So OP said his friends much prefer boosted bass. From that, I presumed they listened to current popular music, and my reply was in that context 🙂What Harman’ research tends to demonstrate is precisely that a majority of people actually don’t like the “Beats” sound. It’s a preconception but not the reality.
Besides the latest Beats actually measure decently if that means trying to adhere decently well to target curves that consumers tend to prefer, at least relative to their typical alternatives, and have little to do sound wise with their forebears.
When Harman did blind tests by simulating various headphones’ frequency response, the Beats came dead last in terms of user preference (cf video above).
If earlier Beats sold well, it isn’t because their FR corresponds to what most people like, but in spite of it.
Harman’s curve supposedly ressembles what a pair of speakers that measure flat in an anechoic chamber produce in a well designed listening room BTW.
So what if it is. I’ve paid nearly that for Sennheiser wired cans. If they have great sound and are comfortable is all that matters. Is Apple up to that top tier sound level don’t know if they are or not. Haven’t had any AirPods and the earbuds that came with phone they get tossed to the side anyway.And the price is $999
So OP said his friends much prefer boosted bass. From that, I presumed they listened to current popular music, and my reply was in that context 🙂
Those who like hip hop want bass you can feel, infrasonic and near-infrasonic. The kind of bass you get from subwoofers. Those consumers like a lot of bass, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But you can’t get that sound with any headphones. So they boost the bass, and to them, it sounds better. Whether they’re actually perceiving the missing (or highly attenuated) fundamental or just hearing the overtones (second, third and higher order harmonics) probably varies from person to person but isn’t particularly relevant.
I haven’t looked at the Harman stuff through the last couple revisions (which I assume are slight) but they did find a preference for more bass in younger listeners, I’d think based on preferred program material but maybe there’s another reason.
The Harman curve itself shows less of that preference because it’s averaged in with older listeners who actually prefer less bass.
Nailed it.If you’ve been paying attention to the Apple Watch, you’ll know that Apple sells lots of bands at ridiculous margin. And they just upped it with a $100 dollar piece of fabric. People eat it up, myself included. And the watch itself comes in many tiers of pricing.
These, being a wearable, will be no different. These will definitely come in lower than $300 for the base model. With one or maybe two higher tiers.
Psychologically, it’s easier to say yes to multiple low priced items rather than one high priced item. For some reason we will say yes to multiple items that may even end up costing more than the one item.
Apple knows this and takes advantage of it.
We are going to eat up the colorized magnetic ear pieces at $99. So cheap! Ha. This customizable high-tech pre-AR headset is going to just keep shooting Apple up the charts...
A strong Yes to all the above. You might already be aware, but Apple has one of the most innovative inventors ever in the field of audio engineering, Tomlinson Holman—the “TH” in THX—who has been at Apple since 2011 (promoted to Distinguished Engineer last September). The man is a legend—at least to audiophiles and audio engineers of a certain age lol.Apple has a decades-long history of extremely good sound quality, often reasonably priced and getting the major things correct without the audiophile fussiness.
- Original Airport Express - bit perfect wireless music since 2006
- iPods and iPhones - almost universally built with high end amps and DAC’s with perfectly flat response and very low output impedance.
- Lightning to 3.5mm adapter - a $9 dongle in an almost unbelievably compact size that puts almost the entire category of “portable amps/DAC‘s” (many costing hundreds of dollars) to shame.
- Homepod - extremely high end sound from a compact device that automatically adjusts to the space its in with no user input
- Airpod Pros - sound that matches or exceeds most wired in-ear monitors anywhere near the price category - yet with all the convenience of wireless.
I suspect I’m missing a bunch of others.
Even with a solid 5-figures in my “audiophile“ rack, when Apple does audio, I listen.
That picture is just guess work based on nothing of merit. I wouldn’t worry.
The idea of AirTags being a key part of a larger U1 network to "bridge" different devices, with privacy at the forefront, may explain what makes AirTags different from existing item trackers and why Apple has seemingly waited so long to unveil them. Not only does this have potential for more private, accurate, and widespread item tracking capabilities, but also close-range data transfer between devices with supplementary directional information.
And the price is $999
What does "more private" mean?
Private has a lot of meanings, but usually in an iOS context, Apple uses it to talk about passcode systems and keeping user data like Apple ID and contact information from being hacked or sold to advertisers.
"more private" item tracking doesn't make sense. If you lose a physical item, that by definition means it's no longer in your hands or physical control. Having a U1 chip inside doesn't make it any more in-range. If someone else finds it, no amount of tech is going to keep that device private to you.
Please be more descriptive.Or use a more appropriate word, that doesn't confuse this concept of "privacy" with everywhere else at Apple where that word is thrown around.
Well, the Apple wheels for the Mac Pro certainly compete with my car’s wheels on price.Doubtful. I’d say If Apple is to at least rival the competition with Sony, Bose and Sennheiser, realistically I’d say they will probably start somewhere around $599, and Probably be offered in a few different models with different materials, bundles, etc that will move upward in price.
Funnily enough, I just noticed on theIf you’ve been paying attention to the Apple Watch, you’ll know that Apple sells lots of bands at ridiculous margin. And they just upped it with a $100 dollar piece of fabric. People eat it up, myself included. And the watch itself comes in many tiers of pricing.
These, being a wearable, will be no different. These will definitely come in lower than $300 for the base model. With one or maybe two higher tiers.
Psychologically, it’s easier to say yes to multiple low priced items rather than one high priced item. For some reason we will say yes to multiple items that may even end up costing more than the one item.
Apple knows this and takes advantage of it.
We are going to eat up the colorized magnetic ear pieces at $99. So cheap! Ha. This customizable high-tech pre-AR headset is going to just keep shooting Apple up the charts...
Agreed, for the most part. "But you can’t get that sound with any headphones." Maybe not with headphones (i.e. over or on-ear) though earphones (i.e. in-ear) can create an identical sound experience because of their proximity to the eardrum and compression characteristic of the ear canal. Granted, you don't get the full (body) sensation of a subwoofer.So OP said his friends much prefer boosted bass. From that, I presumed they listened to current popular music, and my reply was in that context 🙂
Those who like hip hop want bass you can feel, infrasonic and near-infrasonic. The kind of bass you get from subwoofers. Those consumers like a lot of bass, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But you can’t get that sound with any headphones. So they boost the bass, and to them, it sounds better. Whether they’re actually perceiving the missing (or highly attenuated) fundamental or just hearing the overtones (second, third and higher order harmonics) probably varies from person to person but isn’t particularly relevant.
I haven’t looked at the Harman stuff through the last couple revisions (which I assume are slight) but they did find a preference for more bass in younger listeners, I’d think based on preferred program material but maybe there’s another reason.
The Harman curve itself shows less of that preference because it’s averaged in with older listeners who actually prefer less bass.
Perhaps I missed something as I didn't read every post, however, considering AirPods, AirPods Pro, and the Beats lineup are apparently satisfying the majority of general consumer needs, the Studio headphones would indeed be aimed at professionals. In which case, it would be embarrassing to release a product that doesn't have drivers with the most realistic, wide-range sound reproduction possible (I think).I would take a guess that whatever is release with have tuning will be more in-line with mass market perception of what sounds good out-of-the-box without EQ'ing and look good doing it.
Apple I'm sure know their demographic for headphones better than anyone and will EQ it to suit as many of those potential users as possible rather than those who want as-flat-as-possible.
No. No matter what you do, you're dealing with wireless technology which will always have latency issues in direct comparison to wired technology. Ask yourself how much latency is acceptable for your use-case and then make a decision on what you buy.Will these headphones be able to compete with wired headphones in terms of latency?
If Apple can do low latency and CD-quality sound I'm in.Will these headphones be able to compete with wired headphones in terms of latency? That's my second biggest complaint about wireless headphones, especially when using Logic Pro.
My first complaint is all of the fidgeting needed to get them to connect or to get both ears to connect.
No. No matter what you do, you're dealing with wireless technology which will always have latency issues in direct comparison to wired technology. Ask yourself how much latency is acceptable for your use-case and then make a decision on what you buy.
Bluetooth, with optional USBCYeah. That makes sense. With latency though, I'm confounded as to why Apple would include the word "studio" in the name.