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I can't even come close to grasping the concept of spending that much money on a pair of head phones. The sound isn't that much better. Not worth $300. The company is not worth $3Billion. Apple should have spent this money on something useful such as legacy software support that would have kept the hundreds of thousands of older software programs able to work in Yosemite. That would have been useful.

And that's why you're sitting to your computer on a forum typing away with your opinions while Apple is sitting on billions of dollars of available cash. I think they know about business and what something is worth far more than you.
 
Almost irrelevant to the topic: I really kind of want to find some broken Beats and see if I can transplant some Koss speakers into them. I am a sucker who wants the design, but I just don't want that [lack of] sound quality.

I wonder if this is doable...

Buy some cheap knock off beats and try, the knock offs pretty much copy the shell exactly and you can often find the knockoffs for not much more than the price of a coffee.
 
I can't even come close to grasping the concept of spending that much money on a pair of head phones. The sound isn't that much better. Not worth $300. The company is not worth $3Billion. Apple should have spent this money on something useful such as legacy software support that would have kept the hundreds of thousands of older software programs able to work in Yosemite. That would have been useful.

Useful and unprofitable. They aren't responsible for other software developers not updating their apps. A company is worth how much is paid for it, and in this case it was $3 billion. I spent $3000 on a retina iMac. Hey, it's not that much better to some. Oh well, it's money we earn to spend.
 
Is this commentary from the echo chamber, or do Beats headphones really lack in sound quality? How can that be if they are making such high margins on the products? Is it all about the brand, and they could care less about the quality?

Got a comparison to point to?

They really do lack in sound quality, at least up to the Solo HDs (haven't listened to the newest stuff). It's bass heavy. Mids and highs are terrible. If you're looking for loud and low, they're OK. Anything with detail or a neutral sound profile? Nope.

As you suggest, it's entirely about branding. They make high margins on the products because consumers are stupid and don't know any better. Or don't care. Through a combination of apathy and willful ignorance, along with good marketing, the brand peddles POS gear as "high quality," and the ignorant masses eat it up. They don't actually care about sound quality, nor need they as a mass market product -- most people's source material is heavily encoded 128 kbps.

Same thing with Bose, though they targeted the upper end of the low end market (older people). I'm sure there will be a bunch of Bose apologists in here, though. For the record, I do own a pair of QC15s, and while they're great for noise canceling, the sound quality is average at best.

If you want a comparison for good headphones, go look at Sennheiser, Grado, AT, or even the Sony high ends.
 
I can't even come close to grasping the concept of spending that much money on a pair of head phones. The sound isn't that much better. Not worth $300. The company is not worth $3Billion. Apple should have spent this money on something useful such as legacy software support that would have kept the hundreds of thousands of older software programs able to work in Yosemite. That would have been useful.

No Company is worth what its acquired for. But this is what you do when you're sitting on a stockpile of cash. Apple made them a Godfather offer which they accepted... and now they'll carry $2.2B of Goodwill forever :D.
 
Still not personally sure about the Beats acquisition, though. The audio balance issues people describe with their product sound awful and there's no reason why Apple couldn't change that if they wanted to, but at the same time I'm sure much of it is complete exaggeration on the part of people who have decided to spend plenty of money on other brands and never owned one of those expensive Beats products in the first place. There's probably plenty of truth to go around on different sides of the argument.

Maybe they'll have some set up in the Apple Store when I visit sometime so I can actually try them out and form an opinion for myself.

Either way, the acquisition must bear plenty of fruit to warrant the price tag.

this, for billions of dollars?

Yes! The entirety of their purchase culminates in this one product refresh. I do hope it succeeds, otherwise the purchase was a complete waste. /s
 
Why wouldn't Apple put a small hard drive, shuffle like size, in the ear muff of the Beats Solo headphones? Set it up for WiFi synching when you charge the headphones at night. Seems like a no brainer to me...

Because anyone who would want that probably already has an iPhone.
 
As you suggest, it's entirely about branding. They make high margins on the products because consumers are stupid and don't know any better. Or don't care. Through a combination of apathy and willful ignorance, along with good marketing, the brand peddles POS gear as "high quality," and the ignorant masses eat it up. They don't actually care about sound quality, nor need they as a mass market product -- most people's source material is heavily encoded 128 kbps.

You're right about the branding but you're wrong about the ignorance and not caring about sound quality. Beats is marketed to kids. Kids see sports stars and recording artists wearing these headphones. When they see them wearing them they want a pair thinking they're going to be good because they cost $300-$400. Kids don't generally test out high-end headphones.

My personal favorite especially over the Senns are the Bowers & Wilkins P7's. Well worth the $400 and possibly more IMO.
 
Why are they using MicroUSB for these headphones? Why wouldn't they do lightning?
 
Kind of defines the current state of innovation at Apple.

New bluetooth headphones. Please.

Buying Dre for the "cool" factor.

I agree with above posts, run of the mill, dated tech, overpriced, but supposedly cool.

Next year Apple will innovate them with a gold color.

Although from a business perspective, cool sells and you can overcharge for it.
 
My biggest issue isn't with the sound quality. I know it could be better but for me its good enough. I just think they are SOOO uncomfortable and aren't practical for folding up and transporting. If apple would address these issues then I think I could be happy with them. I somehow doubt they will though because apple is more about design asthetics than they are about comfort and functionality. Unless they address practical issues I'm staying away.
 
I've always had terrible lag with Bluetooth audio devices and watching a video. Wonder if they can make these things without latency so I can watch YouTube on an iPhone or iPad with headphones and not have the mouth be off.
 
Why wouldn't Apple put a small hard drive, shuffle like size, in the ear muff of the Beats Solo headphones? Set it up for WiFi synching when you charge the headphones at night. Seems like a no brainer to me...

I hope if they do they use TLC NAND flash for the 128GB model.
 
Kind of defines the current state of innovation at Apple.

New bluetooth headphones. Please.

Buying Dre for the "cool" factor.

I agree with above posts, run of the mill, dated tech, overpriced, but supposedly cool.

Next year Apple will innovate them with a gold color.

Although from a business perspective, cool sells and you can overcharge for it.

Not the Solo2, but they're already one step ahead of you

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/M...a47e03518f859bc3d63e261907921a088d0de5644bbed
 
I splurged and bought a pair of beats studio wireless a couple months ago. Def bass heavy...but with an EQ catering towards mids and highs, they sound amazing. They also look good, which is part of the price (the titanium color...can't imagine spending $400 on a pair of yellow headphones).
 
Almost irrelevant to the topic: I really kind of want to find some broken Beats and see if I can transplant some Koss speakers into them. I am a sucker who wants the design, but I just don't want that [lack of] sound quality.

I wonder if this is doable...
Koss is probably no better or worse in sound. It's just that a decent sounding pair of Koss goes for $30 or less and Beats is $200. Not sure about build quality comparison.
 
My biggest issue isn't with the sound quality. I know it could be better but for me its good enough. I just think they are SOOO uncomfortable and aren't practical for folding up and transporting. If apple would address these issues then I think I could be happy with them. I somehow doubt they will though because apple is more about design asthetics than they are about comfort and functionality. Unless they address practical issues I'm staying away.

I totally agree with this. I did like the over-ear Bose BT headsets but I'm not a fan of them. I just wish someone would make a very good pair of in-ear BT headphones. I can't find one I like.
 
I had an early pair of Beats Studio (2009) headphones, and I thought they sounded amazing. I listen to mostly R&B, Hip-Hop (early 2000's), jazz, and some other music. I know people say that the sound on the Beats are horrible and that other manufacturers make better headphones, but I enjoy how they sound and how they make the music "feel". Sure its bass heavy but it sounds just right to me. I do wish they would actually try to make the sound more balanced. Earth, Wind and Fire don't need a heavy bass sound as much as the Brothers Johnson would.
 
Keep 'em coming.... more batteries to replace....

I'm trying to be positive here, but it I just can't
 
My pair of beyerdynamic headphones sounds better than the high-end Beats headphones... and more comfortable.

Apple, please hire some German or Japanese sound engineers and get the sound right on the Beats Headphones... The Sony MDR-7506 (from 1991) is better than SOLO HD/2 and it is under $100
 
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