I guess you dont take anything else that they do into account? Extreme sound quality is not something people are expecting in a package that small.
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Apple Not Expected to Announce Any New Beats Products at Wednesday's Event
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I don't understand all the hate for Beats. How many of you complaining actually tried some of the recent models? The only blaring omission from the Studio3, which are a fantastic sounding pair, is the USB-C charging. They stuck with the order Micro-USB connectors.
BeatsX are also quite good. They use lighting cable, which is great. They sound way better than EarPods.
BeatsX are also quite good. They use lighting cable, which is great. They sound way better than EarPods.
I am guessing Beats does a solid business with Android handset users, as well, most of whom use micro-USB for handset power, so this might be why Apple has not switched.
If Apple moves to USB-C as a standard, I believe it will be with the 2019 iPhones and iPads (not the 2018 iPad Pros) so that would also be the time to launch Apple's own headphones with USB-C along with a Beats update to USB-C and USB-C AirPods cases. Just update the whole lot from Lightning to USB-C in one go.
In other news:
Company spends billions of dollars on god knows what only to have a stale product pipeline that Tim Cook is excited about. *Plays videos of expensive stores and green power stations built in other countries*
Company spends billions of dollars on god knows what only to have a stale product pipeline that Tim Cook is excited about. *Plays videos of expensive stores and green power stations built in other countries*
I only ever got the free ones they give away with the purchase of a new Mac. Even free they're not worth it...
Yup, it's beyond me why they bought them in the first place. They should have teamed up with the professional division of Ultimate Ears. Would have been a much better match for apple, their IEs start at $499 up to $2199 and provide excellent quality for those who simply listen to music as well as musicians (on stage and studio). Throw in Fischer Amps (european UE distributer with their own brand) and you have something in the €200 to €600 range. Other choices for over ears are Beyerdynamic and if wireless is a must have, Sony MX1000 too.
One thing I'd like to see from Apple is AirPods 2. I'd happily buy a pair for the office, for phone or video calls. A cable bothers me there and I like to walk around when doing audio only calls. For video conferences the big bulky over ears look a little funny.
I guess I'm not allowed to have an opinion if my join date is later than yours? Well, that invalidades my opinion.
Now if I may:
See the Sennheiser PXC 550 ($350) which will run miles around anything made by Beats and is priced similarly. Or the Sony MDR-XB50BS ($60 or so) that will destroy the PowerBeats and costs 1/2 the price.
As said in this thread, people will get Beats headphones free with Macs and that's the only thing that's pushing them off the shelves.
Beats headphones are equivalent in sound to headphones half the price or thereabouts. If you'll admit you would like to pay $150 just so, the first time you use your headphones, a prompt shows up on your iPhone instead of you having to open Settings (the horror !!!!!!), that's something else.
They wanted the Executive Team (specifically folks like Jimmy Iovine) to spearhead the launch of Apple Music. As the johnmc noted, the headphone business was just a very nice bonus (since market forecasts showed Beats Electronics owned a majority of the Over-$100 headphone market).
The amount of hate towards beats really isn’t indicative of anything just because of this one thread. Beats is a _huge_ entity and branding throughout the audio world, even though it may not necessarily be the ‘best of the best’, it’s still decent sound for what most consumers are looking for, and of course if somebody wants a better listening experience, there are obviously other competitor options, but with a higher price tag.
Eh, I bought the PXC550 last year -- and in my opinion, yes, they are better than the only Beats I've spent significant time with (Solo 2 Wireless), but not by a huge mark. Feature wise, yes, the PXC550 are much better since the Solo line doesn't have ANC. I didn't like the max volume through BT on the PXC500, though, frankly -- I wanted to push it one more notch up on some older, pre-loudness war recordings.
As for the notion that the only thing pushing Beats off the shelves is those limited promos when people get them free with Macs -- that's just way off. It's not even close.
Beats are not, by any means, my favorite headphones (and I have 50+ because I'm a weirdo), but they are not by any stretch the sonic horror they were when they first came out. No less a headphone guru than Tyll Hertsens, formerly of Inner Fidelity, retired earlier this year and the Beats Solo3 were one of the few headphones he decided were worth keeping. Yup!
You must not have ever tried AirPods if you think they sound like garbage, and they actually cost $159 btw.
Apple is in the business of selling products that a vast majority or people are interested in. The amount of people wanting to buy $500+ headphones and amps is likely extremely small. Beats are more than enough for the average person.
Totally agree. The AirPods hurt my ears, and don't stay in. And Apple's old corded in-ear were the best in-ear buds I've ever owned. Would be psyched to see this happen.
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I knew they were crap before…but wasn't Apple supposed to "up the quality"? Did they?
[...]
Apple's keynote begins Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, at Steve Jobs Theater, situated on its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Article Link: Apple Not Expected to Announce Any New Beats Products at Wednesday's Event
Anybody else notice Wednesday is not Tuesday?
I've seen no evidence that the quality of Beats products has changed one way or the other after the acquisition. Seems like Apple is content to let them be themselves.
Love my matte black Solo3. Although I went with Bose soundsport over Powerbeats for workouts; the Bose sound better.
Now that's even worse.
I have tried them and they are garbage (unless your gold standard for audio are EarPods).
You can say you like them for the convenience, connectivity, case, design, for the sexy, soothing sound of Jony Ive voiceovers but not for their sound and that for me is unforgivable.