What Exactly is Beats Audio, Anyway?

Update 1/10/12: the answer.

Undoubtedly, everybody who is reading this at some point has heard of Beats Audio or Beats by Dre headphones. The brand of course started as headphones, and then added Beats Audio that could be found in certain HP laptops and desktops, and more recently the Beats Audio “technology” has been added to the HP tablet and will be included in upcoming HTC mobile phone handsets. But the question is, besides a bunch of hype and a red “b” sticker, what (if anything) is Beats Audio?

Beats by Dre made a name for themselves through celebrity use and extensive product placement, and from what I can tell not much else. I kept hearing they were “better” so ultimately I went to a store and listened to them, and they sounded like crap—it was way overly distorted and muddy. Granted, I listened to a rock track, and I assumed that for a line geared toward listeners of hip-hop “better” meant all bass and nothing else. But I still wondered how they could still be so popular, given that even people who just listen to hip-hop still at some point want to hear something besides just low-frequency noise.

Is it all just a big scam? Some people associate the higher price tag with quality, but it seems that all you’re paying for is a brand name, kinda like how an Abercrombie t-shirt isn’t functionally different than a t-shirt from a Fruit of the Loom three-pack. There are certain things about the brand that make them seem like a bit of a scam.

Red flag number one from the Beats brand is that they’re part of the Monster cables brand. Monster of course became famous from and is well-known as the biggest offender in HDMI cable scams that trick consumers into paying $60 for a cable that does the same thing as a $6 cable.

Red flag number two is that the company only uses buzzwords and statements that are never backed up with factual information. For instance, the company claims Beats by Dre headphones were “designed to be the most advanced headphones ever developed,” but they don’t say how. They also say they’re “designed to be,” which is legalese for “we couldn’t prove it if we had to, so we’ll just do our best to imply and claim they are.” In fact, nowhere on the company’s website can I find basic stats for their headphones like driver diameter, frequency response, max input power, sensitivity, and impedance. Not that those stats could define quality or technology, but it goes to show that the actual tech behind the headphones is deemed unimportant. Even the About page on their site is just a commercial-like paragraph from Dr. Dre.

Similarly, I haven’t been able (on the Beats site or even the HP site) to find out what exactly Beats Audio is. Is it a DAC (digital-to-analog converter)? Is it an amp? Both? Is it just a soundcard with better-insulated cabling? I’ve only heard it referred to as a “technology,” which is just a buzzword that means absolutely nothing. They claim it’s better, they claim it improves the listening experience, but they don’t offer a clue as to how.

Red flag number three would be the company not responding to questions about their product, but I’m hesitant to call it a red flag just yet. I did send requests to publicists from the companies last week with the same questions as to the “what” for both Beats by Dre and Beats Audio, but haven’t heard back. On one hand, the big announcement of HTC acquiring them hit since then, but on the other it has been a week, and the information I’m asking for (a couple basic fact sheets) should be readily available and easy to send out. I’m not sure if I’ll hear back at all.

What do you think? Have you ever heard anything regarding any of the products that would lend any credibility to their claims of being better? I sure haven’t.

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  1. What Exactly is Beats Audio? Update: An Answer

49 thoughts on “What Exactly is Beats Audio, Anyway?”

  1. The in-ears don’t sound that great. I bought a pair for my GF, because she listens to more hip-hop, etc., but I listen to hard rock, and there was much left to be desired. While more bass-prominent than my Shure SE-310s, everything else is pretty much lost in the boominess.

    I understand the point of this article, and I think it opens the door for a response from the Beats community. If I took an educated guess though, I would assume the “Beats” technology on the computer/phone hardware side, would be a DSP chip that adds some punch to the sound. Similar to the Dolby chips/software that was used in HP products not that long ago. I enjoy listening to my HP laptop with the dolby stuff turned on for a little EQ and Bass Boost. I wonder if they’re doing something similar here.

    But, you have a point.. why aren’t they giving more information?

    • I have the Bose on-ear headphones (these: http://rock.to/6v4) and they’re nice, but they don’t do as well at higher volumes with more dynamic music. It seems like they suffer a little bit when there’s highs, mids, and lows all at the same time. It gets a little washed. For jazz, classical, and other music where the instruments are a bit more isolated they’d be great, but for my purposes they leave a bit to be desired.

  3. I tried the original Beats by Dre (before they diversified their line-up) and was not at all impressed. It didn’t sound much better, if at all, than my Alessandros at 1/3rd the price. At the time, they were the only combination of a style, circumaural design and active noise cancellation so I’ll give them some concession for that. The sound was okay, I was expecting rubbish Bose quality and the Beats were better but if you care at all about audio or even better, know anything, then you would pick a Beyerdynamics, Audio Technica, Grado, AKG, etc. over the Beats with no hesitation. I’ve since bought or tried a few different pairs of decent cans around the price of the Beats and they are all superior.

    I see this headphone everywhere nowadays. Is it that people are all of sudden interested in audio quality? I don’t believe so, style and branding are what moves them off the shelves.

    To be honest, I see these headphones worn around the neck more often than over the head. However, if it becomes some sort of stepping stone into quality audio, then maybe it isn’t so bad.

  4. I’ve never been at all interested in their headphones lineup for all of the reasons stated above, but I am curious what Beats Audio offers. I always assumed it was mostly a software based DSP that cranks up the bass, with maybe slightly better internals. It would be nice to know exactly what they’re offering though.

    • What price range are you looking at? And what features are necessary? You can get Audio Technica ATH-AD700 (my review) for as little as $70 and they sound incredible. They leak sound though.

      My favorite headphones are the Audio Technica ATH M50s that you can find for as little as $110. They’re studio monitor headphones and produce VERY accurate, clear, crisp sound. They’re closed-back, so they don’t leak sound as much, but unlike lots of closed-back headphones they don’t add artificial bass.

      • Have you tried the new B&W P5 headphones. Based the two pairs you mentioned, you may like the sound. Very comfortable, and made very well. Expensive though, $300. I found the ATH M50s to be fairly flat. I found they brought out too much of the midrange, I found a lot of guitar riffs to be overpowering compared to the drums and bass lines. But that just may be my hearing/ interpretation. They were quite clean though.

  7. Seeing as how I work for one of the aforementioned companies, I can tell you that I really don’t know the difference when it comes to the Beats Audio line other than it comes with it’s own logo and custom UI for sound control (even though it uses IDT Audio’s drivers). I’m sure I could find out more if I dig around.

  9. P1: Hey Everybody I Got new Headphones
    P2: Cool What kind?
    P1: Beats by Dr.Dre Their $400!!!! The look so awesome
    P2: That’s cool..so…How do they sound?….& What’s the specs?
    P1: They’re Really expensive & popular!!…
    P2: k…BUT HOW DO THEY SOUND!!?
    P1: They’re $400 headphones & dr.Dre uses them!!!!
    P2: ……….Walks away >.<" *cough* sheep *cough*

  10. Alright people, I’ll see if I can add something to what has been said and some that I don’t know if they have ever tried them. First off, I work for an electronics retailer that sells them, and I own a couple pairs (bought one, got 2 for free from going to corporate sponsored learning events). So yes, I own Monster Beats Pro DJ, Monster Beats Studio, Monster Beats Solo HD, Bower & Wilkins P5, and a pair of Bose on-ear for on and over the ear headphones. I also own a pair of Klipsch S4 in-ear, Shure SRH-210 in-ear and Monster Turbine Pro Gold in-ear headphones. Not to mention the hundreds of other headphones I’ve tried that common electronics retailers in Canada sell. So I’ll start my summation by saying that anyone who thinks audio is only stats and numbers (frq response, impedance, distortion, etc. is wrong.) No matter what “stats” a headphone has or doesn’t have, try them yourself and see if you like them. Same goes for anything. Next, anyone who says the headphones sound like garbage or they are not worth a headphone half their price or so-on is not accurate unless you actually cannot tell the difference. I own them, listen to Rock, Hard rock, and Metal, solely. I have tried all the headphones i own with tracks that are these musical genres as well as hip-hop, Jazz, Blues and Classical and in Lossless files. They sound very, very good. All are uniquely different. As for Monster, they make the Beats side and they make the Turbine side for headphones. Turbines are made better and are a much more sonically “accurate” headphone, not to mention extremely powerful. The Beats side is definitely not actually targeted towards professional recording. They’re targeted for people who own crappy headphones and want something ALOT better. They have an excellent bass response, and transparent mid-range and quite bright highs. I personally find that ALL of the Monster headphones sound better with rock music than they do with hip-hop. The bass response is deep, but powerful and tight, not loose and lazy like you would want for electronic bass and 808 and 909 drops. They might not be better than some lesser known companies that make exceptional headphones for less money but there are definitely things they offer for strictly musical enjoyment for the average listener than a brand like Shure or Bowers & Wilkins, so on. Sure They like to crank up the bass a bit and make the highs more noticeable, but those are things that make non-audiophiles enjoy most styles of music they listen to, thus why you see them everywhere and no one can give you stats about why they’re headphones are good. They have expanded the $100+ headphone market exponentially, not because of audiophiles, but because of the average Three Days Grace fan, or Eminem fan that wants better sounding headphones that look cool.
    In conclusion, These headphones are NOT worth their dollar value as far as overall sounds staging, and sonic accuracy to the recording. They are still worth having an expensive price tag just not as expensive. They are an enjoyable headphone to listen to. They sound better if you properly break them in first (which no demos will have done, and most people don’t do) makes a huge difference as far as distortion goes and overall accuracy. Also, as for the cables situation, yes they are overpriced because they’re hella marked up, no brand of cables isn’t, except no name Joe brand you’ll find on the internet made out of someone’s basement. Think about this, a $6 cable will be atleast 50% mark-up (at a store level) so let’s say it costs a company $3 to buy that cable. What do you think it actually costs the manufacturer to make that cable? $0.50? Do you really think a cable that costs $0.50 to make is going to be made from decent copper wire, or copper at all for that matter? No. A cable such as an HDMI cable relies on the movement of information through the cable, by using the wire inside as a highway. Copper and Gold are the two best conductors. Copper is cheaper than Gold, that’s why it’s used. If you think that the cable will tranfer information the same through low grade copper or aluminum as through let’s say, 99.9% un-oxidized copper such as what Monster uses, than you’re a deficient. Side by side a cheap cable and a more expensive cable will both be Hi-Def, granted, but you’ll notice a shiat load more bleeding of colours, duller edges, more aggressiv, inaccurate colours (ex: people looking tanned when they aren’t) and much less depth of field. Yes, it’s very noticeable. I know this from setting up two identical tvs (Samsung LED LCD 55″), side by side, using identical blu-ray players, and the same scene from the same blu-ray. All side-by side. One with a monster cable (79.99), and one with a dynex cable (19.99). HUGE DIFFERENCE. I also cut open the cables to find out what’s inside…

    • WOW, I just had to respond here that this post is a COMPLETE SHAM. You are trying to say that a digital connections, that is a connection composed of data, 1′s and 0′s, is somehow going to be received differently through a gold plated wire than a copper one. This is an outright lie, or gross misunderstanding of technology. Digital signals are very different from analog ones. if you had 2 componnent hi def cables, one gold plated and the other copper, then you might have a compelling argument, simply because HD signals transferred via these technologies are still in effect analog by nature. The received signal requires interpolation to decipher how the picture is to be displayed.

      However actual digital content, like that carried through HDMI and DVI cables is not analog whatsoever. It is purely a sequence of bits which a processor is instructed to perform. There is no room for guesswork, the system does not decide how green to make pixel #452 to look. It is being specifically told that a certain pixel at coordinate X/Y is to be this specific color. The only possible room for quality control would be simply latency, whether or not a copper cable could conduct this information at the same speed as another. However current display technologies are far behind the max theoretical bandwidth you could relay across ANY type of cabling. This is why tests have been performed to show A COAT HANGAR can relay the same picture at the same speed as a monster HDMI cable.

      Your claim that you set up two 2 tv’s with 2 identical blu ray players with 2 identical movie scenes is an outright fabrication. If you had done so, then you would not have written this post. My guess you is you are either some PR intern SHILL, paid to come and post fake blogs and comments to spread misinformation, or you are simply misinformed and are assuming you know what you talk about because you work at Best Buy and have high praise for yourself.

      • I’ve read the stories about monster and how their cables aren’t special. While I agree, I will say that I have had some weird issues with HDMI cables. I bought a cheap 4 dollar cable from Big Lots and it was the same version as another cable but had different results. It worked fine for tv but produced white speckles when I used my PS3. I’ve always heard it will either work or won’t but that wasn’t the case. I just ended up switching my tv cable with the PS3 cable and it was fine but I don’t plan on buying anymore cables from Big Lots.

        • The main issue with any cheap cables are the connectors. If the strands inside are not properly or weakly soldered to the plugs, the can come loose and break. If you buy from a reputable budget cable company like Monoprice, you will not encounter dead-on-arrival type of cables. Frankly, you would have to be pretty uninformed or foolish to spend more than 20 dollars on a 6 foot HDMI cable.

          I remember seeing 300 dollar HDMI cables in the Magnolia Home Theater section at Best Buy. Any company that tries to pretty up their cables with colored connectors and weaved sleeves is just trying to fool people who are clueless.

    • Hi, a simple Too Long, Didn’t Read(TL;DR) section would suffice, since the formatting is unreadable, no matter what your saying, I don’t care when 3-6 paragraphs get stuffed into one. And like the guy says, your digital bits should come out on the other end the same (yes, w/ respect to order, endianess and amount), otherwise the hardware is FUCKED! Duh?

    • As nono explained, this post that claims Monster HDMI cables are somehow better because they are made of gold instead of cable is bullshit. Let’s revisit his statement:”Side by side a cheap cable and a more expensive cable will both be Hi-Def, granted, but you’ll notice a shiat load more bleeding of colours, duller edges, more aggressiv, inaccurate colours (ex: people looking tanned when they aren’t) and much less depth of field.” Depth of field? Maybe you should check your eyes. How could a cable adjust something photographic? Bleeding colors was an issue with analog component cables, but as nono accurately stated, the only information that travels through HDMI cables is digital. It either works or it doesn’t.

    • And to the other question, “what is beats audio?”… I have no idea. I have an HP ENV laptop set up in a department, and it sounds pretty decent when played through good monitor speakers or good headphones. But other than that, I have no idea.

  12. @thenewblack

    Your HDMI analogy is well out. Simple scenario is, if the signal which is made up of binary numbers transmitted down the cable is received by the TV or similar it works, simple. I does not matter what copper you use or even 24 carat gold, you will not get a better signal, you just either get one or you don’t. Why ? because its digital plain and simple. This is where the likes of monster ripped people off with exuberant prices for a piece of equipment that has been said before can be be bought for lower than £2. The same can not be said for the likes of Scart etc as they are analogue signals, where better quality materials and manufacturing process does give a better signal.

    • i like how you use math (kind of) to make a point. but experiments beat ideas every time. you keep doing your math and not testing it, i bet you’re an engineering student. but he claims to have done an experiment that revealed to him the fact that there is a definite difference. have you? no? then you only have your perfect universe math. I’ve done a few tests, these ear buds beat all the pairs previously used, even good speakers don’t sound as tight as these. and i play music so I’m incredibly critical of how things sound.

      • If you have any idea of how digital signal/image processing works you would understand that THNEWBLACK lies. My math, your math or any person’s math is how these systems are build, they are not made of any kind of magic as MONSTER marketing wants you to believe. It’s sad that you say you play music and you still havent heard better sound than the beats earbuds. You should go to a big store and try all the brands mentioned above and even some studio monitors and you will be surprised by what you were missing.

  13. A few of us in the car audio side of things have a theory on what the beats thing is.. its apparently powered since some of these if not all have a little red light on them.. there is a very secret technology inside that will most likely never be revealed… Dre knows its there ( if it actually is) but even he has no clue how it works.. All that can be said is its rather special.. if this is monsters ploy to bring the technology to the market they may have a very very good thing in their hands…. too bad they don’t even know how it works.. All they know is they have it, since it was developed by a 3rd party engineer from a sound lab, and then licensed out for a huge chuck of funds…

  14. I guess I was hoping to understand what this Beats thing is but these discussions prove the dictum “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”
    newbies like me are blinded by branding, but then above it sounds like some of you experts bring it down to a personal choice also.
    If that’s the case how can you discount how a cool logo and expensive price make someone feel about their audio experience? How do you value a good personal choice?
    I was hoping good speaker technology was based on science but I guess I’ll just buy something big and expensive.

  15. Ok so i’m just wondering if i were to buy an hp laptop with beats audio for my my dj’ing company would it be worth the money? I’ve read some bad things but i want to use this in bars and clubs, not in my home. Is there any dj’s out there that have used beats audio for dj’ing and if so does it sound good or is it shit? Please let me know.
    P.S. I play all kinds of music, not just hip-hop

    • It wouldn’t be worth the money if you had to spend extra. If you’re dj’ing, the sound coming out of the computer will be USB to a board or external amp. In that case, the music is still in digital form (instead of analog) when it leaves the computer, bypassing anything Beats Audio would touch anyway. Your laptop is essentially just being used as a hard drive with music files on it at that point.

  16. Yeah the HDMI cable thing is a hoot….I think the Dr Dre thing is a market placement gimic. I have a Pavilion dv7-4177nr with the questioned sound system and the woofer on the laptop well lets say it doesn’t woof and the overall laptop sound is a hair better than a regular speaker setup compared to friends laptops and I use a pair of MDR-NC7 Sony $34 headphones that work pretty doggone good. I have asked HP to clarify how I go about setting the EQ in HDMI mode and after a yr have yet to get a response and I use a HDMI to connect to my LCD TV & Entertainment system and when using the ‘Dre to playback movies,games,Pandora only bumps the sound a tad with no way to equalize it as yet, which probably means it is analog, not sure but thats my guess, as that option disappears when I toggle HDMI as default. The EQ only seems to work when I toggle Headphones and Speakers as default. That said and with the company not responding to queries and like you said 80 dollar cables, does make one think they are playing on peoples ignorance and the hip-hop crowd.

  18. This stupid ass article still doesn’t answer the simple question……. WHAT THE FUCK IS BEATS AUDIO? Why the fuck would anyone pay $300+ for a pair of headphones just because they have Dr Dre’s name associated with them? All I want to know is the answer to the original question What is beats audio, and what is it gonna do for the HTC Evo LTE that I plan on upgrading to?

    • That’s because the stupid-ass article has a stupid-ass link at the top (says “Update 1/10/12: the answer.” in bold and green) that links to another article with the stupid-ass answer.

  19. I have the beats solo HD headphones, and the sound on my ipod is amazing, i can have the volume right up and its not distorted, (pop, dance, rock). These headphones are sorta a style symbol, but for me its about the sound. i love them, and i think anyone who has a bad word to say about them obviously can not afford them ok the in-ear head phones are not that good, but the over ear ones are awsome, also have Beats audio on my dv7 laptop. There are 4 speakers and subwoofer, which are made by beats, and the sound card is too. quality is amazing. wish i could post a video on here of the sound. i have the BOSE IE2 AUDIO head phones, and they are no where near as good as the beats. seriously guys there worth the money.

  20. Stop searching and get Westone in-ear headphones. Research it. Wikipedia it. Westone pionneered the in-ear headphone technology, developed the first Shure in-ears and the first Ultimate Ears. I bought Shure in-ears for years and thought they were the best, until the cable broke (again) and researched and tried the Westone’s. By far the best, most balanced in-ear phones. And allow big volume on portable devices, contrary to these huge cans. In addition, they are noise isolating, which allows you to keep the levels at a more natural and healthy level. There is no way back.

  21. Well i have had two pairs of tour in ear ones (friend broke first pair) so got them replaced they sounded way better than my other earphones i had, then i got some studios and they sounded really good then i went to the usa for holiday and bought some pros and they sound AWESOME, i listen to mostly heavy music but id say overall they are really good headphones/earphones and even better if you have an equalizer app to change the sound, i love the sound of the pros than out of the others, so i say if you got the money get some studios or pros over inear ones obviously they have more power, how much power or specs i dont know but im not dissapointed in buying them tho

  22. I hear a lot of people but them because they have “intense bass” and then complain that they don’t. I feel they have no better bass than some other headphones, however with them you can turn the bass up without mudding, the highs, there crisp and beautiful with a full range of sound. The software that comes on computers and phones seems to be more of an auto eq. I have the htc rezound and i notice a large difference when beats is enabled.

  23. Looks like “beats audio”, in devices not the headphones, is simply an eq curve. No hardware tweaks like converters or jacks, or even higher resolution software. What a pile of shit. This brand is based on cosmetics, not engineering. Dre can keep this shit.

  24. You guys are stupid just suck a dick and put the earphones up your asses that would sounds great huh?,anyways you guys still waste money and time on this bullshit so quit bitching you faggets-

  25. Yo,

    I have the beats by dre solo version (€150) + beats audio combined with my Htc.

    Dont know much about other headphones or how they sound.. (the ones i had Never satisfied my needs)

    Strictly to the point, these fkin headphones give me an earorgasm when i play Lil Wayne – a millie. The bass is just insane. U feel your ear viberate when i max the volume

    Just saying they are not thatbad, maybe im ignorant but the bass is just awesome!

  26. SADLY IT SEEMS ONLY RETARDED PEOPLE HAVE CONTRIBUTED BEFORE MY POST… BUT TO NO AVAIL, I WILL ENLIGHTEN YOUR DUMB ASSES….
    TO THE IDIOT WHO POSTED THIS ARTICLE AND FORGOT HIS OR HER NAME….BEATS AUDIO IS NOT DESIGNED TO BE USED WITH NON-BEATS AUDIO DEVICES. DUH!!!
    SO ONCE YOU PLUG IN THE GOLD-PLATED JACK INTO THE CARBON FIBER HP LAPTOP SOCKET… YOU GET STUDIO QUALITY IN-EAR EXPERIENCES…
    WHY?
    COS HP REDESIGNED THE NOTEBOOK SO NO DISTORTION OR INTERFERENCES FROM OTHER COMPONENTS INTERFERE WITH THE LISTENING OF MUSIC AND VIDEOS.
    NO GO SLEEP IF YOU DON’T BOTHER TO RESEARCH BUT HAVE BANDWIDTH TO BLOG $HIT!!!

    • 1. This is an old article with a link at the top to the answer.
      2. You’re wrong. The physical components don’t just magically create studio-quality sound. Well, depending on your definition of a “studio” anyway. There’s much more to it.
      3. If you read the answer article, you’ll see that the entire system is just making the laptop more like a desktop and it has an equalizer setting. That’s it. No enhanced components, no amp, nothing.

  27. What I don’t understand is why my girlfriend’s new, free, apple earpods sound better than my $150 beats tour earbuds. I was hoping that I’d see some cool specs on the beats to convince myself that I wasn’t conned when I bought them. Then I read that the beats are from Monster. Kings of the con.

  29. Beats is the name for Dre’s discovery that companies were selling their poor (flatscreen etc.) audio pushed and marketed using SRS sound enhancement tech and peole actually buying that kind of stuff (while it did not sound good, it sounded more relaxed that unbiased signals would sound thru those tiny speakers).

    Adding the insight that young folk actually praises idols and labels more than professional tech (or facts), Dre’s Beats basically replaced SRS in the market, with the guys posing as the icons that “know sound” (marketingwise a big improvement over just “improving sound by tech”).

    Other than that it’s just mediocre headphones with good colors and casing on the headphone side as well as some filtersoftware and a component quality sign on the PC/mobile side.

    But basically it’s those guys selling their name in the business and thereby making the revenue of that big market for mediocre sound equipment move in their direction/pockets: “Why SRS or Sony if we can own it…”

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