CINDREY LIU
Dr Dre is a household name in the world of music. The veteran rapper, better known today as the mentor of rap icon Eminem, has moved into the business of marketing and selling headphones. Like his contemporaries Jay-Z and P Diddy, Dre seems intent on becoming the next hip-hop mogul.
Beats by Dr Dre landed with a big splash in 2008, becoming one of the more famous pieces of music hardware in the market. By aesthetics alone, the headphones look gorgeous. Shiny black plastic on the outside, comfortable red padding on the inside with the Beats logo prominently displayed on either earpiece. Although the finish makes grubby fingerprints quite visible, a quick wipe with a piece of cloth will take care of that.
But the most important feature for a set of headphones is its audio quality and Beats delivers in spades. The noise cancellation is superb, on a moderately loud song you won’t be able to hear a friend calling your name behind your back. Vocals come through loud and clear on Beats. In honour of Dre’s protege Eminem, the Yantrick listened to Love The Way You Lie. Eminem’s snarling verses are crystal clear, although the drum beats weren’t as resonant as usual.
Switching to rock, the same concerns prevailed. The main guitar riffs of Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N’ Roses were pitch perfect, but the deeper bass lines were harder to distinguish. As far as music goes, Beats’ performance is strictly ‘middle of the road’ – it’s very good at the basics, but the extremes are less than satisfactory. Technically, there are no complaints, you won’t hear any crackling or distortions which are a problem on cheaper products.
The headphones are comfortable and can be adjusted to fit snugly on your head. However, it easily slips off if you headbang too hard which is disappointing as sometimes you just want to rock out without having to use one hand to hold your headphones up.
In the end, it really comes down to where you stand on the headphones-earphones divide. If you’re a die-hard headphone fan, then Beats is a solid choice that will earn you a few admiring glances as you make your way through town. But it’s unlikely to convert the earphones faithful and with a price tag above Rs 21, 000, it’s really only for serious music enthusiasts.
Yantrick’s verdict: Extremely popular with the Bieber generation, Beats by Dre is more of an accessory to look cool. Although it has excellent sound quality and noise-cancelling feature, the exuberant price is a deterrent for many listeners who can get the same for much less.