Is Beats Audio really this shady?

nguyendot

[video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/3F4f6XqgQlg[/video]


Are beats audio practices really this shady?

AsSiMiLaTeD

I can't see youtube here at work, but is that the company owned by Monster?

Glowrdr

"Beats By Dr. Dre is a brand of headphones and loudspeakers marketed by hip-hop/rap musician Dr. Dre and Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records chairman Jimmy Iovine under Beats Electronics LLC.[1] There are six versions of the headphones and six versions of the earphones, which are manufactured and distributed under exclusive license by Monster Cable Products. As part of marketing strategy, the headphones often appear in music videos, movies, advertisements and other media."

Interesting. I'd take that video somewhat with a grain of salt, although I don't have anything to replicate the results. For those of you not interested / can't see the video, here is the condensed version. Standard bass/treble is at 0/0. Turn Beats on, and it bumps bass and treble all the way up. Turn Beats back off, and it move bass all the way down to -14, and ups the treble to +4.

I'd almost consider that a driver issue that it does not return to 0, but that could very well be a marketing thing now that I see it's all Monster stuff. With that said though, I have a touchpad with the Beats Audio and I must say that I'm pretty impressed. It's almost like the Bose of computer speakers? Haven't heard anything about the headphones besides the sales pitch in the store.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I thought there was a tie in with Monster, which means any kind of crap or shady practice wouldn't surprise me at all.

Syndil

Beats is a combination of three things: Average hardware, DSP, and branding. No more, no less. Can you take an average set of headphones, apply some DSP to your source material and end up with essentially the same thing? Absolutely--minus the "Beats by Dr. Dre" branding.

And yes, it should come as no surprise that Monster is involved, but they are far from the worst offender when it comes to charging unjustifiably high prices for audio gear.

Monster Jam

Monster = Bose.

I tell you what, the tie-in of Marketing Dr. Dre with headphones was sheer genius. I watch a LOT of college basketball, and if I had to guess, I would say that 80% of all Division 1 basketball players on scholarship who wear headphones, wear Dr. Dre Beats headphones. It might be more than 80% actually.

I tried the $400 pair. They sounded about like the $60 Skullcandy headphones right next to them. Klipsch, Audio-Technica (the brand I settled with), AKG, and many others are simply better products.

Edit: Similarly, I've never seen an audio-professional use Beats headphones.

Marty913

Not to be a music bigot but given the "quality" of the overly compressed <128 kbit MP3 crap they are probably listening to, wouldn't a Progresso soup can and a string get the job done just as well.

cnh

Those headphones are the most "grossly" over priced cans I've ever seen. They perform worse than a standard set of 80 dollar Sony DJ phones at more than 3 times the price. Forget about it....!

I'm not surprised all the software does is boost BASS and Treble and then take away all the BASS....afterall, their claim to fame is "muddy, bloated" Bass and almost no highs.

cnh

tonyb

Marty913 wrote: »

Not to be a music bigot but given the "quality" of the overly compressed <128 kbit MP3 crap they are probably listening to, wouldn't a Progresso soup can and a string get the job done just as well.

LOL!! Yeah, but only progresso cans, those Cambell soup cans are too thin for good sound.

cstmar01

I've listen to them before and really didn't think they were all that great. Bass is the only thing they have going for them and honestly not a fan.

I wouldn't be suprised if there was something shady with them.

jwhitakr

Like all other Monster brand products, I stay far away. And advise my family&friends to do the same.

zingo

Beats is fine for the average hip-hop listener who likes paying Monster prices, but it is simply an EQ tweak as stated above. Professional would never use their products as customized EQ settings would only be a detriment to trying to capture a true recording.

drummer86

It doesn't matter what you plug into the headphone jack of an ipod/phone... it will always sound like garbage. The success of this product is just a result of an extremely ingenious and successful marketing plan. Same reason people continue to buy Nike shoes despite the fact that they all know they're cheaply made and won't last.

Syndil

One could say the same thing about many, many products. Like I said before, Monster certainly is not the worst offender in that regard.

cdn5003

To save a lot of money and get an accurate reproduction of the sound buy something like Sennheiser HD280 or Sony MDR-7506. I went with the MDR's and they are a fantastic value. The sound quality is very good and accurate throughout the whole range. This is to be expected because they are a popular tracking headphone. Durability is also a huge advantage compared to offerings from bose and the beats.

Unfortunately headphones are more about style and bass output than anything else. The average consumer is used to cheap earbuds and clock radios so of course they think the beats are great. When used with an ipod they take a low bitrate dead sounding recording and boost the bass and treble to give it life. So even though it is muddy the average consumer thinks they are magical.

I want to take the beats and compare them to my sonys or sennheiser hd280's on higher bitrate recordings. I think the bass output would be unbearable on the beats. Anyone tried the beats on better material?

That video is pretty funny, a simple eq swap is all that is necessary to get that beats sound. What if you loved the beats eq and applied it to a quality headphone with flat response, this would probably sound perfect for you.

nguyendot

I knew a lot of people would chime in. It really is a lot like Bose's practices. No specs, no tests, just tons of marketing.

Anyways I'm looking for a set of cans soon. Maybe an amplifier. Mainly pc listening. What should I go with? I hate the sound card in my laptop at work. Low budget, best sound for the money.

mdaudioguy

http://tunelab.com/2011/08/16/what-exactly-is-beats-audio-anyway/

But hey, trust him, he's a doctor!! :cheesygrin:


[video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/quZriO55wGk[/video]

zingo

I like my Klipsch X10i headphones and my favorite amp to date is the Little Country 3 tube headphone amp from Firestone Audio.

Serendipity

I've owned 2 HP laptops and the factory default setting always boosted bass.

Turn off the BS "audio enhancement" and it sounds much more natural.

The only thing different here is that apparently, the Beats Audio driver messes with your tone control to put bass and treble at MAX when turned on. And to -14 when turned off.

BlueFox

Syndil wrote: »

One could say the same thing about many, many products. Like I said before, Monster certainly is not the worst offender in that regard.

My gripe with Monster is they used to, and maybe still do, sue anyone who used the word Monster in a product or service. I am not familiar with their pricing.

What other audio companies do you feel are overcharging for their products?

Syndil

BlueFox wrote: »

What other audio companies do you feel are overcharging for their products?

Nearly all of them that aren't Internet Direct. Would be a much shorter list to list those that I feel charge reasonable prices. But as I buy the vast majority of my equipment used, I don't really care what the original MSRP was when the stuff was new. That's why I own a Monster AVL-300 and an HTS-2500 MKII. Would I have paid full price for them? Hell no. But just because Monster overcharges for them does not make them inherently bad pieces of hardware, and at the prices I got them at they were good values. Particularly impressed with the AVL-300, which is supposedly based on Logitech's 850. Aside from a horrible quality LCD display--which I can accept because, well, it's a remote--it's really a great piece of hardware with more capabilities than I will ever make use of.

PrazVT

Earbud-wise, I use Klipsch S4s for gym use - definite step up from the 5 year old Sennheiser CX-300s I was rocking before.

I have HD 428s for the office (closed ear) and they're OK. Not much on the low end and the cable is really thin. I recently upgraded my HD555s to HD600s and really like them. Only use them with the NAD integrated but they're very balanced and clear with lossless -> high res tracks.

PrazVT

FYI, Ludacris launched his line of headphones as well. 'SOUL' - not sure who the OEM is though. So if 'BEATS' aren't your thing...

EndersShadow

PrazVT wrote: »

FYI, Ludacris launched his line of headphones as well. 'SOUL' - not sure who the OEM is though. So if 'BEATS' aren't your thing...

I believe both are "Monster" owned

jwhitakr

EndersShadow wrote: »

I believe both are "Monster" owned

SOUL by Ludacris is a subsidiary of a company called Signeo. As far as I know, they are not affiliated with Monster at all.

Syndil

Plenty of decent headphones to be had without lining a rap artist's pockets.

Danny Tse

Not that I'm a fan of Boston Acoustics' new corporate logo, but isn't the logo of Beats by Dr. Dre a virtual copy....

logo896

I got a pair of the studio beats by dre and i was very disapointed with them. If they spend less time advertising and more time making a product it would have been better. I found the bottom end weak on them.