[kimvictor]

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 I would love to also do one for the members of this forum, in fact,I think I will.

Anytime mate. I think I will be clearly able distinguish the beats from any of the headphones that was mentioned.

 

[inthere]

Quote:

Anytime mate. I think I will be clearly able distinguish the beats from any of the headphones that was mentioned.

 
  The test wouldn't be which is Beats, but which do you prefer?

 

[kimvictor]

So consumers buys beats... why?
 
Here is what I ended up with:
1. They are advertised by singers/stars. My friend bought a Beats Pro, saying that if they were bad, why would Black Eyed Peas use it. I told him that they don't need to give a crap about sound quality because it's engineers job to care about the sound, but he didn't give a crap.
2. They are advertised by everyone! Everyone is buying this. "If everyone is buying it, it must be worth it. I mean why would someone buy this if they were bad?" This is the mentality of most people. I was at an hifi-audio shop, and a couple walked in, and the girl said "Oh, those are very popular headphones! Lets check them out!". Thankfully, the guy knew better, but there are peer influences as well.
3. Peer influences. People don't like to admit they bought crap, especially if they are your best headphones. Therefore, they will say that it's good.
4. Bass tuning. The difference between ultra low-fi computer speakers and low-fi headphones are bass. Therefore, they think that more bass=better. When my friends ask me about headphones, the always ask "How are the beats(meaning mid bass) on those?" They become very disappointed if I say less than beats solos/studios.
5. Teens don't know ****. I'm a teen too, but most kids around me doesn't know anything about headphones. They buy the beats because they are popular, and doesn't give anything else a try. How can they tell if a headphone is good if they can only compare it to stock earbuds or $30 headphones?
6. I kind of think of this as enjoying a glass of wine. Many people don't get why people would enjoy and savor really expensive wine. In fact, most people who are not used to tasting wine cannot tell the difference between expensive wine and cheap wine. You need some experience before you can distinguish crap and good stuff.
 
What am I doing at 2am in the morning?

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

So consumers buys beats... why?
 
Here is what I ended up with:
1. They are advertised by singers/stars. My friend bought a Beats Pro, saying that if they were bad, why would Black Eyed Peas use it. I told him that they don't need to give a crap about sound quality because it's engineers job to care about the sound, but he didn't give a crap.
2. They are advertised by everyone! Everyone is buying this. "If everyone is buying it, it must be worth it. I mean why would someone buy this if they were bad?" This is the mentality of most people. I was at an hifi-audio shop, and a couple walked in, and the girl said "Oh, those are very popular headphones! Lets check them out!". Thankfully, the guy knew better, but there are peer influences as well.
3. Peer influences. People don't like to admit they bought crap, especially if they are your best headphones. Therefore, they will say that it's good.
4. Bass tuning. The difference between ultra low-fi computer speakers and low-fi headphones are bass. Therefore, they think that more bass=better. When my friends ask me about headphones, the always ask "How are the beats(meaning mid bass) on those?" They become very disappointed if I say less than beats solos/studios.
5. Teens don't know ****. I'm a teen too, but most kids around me doesn't know anything about headphones. They buy the beats because they are popular, and doesn't give anything else a try. How can they tell if a headphone is good if they can only compare it to stock earbuds or $30 headphones?
6. I kind of think of this as enjoying a glass of wine. Many people don't get why people would enjoy and savor really expensive wine. In fact, most people who are not used to tasting wine cannot tell the difference between expensive wine and cheap wine. You need some experience before you can distinguish crap and good stuff.
 
What am I doing at 2am in the morning?

 
So many times I see young people walking around with Beats around their neck plugged into an iPhone. The Beats are a status symbol to them, because they see celebrities using them and they're known to be expensive.

 

[kimvictor]

Quote:

 
So many times I see young people walking around with Beats around their neck plugged into an iPhone. The Beats are a status symbol to them, because they see celebrities using them and they're known to be expensive.

It's like if you have anything else, you are 1.poor or 2.not cool or 3.dumb. I don't get it!

 

[inthere]

Quote:

 
So many times I see young people walking around with Beats around their neck plugged into an iPhone. The Beats are a status symbol to them, because they see celebrities using them and they're known to be expensive.

  Or, they don't want to get run over by a car Try asking a Beats owner why they bought them instead of assuming why. I have asked many.

 

[derbigpr]

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 I would love to also do one for the members of this forum, in fact,I think I will.

 
 
And you're suggesting people could not tell which one was the Solo and which the HD25? This is getting ridiculous.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

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Well, Beats sort of are marketed as a studio tool if Dre himself says they will enable people to hear music exactly as intended and as he hears it in the studio. Its a ridiculous claim obviously, but some people still fall for it.

I  don't think lot of people take this claim too seriously, and anyways I  didn't test dre music on these headphones to get an idea. And I  rarely listen hip hop anyways, nor rnb.
 
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And why do you assume that accuracy is sterile? It's not at all. If you listen to boring badly recorded music, yes, if you listen to well recorded, properly mastered records with very wide dynamic range, then accuracy is very fun.

It's more that, a headphone accurate in some way, that doesn't provide to the listener the enjoyment he is expecting.
For instance, the hd595 are neutral & balanced , still there are people that find them boring . They are slow....
If the hd595 were advertised at being best for relaxing music, then perhaps it would be harder to be disappointed.
 
And with particular case of the hd800, it's a bit joke how much people are spending time & money  in trying to make them sound right, with the proper rig.
 
 
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When I was visiting a national television a couple of years ago in my country, ALL headphones they used anywhere in that huge freaking building that takes a month to explore were HD25's. Even the commentators on football games use them.

I don't think television & football commentator are good examples for music production. Anyways I don't dispute the claim that could be used for music production, but imho , much better is available.
At least , I think my srh940 are  better in the SQ department. When I look at classical music producer pics, I never see them with a hd25.
 
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.  Also, saying it has no sub bass means its underpowered. At 30 hz the headphone is at 0 db related to 1khz...which means its pretty much flat down to 30 hz, and up by 5 db at around 100 hz.  So, a theory of them having no sub-bass is not true, because they do have sub-bass, as much as there is on a recording.

 
All right, the hd25 are known to be easily powered , so I  don't think it's a problem of power. It's probably more that the sub bass was unremarkable, added to the mid bass emphasis.
It's pretty simple, I get better bass from iems.

 

[derbigpr]

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  Or, they don't want to get run over by a car Try asking a Beats owner why they bought them instead of assuming why. I have asked many.

 
 
Because they've never heard another pair of decent headphones, THAT'S why. Or their listened to good headphones plugged into some crappy device using compressed mp3's. I'd really like to see anyone without hearing problems saying that Solo's sound better than HD25's, both used with a good source and amp that can push properly.  

 

[Achmedisdead]

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  Or, they don't want to get run over by a car Try asking a Beats owner why they bought them instead of assuming why. I have asked many.

So the 13-year old kids walking around in the mall are worried about a car running them down? I think not.....

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

And with particular case of the hd800, it's a bit joke how much people are spending time & money  in trying to make them sound right, with the proper rig.
 

 
I don't really see why it is a joke if someone wants to find perfect synergy between components in their high end setup. That's the point of a high end setup, to make it sound as good as possible. And HD800's are transparent, revealing and technically advanced enough to show clear differences between setups.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

 
  The test wouldn't be which is Beats, but which do you prefer?

 
 
An even easier decision. And I think you're pretty far away from the truth if you actually believe "7 out of 10" people would prefer Solo's. On which basis? Have you actually heard a decent headphone setup consisting of a headphone in that price range? The more I'm reading your posts, the most I'm sure you haven't.
And who are these "people" you're referring to? Audiophiles? 10 out of 10 would pick any one of those headphones I've listed above, even if they listened to Dr. Dre's own music.
Now, if you're talking about 14 year olds in shopping malls going into apple stores and testing headphones with their phones...maybe you're right.

 

[kimvictor]

Damn, he's loosing the purpose of this web site... High fidelity all the way! Fight against low-fi beats!
 
JK

 
I do think that beats are crap though. But to be honest, I don't expect an random teenager to be able to tell if a headphone is good or not.
Speaking of teenager, I had a local deal with a Korean fellow today, and he was shocked to see an teenager come up to buy an AK100. I also sold 3 headphones, and all the buyers were surprised that I was a teen too. So far, AK100 doesn't go well with UERM, but goes really well with SRH940.

 

[pallentx]

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Because they've never heard another pair of decent headphones, THAT'S why.

Exactly this. I've known 2 beats owners. They wanted new headphones and assumed from all the ads that Beats were the best. The high price point kind of confirms that - you get what you pay for, right? One of them replaced his Bose phones with Beats. Most consumers don't want to spend more than 2 minutes deciding what to buy. The product with the slickest marketing budget wins.

 

[kimvictor]

Quote:

Exactly this. I've known 2 beats owners. They wanted new headphones and assumed from all the ads that Beats were the best. The high price point kind of confirms that - you get what you pay for, right? One of them replaced his Bose phones with Beats. Most consumers don't want to spend more than 2 minutes deciding what to buy. The product with the slickest marketing budget wins.

I have to agree. In terms of marketing, beats were revolutionary.