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Concept Imagines What Rumored Apple Over-Ear Headphones Might Look Like

+1 to rainbow Apple logo
+1 to fabric cover (although... how easy is it to clean?)
-1 to bulky, plastic headband with additional logo
-1 to Siri blob
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Dilster3k said:
What's this article on about...? Apple DOES sell over-ear headphones. The cheap plastic and ugly...

152757-beats-mh8j2zm-1-medium.png
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It would definitely be weird for Apple to introduce some non-Beats over-ear headphones.

It reminds me of when Steve came back to Apple and cut almost everything from the product line. Apple were like any PC OEM, selling various different towers. So when a customer wanted to know what the best product for them was, nobody could quite tell them. There was a massive product matrix and Steve slimmed it down to a 2x2: Consumer vs Pro, and Notebook vs Desktop. Back then, it was iMac, iBook, PowerMac, PowerBook.

What would be Apple's story: what are the best over-ear headphones to buy? The Apple ones or the Beats ones?

EDIT: Found it (16m):
 
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That‘s from the future in which Disney owns Apple and Princess Leia is VP of HW...
 
wilsonlaidlaw said:
The sensible thing would be to purchase the design of the PM3 planar magnetic phones from Oppo-digital, now they are exiting the business. These are superb phones and all that is needed is a minor update of the appearance and replacement of the synthetic ear pads with real leather. Far cheaper and I suspect better than anything Apple will develop in house.
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Sadly I don’t think Apple will come close to the sound of the Oppo PM3, the PM3’s will probably sound better than what they will release; I have the PM3 and Chord Mojo in my backpack as my travel combo. If Apple goes ANC and or wireless the audiophile tag won’t be attached, but will probably try to sell in the high end price range, just not high end sound. I just don’t see the point since Apple Music is streamed at 256kbps AAC, they’d have to at least offer a 1.4Mbps option and I’m sure the majority of Apple Music users won’t care much for a high end option.

If I had to guess, Apple will probably create a closed-back biocellulose or magnesium based driver that’s wireless with more advanced ANC than their Studio3’s; W2 chip? I’d bet the ear pads will be microfibre as I don’t see Apple using real leather. On a side note, 1000% agree, Oppo should have offered a real leather option for the PM3, their Achilles heel in the long run. If Apple went planarmagnetic, now that would be real interesting.
 
No.

The only way I buy thiz thing is if they adds a BIG luminous APPLE logo on both sides and logo must change the color based on the music im playing. For example reggaetón, hiphop, techno, etc. All full automatic. Should have no buttons, just fully operated via Siri.

Also, It MUST show the album’s ART im playing on both sides so everybody can c it. And, when there’s no music, it can show all my selfies from instagram.

Also it must have noise canceling and sound as good-or better- than Beats by Dr Dre which is top noch quality. Price it’s not a problem 4 me as long the volume can be rised to an insane level if i want to. A gold version could be a big plus..
 
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springsup said:
+1 to rainbow Apple logo
+1 to fabric cover (although... how easy is it to clean?)
-1 to bulky, plastic headband with additional logo
-1 to Siri blob
[doublepost=1523051056][/doublepost]

It would definitely be weird for Apple to introduce some non-Beats over-ear headphones.

It reminds me of when Steve came back to Apple and cut almost everything from the product line. Apple were like any PC OEM, selling various different towers. So when a customer wanted to know what the best product for them was, nobody could quite tell them. There was a massive product matrix and Steve slimmed it down to a 2x2: Consumer vs Pro, and Notebook vs Desktop. Back then, it was iMac, iBook, PowerMac, PowerBook.

What would be Apple's story: what are the best over-ear headphones to buy? The Apple ones or the Beats ones?

EDIT: Found it (16m):
Click to expand...

They will just be different, for different user base. It’s not a question of which one is better, I believe. Like now, there are AirPods, as well as Beats X and others from Beats. AirPods have some positives and negatives and Beats have other positives and other negatives. They are good for different usage scenarios, so not conflicting towards each other!
 
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I'm not really impressed, I've tried many headsets over the last decades and compared with other brands, as for today, I've found that the Bose C30/35 Quietcomfort is superior when it comes down to convenience wearing headsets during a long period of time. Of course, it's all subjective, especially dealing with sound quality. But most criticasters do agree that the Bose has the best "wearable" headsets as for convenience.

So I sure hope Apple will come up with a more oval shape instead of round ones.

Next point I like to address, these add-ons, please no lightning on the backside of the headsets. It's highly distractive, it doesn't serve any logical point other than to show off, 'look, my Siri is making lights, so now everyone can see I'm using these more expensive Apple headsets'. It looks cheap to me, really, less is more, Steve Jobs knew all about that aspect. So I hope Apple will not come up with some animated Siry lightning on the back.

My 2 cents
 
I’ve never, ever met anyone with perfectly round ears, so why all these perfectly round headphones?
 
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Babu Life said:
I hope they dont have the Siri on the side. Way too bulky I think for Apples designs usually
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IF they have noise cancelling, bluetooth, buttons, a battery, etc... there is only so thin you can make them. See the thickness of Bose QC 35's
 
Whoever made these mockup designs and the video is super ***** talented man!!!!!!!!
I think the top of the HomePod design rather than going outer would more likely be on the inside.
yeah these maybe like they’re too bulky, Apple will slim them down, less is more, but hats off to the individual or team that created these imagined design concepts, I’d be more interested to see their portfolio of designs/ideas etc than I would the real AirPods+ (Yup they’re called AirPods+ but you didn’t hear that from me). incredible talent!!
 
The likelihood of the HomePod mesh material being on any Apple headphones is low. Unless it’s a different material, it would wear quickly and be a nightmare to keep clean... a HomePod isn’t an item you pick up and handle regularly like headphones. Simply taking the materials of a HomePod and implementing it on a concept for headphones is at most.. hopeful. Highly doubting they would like this.. and definitely too bulky.
 
I don't understand why they would fragment this way. They bought beats. Why would they put out apple branded and beats branded headphones when they would ostensibly be so similar?
 
dwaltwhit said:
I don't understand why they would fragment this way. They bought beats. Why would they put out apple branded and beats branded headphones when they would ostensibly be so similar?
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Are AirPods similar to BeatsX or Powerbeats3? No, they are not! They serve different purposes and they have totally different sound approach. So I guess Apple headphones will also be quite different from Beats Studio with some innovative design, serving different purposes. Apple headphones, if really in production, will be something completely new, which has not been produced from anyone else up to now...
 
SparkOnShore said:
Are AirPods similar to BeatsX or Powerbeats3? No, they are not! They serve different purposes and they have totally different sound approach. So I guess Apple headphones will also be quite different from Beats Studio with some innovative design, serving different purposes. Apple headphones, if really in production, will be something completely new, which has not been produced from anyone else up to now...
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Right. Airpods are different than the wireless offerings from Beats. For apple to release an apple branded, "higher end" over the ear headphone while also selling a beats branded "higher end" over the ear headphone seems silly.

Now with that said if they released a $500 headphone that was actually high end for studio professionals, that seems to make more sense but they would either brand them as Beats Pro or decide not to get into a game where highly trained ears have most likely picked their ride or die brand of headphone.
 
dwaltwhit said:
I don't understand why they would fragment this way. They bought beats. Why would they put out apple branded and beats branded headphones when they would ostensibly be so similar?
Click to expand...

I do not have first-person experience, but I have read plenty stating that Beats headphones are optimized for very deep and strong bass response which can impact listening to other forms of music that do not have such bass.

I would expect an Apple headphone to offer a more "balanced" / neutral frequency response making it more "appropriate" for general listening.
 
CWallace said:
I do not have first-person experience, but I have read plenty stating that Beats headphones are optimized for very deep and strong bass response which can impact listening to other forms of music that do not have such bass.

I would expect an Apple headphone to offer a more "balanced" / neutral frequency response making it more "appropriate" for general listening.
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Sure. But why have totally different brands rather than 2 products in the same line? Beats Bass vs Beats pro or something.
 
dwaltwhit said:
Sure. But why have totally different brands rather than 2 products in the same line? Beats Bass vs Beats pro or something.
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I have read that the Beats Brand is at least in part defined by all of their speaker offerings having deep base response. A set of headphones that did not offer such deep bass response would be "off-brand" for Beats, but not "off-brand" for Apple.

Also, while there is a certain part of the marketplace that is positive towards Beats as both a brand and a line of products, there is a certain part of the marketplace that is negative to them on those grounds. By offering the headset under the Apple brand, it would open up more opportunities, especially since Beats already offers the Studio 3 which includes noise-cancelling and the W1 chip so it would be replicating an existing product in many ways if they offered it under the Beats brand.
 
CWallace said:
I have read that the Beats Brand is at least in part defined by all of their speaker offerings having deep base response. A set of headphones that did not offer such deep bass response would be "off-brand" for Beats, but not "off-brand" for Apple.

Also, while there is a certain part of the marketplace that is positive towards Beats as both a brand and a line of products, there is a certain part of the marketplace that is negative to them on those grounds. By offering the headset under the Apple brand, it would open up more opportunities, especially since Beats already offers the Studio 3 which includes noise-cancelling and the W1 chip so it would be replicating an existing product in many ways if they offered it under the Beats brand.
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You have done the impossible: You have changed my opinion! And on the internet no less!
 
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