Completely agree. ~$100 USD is all you need to pay for a good little speaker. Beats has always been higher priced, but $229 USD is a lot of money.
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Apple Announces Beats Pill+ Speaker Available in November for $229
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Completely agree. ~$100 USD is all you need to pay for a good little speaker. Beats has always been higher priced, but $229 USD is a lot of money.
Go to bestbuy, check out what is on sale for around 30% off, and see if you can actually tell a difference in sound.
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More important than the look and build is the sound, and judging from my brief demo the Pill+ is likely the best-sounding Pill ever. That's apparently all thanks to what's called a two-way active system, meaning that amplifiers are built into the speakers -- two in fact, one for each pair of woofer and tweeter. This helps better assign the different frequencies of music to the right parts of the speaker, resulting in better sound.
Maybe that should be four amplifiers? An active crossover divides low level signals into high and low frequencies before amplification. I don't think this person really has any idea what they're talking about.
More important than the look and build is the sound, and judging from my brief demo the Pill+ is likely the best-sounding Pill ever. That's apparently all thanks to what's called a two-way active system, meaning that amplifiers are built into the speakers -- two in fact, one for each pair of woofer and tweeter. This helps better assign the different frequencies of music to the right parts of the speaker, resulting in better sound.
Maybe that should be four amplifiers? An active crossover divides low level signals into high and low frequencies before amplification. I don't think this person really has any idea what they're talking about.
I remember this when it came out three years ago and I bought the TDK Retro Boombox thingie. Wow. Do they still make these? They looked quite different to the JamBox at the time but of course, the JamBox and Dr. Dre Pill speakers have gone by the wayside now. Still. If they've bought a batch cheap then kudos to Apple for some clever marketing there. I wouldn't have the nerve to rebadge them, mind but if you can get some cash back on old stock that way then why not?
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In terms of sound quality for consumer brands, I am pleased with Bose products. They certainly contain significantly higher quality analog components than Beats, which are notorious for being absurdly inexpensive to manufacture, with some of the highest profit margins ever seen in the audio industry. Beats make gorgeous products and have an incredible marketing team.
If you're not in need of portability, or wireless systems (the entire point of the Pill), getting a pair of something like the JBL LSR305 studio monitors are in a completely different league in terms of sound quality and still come in under $300. But at that point we're talking about an entirely different type of product. All about what you're looking for!
are you saying they got the price wrong? Because I'm confused, the article they link too says $229...
I can't speak for audiophiles, but for music mixers, no, the signal degradation that wireless Bluetooth audio necessitates is still a deal-breaker. Wi-Fi is more promising in terms of sound quality, but has other issues of its own. I do believe this will change eventually, Bluetooth has already came a very long way in terms of audio quality. But of course, Beats products are not intended for the very small market of audiophiles or music mixers.
I think I'll stick to my $20 iHome wired portable speakers, at that price. 
I've never been much of a fan of bluetooth, because while the wireless capabilities are nice, I haven't had much luck connecting and keeping a good connection with the speakers I've tried, so until that changes, and allows multiple speakers (which you can do with a standard audio jack) and the prices come down to a reasonable price, I'll stick with wired portable speakers. Plus, I can't use bluetooth on my 4th gen iPod classic or 6th gen iPod nano.
I've never been much of a fan of bluetooth, because while the wireless capabilities are nice, I haven't had much luck connecting and keeping a good connection with the speakers I've tried, so until that changes, and allows multiple speakers (which you can do with a standard audio jack) and the prices come down to a reasonable price, I'll stick with wired portable speakers. Plus, I can't use bluetooth on my 4th gen iPod classic or 6th gen iPod nano.
Then those people would be better off not getting a system that is explicitly designed to be portable and otherwise overpriced for the quality.
Hahahaha you couldn't even give this thing away to me, or any Beats product for that matter. Bose soundlink mini for my speaker, SOL X2's for my headphones. Same prices as their Beats counterparts yet far more valuable.
Only good Beats product is Beats 1 radio.
Only good Beats product is Beats 1 radio.
Not at other people's expense I wouldn't. But i guess i'm old fashioned that way.
I would like to see Siri integration in Apple speakers. I have an Echo that is fun to use and practical. Simple tasks, what is playing, change playlists, to weather today over voice. I am not saying Echo is wonderful, no one jump on me, the concept I like. Apple has an opportunity to use Siri like they are doing on the new Apple TV.
It looks like it's 2 amps feeding their own crossover, both of which output to a tweeter and a woofer.
Also great for the growing fitness industry, where instructors can take their Pill and iPod/iPhone and play music without a complicated setup at the gym/room/etc.
What about the design makes it simplistic? I'd describe it as a simple design. But I fail to see why the writer has to be derogatory in this way.
Or is the writer just semi-literate, and thinks a bigger word is more clever, even if it's inappropriate?
But you haven't even heard these speakers yet and you already formed an opinion on them?
It's okay I rather save my money for a better sounding and looking wireless speaker only hipsters will buy this begging their parents for it. Sad thing is you wonder why economy is doing so bad.
My $25 Amazon basics brand version of this thing works swimingly! For the price you cant go wrong..
Really? So what sized speakers would you expect someone to use on a home office desk? The Pills look to be the right size and I'm not even a Beats fan at all.
You mean that thing that constantly stutters, disconnects or won't connect at all? Yeah, I can live without that feature I thinkNo AirPlay??
Are these beats pills better than sonos? Audio quality wise? Can it stream high quality music or FLAC or anything like that?
Nice.
In.
I will definitely be buying one of these when they are released at Best Buy. I wanted the Beats Pill XL but when I was about to purchase one of those, Apple recalled it.
This should be the replacement for Beats Pill XL but they probably didn't want to replace it itself and wanted to keep this new version between the smaller and the original bigger Pill. Makes sense.
In.
I will definitely be buying one of these when they are released at Best Buy. I wanted the Beats Pill XL but when I was about to purchase one of those, Apple recalled it.
This should be the replacement for Beats Pill XL but they probably didn't want to replace it itself and wanted to keep this new version between the smaller and the original bigger Pill. Makes sense.
Does one really need to hear the Beats speaker to form a opinion? If you already heard the previous model I am sure this will be the same and trust me the HD audio quality isn't anything impressive especially when it comes to Bass quality.
While I can certainly appreciate that past performance is usually the strongest indicator of future performance, it does not eliminate the potential for improvement. I haven't personally tried anything from Beats, but my understanding from hearsay is that their latest efforts are significantly better than their early products. It might be slightly unfair to opine that quality is "the same" without hearing them.