back to article Dr Dre's Beats plans to drop HTC, hook up with rich mate – report

Beats Electronics is reportedly looking to ditch its HTC partnership and bring in a new investor with fresh funds instead. The maker of the popular Beats by Dr Dre headphones, which is branching out into speakers, car audio systems and online music streaming, wants to find a new investor that will help the business grow, …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why...

    I don't get Beats, goddamnit if you wanted decent audio you'd get decent audio equipment, not Skullcandy Mk.2. Why doesn't he use them when hes mixing, or other professional producers?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why...

      Same reason Chef's don't use the pans they endorse, because it's a cheap clone of something decent sold at an inflated price due to having a name on it.

      I can buy a decent brand T-Shirt for £20......put a logo on a Chinese cheap one and it'll fetch £50.

      You don't think Thierry really had a Renault Clio do you?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why...

        I did, can't believe you destroyed that dream... but he isn't a car manufacturer. Dr. Dre works in the music industry and thus carries more weight when his name is attached to shit products that are supposedly good, you'd think there would be laws again this shit.

      2. Tom 35

        Re: Why...

        Since it's a fashion item there is a good chance that sales will die once it's no longer considered the cool thing to be seen with them stuck on your head. It's not like anyone is buying them because they are a good value.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why...

      Stuff like Beats Audio is all about "colouring" the music. Increasing the bass or treble.

      When mixing you want to hear the signal with a flat response, so you are hearing an accurate reproduction of what the end result is.

      Quite often people will also have some shitty speakers as a test rig to hear what it will sound like on a car stereo or cheap HIFI. This is why modern music has the dynamics compressed to hell so it sounds good and loud on very poor speakers.

      The idea of having accurate sound reproduction (with a little warming of the sound) seems to have gone out of the window. With MP3 and lossy rubbish being the mainstay its no wonder people want the sound colouring so much.

      1. Tom 7

        Re: Why... Colouring the music by increasing the bass and treble.

        So loudness but done with software so fantastically new?

    3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Why...

      Because Dre is a lot easier to spell than sennheiser?

      I blame the schools

  2. Caoilte

    Buyer Beware

    These aren't selling. Flea markets in ME/Asia are full of marked down units.

    1. wondermouse
      WTF?

      Re: Buyer Beware

      I think you'll find these are knock-offs, fakes, faux versions.

      They are also appearing en mass in UK car boots too.

      And the sound quality is nothing like as good as the originals - even if you don't like them.

      1. Enrico Vanni
        FAIL

        Re: Buyer Beware

        "And the sound quality is nothing like as good as the originals".

        There is no 'good quality' to the sound of the originals, so you may as well buy the clones as there's a fair chance they'll actually sound better....!

        1. Darryl

          Re: Buyer Beware

          I doubt the target demographic could tell the difference anyways. It's the image, not the sound

  3. spudmasterflex

    Maybe because they make totally shite headphones that only a deaf kid thinks is anywhere near audiophile quality for the outrageous price tag!

    Don't even start me on the sound leakage those fuckers give off when on a packed train full of young hip twats

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      On the plus side, there's no better way of proclaiming "I am a complete fucking wanker" than wearing a pair of these things on your brainless head. Although this can be accentuated by holding your phone in the air whilst nodding backwards and forwards along to the shitty bland music you're subjecting everyone else to.

      1. envmod

        lol

        bravo sir.

  4. Ol'Peculier
    Thumb Up

    To be honest, the sound on my HTC One with Beats Audio is pretty damn impressive. When people jump when "Journey of the Sourcerer" (my ring tone...) jumps into life you know it's good, and loud.

    1. NightFox
      Coat

      Is that the Linux version of Journey of the Sorcerer?

      1. Ol'Peculier
        Happy

        In an improbable universe, probably...

    2. Barbarian At the Gates
      Holmes

      Pro tip:

      Go into your phone Settings. Check the section under Device, where when you don't have headphones plugged in, the Beats Audio setting is grayed out and shown to be OFF, with the explanation:

      "Beats Audio is not available on phone speaker"

      So that ringtone sounds great without Beats Audio.

      1. Hieronymus Howerd

        Re: Pro tip:

        "Beats Audio is not available on phone speaker"

        Sorry pal, you'll have to guess again because this is BS, at least for the HTC One.

    3. goldcd

      God I wish you weren't right

      Didn't like the logo on the back of the case and was convinced I would turn off the fancy graphic-equalizer the moment I booted up the phone... but I didn't...

      Still wouldn't be seen dead wearing the ear/head phones - but *small voice* - I do like how it sounds.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      When people jump

      If people jump when they hear your ring tone, it says a lot about you. A lot that I hope nobody ever says about me.

    5. Gordon Pryra

      No - its not

      Its tinny and nasty.

      i've had to explain myself to the transport police after smashing some little shits phone to pieces after a 4 hour west line train journey where aforesaid little shit would not stop playing his crap music out loud so we could all hear his lack luster taste in music on repeat.

      A combination of being polite to the copper vs little shits bitching and my having a sick 3 year old girl with me got me off the rap

      I would do it again to the next little shit who thinks its a good idea to "share"

  5. jb99

    That's what put me off

    It saying "Beats by Dr Dre " is what put me off buying a HTC One X.

    1. monkeyfish

      Re: That's what put me off

      You can turn it off, you know. It's basically just a 'loudness' button in software, the same result can be had by turning up all the eq sliders. That said, it is actually quite useful. I have beats on when plugged into the car stereo, and off when using headphones, easier than fiddling with the eq profile each time.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Beats by Dr Dre / Deirdre - That's what put me off

      I'm not sure which is most off-putting, a phone branded by some yoof DJ, or something that sounds like it was made by my grandma. Too old, or too young.

      1. Shugyosha
        Facepalm

        Re: Beats by Dr Dre / Deirdre - That's what put me off

        'yoof dj'?

        You know Dre is 48 yrs old, right?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Beats by Dr Dre / Deirdre - That's what put me off

          yoof dj

          He's a real doctor and personally designs those headphones himself I'll have you know.

          Nah, only joking. He's a middle aged misogynist.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Beats by Dr Dre / Deirdre - That's what put me off

          "You know Dre is 48 yrs old, right?"

          That's not the point, it's the age range of the market he aims at, not how old he actually is - besides, it's about image and expectation, not reality.

          In fact, you've now provoked me to cast ignorance aside, and look him up Wiki*. I imagine HTC thought they were on to something with the youth market, but I do wonder if there's a co-relation between their recent market downfall and surrounding themselves in a brand associated with...

          gangsta rap

          "Death Row Records"

          "Detox"

          ... and a film role as a weapons dealer.

          This article below is a bit old now, but I wonder if some of the trends noted match with the niche that HTC have dug themselves into...

          http://www.audiblehype.com/blogs/business/2008/aug/04/the-no-bullshit-guide-to-hip-hop-demographics-part-one/

          Somehow I can't imagine Apple or Samsung making the same mistake.

          * with apologies for Wiki accuracy, as ever.

          1. phuzz Silver badge
            Headmaster

            Re: Beats by Dr Dre / Deirdre - That's what put me off

            Hip-Hop started something like thirty years ago. Sure, kids listen to it, but people who are now grandparents grew up listening to it as well.

            1. BorkedAgain
              Childcatcher

              Re: Beats by Dr Dre / Deirdre - That's what put me off

              If Jeremy Kyle is anything to go by, the status of being a grandparent is no longer the exclusive province of the aged and the wise. Just saying.

  6. Nate Amsden

    seemed kinda innovative

    I'm not sure how much of this applies to phones but I saw a bit of technical info on how HP integrated beats audio into their stuff a few years ago, here is a gimmicky commercial on the topic

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7y6azvuNis#t=1m54s

    (for some reason I've noticed that youtube doesn't skip to the right point in the video on the first try on many occasions, so if your bored and it doesn't work just skip to the 1min 54s marker)

    I have 2 HP touchpads with beats audio and I've always felt the sound coming out of them was just pretty amazing. I don't know if they are doing the circuit isolation and stuff like HP did in the laptops. But the Touchpad blows the doors off my $2000 toshiba Tecra Intel i7 laptop which I bought a year earlier. Not sure what work HTC did on their phones with beats, I don't believe HP/Palm ever released any phones with beats audio. On the touchpad the audio is quite loud, and sounds great from the internal stereo speakers(the touchpad chassis itself feels a bit hollow on the inside perhaps making for better bass? I can certainly feel the thing vibrate when there is bass). By contrast the headphone audio jack is not loud enough though to the point where it's not really usable on an airplane without an external amp to boost the signal which is unfortunate.

    I hooked a $5-10 (forget) pair of mini speakers on my laptop helped a lot though the extra cables are annoying.

    At least to me, not being an EE the technical bits behind the computer/tablet etc seem pretty neat, perhaps things are less innovative on the headphones part.

    I am not an audiophile by any stretch.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: seemed kinda innovative

      It's all about the question "how do you advertise your laptop as having better sound quality than average?" when it is not an attribute easily expressed by numbers (like a CPU benchmark, screen res or HDD size.)

      A common answer is to use somebody else's already-established name, as Apple did with Harmon Kardon on the first iMacs, and as other laptop makers have done with the Bang and Olufsen name - along with their IcePower Class-D amplifiers, Samsung ditto some years ago (even building a B&O-designed phone). To a lesser extent, some end-products advertise their use of a branded component, such as a Burr-Brown DAC for example.

      LG's new flagship Android phone shows some promise for audio - it has the audio hardware (and drivers and APIs) for 192Khz 24bit audio, and they claim they have put a lot of effort into the handset's audio path.. whether this effort has paid-off, I don't know; look out for reviews if this interests you. I've noted that some specific versions of the Samsung Galaxy II and IV are well thought of on audiophile forums, having a Wolfsen DAC.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The last pair of headphones I bought were a cheap clone of Beats. They sounded quite crap, until I visited Maplins and retrofitted some decent speakers into them. They are now twice as good as original Beats, all for less than £20

    1. Cliff

      Or you could have got some £20 sennheiser cans. Think the model number was something like hd202, actually very good price for the performance. Used a lot in TV edit suites as they're decent and replaceable.

  8. Peter 48

    Beats are brilliant

    they are a great way to spot people who are suckers for a con. Considering they were made by monster until quite recently, it isn't surprising they are highly overrated, overpriced crap. Great branding and advertising though. They seem very attractive and desirable.

    1. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: Beats are brilliant

      Another benefit - they give Bose someone to look down on.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    It's just some DSP

    If your phone hardware supports it, get some EQ app and roll your own --- without having to put up with some designer name on the cover.

    Oh, I forgot: it's the name people actually want!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Urban Dictionay : Beats by Dr Dre

    A sucker who falls for marketing BS and is easily parted from their cash

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Urban Dictionay : Beats by Dr Dre

      I took my teenage son around the stores to find him some decent headphones.

      He likes all sorts of music, Daft Punk and the like.

      Ended up in a Best Buy because they had some you could listen to.

      Without doubt he said that the Dr Dre headphones were the worst of what was available by a long way. I have to agree.

      He preferred the Sennheiser cans. They were a little more but the sound and insulation were just in a different universe.

      The ones I have here at work for the laptop are some some Panasonic cheapies and they're pretty good for the price.

  11. JB

    Sounds like Beats are trying to disassociate themselves from a company that's losing and, in some people's opinion, may disappear in the coming years.

    as for the Beats gear, I was recently in a Radioshack (don't ask me why!) and two kids, probably about 8 or 9 years old, came in asking where the Beats stuff was. they then stood oohing and ahhing at all the overpriced gear. Beats certainly got that marketing right!

  12. RaidOne

    For the life of me

    I can't understand why Beats needs so much money, when all they do is package $14 headphones and sell them for $300?

  13. Duffy Moon

    If you want really good sound from your mobe, plug in an external DAC. See here:

    http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs

    My 'cans' of choice for mobile use are the Sennheiser HD25-II. Closed back (so good isolation), great sound (used by sound recordists) and robust. Everything is replaceable too.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sennheiser

    Just to reiterate what others have said here. If you want a big pair of headphones, but would like something that actually sounds good, then get some Sennheiser headphones. Great quality, and a decent price. You'll still look like a knob wearing the full sized ones in public though.

    1. Lamont Cranston

      Re: Sennheiser

      Upvoted, for the last sentence!

      I use a pair of earbuds, when out and about, purely because I can squish them into a pocket when they're not in use.

  15. envmod

    racialistic

    i see a lot of black people wearing these.

    i wonder why that is.

    1. myarse
      WTF?

      Re: racialistic

      Why?

  16. Fihart

    Who is this Doctor Dre ?

    Is it some popular beat combo ?

    Have Sennheiser PX100 -- gift because feckless owner couldn't untangle the cable.

    Sennheisers good but a bit bass heavy (as is the current taste ?), so prefer Sony MDR40 bought in 1986 and rewired several times since.

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