[Emil]

Nice reviews from a youngster who gets it. Maybe we arent the last generation that cares about sound quality


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsxQxS0AdBY#t=45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et_PWifUd1w&feature=youtu.be

[Tyson]

Most generations did not care about quality and this is no exception.  We are the anomalies, even in our own generation.  But the very fact that Head-fi exists and is prosperous is more evidence that every generation has anomalies like us 

[Letitroll98]

In the immortal words of Fernando Lamas, nee Billy Crystal, "It is much more important to look good than to feel good", or to hear good as it seems.  That young people will make foolish decisions based solely on peer pressure is as perennial as the grass.  That savvy marketers will cash in on that is just as perennial and rather like the predators following the herds of sheep Dale mentioned.  And Dale is wise not to attempt to dissuade these masses from their fate, we can only hope for those few awakened from the zombified state to realize that Beats, Bose, and Kmart all suck.  Refreshing to see those young men "get it".

[charmerci]

I was at work talking to two twenty-somethings both saying how great Beats sounds - "you can feel the bass!"

I commented that I just didn't think they were very good and one responded forcefully with the other agreeing - "they're great!"

 

[bacobits1]

But..........
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Was-Apple-acquisition-a-sound-defeat-for-5727219.php

[bacobits1]

Only brought it up because Noel Lee is the scum bag of the audio industry with all the frivolous law suits against the little guys. AND besides I don't think a lot of people knew "Monster" was behind Beats, I didn't.
I have read too that they do not sound THAT good for the $$$

[FullRangeMan]

Beats sucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipZY0qGrA9Y

[dB Cooper]

Actually, innerfidelity gave the updated model a pretty positive review. Don't know if they sent some goons to his house or something, but he did. I'm with you though; I think the company sucks and I'll continue to shun Beats products for a variety of reasons. Heard they are going after the expensive market with a $1200 set but don't know any specifics. They're not on my radar especially at that price range.

[mix4fix]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/154968/monster-cable-boycott

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/488600-boycott-monster-cable.html

[mix4fix]

Today you can get a Solo2, which is as good as anything else under $200, and join the youth fashion brigade in good conscience. 

We just had a get-together and somebody brought some $20 headphones that were better than Beats. I would order some but I don't want the color it has on it.

Even I like a $20 pair of Nakamichi (plus a $10 cable) that I prefer than any Beats and is fashionable as well.

[Tyson]

Most people don't care about sound quality, we know this already.  Beats is just appealing to the generation that is not yet old enough to move on to Bose. 

[mix4fix]

We shouldn't buy Beats for a number of reasons:

The association with Monster (crap product, crap business practices), the association with Dr. Dre (violence against women), and the association of being a crap product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Barnes

After her 1990 interview with Ice Cube in which the rapper discusses his leaving N.W.A. at the height of their feud,[2] the group, feeling they had been negatively portrayed, sought retaliation. On January 27, 1991 Dr. Dre encountered Barnes at a record release party in Hollywood. According to Rolling Stone reporter Alan Light:

He picked her up by her hair and "began slamming her head and the right side of her body repeatedly against a brick wall near the stairway" as his bodyguard held off the crowd with a gun. 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 again and proceeded to punch her in the back of the head."

N.W.A.'s MC Ren later said "bitch deserved it", and Eazy-E "yeah, bitch had it coming." As Dr. Dre explained the incident, "People talk all this shit, but you know, somebody fuck with me, I'm gonna fuck 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." Barnes sued in February 1991, telling reporter Alan Light: "They've grown up with the mentality that it's okay to hit women, especially black women. Now there's a lot of kids listening and thinking it's okay to hit women who "get out of line." In February, Barnes filed assault charges and brought a $22.75 million lawsuit against Dr. Dre, who pleaded no contest to the assault. He was fined $2,500, placed on two years' probation, and ordered to perform 240 hours of community service and produce an anti-violence public service announcement. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

[dB Cooper]

Are you saying now that Apple has appointed a "really bad" person to their leadership in Dr. Dre?  Or could it be he has made restitution?

I'll say it. Apple has appointed a "really bad" person to their leadership in Dr. Dre. Buying off a lawsuit doesn't suddenly make you a good person. And Dre is not a "leader" any more than he is a headphone designer; his contribution to the original Beats' development was reportedly saying, "That's the sh!t" when they brought him the second or third prototype. He is, to put it simply, a figurehead who provided his name which he made from such great music as "F**k Tha Police", and is now cashing in. But that is irrelevant to audiocircle; this isn't a political or social commentary forum.

Whether the sound is good or bad, who cares. Most Beats customers don't. They buy the product for its perceived "hip factor", not for the sound. This is a triumph of marketing. That is the problem for entities like Sennheiser, Beyer, AKG etc etc etc. "Better" doesn't always win out.

Here is an interesting article on the history of the company.

[dB Cooper]

Thanks for the advice.
BTW some of the reasons that I dislike Dre products are relevant. And I am allowed to state them.

[Russell Dawkins]

I just read yesterday that Apple bought Beats for three billion dollars - or did we all know that?

[Letitroll98]

I think we're losing site of a couple of facts here.  One, Dale is the only one here, to my knowledge, that has actually purchased a set of Beats.  And two, there are several different models of Beats headphones that may sound quite different.  There's very little info on the Beats site other than color and style, but the Solo 2 is the only one with significant copy about improved sound quality over the previous model.  So I'm fine with Dale's assessment that the Solo 2 model is not all that bad.  And he confirms that other models, some I may have heard, are pretty gruesome.  Has anyone else actually listened to the Solo 2 model?

[milford3]

I listened to the Solo 2's yesterday at Best Buy.  I was in the store buying a new cordless mouse for my laptop.  The sound wasn't awful but wasn't that good either.  The Solo 2's will NOT replace my LCD 2's, Beyer DT 990, T1's and my Grado RS1's.  I would go to say that my Senn HD 555's sound better than the Solo 2's. 

[mix4fix]

BTW some of the reasons that I dislike Dre products are relevant. And I am allowed to state them.

And, we can point out other options that sound just as good/better, are cheaper, not constructed cheaply, and be "fashionable" (that should NEVER be an option for a true audiophile though).

[mix4fix]

Other options, pointing out things, yes, good.  But bashing just makes for a low-class venue.

Could it be that "bashing" is nothing more that someone not liking what you like?

In fact, sounds like some people don't like what you like.

[Russell Dawkins]

EDIT: Anyone remember when the BBC used to say "thousand million", and billion was equal to a U.S. trillion (hope I got that right)?

I remember, and you did get it right. It amuses me when there is disagreement within the global technical community on such a fundamental point.  I think the 'logic' was that if a million was a thousand thousands, then a billion should be a million millions. God knows what a British trillion would have been by the same reasoning - I guess a (British) billion billions or an American trillion trillions.