05-09-2014, 08:41 PM
Lew Zealand wrote:
[quote=deckeda]
[quote=ka jowct]
[quote=Lew Zealand]
[quote=jdc]
Is it bad (or wrong?) that I only associate beats with thugs and hoodlums?
Yes. You should in fact associate it with poor quality audio reproduction.
My impression of those headphones is that they are not designed for natural, accurate sound. Right or wrong?
Right.
They are status symbols, but not just of fashion, but false symbols of good sound.
That said, I'm a subjectivist when it comes to music and music reproduction; there are no "facts" that can "prove" a certain technology for example, "must" sound better. It's for that belief that notions of A-B or A-B-X sound tests aren't just irrelevant scientifically, but are far worse: they "prove" whatever the test is set up to do (which is usually something other than what any conclusions drawn reveal.)
So if/when a listener prefers Beats headphones it doesn't "make them wrong" in my view ... but I reserve the right to question what experience they have with such things as live, un-amplified music or music that's not heavily dependent on processed special effects.
I agree. The Beats 'phones may help people to realize that there is better sound reproduction to be had then the crud earbuds which come with every portable device. Beats deliver more bass which a lot of people like.
Hell, I like that but they do not do a good job of delivering the rest of the sound spectrum well and in fact, that extra bass is not well controlled. But frankly, how many people really care? More bass = good.
There are review sites which compare Beats to other popular brands and higher-rent cans which are purposefully designed to deliver better sound reproduction and the beats and other popular brands are found wanting. And my well-reviewed, affordable, "better sound" cans don't do great in some metrics in those tests either (though considerably better than the consumer-level stuff). If I can find the review, I'll post a link to it here, it was very informative.
There must be an understanding of the difference between the meaning of the terms "better sound reproduction" and "accurate sound reproduction." They are not necessarily the same thing, but they are being used interchangably in this discussion.