Beats by Dre is a rip-off

Written by Rizoh. Posted in Gumbo

Published on October 09, 2008 with 50 Comments">50 Comments

So I finally got a chance to test-drive Beats by Dre at Best Buy earlier today and I have to say, the whole thing is ass backwards. You should’ve seen the face of a Best Buy associate when he saw me scribbling in my notepad.

To be fair, the sound quality is OK with decent bass production and warm mids. That said, it’s not the best headset in the world. I had trouble fitting the beats on my head to begin with. One of the headphones was broken, with wires hanging out. Once I finally placed a working pair on my head, I found it annoying that the right-ear cup rattled a bit. Stylish they are, comfortable they’re not.

If you have a recession-proof wallet and don’t mind dropping $350 on fancy headphones, this may be for you. But if you’re looking for quality sound and noise abatement in one piece, your $350 could be better spent elsewhere. And you might even have some change left to spare on an iPod.

Rizoh

Rizoh is the most powerful man in all the lands. He lives in Houston where he earned a BS in Nerf Herding. He's the founder of The Rap Up, the editor of Roc4Life.com, and is in the Grammy-awaiting band Pervertable Disciples.

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  • Ignite Mindz

    yeah, they shouldve known better than to charge 350. give it 6 months, i bet they drop the price or fall off the shelf. 3 AAA’s? most noise cancellers only need one. i dont think they look that great either. comfort is so important to headphones cause the edges of my ears hurt like hell after a while. i guess the dr. dre name is expensive as hell, warm mids is very important tho

  • Ignite Mindz

    yeah, they shouldve known better than to charge 350. give it 6 months, i bet they drop the price or fall off the shelf. 3 AAA’s? most noise cancellers only need one. i dont think they look that great either. comfort is so important to headphones cause the edges of my ears hurt like hell after a while. i guess the dr. dre name is expensive as hell, warm mids is very important tho

  • Ignite Mindz

    yeah, they shouldve known better than to charge 350. give it 6 months, i bet they drop the price or fall off the shelf. 3 AAA’s? most noise cancellers only need one. i dont think they look that great either. comfort is so important to headphones cause the edges of my ears hurt like hell after a while. i guess the dr. dre name is expensive as hell, warm mids is very important tho

  • TC

    Yeah, I’m cool with my Bose(s)

  • TC

    Yeah, I’m cool with my Bose(s)

  • TC

    Yeah, I’m cool with my Bose(s)

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    Bose blows the competition out the water. Mine are comfortable and sound quality is very impressive. The best part — no need for 3 AAA batteries.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    Bose blows the competition out the water. Mine are comfortable and sound quality is very impressive. The best part — no need for 3 AAA batteries.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    Bose blows the competition out the water. Mine are comfortable and sound quality is very impressive. The best part — no need for 3 AAA batteries.

  • krels

    what headphones are the best investment?

  • krels

    what headphones are the best investment?

  • krels

    what headphones are the best investment?

  • ian

    Had trouble fitting them on your head?? This is headphones we’re talking about, right? Don’t they all kind fow rok the same way? LOL…

    Dre should stick to finsihing Detox!

  • ian

    Had trouble fitting them on your head?? This is headphones we’re talking about, right? Don’t they all kind fow rok the same way? LOL…

    Dre should stick to finsihing Detox!

  • ian

    Had trouble fitting them on your head?? This is headphones we’re talking about, right? Don’t they all kind fow rok the same way? LOL…

    Dre should stick to finsihing Detox!

  • aycaramba

    BOSE = BuyOtherSoundEquipment

    You could have gotten so much better cans for the price you paid for those

  • aycaramba

    BOSE = BuyOtherSoundEquipment

    You could have gotten so much better cans for the price you paid for those

  • aycaramba

    BOSE = BuyOtherSoundEquipment

    You could have gotten so much better cans for the price you paid for those

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    ^^Got my Bose on and they sound like speakers.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    ^^Got my Bose on and they sound like speakers.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    ^^Got my Bose on and they sound like speakers.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    @Krels
    Depends on your priorities.

    Quality earbuds – Try Shure, esp. Shure SE530.

    Noise cancellation – I had the SE210s when I first got my iPod Touch and they’re excellent as far as noise cancellation goes. I found the earbuds a bit irritating though but that’s just cause I have big ears.

    Bluetooth/Headphones – Try the Jabra BT8030.

    Sound quality, comfort, durability, etc – Try BOSE, especially the on-ear or in-ear headphones.

  • khal

    $350 + AAA batteries? Christ!

  • Purpose

    Gotta agree with the Shure recommendation.

    I have the SE310. great headphones, crystal clear with separate bass drivers in the earbud.

    Ultimate ears are good as well.

  • graf

    Funny story, me and my boy went to Best Buy last weekend and saw the little kiosk with Dre’s headphones…yeah, one headphone was broke, hanging by the crappy wires that made it up and the other was intact. There were nasty, greesy fingerprints left behind and there was no way in hell I was placing them on my ears…I’ll stick with my Bose..

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    ^^Now that’s very strange. One headset was also broken apart at the Best Buy I visited.

  • Chaz

    While the Beats weren’t the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever tried, I must say they aren’t all that bad (in terms of comfort). In terms of sound, I’m rather spoiled, so I’d say for $350, you can get some superb Sennheiser cans.

    I haven’t tried them, but for $100, the Sennheiser HD-280s are better than both the Beats and Bose headphones.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/xn/detail/u_0xja1jb2vdmzl cocoreno

    I’ve owned these for about 4 months. Previously, I owned a pair of $75 Sony headphones that I used for 4+ years.

    My thoughts;

    1) They are comfortable. Slightly more so than either Bose (over-ear or on-ear) headphones and my prior Sony’s.

    2) I do not like the trend in headphones that “require” batteries to operate. These are no exception. While there is a small LED on the right headphone, I hate the fact I *have* to have batteries to use these. At the least, they should work (in limited form) with dead batteries. Call me lazy, but I often forget to turn them off (there is a switch under the LED on the right headphone) and often wear down the batteries quicker than I should.

    3) The noise-cancellation is quite good. I’ve had at least one experience with noise-cancel ling headphones forcing me to rip them off my head because of whatever ambient/computer-fan/background television noise not being processed correctly, causing a deafening’ “whoop-whoop-whoop”. One of these was a Sony headset (that said, not trying to bash Sony..)

    4) They are definitely overpriced. The packaging alone must have cost $20-30. I’m sure it would impress in a Hollywood gift-bag, but it annoyed me and was trashed everything but headphones and case as soon as I opened them. Sheeeeiiit, cut the cost and sell them in a Ziploc. More cred, less overhead.

    5) Cables are fully detachable and the headphones break down nicely and store in the case. The design shows through a bit here, at least.

    6) The “battery mechanism” is crap. A plastic cover that you have to turn 20-30 degrees by pressing it in and rotating. I could see myself breaking this at some point, probably from breaking one of the two tabs that secure it to to the headphone. Shame on whoever designed this, as they should have at least used metal, or made a mechanism with a bit more technology than your average $10 toy.

    Overall, these are the best headphones I’ve owned. However, they are “high-maintenance” in that they require battery upkeep and would probably not far very well in a studio environment where they were heavily used by multiple people. Monster (the company who made these) is notorious for high-pricing. While I am pleased to see the headphone market try to evolve, I’d recommend looking hard at some other brands before buying these.

  • Was U Sayin Something

    AKG >

  • Was U Sayin Something

    Grado has some amazing sounding headphones too..

    I have a friend who loves his Bose but I couldn’t hear what he was hearing. No way did the Bose sound better than the sound/comfort/quality u get with Grado or AKGs.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    Never heard of Grado

  • JSmoovez

    I have the beats, I love em. A Relative of mine works at bose and I have had the QC2s and QC3s and I would say after these headphones breakin they are the best headphones I have ever had. If you listen to music that has something to it the mids and highs are more represented in the dre beats with a nice deep bass that does not rattle….

  • Dwayne

    Stick with Sennheisser, HD25 all the way. Ive used alot of headphones and they are the best. But Dre is still the Man of the century!!! Keep up the killa beats Dre…

  • DaQueball

    Have the Beats. LOVE the Beats. I travel a lot for business and got the Bose mostly for the noise cancellation feature, but thought the sound would be really good as well. After a few weeks, I gave ‘em to my 12 year old daughter. I think she has them on some teddy bear in her room. While the noise cancellation worked really well, the sound was awful for the price, unless you are a classical music fan, then you‘d love them. For folks like me that enjoy ear-piercing highs, incredible mids, and just plain ridiculous, ground shaking lows (driven by the three “AAA“ batteries), get the beats. I’ve read posts referencing the poor quality because the display set was broken. Put any other headphones out for every pimply-faced kid on the planet to manhandle and you’ll get the same result. Here’s an idea, and I know it‘s a crazy one: if you pay $350 for a set of headphones, oh, I don’t know…TAKE CARE OF THEM!!! Believe the hype. The Beats By Dre are the real deal.

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  • Evan

    Okay, I own beats by dre, and I’ve got to say some things.

    1. they only require 2 AAA that last about a week of constant litening
    2. they were not very comfortable the first week or so but after I found the correct sizing and I don’t even feel the headphones on my head they fit so well.
    3. I’ve compared these to Bose, and Bose is shit. Beats, in the testing enviorment, cancled noise much better, and were much lowder with the bass coming through much clearer. The only brand of cans that can stack up to Beats are AKG, Grado, and Sennheiser, all of which are in a diffrent class because they have the advantage of open design, not very suitable for a plane or workplace.
    4. It’s called the internet, I bought these for $300 with a 30-day no questions asked return policy, the same as Bose. I’m sure by summer they will be around $250.

    Overall, Beats are the best closed ear deisgned out there, and their portability is a plus. I love the sound and wouldn’t trade them for the nicest pair of Bose.

  • stefonix

    Of course the ear cups rattle and the cord is broken. You tried them on at fucking BEST BUY!

  • Beats by Dre

    Lots of great feedback on the beats here. I’d suggest anyone who hasn’t done so tries out a pair to see what you really think of the sound & fit and then decide what you think. You can find them at a variety of stores to try on.

  • Drizzy

    to be clear, the Beats only take 2 AAA batteries. it wouldn’t be a problem if they were re-chargeable.

  • tyler

    Man, I have to say that my review on the drephones is totally opposite. You might have a misshaped head or something, and the fact that they’re broken doesn’t say much about the drephones. They are specs for sample at Bestbuy. We take better care of our drephones.

  • Alex

    i highly doubt several of even read half the specifications, let alone trying them before writing the beats off, the most obvious point being, look around a bit, they take TWO AAs, not THREE AAAs, THREE AAAs sounds significantly more ominous than the actual 2 AAs

  • UDumAss

    First of all, the Beats need 2, not 3 batteries. You must have a awkward head if they dont fit becasue they are the same size as Bose. They are broken, if you are telling the truth, because they are a sample at Best Buy and many people try them on every day. They are comfortable, the earpads are softer and feel better than Bose. Yes, they are expensive, but it doesn’t change the fact that the sound quality of Beats is AMAZING. you attacked these headphones with a negative aspect, get your facts straight before you try to review Dumb Ass!

  • UDumAss

    By the way, they cost the same amount as Bose, and some Bose types cost EVEN MORE

  • EXPERİANCE

    the sound quality is not bad but if u consider how much u paid for them – it shud be much better.

  • doremie

    completly agree, copped two pairs and both cracked while putting them on after two weeks. these are weak and i cant event get money back anymore.

  • Shitaka

    I wonder how many of you could honestly use the extra bit of clarity… These headphones were made for production and mixing, but since dr. dre endorsed his name on them with monster cables and all these celebrities are rockin them, suddenly you “need the clarity”. Ive heard the in ear version of these and i wasnt impressed over a 50 dollar pair of audio technica’s. For true monitor referencing you may need more… But even that statement has partial flaws. If you listen to all your audio on the same pair of headphones your ears will adapt to the frequency range and quality of that pair of headphones. In result, you can reproduce music on a less expensive set of phones without the 300 dollar name.

    I never thought id see headphones go mainstream… reminds me of that south park episode where everyone thinks its cool to be metro.

  • beatmaster

    why are u all talkin shit i have a pair and do music production in college and there da best ive come across dont knock em till uv tried em properly ya bunch f bitch ass h8rs

  • UR DUMB

    i have dre Beats. They only need 2 AAA batteries and ive had them for 6 months and only replaced them once… truth is they last forever and don’t create a problem unless you can’t spare 3 bucks every 6 months, and if your poor then DONT BUY THEM, simple as that.

  • Mike M

    The Beats by Dre only need 2 AAA batteries… Plus you tried them at Best Buy, what kind of condition do you think a public display model is in? I’m sure they have been thrown around or ripped of someones head, but all of them gangster children… I have rechargeable batteries for my set… The only trouble I have with them is I get a slight headache from the noise cancellation feature…. But this is not a problem for most people. If you love bass and mids these are the headphones for you…. If you like treble with a wide set of mids, but a smaller amount of bass chose BOSE… I have had all three pairs and they just don’t deliver the bass I need!!!

  • Hallmarquese

    are you crazy or just stupid these are the best head phones on the market these are amazing
    this guy doesnt know what hes talking about they are comfortable maybe after a while it
    starts to get annoying but there amazing i recommnd these for any who loves music there great

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