Are Beats in the same boat as Bose, as far as people either love them or hate them?

They're the same as Bose in that they're overpriced and mostly marketing but are better than the bottom-shelf speakers/headphones most people have ever heard. You can get far, far better equipment for the same price and equivalent equipment for a lot less. Listen to a pair of even low-end Grado's or Sennheisers and then tell me Beats aren't overpriced.

 

edit: this is a classic Bose review

http://nyet.org/bose/

Edited June 12, 201312 yr by StrangeSox

Beats headphones aren't awful, but it's not the headphones themselves that really make a difference. The Beats EQ is what makes a difference. HTC and HP purposefully program their devices with bad-sounding EQs. Then when you switch the Beats switch on, it gives you a much more rich-sounding EQ. Making you feel like there's some kind of magic going on.

An EQ is nothing special, though. I use PowerAmp on my Android phone.

I dunno if I have ever seen a pair of headphones where some people don't say they sound like s***...give me a break, folks...

 

This right here, audiophiles annoy me to no end, because I'm convinced they're talking out of their ass and 99% of them couldn't pass a blind test if their lives depended on it.

 

I can hear a difference in the cheap to expensive ones, but I can't hear much of a difference between one cheap pair and another cheap pair, or an expensive to expensive comparison...any difference, I'm convinced, is in my head because I happen to know the brand name and may like one brand over another. But blind, where I have to wear 10 high quality sets, I couldn't tell the difference.

An EQ is nothing special, though. I use PowerAmp on my Android phone.

 

It's nothing special until the manufacturer deliberately sets a s***ty one as the default.

 

There is no real difference between Beats headphones and a $80 pair you buy from Sony.

It's nothing special until the manufacturer deliberately sets a s***ty one as the default.

 

There is no real difference between Beats headphones and a $80 pair you buy from Sony.

 

EQ's on cellphones also negatively effect battery life, because they have to actively process all audio, versus passing it straight through.

This right here, audiophiles annoy me to no end, because I'm convinced they're talking out of their ass and 99% of them couldn't pass a blind test if their lives depended on it.

 

I can hear a difference in the cheap to expensive ones, but I can't hear much of a difference between one cheap pair and another cheap pair, or an expensive to expensive comparison...any difference, I'm convinced, is in my head because I happen to know the brand name and may like one brand over another. But blind, where I have to wear 10 high quality sets, I couldn't tell the difference.

A lot of the high-end audio and video world is voodoo bulls*** without a doubt. But there are measurable and audible differences between different components, speakers, and overall systems. Different speakers, amps, crossovers, etc. are designed with different philosophies and construction techniques and are going to have different sounds. It comes down to personal preference at that point.

 

But Bose is still garbage. Beats less so, but still really overpriced.

A lot of the high-end audio and video world is voodoo bulls*** without a doubt. But there are measurable and audible differences between different components, speakers, and overall systems. Different speakers, amps, crossovers, etc. are designed with different philosophies and construction techniques and are going to have different sounds. It comes down to personal preference at that point.

 

But Bose is still garbage. Beats less so, but still really overpriced.

That may be true...the question is can most humans even detect a lot of these subtleties?

That may be true...the question is can most humans even detect a lot of these subtleties?

Yeah I'm referring to basic stuff like frequency response curves, what frequencies a given speaker can reproduce and with what accuracy. Any whether it can be detected in a double-blind test is crucial. The believers in the voodoo bulls*** hate actual tests and just swear that they can totally hear the difference in their $100/ft cables, man!

 

And then there's plenty of purely subjective but definitely real differences. In-ear versus over-the-ear headphones sound different, tube amps and solid-state amps sound different, speakers from one company may sound different from another because they aren't designed on the same principles. One isn't better than the other, just different.

 

Can "most people" detect them? Maybe, maybe not. Not if you're used to listening to 96khz mp3's on your standard ipod earphones. No different than someone who only ever drinks Miller Lite not being able to taste the differences between three different craft brew ales.

 

I really hope I'm not sounding like a snob here. I've got a cheap Pioneer receiver, some okay Polk Audio floor speakers and some decent Sennheiser headphones. I hate the idiot audiophile world ($1000 speaker cables!! $500 solid copper power cables!) more than anything. But I really hate Bose (fantastic marketing, s*** product) and see some of the same from Beats (fantastic marketing, okay product).

Yeah I'm referring to basic stuff like frequency response curves, what frequencies a given speaker can reproduce and with what accuracy. Any whether it can be detected in a double-blind test is crucial. The believers in the voodoo bulls*** hate actual tests and just swear that they can totally hear the difference in their $100/ft cables, man!

 

And then there's plenty of purely subjective but definitely real differences. In-ear versus over-the-ear headphones sound different, tube amps and solid-state amps sound different, speakers from one company may sound different from another because they aren't designed on the same principles. One isn't better than the other, just different.

 

Can "most people" detect them? Maybe, maybe not. Not if you're used to listening to 96khz mp3's on your standard ipod earphones. No different than someone who only ever drinks Miller Lite not being able to taste the differences between three different craft brew ales.

 

I really hope I'm not sounding like a snob here. I've got a cheap Pioneer receiver, some okay Polk Audio floor speakers and some decent Sennheiser headphones. I hate the idiot audiophile world ($1000 speaker cables!! $500 solid copper power cables!) more than anything. But I really hate Bose (fantastic marketing, s*** product) and see some of the same from Beats (fantastic marketing, okay product).

I don't think there is anything wrong with being interested in something enough to actually learn a bit about it, so not at all.

 

I always figured it wasn't a coincidence that he first showed up here in 2007 right after the Congress legalized everything.

Well played, sir

Honestly though, what am I going to do? Go live off the grid somewhere? I understand the surveillance aspect of it all, but they don't give a s*** about the grunts like us...

This is actually true... Don't really give a s*** if you're downloading torrents, looking up porn, cheating on your wife, etc. none of this has anything to do with what I'm looking for (furthermore its illegal, you need a warrant for this stuff)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, all things considered. If you can't talk about it publicly, PM me some info, please.

You can email me about it too (myname@gmail.com), it's just I don't want to do it on my work computer.

This is actually true... Don't really give a s*** if you're downloading torrents, looking up porn, cheating on your wife, etc. none of this has anything to do with what I'm looking for (furthermore its illegal, you need a warrant for this stuff)

Yeah, most of us are just looking up porn...in all seriousness

Yeah, I was figuring that your life was getting interesting right about now.

Certain unnecessarily difficulties. It's kind of a pain in the ass, not a welcome distraction at all.

Yeah, most of us are just looking up porn...in all seriousness

I'm convinced private browsing was invented specifically for this.

I'm convinced private browsing was invented specifically for this.

Yeah but then you lose all logins and cookies.

Yeah but then you lose all logins and cookies.

 

Logins are very important to me.

I'm convinced private browsing was invented specifically for this.

 

Chrome Incognito! The porn browser!

Chrome Incognito! The porn browser!

 

It's also a convenient way to get around paywalls for news sites that let you look at X number of articles a month before having to pay.

I'm convinced private browsing was invented specifically for this.

 

While I know you already know this, others may not, so I'll post it anyway.

 

Private/incognito browsing isn't actually private or incognito to anything but your own PC/device. The only thing it actually does it make it so your wife/girlfriend/children cannot see what you've been browsing, leaving no history, recording no cookies, etc. It doesn't, however, change the way tcp/ip works, and your IP address is still coming across the internet as it always does...and that IP address CAN be tied back to you/your PC/device, quite easily.

While I know you already know this, others may not, so I'll post it anyway.

 

Private/incognito browsing isn't actually private or incognito to anything but your own PC/device. The only thing it actually does it make it so your wife/girlfriend/children cannot see what you've been browsing, leaving no history, recording no cookies, etc. It doesn't, however, change the way tcp/ip works, and your IP address is still coming across the internet as it always does...and that IP address CAN be tied back to you/your PC/device, quite easily.

I can't remember if it's actually Chrome or Firefox that has this warning... it sounds like kind of a Google-y thing to do

I can't remember if it's actually Chrome or Firefox that has this warning... it sounds like kind of a Google-y thing to do

 

I know Chrome has it. The funny thing is that it jokingly said it won't protect you against secret agents monitoring your computer. Well, it turns out they have been this whole time. Maybe the Chrome team knew something we didn't long ago.

Moving next month and UVerse isn't available at my new place. It's between Comcast and DirectTV. DTV leading because Comcast is expensive as hell.

Anyone have that Genie thing with DirectTV?

 

Moving next month and UVerse isn't available at my new place. It's between Comcast and DirectTV. DTV leading because Comcast is expensive as hell.

Anyone have that Genie thing with DirectTV?

http://flapship.com/directv-genie-review/

 

I've only grown to love it more since writing that review. Direct comparison to Comcast involved.