Grad Student."What's your opinion of "Beats by Dre" headphones? Every other kid has them at MCC. product ratings/reviews are pretty good. They seem pretty overpriced and have been described to me by one student as "Bose for your head." Is that even a good thing?"
Asked by livadas
I’ve never used them, so I shouldn’t have an opinion….but I do.
Beats, and their parent company, Monster Audio, are the masters of marketing and branding audio gear so that it is perceived as ‘hip’ and better than the rest. Just notice how much advertising they have on American Idol. Naturally, I have an aversion to ‘hip’ things, as I am not hip.
I’ve always had a dislike of anything made by Monster, since they take advantage of unknowing/ignorant people. Their audio cables, they tout as the best around, charge a huge markup, however are the same thing you can buy for much cheaper, or even make yourself.
As far as the headphones, they look like normal noise canceling headphones, which were developed by Bose…patented in 1986….which makes the “Bose for your head” statement kind of odd. I’m not a huge fan of noise canceling headphones in general, though I have used them on flights and in the subway.
The only novel thing I can see with these is the on/off button for one touch muting without having to go to your playback device.
Like I said, I’ve never used them, mainly because I’ve only bought one pair of $200+ headphones in my life. I’ve had them for 6 years now, and they never leave my recording studio.
Perhaps someday I can get someone to loan me a pair and I can try them out for a day, then I can have a true opinion.
But for now, based on my past knowledge of Monster Audio products, my opinion is that they are overpriced and well marketed.
