For anyone who has owned Beats, are they worth it?

Never owned a pair, but I hear they’re absolute garbage.

They’re garbage. Overpriced uncomfortable garbage. You’re paying for a name rather than quality. I got a pair of sony headphones 3 years ago. They sound way better, are actually comfortable and only cost $50.

I found the bass a bit “muddy” (i.e. it sounded fake, a little too much bass) and the Beats Solo were a bit uncomfortable—kind of pressed on my ears. Are you specifically looking for something bass-heavy or just nicer non-audiophile headphones in general? If the latter, I’d recommend the Bose AE2, but they aren’t known for their bass.

Dr. Dre. Hip Hop. The Douche Factor. Pure image, a so called urban one at that.

I wouldn’t buy a Beats product just like I wouldn’t wear a track suit to the mall. My sensibility simply won’t allow me to give others the impression that I selected a product based on image. Not to mention the great likelihood that the sound quality would be poor to the point of annoying.

The portable Mp3 market has come of age. There are now fully compatible products available from companies that have known what they’re doing for decades. Sennheiser and Bang & Olufsen come to mind. I’ve had much experience with the latter.

For now I use these:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/ME186LL/A/apple-in-ear-headphones-with-remote-and-mic

They are two way for broader range. The silicon tips passively reduce environmental noise but much more importantly hold the bud securely in the ear to reduce sudden changes in bass perception due to driver movement. The tips wear but Apple has given me countless replacements in store simply for asking.

Before Apple’s purchase of Beats the solution was simple: buy something else.

Now the Apple-Beats pow wow is reality, This confuses me because from my perspective Apple’s and (honorary?) Doctor Dre’s philosophies couldn’t be more polar.

What can we expect now? A Beats logotype on every Apple ‘bud?

But there’s a probability that the problem will get much worse:

There’s an ugly rumor that Apple plans to eschew the venerable phone jack on it’s future products. Headphones and earbuds will connect through the Lightning connector.

Sure, an adapter will likely be offered. I paid $30 to be able to connect my expensive and beautiful Apple 40 pin component A/V cable to my then new iPhone 5S.

The adapter adds bulk and puts greater stress on the port. This isn’t a problem in a home application but would be pretty close to unacceptable in my pocket for portable listening.

This switch would be partially excused as dedicated ‘buds will likely serve double duty as a sensor for Apple’s coming suite of health and fitness applications (would a doctor trust you’d gotten your blood type correct and just start pumping the wrong stuff into you?)

Apple’s aesthetic convention might not allow a cord that splits at the bottom to connect to both the phone jack and Lightning connector.

What could be done that would really impress me? Built in active noise cancelling support.

Everything is already there hardware wise:

Mic in OEM buds.

Power source (iPhone battery).

The proximity of phone jack and Lightning connector on current iPhones.

Apple and Beats. The whole thing just has me scratching my head. do we really need audio headware that matches our kicks?

@DominicX No highs, no lows, must be Bose.

@SecondHandStoke You’re more than likely right. I know it’s all rumor mill shit right now but I really think Apple bought Beats in preparation to gear up for a the new lighting connection. Get ready to buy all new shit for your Apple products – _ -.

@kimchi Probably the Beats Solo, a.k.a. the cheapest one

I have used it. Ugh, it’s uncomfortable. The sound is like… something buzzing in your ear along with the music. And using it, you can listen to some background sound, but some main sound are put in the background. For instance, you listen to a song. You can hear some background sound better than other earphones, but the singer’s voice can be sunk in the background sound! That’s totally unnecessary. My ears usually hurt after a while of using it.

If you want a good pair of earphones, go directly to a store with your music player and try every single earphones being sold there until you find a good one. Don’t just buy because of the name. Some earphones made from less-known branches are surprisingly good.

My daughter got the Beats Mixrs for Christmas and had to return them. They gave her a headache and couldn’t wear them.

She swapped them out for the Beats Solo. She says they don’t bother her head. I listened to them and the sound is okay at best.

Beats don’t have a very good reputation. Check out Head- Fi. http://www.head-fi.org/