2 ms·

I find the Beats-bashing to be very suspect. It's funny how a hobby (hi-fi, audiophile, whatever you want to call it) dominated by white men just happens to ge

I find the Beats-bashing to be very suspect. It's funny how a hobby (hi-fi, audiophile, whatever you want to call it) dominated by white men just happens to get so incensed over something marketed by and to the urban crowd. Why aren't we angry about every other thing that's endorsed by celebrities? Why this one in particular? I don't think the folks behind Activia yogurt "played everybody for a fool" or "had us over a barrel from the beginning" because they hired Jamie Lee Curtie as a spokesperson. They certainly didn't spend their budget on inventing a better tasting yogurt or one with different cultures in it, that's for sure. "Sound quality" is not a great reason to pick on Beats. Most headphones and speakers (under $1000 or so) aren't even trying to sound neutral; they're intentionally boosting certain frequencies and suppressing others. Beats headphones are obviously massively boosting the bass, but this isn't any less "accurate" than, say, your average Grado headphones and many enthusiasts (myself included) really enjoy those things. Marco Arment had the perfect analogy, I think. "Beats did to headphones what Starbucks did to coffee: while they’re not the best, they’re a huge upgrade from what most people were using before, and they’ve dramatically increased the market and mainstream acceptability of spending $200–400 on full-sized headphones and wearing them in public." While the changes brought by Beats and Starbucks haven't been entirely positive, even if you don't like them, they've definitely expanded the market. The net effect of Beats is that there are TONS of great headphones on the market now, more than there were ten years ago. For a guy like me who's a fan of that stuff that's good news even though I'm not a Beats customer.

gagege 12y ago
No, we bash Beats because they are an inferior overpriced product. I'm no audiophile, but I do like to think of myself as a savvy consumer, so when I hear some 14 year old saying "Beats are better" I just might tell him that he can get something way better for the same price. I hate seeing people get duped by marketing. That story is not hypothetical, by the way.
- icebraining 12y ago
  Inferior and better are subjective. I'm not sure the 14 year old judges by the same metric as you.
Grue3 12y ago
>It's funny how a hobby (hi-fi, audiophile, whatever you want to call it) dominated by white men just happens to get so incensed over something marketed by and to the urban crowd. Isn't peddling overpriced shit to underprivileged (and underinformed) population the actual problem here? You have there a white guy, Jimmy Iovine, selling shit product to poor urban youth, and it's audiophiles who are at fault for exposing this fact?
- icebraining 12y ago
  There's nothing to expose. Go show some measurements of the sound quality of Beats vs cheaper brands that those users believe in, and the next day you'll still see them buying Beats. It's not a shit product. You're just unable to appreciate what the buyers see in them.
- JohnBooty 12y ago
  Nearly all headphones and speakers intentionally boost some frequencies and suppress others. Some genres like hip-hop and electronic music sound really good with comically exaggerated bass like that offered by the Beats. Clearly that company is giving some music fans what they want. They're not exactly producing a product I want, but I'm pretty okay with that. I don't feel the need to "expose" them or claim that they "have everybody over a barrel." I just... don't buy them. > You have there a white guy, Jimmy Iovine, selling > shit product to poor urban youth, and it's > audiophiles who are at fault for exposing this fact? Well, I'm not going to look inside your head and tell you what you're thinking. So maybe this doesn't apply to you but in general the negative feelings towards Beats seem to be best summarized as: "oh, we hate this product whose sound and looks are tailored to urban tastes."

gagege 12y ago

No, we bash Beats because they are an inferior overpriced product. I'm no audiophile, but I do like to think of myself as a savvy consumer, so when I hear some 14 year old saying "Beats are better" I just might tell him that he can get something way better for the same price. I hate seeing people get duped by marketing. That story is not hypothetical, by the way.

icebraining 12y ago
Inferior and better are subjective. I'm not sure the 14 year old judges by the same metric as you.

Grue3 12y ago

>It's funny how a hobby (hi-fi, audiophile, whatever you want to call it) dominated by white men just happens to get so incensed over something marketed by and to the urban crowd. Isn't peddling overpriced shit to underprivileged (and underinformed) population the actual problem here? You have there a white guy, Jimmy Iovine, selling shit product to poor urban youth, and it's audiophiles who are at fault for exposing this fact?

icebraining 12y ago
There's nothing to expose. Go show some measurements of the sound quality of Beats vs cheaper brands that those users believe in, and the next day you'll still see them buying Beats. It's not a shit product. You're just unable to appreciate what the buyers see in them.
JohnBooty 12y ago
Nearly all headphones and speakers intentionally boost some frequencies and suppress others. Some genres like hip-hop and electronic music sound really good with comically exaggerated bass like that offered by the Beats. Clearly that company is giving some music fans what they want. They're not exactly producing a product I want, but I'm pretty okay with that. I don't feel the need to "expose" them or claim that they "have everybody over a barrel." I just... don't buy them. > You have there a white guy, Jimmy Iovine, selling > shit product to poor urban youth, and it's > audiophiles who are at fault for exposing this fact? Well, I'm not going to look inside your head and tell you what you're thinking. So maybe this doesn't apply to you but in general the negative feelings towards Beats seem to be best summarized as: "oh, we hate this product whose sound and looks are tailored to urban tastes."