"Beats" by Dre - gimmick or legit?

[BarbieDoll]

Well the Beats Pro are not bad: Monster Beats Pro Review : Sounds Like You Mean It - Audiofanzine but there are better ones for studio mixing. Highs not present enough and lows too much...

[machoboy]

Sound quality is inferior to most $30 headphones. Build quality is just as bad.

Some people say they look sexy but they look like the cheapo '90s headphones that came bundled with vcrs and shit in the early '90s to me.

Their bass signature sounds like a dying fish flopping around on a wooden pier someone built inside of a giant untuned tom-tom. Thud. Thud.

[machoboy]

Originally Posted by BarbieDoll

Well the Beats Pro are not bad: Monster Beats Pro Review : Sounds Like You Mean It - Audiofanzine but there are better ones for studio mixing. Highs not present enough and lows too much...

The PROS would be "not bad" if they were $30-50, but they're $400.

For that price you could buy prestige models from Hifiman, Beyer, AKG, Ultrasone, etc. depending on the flavor you like. By that logic, they're pretty bad.

Nobody would pay $600,000 for a beat up subaru with "Dr. Dre" or "Lady Gaga" painted across the hood.
Yet somehow this type of marketing is par norm in the world of music gear -- Lamborghini pricetags for rebranded dollar store items.

[Miles Flint]

I grew up with Dre, NWA and stuff... therefore I still love his beats and production, but his mixes always sounded harsh to me, and - sorry - these headphones..? just a PR gimmick... I'd rather check my mixes with apple's white in ear plugs

[Suda Badri]

Seriously, tested their top of the line against my hd25s and beyer d770... it lacked bass of either (i dont know why all these people go on about its lows being too much, its not balanced yes but its a smiley more than low exaggeration) or the neutrality of the beyer or the ear shattering loudness of the HD25s... you can look cool though... its not professional, but it will be a marked improvement if you have only heard sub par pairs... definitely not worth the money

[nspaas]

Crap, crappity, crap crap crap.

[mat1]

I have a pair of Studios. They leak A LOT and tickle my ear drum in an uncomfortable way. I use ATH-M50s instead now.

[stinkyfingers]

Steinberg is releasing a new DAW for 2013...
it's called "Ice Cubase"...
it's supposed to sound a lot cooler than the rest...

[MJFI]

Originally Posted by audiotech

I had a pair on my head for about 5 seconds, once.

Dennis

Nominating this post as the thread winner.

[samwell7]

Dre beats are to headphones what ed hardy was to clothing, overpriced rubbish and also an easy way to spot people who haven't a real clue but like to 'follow the trends' and do what they saw their fave celeb doing on the telly last week

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[Thysta]

wouldn't buy it its not even marketed as studio gear as far as I know.

and if you need hyped hi-fi sound you can get it for a lot cheaper.

[Winny Pooh]

People are real stupid to buy them. I can't take anyone with a £200 pair very seriously. Please find enclosed an application demo video for these cans (past halfway IIRC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uee_...e_gdata_player

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by nspaas

Crap, crappity, crap crap crap.

I'm with you

[ionian]

Originally Posted by samwell7

Dre beats are to headphones what ed hardy was to clothing, overpriced rubbish and also an easy way to spot people who haven't a real clue but like to 'follow the trends' and do what they saw their fave celeb doing on the telly last week

It's kind of like, you know how traffic lights have that button that says, "Push here to cross" but it never does anything? One time a friend asked me about that and I told him, "You know what that is? That's an imbecile counter. Once a month the city sends someone down to read how many times the button was pressed and that's how they know how many imbeciles are walking around the city."

I kind of see Dre headphones and Ed Hardy clothing in the same light...

Regards,
Frank

[cakeshoppe]

Originally Posted by ionian

It's kind of like, you know how traffic lights have that button that says, "Push here to cross" but it never does anything?

In places other than New York, they actually do do something.

[kiopo]

My hairdresser unknowingly summed it up well;

'I got a pair of Beats... well, they're a fake knock off, but y'know what they sound just as good'. :-P

I have £10 Behringer headphones that sound better.

[radiovoiceone]

Crapola. Don't waste your money.
Same with Sucks and Blows, Monster, etc.

[sleepyhollos]

Originally Posted by motone

I'd anyway never buy anything having this person's name on it:
(quoted from WIKI P, article on N.W.A)
On January 27, 1991, Dr. Dre assaulted Dee Barnes, host of the hip hop show Pump It Up, after its coverage[21]</ref> of the N.W.A/Ice Cube beef.

According to Rolling Stone reporter Alan Light:

He picked her up and "began slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a wall near the stairway" as his bodyguard held off the crowd. After Dre tried to throw her down the stairs and failed, he began kicking her in the ribs and hands. She escaped and ran into the women's rest room. Dre followed her and "grabbed her from behind by the hair and proceeded to punch her in the back of the head."[22]

In response, Dre commented: "People talk all this shit, but you know, somebody **** with me, I'm gonna **** with them. I just did it, you know. Ain't nothing you can do now by talking about it. Besides, it ain't no big thing—I just threw her through a door."[22]

Does this somehow answer the question? The story is quite unbelievable, I don't mean from an 'I don't believe it' perspective but from a 'how can someone conceive such an idea to do that, and get away with it' perspective. I guess that's 'Rap World' in the U.S. Crazy!!!

[Juppies]

FAT EQ curve. Nowhere near a solid pair of reference phones. Beyer 880's please!

[tbo1013]

They nothing more than a plug for music videos and commercials. They have way too much bottom and bleed like crazy. They make better as a cheap sounding set of computer speakers than headphones.

[ionian]

Originally Posted by cakeshoppe

In places other than New York, they actually do do something.

Then I guess all the people pushing them must be from out of town.

Regards,
Frank

[thrillscience]

I tried a few pairs (and some pricier "Fanny Wangs") just for grins. They're made for kids with a very exaggerated bass (at the expense of a midrange). I would stay away from them for critical listening.

[dr_love6977]

My work had some corporate training the other day. HP did a little demonstration showing some of it's new products. When they were talking about the Beats Audio built into the laptop, they explained it as "delivering more volts to the speakers." I, not having the ability to hold my tongue, challened their explanation. I said I could come up, and match the sound of Beats-mode just by adjusting the EQ. They did not take me up on my offer lol.

[Cue Zephyr]

I love this topic. I do my mixing and monitoring with my Beyerdynamic DT770 and even get out listen to my iPod with them as well. I admit, the high impedance (250 ohms) is a bit much for an iPod but it's loud enough for me.

And when I see those with Beats I'm thinking "My headphones sound better than yours but you'll never know!".

I've heard one or two of them, I'm not impressed. Haven't paid great detail to them but the exaggerated bass is hard to miss.

[jdsowa]

Dee Barnes got Beat by Dre in the early 90s. Must've been a prototype. Said she was floored by it. Not sure why it took so long to get to market.

[indie folk guy]

they are consumer headphones so don't expect any miracles people are paying for a look and a brand name nothing more nothing less.

YES all the industry standard AKG, Beyer, Sennheiser, Grado, Sony, etc blow the Beats out of the water. But they serve two different purposes the Beats are typically marketed to consumers rather than professional audio engineers. Simply looking at the specs and seeing such low impedances should be proof of what they are designed for (iPod/iPhone/mp3 player anyone???)

Most of those consumers will think our headphones sound sterile or lacking in lows and stuff because they are used to colored/hyped sounding consumer gear. You're talking to the same group of people that think multiple subwoofers are necessary for a good sounding car stereo.

[amfortas2006]

I tried the Beats (solo and big ones) against the Sennheiser hd598.

It sounded like going from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (hd598) into a bathroom (beats). Those beats suck big time.

I'd take the apple earbuds against them anytime.

For listening only I actually like Bose around-ear. The Bose on-ear model is to bass heavy for my taste.

And for working (but also listening) I have the DT770 and the Etymotic 4P (etys only for well mixed and mastered music, otherwise a big brightish)

[elambo]

Originally Posted by dr_love6977

My work had some corporate training the other day. HP did a little demonstration showing some of it's new products. When they were talking about the Beats Audio built into the laptop, they explained it as "delivering more volts to the speakers." I, not having the ability to hold my tongue, challened their explanation. I said I could come up, and match the sound of Beats-mode just by adjusting the EQ. They did not take me up on my offer lol.

It was a "training" sessions so they were actually training you to repeat that BS? What a mess. This is the type of company HP is partnering with? No wonder HP stock has tanked.

[machoboy]

Originally Posted by Thysta

wouldn't buy it its not even marketed as studio gear as far as I know.

and if you need hyped hi-fi sound you can get it for a lot cheaper.

Considering that the models are named "Studio" and "Pro" and that some of the marketing literature claims that they're "used in major studios" I would say their marketing is pretty misleading as well.

They're almost a parody of how bad audio gear can get given the combination of youthful customers and the inability to really know how something performs until you've already purchased it (sans demos). Literally a generic $30 walmart headphone priced at $200-300+ and lathered in "professional" lingo.

[loopy]

Complete garbage. I thought the pair I tried was defective.

The buds that came with my 2 year old Blackberry sound better.
The crap iPhone knock offs my daughter bought in the "Dollar Store" don't sound much worse considering they cost, well, $1.00.