Beats!

[MajorFubar]

I heard my first pair of Beats today, at PC World. Just out of curiosity like. Dived straight in and auditioned the most expensive pair they had on display, that being the Studio 2.0 @ £269.00.

Now I've read a lot of hate from 'headfi' enthusiasts about Beats headphones, so it's fair to say I approached the audition with significant negative expectation bias. But I was quite surprised. I wasn't at all presented by an unlistenable noise overpowered by overblown bass with nothing else in their favour, which is sort of paraphrasing what I typically read about Beats 'phones. Ok I haven't auditioned anything else at that pricepoint so I have no baseline, and sure if I was throwing £269 at a pair of headphones I'd be giving a fair few competitors' headphones a damn good listen too. But from just my five minute audtion listening to just a couple of my own tracks via my iPhone 5S, I thought they were ok and worth considering in a 4/5 star kind of way.

Is it just that I have just got rubbish ears? As an amateur producer as well as HiFi enthusiast, I didn't *think* I had rubbish ears...

 

[Vladimir]

AKG K701

Beats Studio

They reduced the midbass in Beats Studio 2.0 but still the 'Studio' label is a joke.

 

[MajorFubar]

Yeah it doesn't make good reading. But what I heard in the shop was a solid if not spectacular sounding pair of cans with a SQ which easily betters anything their intended demographic has probably ever heard before. No idea what the cheaper pairs sound like; I didn't listen. After a few minutes I felt the sales assistant's gaze burying deep into the back of my head, and with no genuine intention to buy anything, I moved on.

 

[Vladimir]

You heard the 2.0 version, which is obviosly improved.

 

[dalethorn]

Beats got the unenviable reputation when the Solo was released by Monster, and it wasn't good. But they're not Monster now, and the sound quality of most of their headphones is competitive at their price points. In fact, I have several pricy headphones that sound not good, from AKG, Senn, Beyer et al, so the current line of Beats should be as good as those.

Beats has one other liability besides the original Solo - their main guy's extreme anti-police recordings of a couple decades ago, which heavily influenced urban society, particularly in the U.S.

 

[Paul.]

You think Dre is a liability? The good Dr is what gave the headphones their (somewhat misplaced) credibility.

never was a fan myself, more of a J5 man.

 

[dalethorn]

You think Dre is a liability? The good Dr is what gave the headphones their (somewhat misplaced) credibility.

never was a fan myself, more of a J5 man.

Personally I don't see Dre as a liability for business, but I do know from personal experience that the antagonism he created toward police officers has contributed to some serious issues over the past 26 or so years. You probably wouldn't know that if you don't live in or near a neighborhood that idolizes Dre, but it doesn't take any imagination to see the huge negativity in that anti-police rhetoric. It would have been much more beneficial if Dre et al expressed their anger toward the real source of their problems instead of the "average joe" duty cop. What does that have to do with Beats? Beats itself is a powerful international symbol, not just for music, but for the other things too.

 

[BenLaw]

What do you see as the real source of 'their' problems?

 

[BigMartin]

To be honest, you just unknowingly admitted why Beats are so poor. I mean, you said that you haven't tried anything at that price point! In general, they can be quite good for any one trying to catch the eye but in terms of the sound, I'm personally not a big fan. Obviously it's a personal choice.

I think if you were to compare some quality headphones like Sennheiser HD 598 for example, you'll notice the amazing soundstage and how you'll be able to hear every detail. They look awesome too and I mention these points specifically considering the fact that Beats you tried are like more than twice the price of HD 598!

Just my two cents *biggrin*

 

[MajorFubar]

To be honest, you just unknowingly admitted why Beats are so poor. I mean, you said that you haven't tried anything at that price point! In general, they can be quite good for any one trying to catch the eye but in terms of the sound, I'm personally not a big fan. Obviously it's a personal choice.

I think if you were to compare some quality headphones like Sennheiser HD 598 for example, you'll notice the amazing soundstage and how you'll be able to hear every detail. They look awesome too and I mention these points specifically considering the fact that Beats you tried are like more than twice the price of HD 598!

Just my two cents *biggrin*

So just to clarify, you have heard the current Beats Studio 2.0...

 

[ID.]

a solid if not spectacular sounding pair of cans with a SQ which easily betters anything their intended demographic has probably ever heard before.

Bingo. I didn't think they were that bad, but there are plenty of headphones at that and lower pricepoints that I prefer. Now if you've never really listened to what else is available, and you've only ever had cheap earbuds and headphones, the jump to Beats is going to sound pretty awesome. Specially if you like your bass.

 

[Vladimir]

Major, when will you be getting a pair for studio work? This is what this thread is about, right? *biggrin*

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

 

[dalethorn]

What do you see as the real source of 'their' problems?

Same as anywhere - the economically disadvantaged communities aren't merely disadvantaged, as though nobody cared. They're exploited in ways most people aren't aware of. They're exploited by drug and alcohol merchants, and the crime that follows falls mostly on them. The State Lotteries in most places are considered (by people who study those things) as a "Tax On The Poor". It's even worse on a lot of the American Indian reservations, of which we have relatives on one of those reservations (first-hand experience).

 

[dalethorn]

You heard the 2.0 version, which is obviosly improved.

After checking some detailed reviews, it seems the Beats Studio 2 is much improved over the old version, but does have a stronger bass than so-called "neutral" headphones (which I find to be thin in terms of bass). But the killer is the strong hiss that can't be turned off, because it's always in Noise Cancel mode with no other choice. The reviews tend to converge on the fact that the noise isn't a problem in noisy environments, but can be intrusive in audiophile listening. But, short of trying this headphone in an actual studio, it's not possible to know whether that hiss would be a problem.

 

[BenLaw]

What do you see as the real source of 'their' problems?

Same as anywhere - the economically disadvantaged communities aren't merely disadvantaged, as though nobody cared. They're exploited in ways most people aren't aware of. They're exploited by drug and alcohol merchants, and the crime that follows falls mostly on them. The State Lotteries in most places are considered (by people who study those things) as a "Tax On The Poor". It's even worse on a lot of the American Indian reservations, of which we have relatives on one of those reservations (first-hand experience).

Yeah, but those lyrics aren't as catchy as **** da police.

 

[Vladimir]

Artist who has portrayed the strugle of native american indians is Otis Taylor. Those that haven't might consider checking him out.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I don't think Beats sound too bad either.

 

[MajorFubar]

Lol! funny clip. Nah I'll stick to the phones and speakers I've 'learned' the sound of, namely my Senn RS180 and my Alesis M1.

 

[MajorFubar]

Interesting now to read WHF's review of these headphones, where their opinions are broadly similar to my own review from February at the top of this thread:

http://www.whathifi.com/beats-dr-dre/studio-20/review

Seems my conclusion that they were 'worth considering in a 4/5 star kind of way' wasn't far of the mark!

 

[bigboss]

Interesting now to read WHF's review of these headphones, where their opinions are broadly similar to my own review from February at the top of this thread:

http://www.whathifi.com/beats-dr-dre/studio-20/review

Seems my conclusion that they were 'worth considering in a 4/5 star kind of way' wasn't far of the mark!

Have you sent your invoice to What Hi Fi?

 

[MajorFubar]

 

[spiny norman]

...for a $14 pair of headphones.