Beats by Dr. Dre

But you’ll accept conjecture that all Bose is bad because..... “peer pressure”?

 

Now, these are real "cans".

 

I don't and I didn't say I did. Your conjecture, not mine.

 

Color me confused there "fastskill". Apologies for whatever offense I may have caused here.

 

Not offended, all is cool.

 

I have never used them. A couple of years ago I was looking for a pair of headphones that were more bass heavy (I like to have a variety of different headphones) at Best Buy. I picked up a pair of Beats and asked one of the employees if he knew how they sound. The employee lowered his voice and preceded to talk me out of buying them. It seemed as though he didn't want anyone around to hear what he had to say. I remember he kept looking over his shoulder and shifting his body as he spoke. I guess employees are not allowed to talk people out of buying expensive headphones. I probably wouldn't have bought them anyway due to the price but I definitely appreciated the employee's honesty.

I ended up buying a pair of Sony headphones with extra bass for less then the Beats. I like the sound but I have to be in the mood for them since they have a lot of bass.

 

Wow. Jump to conclusions much? I made no comment about relative sound quality between Beats / Bose. So, I'm not sure how you draw the inference that I would condemn Robert Fripp's choice of headphones. I could honestly care less what he uses on or off stage but if they work for him, great!

But it is undeniable that both brands have some aspect of status symbol cachet. Bose spends an incredible amount of money on Google Adwords to dominate the noise cancelling headphone market. In fact, in the pro audio community we have a joke - "Bose. Better Sound Through Marketing." (That said, they are beginning to turn heads with their Room Match sound reinforcement systems.) Just do a google image search for "Bose headphone ads" (corporate / commuting / business traveler) vs. "beats headphone ads" (urban hip).

Like it or not, there is a segment of the consumer audio market that spends with their eyes and based on peer-influenced marketing. I also acknowledge that there will be a segment of the market that actually likes / prefers the sound of Beats or Bose. That is OK. Neither is my choice, but OK.

 

OK, now we all know that dr. dre had nary a thing to do with beats headphones other than sign his name on a contract allowing the company that makes them to use said name? right?

i wouldn't buy them just because his name is on them.....probably raises the price by double what they are worth.

 

My nephew travels frequently by air. At Christmas he complained about listening to a baby crying on a recent flight. I looked at InnerFidelity.com. They recommended the Bose QC-35s. I was actually surprised by that choice.

I bought a pair for my nephew. He seems quite pleased with them. I suspect noise cancelling is more important to him than sound quality, however.

 

The Real Reason Millennials Don't Buy Cars and Homes

Back to the topic at hand....auto manufacturers in general are lamenting the fact the younger consumers are just not buying cars. So, a marketing tie-in with a beloved brand favorite of millennials makes sense. I imagine that there will be some "tuning" if the system to favor a certain tonal signature but don't know. And I'm not gonna enter a Jeep dealership to find out. So...

 

I have heard good things about the Beats Bluetooth earbuds for $150. I'd use them primarily for commuting.

 

I’ve got the Bluetooth earbuds and they’re great for what they are. They get a lil bass heavy but they sound better than cheaper ones I’ve tried and the battery lasts a lot longer

These aren’t audiophile by any means but for workout, commute, at the office...they’re good

 

For noise cancelling I think those Bose are the best things out there, very effective. While I don't love the sonic signature of the Bose, it's certainly passable for commuting.

 

The first gen Beats I heard we’re pretty atrocious, but to the kid that owned them, they were the cat’s **** for sure. Later I heard the second of third generation and they were quite nice. Still not my favorites, but I certainly would not fault anyone that liked them.

Bose drove the NC market for years. My wife had a set of QC-15s for travel and they were decent, then I got a set of QC-20 and they were pretty good until I got my Sony X1000’s. They are still my travel cans, but my AirPods are just too easy to be as good as they are.

I guess it’s being worn on your head that makes headphones so personal. I have friends that have more invested in their cans than I do on speakers only to listen to all compressed mp3’s. Go figure.

 

Trust me, marketing works for our demographic VERY well!

On Beats.... the demand creation is threefold: modern/hip image, urban design, and modern (bloated bass, “warm”) sound profile.

For (insert favorite high-end Brand here).... the demand creation is threefold: high-end/boutique brand image, upper class/architechtiral design aesthetic, and that audiophile lifted top end (not flat!) sound profile.

Both overpriced for what they are.

So what’s really the difference?

 

Well, there is no difference, as beats are trying to represent themselves as audiophile brand.

 

Limited premium boutique distribution? Reviews in audiophile magazines?

Curious exactly how you think they are doing this?

 

I said "trying". That means they are trying to copy audiophile brands in every way (except sound, that is). Hence the prices. But that doesn't mean they are managing to trick audiophiles, only average customers. I might be wrong, correct me if I am.

 

I don’t think they are pulling from the audiophile marketing playbook at all. If they were, they wouldn’t be in Best Buy.

 

I don't think they are pulling from audiophile headphones at all. They are closer to a fashion brand than an electronics brand for a large portion of their products. Looking at the main product page of their website, none of the headphones even mention sound in their 3-4 key features that are aiming to get you to click on. The Pro is the only one taking sound and comfort, and it specifies for studio mixing.

One of the wired headphones even boasts "battery free for unlimited playback." That literally sounds like a joke.

 

Agree - there’s nothing about Beats that smells audiophile wannabe to me. Other than using an unnatural EQ curve....

 

Sorry to go way off topic here again, but the main reason those awful awful millennials aren't so keen on buying cars are the eye-watering car insurance premiums that they are quoted.

Yeah, maybe they could afford cars, homes and insurance if they stopped frittering away their disposable cash on expensive headphones and phones and avocados. Or maybe... with the home ownership requiring decades of saving to achieve, and car ownership usually requiring them to take on yet more debt, perhaps they figure that they might as well spend a bit on simpler, more immediate pleasures in the hear and now, rather than chasing goals that seems to be impossibly far off in the distance.

Anyway. that's MY story and I'm sticking by it.

Yours,

A Useless Millennial.

 

Yeah, that makes sense. I see that I misused word audiophile here. I should have said premium. Thing that made me say audiophile is that "hear like you where in studio sound" which is something audiophile headphones makers strive for. Also that battery free thing. I saw it before, I cried. People are so easy to fool.

 

I congratulate millennials on figuring out cars are a bad racket design to separate them from all of their hard earned cash. I figured that out 25 years ago, which is when I unloaded the car and departed a "cheap" suburb in the sunbelt for supposedly ridiculously-expensive San Francisco. I more than doubled my salary within a couple of years while barely increasing my monthly cash outlay.

 

PS i did own a pair of Beats “studio” wireless NC headphones and would agree that they suck. Gave then to my oldest son and he loves them.

I’ve heard Skullcandy products that sounded better .