This isn't surprising at all, but its not really bad news either. The total headphone market has exploded. There's quite a lot of >$5K headphones that sell these days, but the best thing is, there are a LOT of really good headphones in basically every price bracket now. Unfortunately it seems like most companies still are too hung up on mass production and not willing to do the fine tuning needed to make a truly great headphone, but on the plus side you can often improve even good headphones with a little bit of DIY and know how. Plus the tools and the resources to do that have improved a lot so its easier than ever.
There's been a lot of improvements in personal audio the past few years, and there's much less of the cable BS and other audiophile silliness, while products have continued to improve. There's a lot of cheap/affordable quality products (headphones, amps, etc) and even stuff like computer audio, portable players, and other things have improved in quality pretty drastically.
i'd be willing to bet that at least 85% of the people in this thread have never even personally heard or used beats headphones, myself included.
So, you have no frame of reference or anything of value to actually input?
I'd offer to discuss things further, but frankly since you just admitted you don't even know what you're talking about, it'd be a lesson in futility. If you want some frame of reference check out InnerFidelity for a start. You might start to see why people are criticizing Beats headphones and not just talking out of their ***. Here's a hint, there's quite a lot of other headphones that offer "style" while also sounding decent, often using better quality materials, for the same or less money as Beats.
I don't think that nerds realize that people all have different priorities. I like in ears because they're nearly invisible and sound good enough ($10 too, so if I lose them no big deal), but thrift is my priority. Other people value performance supremely. It's not wrong that the majority seems to prioritize aesthetics over performance (I mean, they're bloated but they don't make your ears bleed). In fact, if a pigs anus strapped to your ears sounded like angels singing, well, I'll still stick to ear buds.
Just because you don't value looks and cool factor doesn't mean everyone should have the same values, right? Go ahead and buy your oversized sennheisers and ugly grados (proud owner myself), just don't mind the snickers
Um, no the problem is Beats just offer poor performance. There are a lot of good headphones for you to choose from, even if you want style as much or more than sound quality. There's nothing wrong with different priorities, but let's face it, most people buying Beats are buying it because them and Bose are about the only real "premium" headphones they've been marketed to, and because some celebrity wore a special flashy gold pair so they want one to match their Nikes.
Grados are really just as bad, although really they evolved into a sorta audiophile version of Beats, style and stigma over substance. Beats at least made their headphones mostly comfortable. The best thing about Grados is that you can get about the best of what they offer from their lowest rung model.
Its ok, I'm an Audio-Technica fanboy and they're not much better.
Beats is considered high end?
Perhaps in the realm of mid fi...
This is high end!
Stax SR009
Inexperienced listeners will often fault cans in this class because their familiar recordings sound worse to them. It's simply due to the ability to hear more flaws in the program source. Listening to lossy files becomes painful.
In marketing terms, seems like over $100 is high end headphone $50-100 seems to be midrange, and <$50 is the lowend.