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Apple has stumped up a hefty $3 billion for Dr Dre's Beats brand, which with a brand as respected for quality as Apple, begs the question whether it was a wise purchase - considering Beats' reputation. It is the latest in a long line of high-profile buyouts, following on from Facebook buying the Oculus Rift and Twitter sizing up Soundcloud. What is apparent is that these companies are investing in their futures - so is the Beats brand a wise thing to invest in and are their products any good?
Both the Beats and the Apple business model are incredibly similar, which initially means that the two companies will gel together extremely well. Each relies on continuous updates to their product range, whether it be the Beats Personal, Beats Studio, or Beats Executive headphones, each targets various demographics. They are both also regarded as fashionable items to possess (depending on your perspective), allowing for the companies to charge extortionate prices for their products. Where Apple and Beats may differ however is quality, something that Apple has frequently managed to uphold.
The Beats Executive headphones
Let's start with the more expensive end of the brand's products, which would be the Beats Executive, which retails at £269.99 and features noise cancellation technology. In general the reviews are favourable with PC Mag rating it at four stars out of five, writings: "The earpads and headband are plush and exceedingly comfortable, even during long listening sessions." Where they seem to down however is the noise cancellation which caused the headphones to kick up distortion described by Whathifi as a "continuous ‘ssssssssssssss’", whether they were playing music or not. Also both reviews highlighted you can do much better for your money.
The Beats Studio headphones
The Beats Studio headphones, retailing at £329.99, are where things start to go rather sour, with reviews coming in incredibly mixed. One major issue that is highlighted in every single review is the sound quality, each model features a signature heavy bass that tends to completely drown out the rest of the track. As a result the Guardian gave the model a 2/5, writing that it "butchered" certain songs due to imbalanced sound. A user on CNET added that they "are aimed at a gullible market who buy things because of the 'brand' and 'hype' without doing any actual research or comparisons against any other headphones." Thumbs down for the Studio headphones then...
The Beats Solo headphones
Yours for £149.00, the solo headphones are the most common model. Again the sound quality was brought into question and the design praised. Tech Radar wrote: "They look great. They're sturdy. And they've got Dr. Dre's name written all over them. For many people, that's enough. But if you truly care about sound quality, you should probably look elsewhere." Trusted Reviews wrote that the headphones "redeem themselves somewhat with their design and build quality, but not enough to justify the asking price."
The Beats Pill
The company's answer to the portable speaker, it retails at £169.99 (£269.95 for its XL edition), it also lets the user patch conference calls through it. As expected the reviews come back to the same issue, which would be the quality of sound - its secondary functionality for phone calls however apparently works fine. "The Pill simply doesn’t have the sonic talents to match its class rivals, such as the Bose SoundLink Mini. At this price, it’s a tough thing to swallow," writes Whathifi. PC Mag adds: "It simply doesn't offer good enough sound quality to justify its $200 price tag."
Beats Music
An app to rival the likes of Spotify, Beats Music is a subscription based service that will set you back £9.99 a month. It operates on a music curation system that features lists from the likes of Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. At the same time it reacts to your own personal preferences, enabling you to tell it where you are or your mood - and have the app feed back on that. In general it has received very favourable reviews with imore.com writing: "Beats Music doesn't disappoint. The care and attention that went into balancing usability and feature set shows. Music is meant to be a personal experience and in that aspect, Beats Music has succeeded."
So are Beats products any good?
The answer to that question really depends on your personal preference. If you are looking at the hardware, the sound quality and value for money really do echo a resounding no from all corners. If you are the kind of person who wants a fashion accessory however and has money to burn then knock yourself out - that still is a very silly reason to buy headphones however.
The software in the form of Beats Music however is a different story and potentially represents Apple moving to the subscription based music model after initially snubbing it. The move is definitely a wise one and can only mean good things for the consumer with its focus on personal experience.
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