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Apple to buy Dr.Dre's Beats for 3 Billion

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Maybe it's for the music service, or the clout Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have in the music industry. But I share the concerns some voice about the possible deal.
 
There are so many new companies jumping into the headphone market plus all the established headphone companies. Three big ones is a lot of scratch to pay. I sure hope someone know what they are doing.
 
Actually the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Wireless got the top rating by Consumer Reports in its most recent noise canceling headphone ratings. But it costs between $350-400, so it's not a casual purchase. Other reviewers said it was good, but overpriced compared to the competition. So evidently those who "voice" the products have toned things down somewhat for a more natural, though still tailored, sound quality. I might just ask if they have a review sample, though the acquisition process will probably put the kibosh on that.

My current headphone of choice is a Grado SR225. Looks simple and a bit old fashioned, but they sound real good. There is no noise canceling, however.
 
I'd pick Sony mdr-7506 or Sennheiser HD - 280 over any shite that Beats puts out. I guess the money that Apple is paying is for the music service. I can't imagine anybody shelling out this type of cash for their headphones.
 
This is an advanced look at my The Tech Night Owl — Cutting-Edge Tech Commentary blog:
But what about those allegedly overpriced headphones? Well, I've done a little checking of reviews. True, the first Beats Audio products were notorious for heavy bass and brittle highs, the better to exaggerate the impact of hip-hop and other pop music genres. It got lots of attention and high sales, particularly from younger people.

A couple of years back, for example, The Mac Observer's Bryan Chaffin observed in his review of one of those early models, "Beats headphones reinvigorated the high-end headphone market, but it did so with headphones that can turn any music into a muddy romp through a swampy bottom land of mush.”

Since then, though, it appears the audio engineers at Beats have been revoicing some of those headphones to tame the excesses and provide a more realistic sonic signature. A recent review of the $379.95 Beats Studio Wireless was praised for "excellent sound" and received four stars from CNET. The downsides were, predictably, the price of admission and the fact that "if the integrated rechargeable battery dies, the music dies." But that's also true for a Bose "Quiet Comfort" headphone, which is also pricy.

Consumer Reports, a magazine that traditionally doesn't really get consumer electronics, gave the Beats Executive a high 85 rating, putting it at the top of the heap among the tested noise canceling headphones. The magazine's reviewers concluded that the Executive had "excellent overall sound with a neutral character, and very good active noise reduction. Bass has good impact and definition, but is very slightly soft. Midrange is even and smooth, and treble is extended. Overall sound is fairly open, with good dynamics."

To CR, the Executive was the only model to deliver "excellent" audio quality, and was thus rated ahead of noise-cancelling headphones from such makers as SMS, Bose, PSB Speakers, AKG, Koss and Velodyne.
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truthseeker said:
What do you primarily use them for? I thought that all monitor headphones were pretty flat sounding which is ideal for studio production.
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I use them for music , audio-podcasts and some video watching.They have an excellent , natural sound : i hear things i never heard before in music.They are by no means for bass heads , but if there's bass in the recording , you can hear it very good and deep.Bass , highs and mids sound like they should.Build quality is top.One problem maybe : they have some clamp for some people .I fixed this by stretching the headband to 180° for a few seconds : problem solved.
 
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