HTC sinks $309m into audio tech from Dr Dre Handset maker HTC is buying a majority share of upmarket audio kit manufacturer Beats Electronics, promising to incorporate the Dr Dre-backed technology into handsets by the end of the year. The deal gives HTC just over half of the audio-technology supplier, which promises to deliver an improved sound experience, but the beats …
always been close but not quite there. Granted my desire HD and the wife's Z have been great phones they have always been hampered by nagging issues - mainly shite batteries, cameras and not enough RAM.
The HD is up next month and its being replaced with a galaxy S2. Work colleague has one and it blows most other phones out of the water.
They're giving Microsoft a percentage of every Android sale -- effectively paying MS lawyers to undermine the platform. If you like Android you should probably consider what a bad idea that is. So, yes, some moral panic.
As for paying a hyped-up marketing company -- they're obviously more interested in "da yoof" than someone who wants a useful tool. That may, or may not, affect the standard of their phones in future -- but I'd say it doesn't bode well.
Also, surely not paying a company which does things you don't want is a logical step -- there's fuck all else you can do about it.
I was in a BestBuy UK store (yes, I know. I'm sorry) with the OutLaw and we were offered a listen of the Beats Ipod speaker dock. It was phenomenal, and slightly better sound than Bose systems.
The one and only thing thank swayed us back to the portable Bose iPod dock was that the Beats dock looked like it should be in a 16 year olds bedroom rather than a 60 odd year old's lounge - the mother-in-law would've shot him if he'd have gone home with it!
the top of the range beats headphones are rather nice. i do not know how any of that will translate to smartphones, but we'll see. i currently have an HTC desire HD, and am pretty happy with it. i certainly would not rush to buy a new one based on what sound chip it contains.
perhaps this Kayne West guy can help us with the info. is he related to that jackass* called Kanye West
*this is the opinion of Barack Obama, and not myself. i think ht's a tw@t.
As an audio research engineer I can't help but feel angry every time I see groups of lads walking around with matching Beats headphones. For the same money (~£350) you can get top-of-the-range Sennheisers with mind-blowing sound quality, but all they're paying for are bass-heavy metal fashion statement with average-quality drivers and 99.99999% OFC gold-plated unicorn-hair-screened miracle cable.
Because it's true.
I was *stupid* and impatient enough to buy a set of 'Dr Meh' beats headphones a couple of months ago when I lost my Etymotics I'd been using for years. I wanted something I could pick up from the local shops on my way to the train station and Beats were as good as the shops had.
The reviews made em look good (though I didn't check too many), and they were certainly expensive and looked well made, so they must be good.
Bollox.
I'd describe the sound as like listening to an angry bumblebee trapped in a biscuit tin for the treble and midrange while an elephant fell over and had an epileptic fit beside you for the bass.
In short, complete and utter crap waste of money.
Needless to say I very quickly got rid of them and got something a bit better which were the Shure SE535s.
Dave
Since most of the Beats brand stuff seems to be designed to sound like your typical 17 year old's car these days, with various pieces of metal buzzing in time with the subwoofer's booming, I'd think that HTC would be the perfect fit. Aren't they one of the few handset makers who use (mostly) metal casings on their phones?
Give me Sennheiser, Shure, Dolby, Bose, Koss, etc. any day of the week.
Made the fatal mistake of buying a HP Laptop with BA built in... they'd replaced Altec Lansing, which the missus had in her old HP and has in her new Asus laptop, the sound quality of the Beats Audio stuff is SHITE and a major reason why I won't be buying another HP in the future... besides which the "Beats Audio Control Panel" interferes with everything and makes the audio function like a 16-year-old looter... no respect for anything!
I've managed to save the day somewhat with a spiffing pair of Denon headphones in the meantime, which don't sacrifice the top end in pursuit of heavyweight bass (which you still get with the Denons anyway).
The sooner this crap is rooted out of portable audio the better...
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