Beats by Dre. We’ve all seen the advert. Which one you ask? It doesn’t matter; you’ll find the same stench of hubris and self-conceit in whatever tasteless selection lands on the tongue of your eyes. As annoying as this advert is, it sums up the product pretty accurately: a slap in the face to the consumer.
Every clip of these elitist propaganda serves only to frustrate the mind and weigh heavy on the soul. That’s why, at the end of this post, you’ll find a giveaway to win a much more deserving pair of earphones. Keep reading to find out how to enter, and to find out what my top 5 Beats alternatives are. And if these 5 aren’t enough, there’s another 11 Beats alternatives for every taste and budget right here.
Contents
Forget Music, It’s All About The Image
The main theme running through this article is image. How these headphones look and that makes you feel. If you’re one of those people anyway, I for one would push two cockroaches into my ears if it let me enjoy music quickly, efficiently and cheaply. However; if you live on a field, love the taste of grass. listen to your music through tufted ears whilst wearing a big woolly jumper and baa-ing merrily then beats are for you. You can stop reading now.
Each year school buses full of unsuspecting teenagers find themselves hoodwinked under some hip-hopnotic trance leaving them £220 lighter and 20% deafer. Oh and how much do they cost the big man? $14; full story here.
The Reviews
On the other hand, if you actually care about your money, listening to music and knowing that quality is assured in the technology rather than the brand name I may have a solution for you. Yes, we are going to perform a good old fashioned beat-down on Beats by offering some superior alternatives through trusty research and maverick outlook. I mean, surely another less known brand can get better reviews than this:
That was just one review of FORTY-EIGHT, all slating these headphones for the atrocities they are, and this is just one of their products. Such raw disappointment that burns so strong that not even Bebo was safe from that review. Bebo, a social networking site that is about as involved in 2014 as Michael Winner is and this person didn’t even listen to them. That’s how much people hate these headphones.
Can we move on? Wonderful. Now that we’ve established that this product is the headphone equivalent of polio; Sensible Reviewer’s mission is to get you to start loving your passions again (whilst still saving money!), so I’ve compiled a short list of things that’ll not only beat Beats, but look darn fine doing it too.
The Headphones That Beat Beats
FRENDS Headphones (Taylor Range)
Sticking with the ‘edges of a billiard ball, but for your ears’ look, headphone company FRENDS seems to be leading the way. At the low price (compared to Beats anyway) of £134.53 on Amazon, FRENDS offer a stylish look complete with WORKING HEADPHONES.
I know I couldn’t quite believe it myself but according to the fewer, but more positive reviews they seem to have the advantage over their Beat-en rival. See what I did there? It was pretty terrible, but we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn’t as bad as beats..
Sonixx X-Touch Wireless Blue Tooth Headphones
Ok, substitute that double ‘x’ on the side of these headphones with that curious Bebo-B that one of those Amazon customers was referring to and you’ll get Beats.
The Sonixx X-Touch looks exactly like its market’s antagonist with the only difference being that these headphones actually work. Averaging 4.6 out of 5 on Amazon, the Sonixx X-Touch works with phones, iPods, iPads and just about any headphone ready appliance you can think of. It even has a microphone built in to handle calls during your listening experience. Lord of The Rings/Jason Bradbury fans will also recognise these headphones being promoted on the Gadget Show.
At nearly half the price of beats at £69.99 you’ll want to be ordering these handy head holders at SONIC speed.
Whitelabel AncStudio Bluetooth Headphones
Would you believe these are £59.99?
Again, another product that undercuts Beats to such an extreme you can almost see the blood draining from Dr Dre’s heel. If you’re after headphones that have the Beats look, you probably aren’t anymore. These wireless and elegant looking headphones pack more of a punch than a meth-ed up Mike Tyson offering noise cancelling, compatibility with multiple devices and up to a 10m wireless range. Oh and did I mention that it can do this for 12 hours before it needs a recharge AND it has a microphone?
At such a low price these Whitelabel headphones are more of a steal than a Baghdad Bank Robbery.
Bluedio R+ Legend Verson Bluetooth Headphones
Mother of god if the Frends model didn’t make you believe in extra-terrestrial life these Bluedio headphones will. I’m not going to lie though, they look great. Spaceship-style or no, you know these headphones are going to bring the ruckus, at the affordable price of £69.99 on Amazon.
With surround sound, SD card capabilities and a truck load of other technological jargon I couldn’t even begin to understand or comprehend (seriously, take a look at the specs) these headphones are definitely value for money. The computerised-cherry on top of this audio sundae are the reviews on the Bluedio. Much like the invention of guns, slowly but surely Bluedio seem to be turning to the tide in the headphone war.
Take that ‘DrBeatz’ you and your ever-changing pseudonyms will soon be no longer welcome to molest our youth’s heads and ears. We have witnesses.
Sennheiser HD 215
Yet another nail in the Beats coffin at the surprising price of £69.99. With over 100 5 star reviews on Amazon this is just another reason that proves research triumphs over hearsay. With superb digital sound imagery (whatever that is) and rotatable ear cuff for one ear listening, these headphones actually give listeners the choice of one-sided sound as opposed to the forced experience from the Beats Laboratory. These headphones are actually used in the DJ and sound engineering trade and are renowned for their quality, but unlike Beats, for being good!
In conclusion, if you’re thinking about buying Beats by Dre the first product you may need to buy is a brain or the internet. With such staggering reviews of it being a deafening disaster the only market I can see them thriving in is in that of sadomasochism. Even the good doctor has recently distanced himself from the product by selling the company to Apple in May to the tune of $3 billion. Unfortunately though, no matter what economic super power decides to push a fist into the piping hot Beats pie, there’s no denying that this product is ‘Still Dre(adful)’.
How Do I Tell You This List Rocked My World?
If you disagree with this article or believe that you have something better to offer that I idiotically appeared to have missed, feel free to argue about it in the comments. Alternatively you can message us on the book of faces or become a pretty parrot and tweet some information our way, we’d love to hear it. Good luck in the competition!
SEE MORE: 11 Beats Alternatives You Absolutely NEED To See! >>
Photo credits:
designmilk, Alex Medvick, Mike Mozart, Guian Bolisay all @Flickr.
Amazon.
be aware. Don’t buy beats. All you are buying is the name they are no better than your average Walmart skulllcandy. My ex girl bought me a pair of beats ear buds. Used them for four months and the right side stopped working. After talking to beats I was told I had to ship them back on my dime and wait fir them to either get repaired or exchanged and when they say exchange they don’t mean for a new set but a like new set which we all know means refurbished. ( this is how a billion dollar co becomes a billion dollar co). So not only did they send me a refurbished headset they sent me a different color other than the color I purchased, because according to beats they can only send you what’s in stock. Meaning if you purchased black with a red cable your not getting it if they don’t have it in stock. We’ll after a few weeks of having these like new headset the mic went out. After speaking with beats they offered to pay for shipping and handling ( wow don’t want to brake the bank) and offered to repair the headset or send out another like new headset if the headset could not be repaired. I’ll never buy another beats product again. For as much money as you are spending on their product you would think beats would care a little more about their consumer.
I have the Bluedio R+ Legend.
Standing at 5 meters from the headset the volume is higher than my phone (Sony Xperia Z3). When i put the headset on my head at full volume i got shivers all over. The sound quality was amazing, so clear, you can feel the BEATS drumming and not get a headache. Just looking at the price tag on the dr. dre beats you’ll get a headache.
ps. the Bluedio R+ has 6x 3D speakers and 2 subwoofers, if that doesn’t bring a smile to your face, i dont know what will 🙂