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are Beats headphones actually any good?

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Overpriced but definitely good. Some guy sold me a pair for cheaps and it was crazy. Of course when I heard they were 150 in store I felt they were overpriced
 
I have these:

TMA-1.jpg


Sexy and makes the Beats sound like someone's joke.

edit: AIAIAI TMA-1
 
Being honest OP. Unless you have high quality output (I.E. something more than an iPod or a typical smartphone), or if you're REALLY into sound quality, $30 Senheisser's should be enough.
 
For the price of a set of Beats I'd go with some Senny HD-25s instead.

HD555s and similar are just too big for the street.
 
Would you wear them around town though? The Beats may be overpriced but at least they're an appropriate size for wearing them out of the house.
 
Beats are absolute trash. I'm not even going to use the qualifier "for the price". They are just... Awful.

Honest to god, the Koss KSC-75's, a $15 headphone, from top to bottom, sound better. Better detail, more pleasant highs, tighter, more detailed bass, and a mid range that doesn't sound like you're listening to vocals through a brick wall, it just does it all better. They probably even leak about the same amount!

EDIT: Just remembered there's more than one type of Beats. When I say the Beats are terrible, I mean the Studios. I've heard the Pro's, and they aren't too bad. As far as typical consumer-grade headphones go, they are quite good.
 
I got the beats solo (red) and love them. I use them for work, home, gym and on the go. The travel case is perfect. I'm sure they're were better options for a better price, but so far I have no complaints about the dre beats solo.
 
Never heard them and I'd wager that half the people that say they they suck haven't either. The most likely scenario is that they are decent bass oriented phones that have their price tag attributed to aesthetics and brand recognition.
 
leng jai said:
Never heard them and I'd wager that half the people that say they they suck haven't either. The most likely scenario is that they are decent bass oriented phones that have their price tag attributed to aesthetics and brand recognition.
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That's pretty much exactly what a majority of people have posted here. They're far from outright horrible, but you can do so much better for the price that they shouldn't be considered unless, like you say, aesthetics and having that Beats logo on the side of your head are higher priority than sound quality.

Spacebar said:
I got the beats solo (red) and love them. I use them for work, home, gym and on the go. The travel case is perfect. I'm sure they're were better options for a better price, but so far I have no complaints about the dre beats solo.
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What other quality headphones have you used though? Everyone I know who is happy with their Beats upgraded to them from Apple earbuds. Obviously that's a huge leap in quality, but if you're going to drop $100 or more on headphones it's nice to do some research and at least see what other options are out there.

That's funny you use them at the gym, a lot of people wear the Studios while running and lifting weights at my college's gym and I always wonder why the hell they bought expensive headphones just to sweat all over them.

I like having nice headphones (using Grado SR80s at the moment) but I have a pair of Sennheiser wrap-around earbud things I got on sale for $30 that I use at the gym, and I felt stupid even paying that much.
 
leng jai said:
Never heard them and I'd wager that half the people that say they they suck haven't either. The most likely scenario is that they are decent bass oriented phones that have their price tag attributed to aesthetics and brand recognition.
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if you have never heard of them, then their brand recognition has obviously failed.
 
dr3upmushroom said:
That's pretty much exactly what a majority of people have posted here. They're far from outright horrible, but you can do so much better for the price that they shouldn't be considered unless, like you say, aesthetics and having that Beats logo on the side of your head are higher priority than sound quality.



What other quality headphones have you used though? Everyone I know who is happy with their Beats upgraded to them from Apple earbuds. Obviously that's a huge leap in quality, but if you're going to drop $100 or more on headphones it's nice to do some research and at least see what other options are out there.

That's funny you use them at the gym, a lot of people wear the Studios while running and lifting weights at my college's gym and I always wonder why the hell they bought expensive headphones just to sweat all over them.

I like having nice headphones (using Grado SR80s at the moment) but I have a pair of Sennheiser wrap-around earbud things I got on sale for $30 that I use at the gym, and I felt stupid even paying that much.
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You're right I upgraded from my apple ear buds and I had a shitty Sony pair I used for work. My Sony headphones I was using for work started fucking up and I just said screw it I'm going to buy a nice pair this time. Beats was really the only headphones I had heard of so I picked them up.

I don't use the beats when I run. Only when I lift and if I start sweating a lot I drop them off for a bit.

Like I said before I'm sure there are better options out there, but I don't have any complaints about the beats so far. As long as I can hear the music and block out the majority of the sound around me I'm good to go. On the plus side they look cool too.
 
Yeah but like most people have said if you put like ten minutes research (hell on this site alone!) you wouldn't have (arguably) wasted $100+. Ofcourse you wont have complaints from apple shitbag headphones to $200 or whatever ones you dont know anybetter!

The general public dont realy know a damn thing though.Theres a girl I know who was banging on about how awesome they were. Asked Her why and she couldnt tell me a thing other than "they must be good if Dre uses the!" I mean really..
 
Spacebar said:
You're right I upgraded from my apple ear buds and I had a shitty Sony pair I used for work. My Sony headphones I was using for work started fucking up and I just said screw it I'm going to buy a nice pair this time. Beats was really the only headphones I had heard of so I picked them up.

I don't use the beats when I run. Only when I lift and if I start sweating a lot I drop them off for a bit.

Like I said before I'm sure there are better options out there, but I don't have any complaints about the beats so far. As long as I can hear the music and block out the majority of the sound around me I'm good to go. On the plus side they look cool too.
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Yeah, I've already been beaten, but I have a feeling you're happy with them because you don't know what you're missing. I think they're cool looking too, but looking cool isn't worth $150+ to me.

Lifting in them seems like it wouldn't be too bad, but I see people running in them on a regular basis. And presumably they wear them around outside the gym too, all sweaty and shit. Grosses me out.
 
Its kind of funny how angry some audiophiles get over the popularity of "cool" headphone brands. They act as if they get the best bang for their buck in everything. Truth is everyone has different interests and no one is "educated" about every hobby. Chances are the same people are overpaying for their clothes/car/TV.
 
Suggestion: (I did it!)

If you care about appearances as much as you care about sound quality and don't want a 5' long cord awkwardly wrapped in your pocket all the time, just get an inexpensive pair of audiophile quality phones (say, $150 price range), and blow $50 on a stylish pair.

By that, I mean go to the mall, go to clothing/audio stores, and notice how many awesome looking but mediocre sounding pairs of headphones are available for significantly less than a set of Beats.

Also, neither audiophile-quality Sennheiser stuff nor cheap-but-awesome off brand headphones are as prone to theft as Beats.
 
leng jai said:
Its kind of funny how angry some audiophiles get over the popularity of "cool" headphone brands. They act as if they get the best bang for their buck in everything. Truth is everyone has different interests and no one is "educated" about every hobby. Chances are the same people are overpaying for their clothes/car/TV.
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I don't know, I could see making this argument maybe a decade ago, but with the internet around it's so easy to research purchases that it would be pretty easy to be reasonably informed about every purchase you make.

I don't know about cars and TVs but comparing Beats to clothes is pretty apt, paying extra for something like a bag that says Coach on it when you could have spent far less on something just as if not more functional is more or less exactly what people are doing when they buy Beats.

Which is fine, I just think it's lame when people act like they sound great. If people want them they should get them, just admit you want them for the looks. I mean, they do look cool. I don't get what the point of acting like they sound great is when you've only ever listened to music with them, your laptop speakers, and Apple earbuds is, just be upfront and say "I bought them because they're stylish."

I don't really think people get angry about it either, people will usually poke fun of someone for falling for the marketing if someone posts something like "Thinking about getting some Beats, how are they?" or "Just got some Beat, best headphones ever!" in the headphone thread for example, but I don't see where you're seeing anyone getting angry over it. Maybe on hardcore forums like headfi and stuff like that.
 
dr3upmushroom said:
I don't know, I could see making this argument maybe a decade ago, but with the internet around it's so easy to research purchases that it would be pretty easy to be reasonably informed about every purchase you make.

I don't know about cars and TVs but comparing Beats to clothes is pretty apt, paying extra for something like a bag that says Coach on it when you could have spent far less on something just as if not more functional is more or less exactly what people are doing when they buy Beats.

Which is fine, I just think it's lame when people act like they sound great. If people want them they should get them, just admit you want them for the looks. I mean, they do look cool. I don't get what the point of acting like they sound great is when you've only ever listened to music with them, your laptop speakers, and Apple earbuds is, just be upfront and say "I bought them because they're stylish."

I don't really think people get angry about it either, people will usually poke fun of someone for falling for the marketing if someone posts something like "Thinking about getting some Beats, how are they?" or "Just got some Beat, best headphones ever!" in the headphone thread for example, but I don't see where you're seeing anyone getting angry over it. Maybe on hardcore forums like headfi and stuff like that.
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The clothing comparison is apt but works opposite of your point. They buy coach and lv because its coach or lv, not for its practicality. This is the same for beats, they buy it because they re beats by dr dre.
 
I have never heard the beats, and I own quite a few high end headphones, but I'm not going to automatically dismiss them. I have definitely come around from wanting accurate reproductions of sound to simply wanting fun reproductions of sound. If you listen to hip/hop, then a can that can reproduce the bloated bass that is typical of hip/hop listening (in a car stereo), would be valuable to you. High end accurate cans do not reproduce the bloated bass of a pimp-my-ride-style car stereo.

Also, recommendations that involve open faced cans like the Grados that leak sound in and out do not apply when talking about a closed can like the beats. In my experience, an open can in a quiet room will always destroy a closed one, but you can't exactly roll with an open can in a quiet cubicle environment or in a library.

Thirdly, you have to see what type of driver you are using. If you are going to be driving music from an iPod, a can like the Beats will destroy an objectively superior can like a Senn HD650 (and I assume the Denons), simply because the Beats are designed to be driven from a lower power iPod source. Some of these cans being recommended are simply not good when used with an iPod.
 
Hari Seldon said:
Thirdly, you have to see what type of driver you are using. If you are going to be driving music from an iPod, a can like the Beats will destroy an objectively superior can like a Senn HD650 (and I assume the Denons), simply because the Beats are designed to be driven from a lower power iPod source. Some of these cans being recommended are simply not good when used with an iPod.
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The Beats does have an internal amplifier so that comparison isn't really fair.
 
Hari Seldon said:
I have never heard the beats, and I own quite a few high end headphones, but I'm not going to automatically dismiss them. I have definitely come around from wanting accurate reproductions of sound to simply wanting fun reproductions of sound. If you listen to hip/hop, then a can that can reproduce the bloated bass that is typical of hip/hop listening (in a car stereo), would be valuable to you. High end accurate cans do not reproduce the bloated bass of a pimp-my-ride-style car stereo.

Also, recommendations that involve open faced cans like the Grados that leak sound in and out do not apply when talking about a closed can like the beats. In my experience, an open can in a quiet room will always destroy a closed one, but you can't exactly roll with an open can in a quiet cubicle environment or in a library.

Thirdly, you have to see what type of driver you are using. If you are going to be driving music from an iPod, a can like the Beats will destroy an objectively superior can like a Senn HD650 (and I assume the Denons), simply because the Beats are designed to be driven from a lower power iPod source. Some of these cans being recommended are simply not good when used with an iPod.
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Driver? You have no clue what you're talking about. A driver is a headphone component. The pod is the source. The internal amp does power the headphones but its not a driver.
 
Alucrid said:
Driver? You have no clue what you're talking about. A driver is a headphone component. The pod is the source. The internal amp does power the headphones but its not a driver.
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An honest misuse of a term does not mean a person has no idea what they're talking about. it just means they mixed up a little vocabulary. Hari Seldon's point in that paragraph is still valid. using excellent, yet hard to drive, headphones on weaker portable sources is a waste.
 
LCfiner said:
An honest misuse of a term does not mean a person has no idea what they're talking about. it just means they mixed up a little vocabulary. Hari Seldon's point in that paragraph is still valid. using excellent, yet hard to drive, headphones on weaker portable sources is a waste.
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He was making a different point. That if the source is an iPod, the Beats would destroy an objectively better can like the HD650, but it's a terribly unfair comparison with how hard the HD650 is to drive from a mere iPod. The Denon AHD2000, CAL, and even the Samson SR850 would be a much fairer comparison.
 
Geneijin said:
He was making a different point. That if the source is an iPod, the Beats would destroy an objectively better can like the HD650, but it's a terribly unfair comparison with how hard the HD650 is to drive from a mere iPod. The Denon AHD2000, CAL, and even the Samson SR850 would be a much fairer comparison.
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hmm. I guess I can't really agree about the "destroying" part. I don't think Beats destroy anything except your wallet.

I was thinking more about the general sentiment than the specific models. (plus the whole vocabulary red herring)
 
LCfiner said:
hmm. I guess I can't really agree about the "destroying" part. I don't think Beats destroy anything except your wallet.

I was thinking more about the general sentiment than the specific models. (plus the whole vocabulary red herring)
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Your ears.

Also that open is always better then closed? Nah.
 
I was using driver in the system perspective of a source driving a load. Sorry for the mix-up with the headphone term of driver.
 
Alucrid said:
Your ears.

Also that open is always better then closed? Nah.
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well, not always but often, yes, I'd say that's true. I've had some good quality closed headphones (D5000 and a markl modified pair, DT1350, Senn HD-25) but they're just missing something compared to open headphones of similar price and size. They can be great, sure, but I've always preferred open models.

but that's a whole other tangent.
 
The in ear models are some of the best I own, and I've owned shure, sennheiser, klipsch, etc. Audio quality, sound isolation and bass are excellent, especially with a headphone amp. Highs are crisp and bass is strong, which I like.

The flat cord was a big selling point to me too, and it doesn't tangle really ever. I wear them 5 days a week, and travel with them regularly.

I've found it really comes to preference though at the higher level of the headphone market. I agree these are overpriced, and I think the $170 price tag would actually be worth $100-120 and it would be a good value for what you get.
 
Alucrid said:
Your ears.

Also that open is always better then closed? Nah.
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In my experience and preference, yes. Assuming other things are equal of course, like price range obviously. I have given up trying closed headphones and just stick to IEMs for portable listening now.
 
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