that's kind of true.

 

[haloxt]

  I don't even know what to say to that, except for "Please substantiate"?

Black role model, looking back at you at the checkout line dissolving your resolve, social status item attainable with a few paychecks even by minimum wage workers who dream of making it big by Rapping
 
While we're being bigoted:
 
Bang & Olufsen, ostentatious Danish art objects that have the secondary purpose of making anemic sounds reminiscent of nasal European accents and must be good because they have pretty looking stores in airports and malls therefore commanding a high price premium, purchased by businessmen and women who want to impress each other while flying first-class and keep at the counter near the door at home under an European glass chandelier also recommended to them by the Bang & Olufsen salesman.
 
Bose, for people who want to be prepared for that 2-10 hours of flying time per year and will pay a premium for that noise-cancellation thing which will fail after only a few flights where they can still hear the ******* airplane noises and keep their eyes closed so that people around them don't realize they aren't sleeping peacefully like the Bose packaging promised they would, and will only ultimately cause the owners to have misdirected rage at everything except the $300 cheap plastic paper driver headphones when just trying to listen to some ******* mp3's while reading a Pimsleur language learning book at home and all they can hear is that damn incessant droning noise-cancellation noise.
 
Audio-Technica, for people who like anime and manga and probably draw self-portraits of themselves wearing the headphones.
 
Grado, for people who wouldn't know what real instruments sound like if it hit them over the head.
 
Ultrasone, for people who want to pay $2,500 for earpads made out of some dead exotic sheep from Ethiopia and get ventriloquist sound staging which sounds good after lowering standards enough
 
Sennheiser, for people who subconsciously feel bad about what happened to Germany in WWI and WWII and want to help rebuild the economy.
 
Sony, for people who still hope for the return of the glory-days before Sony got a white CEO and became more dysfunctional than your average modern family unit.
 
Any of the foreign cheap labor audio companies, for people who gladly contribute to their own countries' economic woes and have a morbid fascination of how big the Pacific trash vortex can get.
 
Low fidelity gear, for people who.... ok I can't seem to find anything bigoted to say about these people, other than that people who use stock earphones are people of no consequence.
 
Mid-fi gear, for people who don't realize music is mastered like ****, and audio reproduction is tuned like ****, so that the net result they hear is "good sound".
 
Hi-fi gear, for people who only listen to music made before the 1990's because people won't master things right anymore, waste countless hours of their lives listening to the same album over and over again with tiny tweaks and changes to try to get the sound to be more "accurate" even though due to the limitations of audio recording and reproduction gear they will never be able to get accurate reproduction of something as simple as bird chirping.

 

[ForShure]

@haloxt there's not much more to say. You see the way Beats are marketed through the people they choose to sponsor. Poor people who made it big aka. Athletes and rappers. Even the man himself Dr. Dre came from a poor background. People buying Beats are similarly from that background and dream of one day making it big. By buying Beats they can show their status off and get a tiny portion of that dream of one day making it big.

 

[haloxt]

ForShure, I agree with your insightful assessment of their marketing strategy. I think it's a little unfair to say that Beats are for poor people though, because, unfortunately, there will be a lot of people who buy beats because they accidentally think that it has good sound quality, people who could develop an appreciation of higher fidelity audio reproduction gear but who make the mistake of buying them, and who then get their ears and sense of auditory aesthetics  ****ed by the crap sound of beats.

 

[vantt1]

  Not exactly. I mean, a world-class rig will cost two thousand bucks ($1000 headphones, $1000 DAC, amp) on average. I guess that's kind of true.

 
In the headphone world of the average consumer (which excludes most headphones that are typically driven by a dedicated amp), Beats are about as expensive you can get. Beats aren't for poor people; they are for misinformed people with a moderate amount of money to burn.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

This has really been beaten to death already, but Beats are somewhat decent headphones that are overpriced and designed to mass market.
 
Beats are like the Transformers (Bay Movies) of the audio world. Enthusiasts don't like them, for good reason. But the general populace gravitates towards them.

 

[Wiesenlooser]

For some people, sound quality isnt the only criteria for buying headphones. And I get that, in fact I would count myself in. Now myself, I wouldn't buy a pair of beats. But I tried them on and I get why they are so popular.
 
First of all, they do look cool.This may sound stupid, but I would rule alot of pairs out just because of the fact that they make you look like an idiot. Second of all, I do find them to be very comfortable. So you have two winners right there. 

One of the reasons I bought my pair of Beoplay H6 is because they are so damn comfortable and lightweight.Im not the biggest fan of Bang and Olufsen myself but I immediately fell in love with them.
 
Also the beats do have a very spcific sound profile, which is bass driven. Alot of it may find this stupid but modern rap and pop songs sound good on these.
 
 
 
So all in all: Would I buy a pair of beats? Probably not. Do I find beats horrible? Probably not.

 

[lupusromanus]

 Beats =  99%   Marketing within social trends/ hive mentality.
As is simple regular marketing is  also genius for the fact it uses  the local trend to pressure a very particular age of consumer. Kinda like politican marketing using politicized issues to skip real issues and get elected.  Is within the range of many of those consumers, feed the trend in order to make a statement, easy to get and  available everywhere. Is ready served marketing.

 

[gl0ry]

The more recent Beats products have been fairly impressive to me.  I get them for a discounted employee price which is the primary reason I purchase them but theWireless Studio and Powerbeats 2 have balanced and clear sound.  As far as wireless headphones/earphones go I believe they're one of the better choices.
 
Don't get me wrong though.  I thought their old stuff sounded muddy and terrible in comparison.  Wasn't even interested in it even with the discount.

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

I prefer buying a $350 headphone (beats) vs $500+ headphones. So will think about beats at some point but for now I'm much satisfied with all my Sony IEMs and headphones. Given none have broken down (crosses fingers) and most have been bought on sale and from authorized dealers, I'm set for life!

 

[lilboozy]

I'll just leave this here: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/time-rethink-beats-solo2-excellent
BTW poor people can't afford Beats; if you seriously think minimum wage workers can buy Beats then you're more ignorant then anybody I've ever met lol

 

[god-bluff]

I don't think 'poor' people are any poorer for not being able to afford Beats. It's not as if they're something to aspire to in life

 

[vantt1]

I don't think 'poor' people are any poorer for not being able to afford Beats. It's not as if they're something to aspire to in life

True that.

 

[SP Wild]

What hate on beats? Their target market loves beats, that age bracket where coolness presides are all praises for beats. The only hate are from a small but vocal minority.

There was no lie in beats marketing. To release the bass notes correctly on today's top hits calls for thumping bass...as the artist intended.

I only saw one pair of beats in the subway last week. Worn by a young executive, cool and confident...an extremely well adjusted individual as far as I can observe.

Now I want a pair of beats...if they make wireless Bluetooth headphones...I'm in.