Are Beats headphones worth the money?

[her209]

I see Dre Beats headphones selling for $300-400 for over-the-ear models. Are they much better than similar headphones from other manufacturers like Bose?

 

[edro]

They are hand made by Dr. Dre. They are the best in the industry by far, and well worth their price tag.

 

[Veliko]

Whilst they're respectable headphones that produce decent sound quality, it's not $400 quality.

Other manufacturers will sell headphones that are just as good for less than a quarter of that price.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Not sure if serious? Are they really that much though? That is nutty. As if people are listening to any sort of portable hi-fi audio anyhow. They look cute and probably have 15 bucks worth of drivers in them, that's about it probably.

 

[her209]

Not sure if serious? Are they really that much though? That is nutty. As if people are listening to any sort of portable hi-fi audio anyhow. They look cute and probably have 15 bucks worth of drivers in them, that's about it probably.

Yes, they are really that much.

Beats Pro Over-Ear Headphone (Black)

 

[classy]

They are expensive, but they do sound the best. I have used only the earbuds, but in comparison on my ipod, they were clearer, deeper bass, and they didn't drain the battery as much. I haven't bought a new pair, been trying cheaper ones, but so far nothing anywhere close.

 

[mnewsham]

Both Bose and Beats are shitty headphones.

Most headphones in the $300-400 range you will want to use a dedicated amp/DAC for anyway.

My current setup is AKG K712 Pro headphones with a Schiit Magni amp and a Schiit Modi DAC.

Beats also use active noise cancellation which basically artificially attempts to combat outside noise by changing the sound the headphones output to you in order to balance out the noise levels. In practice it makes things sound worse because you are messing with the how it is supposed to sound. Also beats have VERY over done low end. The bass is VERY VERY prominent. Much more prominent than it should be naturally, they just sound shitty.

Go with more respectable companies.
Grado
Sennhieser
Denon
Sony
Beyerdynamic
AKG
Fostex
Hifiman
etc.


If you want a recommendation feel free to ask, but Bose and Beats are laughed at by anyone who actually knows anything about audio equipment.

 

[gorcorps]

short answer: no

long answer: noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Captante]

No.

 

[jaedaliu]

If you want a recommendation feel free to ask, but Bose and Beats are laughed at by anyone who actually knows anything about audio equipment.

Hi! I'm here to ask!

My wife and I are approaching our 2nd anniversary, and I never buy her gifts for occasions. We just buy what we when we need it; she's frugal like that. So, I'm interested in buying some nice ear/headphones for ~$150. (can be more if a relatively small step up will result in a huge increase in audio quality) What would you recommend?

She likes on ear headphones, but she's taken to wearing her glasses all the time, so she might not like the constant pressure of the earpiece of glasses against her ear.

So, an ear bud and an on/over ear recommendation please.

 

[mrrman]

I wouldnt pay that much for any headphones but I do need some

 

[classy]

Hi! I'm here to ask!

My wife and I are approaching our 2nd anniversary, and I never buy her gifts for occasions. We just buy what we when we need it; she's frugal like that. So, I'm interested in buying some nice ear/headphones for ~$150. (can be more if a relatively small step up will result in a huge increase in audio quality) What would you recommend?

She likes on ear headphones, but she's taken to wearing her glasses all the time, so she might not like the constant pressure of the earpiece of glasses against her ear.

So, an ear bud and an on/over ear recommendation please.

What kind of music does she listen to?

 

[ponyo]

Beats is still popular? I remember being it being really popular with kids about 2 years ago.

 

[mnewsham]

Hi! I'm here to ask!

My wife and I are approaching our 2nd anniversary, and I never buy her gifts for occasions. We just buy what we when we need it; she's frugal like that. So, I'm interested in buying some nice ear/headphones for ~$150. (can be more if a relatively small step up will result in a huge increase in audio quality) What would you recommend?

She likes on ear headphones, but she's taken to wearing her glasses all the time, so she might not like the constant pressure of the earpiece of glasses against her ear.

So, an ear bud and an on/over ear recommendation please.

For IEMs I recommend the Shure SE215-K they can generally be had for right around $100.
or for a bit more you can get the Shure SE315-K

For over the ear I would look at AudioTechnica ATH-M50.

Also, the Logitech UE6000 get some pretty decent reviews, but I personally don't enjoy them (though my setup MSRP is ~$800 so I can understand why)

And if you really wanna go all out for the best under $300 I would recommend the PSB M4U1, clearly over your price range, but figured i'd toss em in anyway. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

 

[mcurphy]

18 Headphone Brands Ranked from Worst to First

http://time.com/74886/best-headphones/

Beats didn't fare so well.

 

[manimal]

Both Bose and Beats are shitty headphones.

Most headphones in the $300-400 range you will want to use a dedicated amp/DAC for anyway.

My current setup is AKG K712 Pro headphones with a Schiit Magni amp and a Schiit Modi DAC.

Beats also use active noise cancellation which basically artificially attempts to combat outside noise by changing the sound the headphones output to you in order to balance out the noise levels. In practice it makes things sound worse because you are messing with the how it is supposed to sound. Also beats have VERY over done low end. The bass is VERY VERY prominent. Much more prominent than it should be naturally, they just sound shitty.

Go with more respectable companies.
Grado
Sennhieser
Denon
Sony
Beyerdynamic
AKG
Fostex
Hifiman
etc.


If you want a recommendation feel free to ask, but Bose and Beats are laughed at by anyone who actually knows anything about audio equipment.

You sir have great taste!


and bose and beats are made for peanuts with insane markups. Beats are the new monster cable...

 

[mnewsham]

18 Headphone Brands Ranked from Worst to First

http://time.com/74886/best-headphones/

Beats didn't fare so well.

That's a retarded article. Every company makes high end and low end headphones. Grado fairs VERY well because they really dont make anything cheap. All of their headphones are "good". But there are much better headphones out there. Same with most of those brands. They take EVERY headphone that company makes, then see if they make more shit ones than good ones. Well who cares if the $25 ear buds are shit? You are looking at $200 headphones anyway, compare between other $200 headphones.

 

[Number1]

Both Bose and Beats are shitty headphones.

Most headphones in the $300-400 range you will want to use adedicated amp/DAC for anyway.

My current setup is AKG K712 Pro headphones with a Schiit Magni amp and a Schiit Modi DAC.

Beats also use active noise cancellation which basically artificially attempts to combat outside noise by changing the sound the headphones output to you in order to balance out the noise levels. In practice it makes things sound worse because you are messing with the how it is supposed to sound. Also beats have VERY over done low end. The bass is VERY VERY prominent. Much more prominent than it should be naturally, they just sound shitty.

Go with more respectable companies.
Grado
Sennhieser
Denon
Sony
Beyerdynamic
AKG
Fostex
Hifiman
etc.


If you want a recommendation feel free to ask, but Bose and Beats are laughed at by anyone who actually knows anything about audio equipment.

A dedicated DAC would make absolutely no difference in the sound so I don't know why you think it is needed.

Read up: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733.html

 

[HeXen]

Silver cladded copper wires vs Aluminum...hmmm

What most don't factor in is that many cheaper ones..while they may sound as good or better perhaps, are often cheap plastic still and some do better with an amp. Many use aluminum wire inside instead of Copper or the best, Silver.

I have Beats on ear versions. They do sound really good and have some bass impact and these are more for if you are not going to use an amp and like it more bass heavy but it's not much so like everyone likes to say they are. For the money you can do just as well or better if you don't care about how they look, feel or can't hear nuance differences between aluminum wire and Silver cladded copper or Silver. Some claim they can cause they have elite super ears but whatever.

Audio is too subjective and biased of a subject to get opinions from others cause you may prefer something a little different. I won't ever listen to "expert" opinions from places like AV forums ever again. IMO, Audiophile grade stuff sounds too flat. I like some fun in my music, a little character and color.

 

[edro]

My well meaning wife bought me some Bose QC3 headphones for christmas.
I like the sound, fit and feel.
However, because they are noise cancelling, they REQUIRE a battery to work.
If the battery is dead, no sound comes out.
It comes with a tiny lithium battery that lasts a long time and charges fast.
It just really sucks when you want to use them and realize you left the power switch on and you have to wait for the battery to charge.
I don't understand why they couldn't have put a bypass circuit in to operate as regular headphones when the battery was dead.

 

[jaedaliu]

What kind of music does she listen to?

Mostly pop and R&B/dance.

I'll take a look at mnewsham's suggestions.

Oh, and this is for plugging into the stereo mini port on the phone/tablet/laptop. No fancy dedicated hardware for us.

 

[mnewsham]

A dedicated DAC would make absolutely no difference in the sound so I don't know why you think it is needed.

Read up: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...udio,3733.html

That article basically says there is no improvement going from an outboard DAC costing ~$100 to something stupidly expensive costing $2k+ Which I will agree with, unless you start adding in tubes.

However, the article also clearly shows that a listener can clearly tell the difference between a real decent DAC, and the onboard realtec DAC. So I really don't see what your point is. My DAC cost $100. Not exactly top of the line.

 

[classy]

Mostly pop and R&B/dance.

I'll take a look at mnewsham's suggestions.

Oh, and this is for plugging into the stereo mini port on the phone/tablet/laptop. No fancy dedicated hardware for us.

No disrespect to mnewsham at all, I am not an audiophile but I have bought and tried about 15 pairs of ear buds, nothing sounded better than the beats. Now mine were the ones made by Monster, I think someone else is making beats now, but truth be told, they just made music sound better. Now I am a bass head so that may skew my sound taste. And while there are audio tests, at the end of the day its about how they sound when you listen to them day in and day out. I tried a couple of senheiser and they were not as crisp. Nothing I listened to from Sony was even close, even some of their most expensive headphones, not just the ear buds.

Just buy one pair of each, have her pick one of the two and take the other one back.

 

[manimal]

crushed mids with too much bass sounds better to you?

 

[mnewsham]

No disrespect to mnewsham at all, I am not an audiophile but I have bought and tried about 15 pairs of ear buds, nothing sounded better than the beats. Now mine were the ones made by Monster, I think someone else is making beats now, but truth be told, they just made music sound better. Now I am a bass head so that may skew my sound taste. And while there are audio tests, at the end of the day its about how they sound when you listen to them day in and day out. I tried a couple of senheiser and they were not as crisp. Nothing I listened to from Sony was even close, even some of their most expensive headphones, not just the ear buds.

Just buy one pair of each, have her pick one of the two and take the other one back.

Bass heads will love the beats because they artificially bump the bass up and usually tend to soften the mids, but give a slight bump again on the high end to make them sound crisper.

Some people will like it, others like me hate it. I can't stand it because whenever I listen to the same piece of music through ANYTHING else, it will sound totally different, that extra bass you expect from the beats will be missing and it makes everything else sound very flat in comparison.