[nonothing]

So I'm sure some of you have seen me lurking around the forums wondering what headphones to buy, what kind of power I would need for my headphones, and on.......appreciate the help by the way.

Well I got my nice headphones and while I thought my laptop would give out enough power, they did not. So I went around looking for sound cards, I didn't know much about them so like a fool I went to best buy to see if they could help with my low volume issue.

I walk into the store and go directly to the head phone area. I was greeted by an employee who asked if he could help me. I told him I wanted to upgrade my sound card so I could increase my head phones volume. He pointed me to the laptop area.....Once I got to the laptop area the employee that was there told me he didn't know and would call over there main computer guy.........Once this employee got to me he said that he didn't know either and that he would go in the back and talk to the Geek Squad staff......... And finally my official answer, "They don't make anything that can increase the sound for your laptop. It would be cheaper to buy a new laptop with a better sound card." Wow, I was depressed, but I continued to search because I don't believe everything I hear. Whenever it takes 4 some odd people to give me a definite answer I get suspicious.

Between this forum and amazon.com I found out that they make these nifty little things called USB sound cards and for only $30 I got all I wanted as far as upgrades go, really a nice deal if your not an audiophile. And to top it all off I went on Bestbuy.com and found out that they actually have USB sound cards of their own.

Long story short, Bestbuy people don't know jack.
So I guess if I have a question here, it would be........Does anyone have a similar story they would like to share?

 

[MD1032]

Wow, thanks for the testimony! I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we're glad that you were one of the smart ones and decided to do a little research before doing something like buying a new sound card because BB said to. For those smart enough to look around, it turns out that there are audio gadgets for pretty much any application.

Tell us about what you bought and what headphones you're using. I'm sure that we can help your setup sound much, much better than it currently is, and for very little money.

Oh, and welcome to Head-Fi...sorry about your wallet!

 

[TopPop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nonothing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Long story short, Bestbuy people don't know jack. So I guess if I have a question here, it would be........Does anyone have a similar story they would like to share?

I understand your frustration, but this is hardly fair. I hear this fairly often, and it kind of bugs me, to be honest. Can we really expect people who work in a massive non-specialty store to be specialists? Best Buy is little more than an electronics-oriented Walmart (that wasn't a slam on Best Buy, by the way, even if it sounded like one). Would you ever expect a Walmart employee to be an all-knowing specialist in any specific department, even if they work in that department? Of course not.

You must go to a specialty shop if you want to speak to specialists. Short of that, you really have to do your homework before shopping at a store like Best Buy, understanding that they aren't going to know more than the little they are taught in their department training. Trust me: I worked in the Home Audio & Video department of Best Buy for a year. On the whole, the employees didn't know jack... however, I never expected them to.

 

[chud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopPop /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand your frustration, but this is hardly fair. I hear this fairly often, and it kind of bugs me, to be honest. Can we really expect people who work in a massive non-specialty store to be specialists? Best Buy is little more than an electronics-oriented Walmart (that wasn't a slam on Best Buy, by the way, even if it sounded like one). Would you ever expect a Walmart employee to be an all-knowing specialist in any specific department, even if they work in that department? Of course not. You must go to a specialty shop if you want to speak to specialists. Short of that, you really have to do your homework before shopping at a store like Best Buy, understanding that they aren't going to know more than the little they are taught in their department training. Trust me: I worked in the Home Audio & Video department of Best Buy for a year. On the whole, the employees didn't know jack... however, I never expected them to.

Werd.

This isn't entirely the same sort of situation, but I was in there a couple weeks ago to pickup a Clip+

I checked the store inventory beforehand to make sure they had some. Website said they had more than a dozen.

We got there....no display, no nothing. The three guys I talked to had no idea what I was looking for. I used one of their computers and showed them the count and they found them in a box, buried under the display cabinet behind all the Apple inventory.

The guys were all totally cool and it wasn't their fault or anything, but I know better by now than to expect every employee at every store to know every item they carry.

 

[nonothing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tell us about what you bought and what headphones you're using. I'm sure that we can help your setup sound much, much better than it currently is, and for very little money.

I have HFI-450 headphones, and my usb sound card is turtle beach audio advantage. Which comes with it's own little program for tweaking the sound.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I do love Best Buy because you can buy set of headpbones, try them, then if they hurt or whatever, return them the next day. This is so much nicer than selling used stuff on Ebay for a loss or panning it off here.

 

[Benaiir]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redcarmoose /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do love Best Buy because you can buy set of headpbones, try them, then if they hurt or whatever, return them the next day. This is so much nicer than selling used stuff on Ebay for a loss or panning it off here.

orly? I'm starting to like bestbuy, my $65 GC, and my $200 in saving alot more than I did before. I'm asking my parents to take me. Big headphone shootout going down.

WAIT A SECOND... They give you store credit. That's stupid. worstbuy

 

[chud]

Yeah, but their headphone selection is severely lacking IMO.

Unless you want Beats.

 

[catachresis]

Just remember, folks, that ever since the tech-stone-age with beige Dells, the great hope of all computer and laptop manufacturers has been that customers could be convinced that, if there were *anything* that was not satisfactory, the only adequate solution would be to buy the entire unit in a new model all over again.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Why shop at BestBuy at all? I've never found them to have the best prices and you get stuck with the sales tax, too. I find the information I need online, then find the best price at a reliable online retailer. I don't mind paying a little more for non-shady retailers. But I fail to find any reason to shop at a bricks'n'mortar for electronics today.

 

[chud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why shop at BestBuy at all? I've never found them to have the best prices and you get stuck with the sales tax, too. I find the information I need online, then find the best price at a reliable online retailer. I don't mind paying a little more for non-shady retailers. But I fail to find any reason to shop at a bricks'n'mortar for electronics today.

I totally agree, but I have a problem with instant gratification. I often times blow any savings I may have gained by blowing it on overnight shipping.

 

[Gatto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopPop /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand your frustration, but this is hardly fair. I hear this fairly often, and it kind of bugs me, to be honest. Can we really expect people who work in a massive non-specialty store to be specialists? Best Buy is little more than an electronics-oriented Walmart (that wasn't a slam on Best Buy, by the way, even if it sounded like one). Would you ever expect a Walmart employee to be an all-knowing specialist in any specific department, even if they work in that department? Of course not. You must go to a specialty shop if you want to speak to specialists. Short of that, you really have to do your homework before shopping at a store like Best Buy, understanding that they aren't going to know more than the little they are taught in their department training. Trust me: I worked in the Home Audio & Video department of Best Buy for a year. On the whole, the employees didn't know jack... however, I never expected them to.

As someone who worked in a Circuit City for a year this is extremely true. You don't get much on the job training and they're more concerned with you pushing product then knowing what you're talking about. To be fair, the people working in these stores are not paid to know what they're talking about, they're paid to know how to sell you things. Also when it comes to stock, unless it's cool nobody has any idea what comes in.

 

[chud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatto /img/forum/go_quote.gif As someone who worked in a Circuit City for a year this is extremely true. You don't get much on the job training and they're more concerned with you pushing product then knowing what you're talking about. To be fair, the people working in these stores are not paid to know what they're talking about, they're paid to know how to sell you things. Also when it comes to stock, unless it's cool nobody has any idea what comes in.

Didn't Circuit City used to be different/better back when they were commissioned?

It seemed like the employees were older and more in the technical know at that time.

 

[Gatto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chud /img/forum/go_quote.gif Didn't Circuit City used to be different/better back when they were commissioned? It seemed like the employees were older and more in the technical know at that time.

it's quite possible, I was working there in 2007 and we were not paid on commission. Our store actually never made a profit in it's entire existence, that's what they got for building it next to a bestbuy.

 

[Zodduska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopPop /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand your frustration, but this is hardly fair. I hear this fairly often, and it kind of bugs me, to be honest. Can we really expect people who work in a massive non-specialty store to be specialists? Best Buy is little more than an electronics-oriented Walmart (that wasn't a slam on Best Buy, by the way, even if it sounded like one). Would you ever expect a Walmart employee to be an all-knowing specialist in any specific department, even if they work in that department? Of course not.

This would be all well and good if Best Buy didn't make themselves out to be exactly that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hUyHxGKUsA