Beats by Dre (headphones) released today

mutelight · July 2008

http://www.monstercable.com/beats/

You'd think that someone with as much musical savvy as Dr. Dre could design some kick-**** audio gear. And you'd be right. Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones ($350) are the result of a collaboration between Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Monster, and they look as good as they sound. The powered isolation 'phones will feature technologies new to headphones, including new driver technology, in order to offer natural, clean sound and rich, deep bass — something that should come as no surprise to Dre fans. In addition to all of that, Beats will include a carrying case with
anti-microbial cleaning cloths, a special Monster headphone cable, and Monster’s iSonitalk, a microphone/headphone adapter for iPhones.

We shall see. I plan on picking up a pair today purely out of curiosity. (Thankfully Best Buy has a fantastic return program.) As everyone knows Monster is a hype machine selling over priced products but for one of the best known producers in the industry to put his name on them surely they must bring something to the table. Apparently they went through 150 prototypes before Dre was satisfied.

Face · July 2008

I wouldn't buy a thing from Monster Cables anymore.

sucks2beme · July 2008

So, they have made this POS headphone to reproduce rap?
I don't think much of their target audience will be able to buy a set.
Marketing is a wonderfull thing. I'll have to go to head-fi for the review.

obieone · July 2008

TOO funny. Having a Rap star judging audio SQ. LOL!

phuz · July 2008

obieone wrote: »

TOO funny. Having a Rap star judging audio SQ. LOL!

Dre is probably one of the top, and easily one of the most talented, experienced, and creative producers out there.

He's not just some 'rap star'.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't pay that for those headphones. I'll stick with my Sennheisers.

Polk user · July 2008

phuz wrote: »

Dre is probably one of the top, and easily one of the most talented, experienced, and creative producers out there.

Now thats funny....

....and sad at the same time.

The music industry...RIP

phuz · July 2008

Polk user wrote: »

Not thats funny....

....and sad at the same time.

The music industry...RIP

In the context of hip-hop, he is.

Just because someone does something you don't like or is a part of a genre you don't like, doesn't mean the industry is dying or imply anything "sad".

madmax · July 2008

phuz wrote: »

Dre is probably one of the top, and easily one of the most talented, experienced, and creative producers out there.

He's not just some 'rap star'.

I agree, I find his work to be quite good. Of course I like the gangsta rap stuff but only because of the few who know how to do it correctly.
madmax

mutelight · July 2008

OK, (as I mentioned) out of pure curiosity I picked up a pair today since I have a premier reward zone at Best Buy which allows me to return products withing 45 days of the initial purchase. They will be going back this weekend.

Very colored, hyped at the high and low end, and only begin to wake up with Hip-hop and Rap only. (Go figure, a headset created in collaboration with a rap producer.) The average joe will listen to them and be impressed because of the qualities I described in them and then they will see Monster and Dr. Dre on the box and will scrounge every last penny to get a pair and go on thinking they are the best headphones on the market. "I paid $350 for these and they are by Monster, they must be undeniably good." Along the same exact lines that Bose does with their QC2s and the incessant commercials on TV.

I now have a much better understanding of exactly who these are marketed to and it is too bad that they screwed up such a great concept by being so cheap. Ideally they would have been more reasonably priced, designed and sound significantly better. They want to awaken the average joe to how moving good sound quality can be and develop an appreciation for fidelity in audio and with such an easily recognizable name they could have. I think we all get it but it is like trying to convince a vegan to eat an overcooked $3 steak. OK, so not that bad, they do have their moments when they sound nice but there must be some sort of on-the-fly adjusting DSP built into them because the SQ seems to vary even in the same song.

The packaging is quite smart because it is fairly well designed and clever which adds to the illusion of a "quality" product. Once you hold them in your hands you can tell they are cheaply made. The design of the actual headphones is nice but actually holding them in your hands alone instantly tells you that they should cost ~$100 at most.

Back to the sound, they are very forward and exhibit distortion in the strangest frequencies even at low levels, yet exaggerate others. (It is almost as if the frequency response curve is a roller coaster.) There is a lot of bass and every now and then it can sound nice but it seems you feel the drivers through the ear cups more than you hear the actual output. To briefly sum up the overall SQ, they sound synthetic.

I guess Monster needs to continue to overprice their products to no end because it must be costly (especially nowadays) to have to keep refueling that hype train.

mutelight · July 2008

http://www.store.apple.com/us/reviews/TS232LL/A wrote:

I put these on and turned on my new Nas playlist in iTunes and listened to his new album. I was blown away! It sounded so different. So much better than it did coming out off the Bose system in my SUV. I couldn't believe it. I thought that my Bose system was the ish These things bring music to life. I hate to sound like a commercial so I won't go any further. Just listen for yourself!

The BEST headphone ever. Never heard something like this before. Just go to an Apple store and try it: you won't believe your ears.

Target demographic REACHED.

mule · July 2008

Do they have a 14" sub to carry in a backpack to go with the headphones?

I like The Mighty D R E's chill beats...:)

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commercial rap is in the toilet swirling with all the crap emo rock

shack · July 2008

There are some fantastic headphones made by companies like Sennheiser, Grado, AKG and Beyerdynamic that can be purchased for less than $350 the Dres are selling for. I would have been willing to guarantee that they would blow the dres away without ever hearing the M stuff. Monster has a long history of selling mediocre stuff as good and average stuff as "The Best". It isn't necessarily junk...it's just "Over-priced and Over-hyped".

Polk user · July 2008

I say more of these overpriced crap headsets go out of the store under an over sized coat on a warm day than go out thru the register.

Target audience reached!!!!!

"I agree, I find his work to be quite good. Of course I like the gangsta rap stuff but only because of the few who know how to do it correctly."

"gangsta rap correctly" Now I have heard it all.

sucks2beme · July 2008

The right way to do it? I though the local guy that shot another
artist at a "rap off" here in Dallas did it the right way. Kill the other guy.

I've got a lot of good headphones. These will never be at my house.
Not because of the "rap" thing, but because, as I suspected, they
were not a $350 worthy set of cans. Oh well, back to using those crappy
non-rap compatible Stax. I guess I'll never know what I'm missing.

madmax · July 2008

mule wrote: »

I like The Mighty D R E's chill beats...:)

Sounds to me like he stole the sound concept from the Michael Jackson "Billie Jean" song.

Wouldn't you have thought the Dre headphones would have the tactile transducers in them? Like some of the gaming headphones.
madmax

sucks2beme · July 2008

To be fair, we should really wait for them to burn in for 50-100 hours
before slamming them.

Shizelbs · July 2008

Subtle racism FTW!!!

bigaudiofanatic · July 2008

I hate them I went and picked up a pair myself. It's all bass no audio. I listened to them for about 45 minutes and had enought took them back to best buy. Qiuckly went home and put my Senns. on FEW glad thats over with. People who ar in to nothing but bass will like them and as mutelight meantioned just because they have a rappers name on them everone who likes him will get them. When I first picked them up there were about 6 or seven "kids" looking at them and oooing and iiiing over them. When I picked a set up one said man you are lucky that you can get the I politly replied I am not rely buying them. Confused he asked what do you mean. I told him that I am just going to buy them take them home and give them a test than after I find out how badly the S*** I am going to bring them back. In a up strung voice he replied man they probably beat anything you got at home. I laughed as I walked away.

phuz · July 2008

Polk user wrote: »

I say more of these overpriced crap headsets go out of the store under an over sized coat on a warm day than go out thru the register.

Target audience reached!!!!!

"I agree, I find his work to be quite good. Of course I like the gangsta rap stuff but only because of the few who know how to do it correctly."

"gangsta rap correctly" Now I have heard it all.

Now that is "sad". Dare I say, ignorant?

You're not wining many hearts and minds here Polk User. A little "PC" can go a long way.

madmax · July 2008

Polk user wrote: »

"gangsta rap correctly" Now I have heard it all.

Well, when you discuss any particular genre one of the aspects is whether it is performed properly or not. For example, dixieland that is overly produced or played in perfect tune is not being done correctly. Another example is B3 music. If you don't hear slapping of the keys and some of the noises produced by the instrument itself, it is not correct to the genre. I could go on...

madmax

shack · July 2008

phuz wrote:

A little "PC" can go a long way.

Now THAT is sad.

phuz · July 2008

shack wrote: »

Now THAT is sad.

Hey I said "a little"

Maybe I should have used the word "tact".

treitz3 · July 2008

$350.00? My god, I have a pair of electrostat AKG's that would blow the snot out of these that were the same price. Difference between these and mine? Mine you see in videos and recording studios, I don't think you will be seeing one pair of these in a recording studio. If you do, then the industry in that sector is definitely going down.

Yes, I know mine are twenty years old and I didn't factor that in. Still.....

bigaudiofanatic · July 2008

Still there junk but people at the store were saying that they could blow any heaphone away I had. LMAO

madmax · July 2008

I'm still waiting for the Vanilla Ice IIB version. I hear they will be white to match the ipods.
madmax

mutelight · July 2008

treitz3 wrote: »

$350.00? My god, I have a pair of electrostat AKG's that would blow the snot out of these that were the same price. Difference between these and mine? Mine you see in videos and recording studios, I don't think you will be seeing one pair of these in a recording studio. If you do, then the industry in that sector is definitely going down.

Yes, I know mine are twenty years old and I didn't factor that in. Still.....

That is just the thing. My good friend who runs a radio station up in SF and has had a lot of studio experience told me about the Beats about a year ago and was under the impression that they were supposed to be like monitoring headphones. They really couldn't be further from them. I had him listen to them last night and we both agreed that they were extremely colored and you would never want to use them in a pro environment.

They should be $100, flat out since they are designed for iPhones and portable music players, no one with any appreciation for audio would take them seriously once seeing them let along trying them.

Beats by Dre (headphones) released today

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