Which pair of beats (dr. Dre)should i buy?

1. What kind of music (and others) would you use these to listen to?
2. What is your source? (e.g. MacBook Pro, iPhone, etc)
3. What kind of environment are you using them in?
4. What is your budget?
5. What do you currently own and what's wrong with said pair?

These are all important questions. But... the short answer is you probably are going to find better sound at a lower price elsewhere.

If you are going to wear these around your neck like a clothing accessory, then you are headed in the right direction.

I'm biased - but I always tell people not to buy in-ear headphones, unless they're willing to spend the money to get custom-made, properly shaped ones. The reason for this is simply that everyone's ear canal is different, so comfort can become an issue. But that aside, I firmly believe that they are terrible for your ears. The sound is blowing right into your ear drum, and people have a tendency to turn these up really loud. Not to mention that I rarely come across a pair of earphones that I like the sound of. If you're planning on getting a higher-end pair of real cans next year anyways, then just spend the money now. Why spend $120 now, and $300 a year from now, when you could just spend the $300? If cost is an issue, I've been using a pair of AKG K 77's for about a year and a bit now, and for the price I paid (less then $100 CDN), they sound great.

I'm a 17 year old guy and I have the black Heartbeats.

Sound great.

But they won't stay in my ears if I glued them..

I put V-Moda buds on them and that helped, But one of my ears is bigger than the other so I gotta change sizes and mix-n-match.


So you may not have luck with the supplied buds.

I like the look of the over ear ones, But honestly it's your call. You can probably get some nice replacement buds for cheap if you want the GaGa's.

amk1369 said:

If cost is an issue, I've been using a pair of AKG K 77's for about a year and a bit now, and for the price I paid (less then $100 CDN), they sound great.

Click to expand...

I have a pair of AKG K77 and also a pair of AKG K240. The K240 are dramatically, and no-question better. The K240 are currently on sale for $99.99 and Sweetwater.

I think the K240 is the #1 most used headphone in recording studios for the past 20+ years. They've become a standard.

If you need an in-ear phone for listening to an iPod in the gym Get the Sony EX71 for about $30.

PS. My only use for the K77 is with a digital piano. They block external noise better than the K240 and I don't need high-end sound quality for piano practise.

amk1369 said:

I'm biased - but I always tell people not to buy in-ear headphones, unless they're willing to spend the money to get custom-made, properly shaped ones. The reason for this is simply that everyone's ear canal is different, so comfort can become an issue.

Click to expand...

I agree with the rest of what you said, but as someone who owns quite a few universal IEMs and two custom IEMS, there are some that make the difference negligible. Companies like Westone and Shure offer the foam inserts that mold to one's ear, that being said the triple-flange option on both is what I use and find there to be little difference as compared to my custom IEMs.

ChrisA said:

I have a pair of AKG K77 and also a pair of AKG K240. The K240 are dramatically, and no-question better. The K240 are currently on sale for $99.99 and Sweetwater.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's a good deal. I've been wanting to upgrade the 77's for a while now, and I was looking at the 271's (expensive)...but with the dollar pretty much at parity, that deal for the 240's is ridiculous. Thanks for alerting us to that!

Don't get the In ear ones, they're pretty expansive for what they do, they might be good, but you're paying for the design, it's not worth it, I'd rather get the Studio or Solo HD

But if i were you I'd get some Bose QuietComfort 15 Noise Cancelling, they're 49$ cheaper than the Studio ones, and they're better as long as you don't get in ear ones, buy any of those Three, if i were you I'd get the Bose ones, since this is quite a lot of money to spend or waste on quality because of the looks, however the beats are really nice too

Alvi said:

Don't get the In ear ones, they're pretty expansive for what they do, they might be good, but you're paying for the design, it's not worth it, I'd rather get the Studio or Solo HD

But if i were you I'd get some Bose QuietComfort 15 Noise Cancelling, they're 49$ cheaper than the Studio ones, and they're better as long as you don't get in ear ones, buy any of those Three, if i were you I'd get the Bose ones, since this is quite a lot of money to spend or waste on quality because of the looks, however the beats are really nice too

Click to expand...

Perhaps this thread, in particular this rant might help the debate. Both companies charge a ridiculous amount. You are paying for the headphones advertising.

thegoldenmackid said:

Perhaps this thread, in particular this rant might help the debate. Both companies charge a ridiculous amount. You are paying for the headphones advertising.

Click to expand...

The Beats aren't even close to your budget.

Staying within your budget. If you are looking for headphones, I'd recommend the Panasonic RP-HTX7s. If you are looking for earphones, something like the thinksound rains come to mind.

Both are relatively clean, but a tad bit bass heavy. (The Panasonics a tad bit more then the thinksounds.)