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musty345

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 28, 2010
239
3
United Kingdom
So every now and again, I see a post on the forum about advice on buying the Beats By Dre etc. And I always want to shout at the person and tell them not to buy them... But I thought it'd be easier if we could put all the reasons why not to buy them on here. If you have any please post them here. So here goes:

1. The Fakes Are Better Than The Real Ones
A friend bought a fake pair of Beats from DHgate at the same time as I bought my real ones. Mine broke after three months of light use; his still work after a year of heavy use. This leads me to the conclusion that Monster build their headphones using even worse parts than the people who make the fakes. I've had three pairs in 12 months, they've all broken from very light use.

You Look Like a Sheep
Nothing screams originality like having a pair of Beats around your neck. Having Beats on shows that you can't make your own reasoned decisions and you just buy stuff because it's trendy. It's like tattooing 'I have more money than sense' onto your forehead. Not to mention, that most thirteen year olds use them as neck warmers, so be ready to be treated like one.

Monster Is An Evil Company
Monster is a cable manufacturer who also make the Beats By Dre Headphones. Here's a few reasons why they're evil:
1. They profit off the common misconception that a $100 HDMI cable is superior to a $5 one. This simply isn't true, with the way HDMI cables work, you either get a 100% perfect picture, or you get no picture (there's more on this here). In some of their display booths, Monster actually had two side by side TVs playing video. One was using their magical HDMI cable, and the other was using a composite cable! They labelled these booths with things like "Can you see the MONSTER difference?".
If you don't understand the significance of this, composite cables are them old multicoloured cables that we used years ago, whereas HDMI cables are the new fancy ones. The difference you could see in these booths wasn't the 'MONSTER difference', rather it was a difference in technologies. It's like a motorbike dealer taking a buyer on a test drive with a fancy, overpriced motorbike, and a pedal bike. Of course the motorbikes faster, they're different technologies! (Link)
2. They supported SOPA, 'nough said (read more here).
3. They are bullies. Here's an example of them suing a small mini golf company called: "Monster Mini Golf" for harming their trademark. Personally I think Monster Mini Golf should have sued Monster Cable for harming their trademark, but maybe that's just me… (more here).

Awful Customer Service
When my first pair of Beats broke after three months, I emailed Monster cable and asked them how I could return them. They replied after a week asking for serial numbers, a copy of the receipt and various other information. After a week of me sending them this information, they said they'd send me some code within two weeks, then they'd send me a box to send them the Beats in, and then they'd see if they could repair them… All in all, it was going to take them about six weeks to get a new pair to me. God made the "Heavens and the Earth" in six days. Russia, which is 17 million kilometre squared, managed to mobilise their whole army in six weeks in WWI, yet Monster insist on taking six weeks to replace some faulty earphones. Luckily, I'd bought them with HMV and I got a refund on the spot in the store.

There're headphones which have better sound quality, are cheaper and cooler

Just some suggestions of mine: Far superior sound: Sennheiser HD650. Cheaper: Sennheiser HD 25 25-1 II. Cooler: Urbanears Plattan Headset.

I did a full article on this on my website here with all the fancy pictures and videos so feel free to have a look at that if you want. But anyway, what are your experiences with the Beats, and does anyone have any reasons not to buy them to add?
 
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Demosthenes X

macrumors 68000
Oct 21, 2008
1,954
5
Nice write-up.

At the end of the day, there are better headphones for the price, and cheaper headphones that sound just as good. Beats are not a good value proposition.
 

garybUK

Guest
Jun 3, 2002
1,466
3
Simple fact is..... Made by Dr Dre ...

1) he's not a doctor
2) he's got no audio engineering background
3) he's a 'rap' artist.... need i say more?
4) it's a marketing ploy. pure and simple.
 
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Destroysall

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2012
1,293
85
United States
they are still terrible headphones, always have been, regardless of weather monster still makes them or not

Beats? Yes. Monster in general has released decent IEMs in the past.

I hope Beats is replaced quick. V-Moda has been amazing in both appearance and sound. Hope they can step their game up.
 

Jamesesesesess

macrumors 6502a
Nov 26, 2011
595
66
I had Beats for 3 years until they finally stopped working this year. I thought they were amazing and didn't care what others thought. Then I bought a pair of Denon AH-D2000's and am a Beats hater myself lol. Overpriced, low quality junk. One day in class I heard someone say "Oh yeah? If they're so bad, why do all the basketball players wear them?" about his Beats. I had a good laugh :D
 

MisterSensitive

macrumors regular
Mar 22, 2012
125
4
I would never use hyped consumer headphones for audio production. You want honesty, not flattery out of your phones.
 

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,091
2,037
Just throwing this out there just in case some don't know, but it's to my knowledge that Monster is no longer with Beats.

Didn't know this. So what are Monster offering in the same vein of cans overemphasised bass? Any new comparable headphones from them?

I guess this is the last year we'll see the Beats in the store then
 

Destroysall

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2012
1,293
85
United States
Didn't know this. So what are Monster offering in the same vein of cans overemphasised bass? Any new comparable headphones from them?

I guess this is the last year we'll see the Beats in the store then

No, I don't think Beats will disappear from the market. At least not anytime soon, unfortunately.

As far as comparable headphones go, I'm not totally sure. The only line-up from Monster that I've found worth looking at were their Turbine series, which are primarily IEMs.
 
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boomboom2

macrumors regular
Apr 12, 2012
116
0
You Look Like a Sheep
Nothing screams originality like having a pair of Beats around your neck. Having Beats on shows that you can't make your own reasoned decisions and you just buy stuff because it's trendy. It's like tattooing 'I have more money than sense' onto your forehead. Not to mention, that most thirteen year olds use them as neck warmers, so be ready to be treated like one.

"Don't use them because everybody else uses them"

*Uses phone everybody else has*

;)

But I agree with you! I always cringe when i see somebody wearing them!
 
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btymciw

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2012
1
0
Made an Account just to say this haha...

Hey, So I just wanted to add something. Before you buy headphones, do some research to what exactly makes one set of headphones better then the other (sound quality wise.) The other day I went into factory direct and I wanted to get a headset due to my upcoming vacation. So I began to read the specification on the back of all of the headsets, and to my amazement a $17 pair of headsets where infact better then a $99 pair by the same company... Sony. When I arrived home I plugged em in to my ipod and to my amazement is sounded really fkn good! So i called my friend over, that had a pair of Dr. Dre's ($399 Pair) and we played the same song through the same Ipod, over and over again, and we came to the conclusion that my $17 pair in-fact sounded better. SO!... then I went online to check the Specs for the Dre's he had, and my $17 pair had better specs then his Dre's... I then legit LOLED! hahaha.

Fiction = Dr Dre's are good!
Fact = Dr Dre's are way overpriced and don't sound a fraction as good as other brands.
 

skottichan

macrumors 65816
Oct 23, 2007
1,090
1,269
Columbus, OH
I'll be honest, the Studios I received as a gift aren't nearly as bad as what people have said. They're not my favorites, that would be my Denon AH-D1100's.

The Studios aren't nearly as over-bassed as most people have said, they're rather comfortable and seem to be pretty durable.

I do completely agree that they're thoroughly overpriced vs quality. My D1100's were $169 at a local electronics store. If I were going to spend $300+, I'll admit, I'll listen to the audiophiles and go to Audio Technica or Sennheiser.

While I love music, I'll admit I'm not a true audiophile, but I can't really overly bash the Studios I have. If I were to rate them I'd say a 3.5/5
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
But Beats allows me to hear the music as the engineer intended.

:confused:

Uhuh. Because people never put their name to a product just for the money. I doubt Dre would have given a damn how poor quality they are. His name attached to it made it a fashion accessory and thus it sold very well.
 

tn9design

macrumors member
Sep 8, 2011
55
1
Texas
As a previous owner of a pair of StudioBeats I want to jump in and defend them because I think they get way more un-needed trash talking than most other headphones. Now I can't speak for the entire product line but I own a pair of Studio Beats that I have been very happy with. From sound quality to customer support I found the product to be worth my money. My only real complaint is that after a year of use the plastic along the head-band began to crack however Monster replaced it without a problem and the new pair have been working well for the past +2 years.

I won't argue with ALL of Musty345's points, however as someone who feels like they should defend their purchase I did have a few points to bring up.

You Look Like a Sheep
Nothing screams originality like having a pair of Beats around your neck. Having Beats on shows that you can't make your own reasoned decisions and you just buy stuff because it's trendy. It's like tattooing 'I have more money than sense' onto your forehead. Not to mention, that most thirteen year olds use them as neck warmers, so be ready to be treated like one.

The only thing worse than buying something because everyone else has it is NOT buying something because everyone else has it. I am not going to let trends dictate what I will and will not buy. If tomorrow Britney spears puts out the most amazing album I have ever heard I will be the first one in line. Denying yourself the option of trying something because it's "trendy" is the biggest sell out of all.
Awful Customer Service
When my first pair of Beats broke after three months, I emailed Monster cable and asked them how I could return them. They replied after a week asking for serial numbers, a copy of the receipt and various other information. After a week of me sending them this information, they said they'd send me some code within two weeks, then they'd send me a box to send them the Beats in, and then they'd see if they could repair them… All in all, it was going to take them about six weeks to get a new pair to me.

After about 11 or 12 months of use I had a problem with my beats (the build quality is damn poor in regards to the plastic head-band area). I called them up and had a brand new pair at my doorstep in under a week. While I can't remember anything spectacular about their customer service, I also can't think of any problems I had either. I emailed them my receipt and shipped them my broken ones, they sent me back a brand new pair a few days later. Works for me.

There're headphones which have better sound quality, are cheaper and cooler[/U]

I am currently using a pair of AKG k701's -- I have to say that I am very happy with them however I was quite pleased with the performance of my Studio Beats and while there is definitely a difference in sound I can easily see why someone would be drawn to the heavier bass of the Beats over the crisper sounds of my 701s. To each his own.

A product like the Beats line of headphones doesn't sell millions of units just by being a horrible product. They introduced a higher level of quality than most people were used to in a stylish form to people who had previously only owned the free white earbuds apple hands out with its iPod line. While they couldn't compete with quality reference sounds they raised the bar considerably for non-audophiles who were looking for something that sounded good and looked good. I can say without a doubt that when released I thought the beats were a good looking pair of headphones and when I listened to an old song through them for the first time I had never heard anything that crisp and clear before.

I've moved on to a higher caliber headphone since then, but it's in a large part due to a product like the Studio Beats which towed the line between being more expensive than most people were used to, and slightly lower quality (for the price) than audiophiles were used to. I can see the pros and cons to such a product and yet despite its failures it's also succeeded in teaching me to expect more from my headphones than just pushing out the most basic of sounds.
 
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