It’s been less than a year since HTC made that massive investment in Beats Audio. But in case you haven’t heard yet, HTC has now decided to sell half of it’s 50.1% stake in the company, leaving it with only 25.57%. This comes after HTC released the HTC EVO 4G LTE and the HTC One series with Beats branding, but without bundled Beats headsets.
HTC is saying that this move doesn’t mean it values Beats any less. HTC will continue to work closely with Beats and continue to provide Beats functionality in future handsets. But, as the saying goes, money speaks louder than words – it certainly seems like HTC is starting to think its massive investment was a mistake, especially since the company is still second to Samsung, with sales that just can’t seem to rebound to former levels.
So, all of this made us wonder: what do you think of Beats Audio? Is it just a gimmick designed to sell more handsets and expensive earphones, or does it really add something special to a device’s audio experience?
Sound off below, and let us know what you think – and what your experiences have been of Beats Audio on your own phone.
It’s just some fixed equalizer settings.. it does sound great though with my Beats Studio’s,but its nothing near amazing and breath taking.
For someone like me who enjoys music but not enough to actually sit there and modify an equalizer I like it. For audiophiles I can see how it’s just a gimmick. I do hate how the real magic supposedly only happens with expensive Beats headphones.
I’ve listened to the same song on expensive Beats headphones and on other brands. Going to verify with a set of flat studio headphones shortly, but I don’t hear much difference.
The way I see it.. Having Beats Audio was 100 times better than what HTC already had on-board. It was a slight upgrade, at best, but an upgrade nonetheless.
Never felt like buying headphones for something only one of my many devices can use.
They should hook up with Cowon and jetaudio for some nice BBE and a great sound experience.
Actually, It disheartened me to see Beats branding on the One X and One S backs, leading me to cross my fingers that there would be none of that on the Evo. (And thank god Sprint got rid of it.)
I’m a bit of an audiophile snob, so I didn’t want to have a handheld ad for products that are overpriced for their sound quality. That said, I keep the Beats EQ on when I use my crappy in-ear buds, but turn it off when I use my good cans.
I agree. Beats on for cheap headphones, Beats off for your expensive earphones (i prefer the Image X10s, which make beats-on sound like total crap).
What I do appreciate about Beats is that it opened the discussion for quality output from phones. I dont know what the deciding factor was, but the audio output from my LTE is way better than my OG. Upgrading the hardware is the way to go and I believe they took a step in the right direction. Samsung recently stepped up the DAC in the SGS3 as well.
Somebody’s (Corporations are people) equalizer presets are better than mine because mine are zero.
I actually can see an improvement in audio quality when using my $25 ear buds. I seem to enjoy my music more with beats audio settings on.
Maybe I missed something. Does the beats stuff do anything with non beats audio? aka when I plug into my stereo on the motorcycle.
It’s more detectable if you’re using headphones or earbuds. Inner ear ones, preferably.
I do not own Beats headphones or earbuds, but the $25 Sennheiser IEMs that I have provide pretty great sound with Beats audio enabled. Your mileage may vary.
I’ve used Beats audio enabled ROMs on my EVO 3D and they do seem to help with the bass range a bit. It’s nothing spectacular, but lows do sound a bit better.
I’m one of those people that loves quality sounding audio, but is not going to spend an arm and a leg to get it. Even if Beats audio only helps a little, it’s better than nothing.
I listen to music on my phone mostly in my car. I can absolutely hear the difference it makes in my crappy stock sound system. I thought maybe my brain was just falling victim to the advertising. So I played back the same music file on both my OG EVO and my new LTE and it makes a world of difference. The sound seems “bassier” \ “more bassy” but doesnt make my speakers clip. It also just sounds overall clearer.
I was excited about beats audio after checking out my friends HTC Rezound, it made me envy that feature. My first 4G lte (just got a new one Friday cuz the 3g radio crapped out after a month ) the volume in my car seemed low, leaving me missing my E3D’s surround sound preset. But this new one seems to be much more louder. I do miss the surround sound much more. It sounded much more fuller and you heard the effects much more clearly. Am I disappointed? No. I guess I expected more from beats audio.
I have Monster Turbines, much higher quality than Beats headphones. I noticed that with Beats Audio on, I get very good sound with them. With it off,I still get good sound. I also use Poweramp music app, and tweaking the equalizer settings on that rewards me with great sound!!
Do you get static using power amp? I get a slight backgroup static with every music player I tried EXCEPT the stock HTC Music.
Just replying to say +1 for Poweramp and the Turbines. I lost my turbines commuting to the Avengers premier and it slightly soured that otherwise awesome night…
Beats audio is absolute crap. Some of the worst hardware in headphones, and some of the worst software in drivers around.
If you put Beats software on a PC, it breaks your EQ settings…so when you go to turn off Beats, your gear sounds like crap…you turn Beats back on, magically yourgear doesn’t sound as bad.
That HTC partners with Beats tells me HTC cares more about gimmicky fads than quality. The only people who use Beats headphones are college hipsters who have wood for ears.
Dump the bump
The biggest deal with Beats for me is the fact that the EQ settings are set in a way to prevent ear fatigue. At least for me. I love it on my Evo LTE I can listen to music for hours…But that’s me
For me, the audio is louder and clearer on the Evo LTE than it was on my OG Evo — so much so that I no longer need to use a little headphone amp to hear my motorcycle helmet speakers. I don’t think that’s because of Beats, as it sounds about the same with Beats turned off.
My Hp touchpad has beats audio and the speakers on it are hands down the best speakers i have ever heard in a portable device. The beats audio in my evo lte is a joke. the built in speaker on the evo lte/ onex/s sounds like crap. i know beats audio mode only works on external speakers but it really is disappointing, i vote gimmick all the way.
Use Poweramp, gives you a tweakable equalizer, blows beats out of the water. It has replaced the stock music for me. The improvement in sound quality is amazing.
I absolutely love beats audio on my 4GLTE. I did the headphone swap and I can hear the difference. When the music has a flaw, I can hear it. Music doesn’t flat with beats. People has said the same thing about Bose. Keep beats audio & include the earphones too. But to compete with Sammy, HTC need more than beats. Design, newer features & fresher innovation can compete with Sammy.
I absolutely love beats audio on my 4GLTE. I did the headphone swap and I can hear the difference. When the music has a flaw, I can hear it. Music doesn’t sound flat with beats. People has said the same thing about Bose. Keep beats audio & include the earphones too. But to compete with Sammy, HTC need more than beats. Design, newer features & fresher innovation can compete with Sammy.
Beats is, by definition, a gimmick. It is simply EQ settings. If you spent money on their crappy headphones, sorry. My new Evo LTE is cursed with this crap on there. The audio sounds shimmery, sparkely, spritely, in other words, not how the engineer intended. Look up “disco smile” and maybe you’ll understand what is so wrong with this crap being shoveled onto our phones.
Just turn it off.
Gimmick. Every time a see anything selling a product featuring Beats audio, I always think, “You aren’t selling me on it, by trying to feature Beats audio”. Beats audio equipment is a gimmick by design, it is no better than average audio equipment. Its priced high because of the name (Dre) associated with it.
It’s better and it didn’t cost [me] any more. Clearly they can’t afford to give away the headsets any more… although I wish they would.
Is there a way to port, sound setting options to the lte that would allow you to get the surround sound much like the E3D’s but integrate with beats. I have seen a HTC music player apk but don’t know what version.
Beats audio does approximately absolutely nothing… I can’t change any settings therefore it has no settings. It’s a crap gimmick. Thanks Dr Der !!