Apple headphones... Apple missed the boat with the headphone market?

I'm not so sure that it is a case of Apple 'missing the boat' on headphones as much as Apple failing to realise that there may well be a market for well made, attractively designed headphones which deliver an excellent sound experience.

Of course, it could well be a strategic decision, a decision not to clutter up their product range with what they might consider to be extraneous products.

In any case, I have spent several years looking for decent headphones: By 'decent', I mean a pair that is not massive in size, is good looking, is solidly designed, and comfortable, as well as (the whole point of headphones, needless to say) a pair that offers excellent sound quality.

Eventually, this year, I alighted on the B&W P3s and the B&W P5s, both of which I have found to be excellent, comfortable and stylish headphones.

I've wondered why Apple havent decided to branch into headphones as the market is largely taken up by youngsters 'hipster' brands that rely a lot on aesthetics rather than performance. And Apple excel at stylish and modernistic design. (Of course thats not to say they cant perform too).

I had the P5s and sold them as I preferred my Sen HD595s. The P5s are overpriced and i was glad to be rid of them as the frequency range was way too flat and uninvolving. They tended to hurt my ears after half an hours use too.

I quite like my earpods. I don't understand all the hate towards them. Have you actually tried them? They're probably one of the most comfortable in-ear headphones I've ever used. Sure, the sound quality could be better, but for the price, you can't expect $100+ sound quality out of some plastic headphones that cost $29. Apple's old earphones were junk. And so were those $80 in-ear dual driver headphones too. But the earpods are actually something decent.

I'm going on another pair of EarPods, this will be my 4th pair. They all end up the same way, the sound muffled/gets very low. They sound great and feel great, but they get destroyed too easily.

I prefer my Sennheiser headphones, but they look ridiculous on an iPod Nano.

Apple is been telling you, "We concentrate on a few products, and do them well."

Everybody thinks they got a Slick-50 that can make their car run better than the people who designed it.

I don't think Apple wants to enter such an embarrassing facet of the market. All these fashionable full-sized portable headphones, you see people wearing around their neck 9 times out of 10 and actually on their ears 1/10. Whenever they do have them on their ears, there's no music playing.

Apple EarPod Killer

Save your money and fussing about Apple/Senn EarPods.
After spending a bundle on various makes, I found these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EM8008/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
$7.70 and superb, tiny in ear sound with great reliability.
If you're concerned about reliability, a 4 pack will cost you $25.
Rugged and include 3 sizes of ear plugs.
After a year, still going strong.
Sound as good as Sony MDR V series for 1/10th the price.

If you want good headphones, avoid Beats like a plague. You can't go wrong with Klipsch, mid-higher end Sennheisers, or my personal favorite (very $$$) AKG.

For earbuds, I love my Klipsch X10s.

k2snow said:

Good day.

After shopping and buying nearly $1000 worth of headphones for the holidays, I cannot help but find myself thinking... "Apple has really missed the boat on the headphone market..."

You got BEATS, Bose, Monster, Bower&Wilkins, SOUL, and sooooo many more making a killing in this market. All the while Apple debuts... earpods?

Does anyone else think that Apple has missed the boat on this latest personal music boom?

I loved my Beats. Bulky and a little too loud for those in your surroundings, the Studio Beats are really nice.

I really loved my Bower and Wilkins P5 as well and will probably keep them handy.

I think Apple already has a captive market for these and needs to act quick.

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Closed headphones are overrated. The only headphones I have heard so far that beat IEM's are open headphones (non-portable headphones on expensive DAC & AMP's).

In my opinion, IEM's are the future for portable audio. If Apple fixes the comfort and isolation issues, Apple is going in the right direction. I don't see why Apple went for EarPods over IEM's.

This is my opinion ofcourse.

UBS28 said:

Closed headphones are overrated. The only headphones I have heard so far that beat IEM's are open headphones (non-portable headphones on expensive DAC & AMP's).

In my opinion, IEM's are the future for portable audio. If Apple fixes the comfort and isolation issues, Apple is going in the right direction. I don't see why Apple went for EarPods over IEM's.

This is my opinion ofcourse.

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Yes, but the problem here is that for some people, firstly in-ear headphones are not terribly comfortable, - in fact, some are downright uncomfortable - and secondly, many of them do not deliver a good quality of audio output, especially the less expensive ones.

Scepticalscribe said:

Yes, but the problem here is that for some people, firstly in-ear headphones are not terribly comfortable, - in fact, some are downright uncomfortable - and secondly, many of them do not deliver a good quality of audio output, especially the less expensive ones.

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IEM's like the Shure SE535 are more comfortable for me than headphones like the B&W P7 and Sennheiser Momentus while providing better sound quality also.

As a reference, the Sennheiser HD800 sounds clear, fast and accurate just like my IEM's which is what I am missing in closed headphones such as the B&W P7 and Sennhesier Momentus.

Praxis91 said:

If you want good headphones, avoid Beats like a plague. You can't go wrong with Klipsch, mid-higher end Sennheisers, or my personal favorite (very $$$) AKG.

For earbuds, I love my Klipsch X10s.

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AKG earbuds are crap. EarPods are ear-buds. Good earbuds are hard to find.
X10s are in-ears

http://www.goodcans.com/HeadphoneReviews/Reviewss/Earbuds_vs_In-Ears.jpg

Ploki said:

AKG earbuds are crap. EarPods are ear-buds. Good earbuds are hard to find.
X10s are in-ears

http://www.goodcans.com/HeadphoneReviews/Reviewss/Earbuds_vs_In-Ears.jpg

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I always called in-ear as earbuds and everything else as just headphones.

Anyway, the x10s are awesome and some of the best headphones on the planet are AKG 702, 712. With AKG, I know nothing about their ear buds, but I was referring to their "cans."

http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Pro-Audio...F8&qid=1406734216&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+712+pro

Praxis91 said:

I always called in-ear as earbuds and everything else as just headphones.

Anyway, the x10s are awesome and some of the best headphones on the planet are AKG 702, 712. With AKG, I know nothing about their ear buds, but I was referring to their "cans."

http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Pro-Audio...F8&qid=1406734216&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+712+pro

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Ah!
In-ears, earbuds, on-ears, over-ears. >> roughly.

I own K702, K272HD, K450 - love them all, my SO owns k701. Big fan. But I bought AKG K318 and while they sounded decent, they were the most uncomfortable earbuds I ever used.

Ploki said:

Ah!
In-ears, earbuds, on-ears, over-ears. >> roughly.

I own K702, K272HD, K450 - love them all, my SO owns k701. Big fan. But I bought AKG K318 and while they sounded decent, they were the most uncomfortable earbuds I ever used.

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Which one is SO? I'm always looking to try new toys!

Praxis91 said:

Which one is SO? I'm always looking to try new toys!

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my SO : significant other, or, girlfriend

I don't think Apple missed anything. The market is saturated with manufacturers. Leave Apple doing the things it's good at.

12vElectronics said:

I don't think Apple missed anything. The market is saturated with manufacturers. Leave Apple doing the things it's good at.

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Since they now own Beats and Beats sells the largest percentage of premium priced headphones, they went into the business at the top of the market.

Personally, I own several premium headphones and I don't own Beats, so this isn't an endorsement of SQ.

Ploki said:

my SO : significant other, or, girlfriend

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Ah, ok. I thought SO was an abbreviation for a brand.

All I know is that to use the Apple headphones I have to keep going to radioshack to get the little black cushions because otherwise they keep falling from my ears.