Beats Headphones with HTC 8x

[Alberto Ortega]

I own a pair of Beats Studio headphones and recently when i connect them to my HTC 8x, the music sounds better with it off. Is anyone else having this issues? Should the music 'Technically" sound better with the Beats equipment? Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[omgitsnick]

Because the headphones are already Beats-enabled, and turning on the Beats Audio on your phone creates a Beatception, so it amplifies the sound with Beats Audio twice.

 

[Michael Good]

I don't claim to be some crazy audiophile or anything, but my beats earpuds plugged into my 8x make the best sounding music I've heard coming from a portable device. To my ears I hear clear, consise music with punchy bass, and no shortage of volume without distorion- this after years of listening to music on buses on various walkmans/mp3 players, and phones with the volume all the way up to just even be heard, and the music badly distorted for the effort.

Maybe Boses or Klipsch's are better, bu I have no complaints.

 

[eric12341]

[WARN]The OP has asked a simple question as to why his beats headphones sound better with the setting "on or off". He didn't ask to read comments such as Beats are crap and *insert other brand name * sounds better. So as such those posts were removed from this thread. Now if you don't have anything to contribute to this thread then feel free to pass over it.[/WARN]

Now for the topic, OP what you are experiencing is the beats audio bug that's been plaguing the 8X since the beats audio "update" that came out around December. Plugging and unplugging usually improves the sound quality, I also find the listening experience with my urBeats to be quite enjoyable with the setting enabled.

 

[shlomo80]

I own a pair of Beats Studio headphones and recently when i connect them to my HTC 8x, the music sounds better with it off. Is anyone else having this issues? Should the music 'Technically" sound better with the Beats equipment? Any thoughts or ideas?

I'll skip the accurate but not helpful 'like listening through a sheet of sludge' sentiment, but what Beats does is a loudness + EQ preset. And what could be happening with a Beats-on-Beats-headphone setup is that if you're listening very loud, you're encountering either clipping or other similar undesirable effects of having it cranked to the max.

The 'bug' mentioned above may be that the Beats setting currently cranks it up too hot - although my lower end reference MDR-7520's (which have a somewhat Beats-like sound signature but are WAY better while costing about the same as a Pro) don't clip at normal listening volumes with Beats enabled, there's an awful lot of resulting bass boost going on for that tiny headphone amp inside to deal with when faced with driving a respectably-sized headphone transducer.

The reason it may not happen with Beats earbuds (notwithstanding the 'listening through shiny sparkly sludge' effect) is that they're a lot more efficient.

 

[srmccoy]

I'll skip the accurate but not helpful 'like listening through a sheet of sludge' sentiment, but what Beats does is a loudness + EQ preset. And what could be happening with a Beats-on-Beats headphone setup is that if you're listening very loud, you're encountering either clipping or other similar undesirable effects of having it cranked to the max.

The 'bug' mentioned above may be that the Beats setting currently cranks it up too hot - although my lower end reference MDR-7520's (which have a somewhat Beats-like sound signature) don't clip at normal listening volumes with Beats enabled, there's an awful lot of resulting bass boost going on for that tiny headphone amp inside to deal with when faced with driving a respectably-sized headphone transducer.

The reason may not happen with earbuds (notwithstanding the 'listening through shiny sparkly sludge' effect) is that they're a lot more efficient.

I had a free set of iBeats laying around from my wife's Rezound, and they sound decent with and without the Beats processing. Which is better could be individual preference.

 

[WhippedKream]

I own a pair of Beats Studio headphones and recently when i connect them to my HTC 8x, the music sounds better with it off. Is anyone else having this issues? Should the music 'Technically" sound better with the Beats equipment? Any thoughts or ideas?

Hey OP! I don't have Beats headphones but I do have Monster's Mobile Jamz ear buds and the beats audio on makes the world of a difference! I think it's a faulty hardware problem with your phone (or software, who knows) so tell the company your with the problem, show them that it is truly bothering u seeing as it is a beats headphones and demand for a fix or a replacement.

 

[shlomo80]

Hey OP! I don't have Beats headphones but I do have Monster's Mobile Jamz ear buds and the beats audio on makes the world of a difference! I think it's a faulty hardware problem with your phone (or software, who knows) so tell the company your with the problem, show them that it is truly bothering u seeing as it is a beats headphones and demand for a fix or a replacement.

I just explained why he's likely having problems with the headphones but users with earphones are not.

Earphone drivers are (obviously, since they have less material to drive) more efficient than the drivers you find in headphones. The Beats Studios are reasonably easy to drive, but only typically among headphones. The Beats setting massively cranks up both the volume and also applies a bit of bass boost - which means the cumulative power required to power the drivers on the headphone increases significantly.

This can cause clipping

My guess is that the OP is getting clipping when he turns on Beats Audio.

 

[WhippedKream]

I just explained why he's likely having problems with the headphones but users with earphones are not.

Sorry! I forgot how beats headphones worked a bit differently. D'oh! I feel like a failed audiophile lolol

 

[shlomo80]

Dunno about you guys but I got a Beats update yesterday. Could be my imagination, but seems to overcook the amp less.

Try it now with any set of headphones.

 

[TruPlaya187]

Dunno about you guys but I got a Beats update yesterday. Could be my imagination, but seems to overcook the amp less.

Try it now, with headphones crud or otherwise.

did get any updates so far

 

[chomsky11]

I tried the 8X with my home Sony cans and with my $25 Philips earbuds, and to me the cans are way over-bass-y with Beats. The earbuds sound great, good balance and clarity. Think that's probably what HTC had in mind anyway, to make cheap earbuds sound less crappy. Mission accomplished.

 

[JamesTBurns]

Ok, I got an 8X today to back up my Nexus 4 (and replace my 920 on T-Mobile). I currently have the Ludacris headphones, which are great. Do I need to have Beats Headphones to truly experience "Beats Audio", or am I getting it with my third party headphones because the phone has Beats Audio....?

Thanks.

 

[gamblers4]

Ok, I got an 8X today to back up my Nexus 4 (and replace my 920 on T-Mobile). I currently have the Ludacris headphones, which are great. Do I need to have Beats Headphones to truly experience "Beats Audio", or am I getting it with my third party headphones because the phone has Beats Audio....?

Thanks.

Beats Audio is fine with my non-Beats ear buds and I don't think many companies out there produce better ones (Westones). IMO just stick with what you have and save your money, I think it would be a lateral movement instead of an upgrade. If everything sounds great now why throw money away chasing unicorns?

 

[JamesTBurns]

I was never going to buy Beats headphones, just wondering if I was missing out. Beats is the one feature the 8X has that the 920 doesn't (and the 920 has tons of features).

 

[shlomo80]

No, as I said before the Beats Audio feature adds:

a) extra volume (i.e. no different to turning the volume up)
b) an EQ preset that's biased for bass and treble (no different to finding a similar preset on the 920)

That is all. Literally. Everything else is (really good) marketing.

It's the combination of the two - to most people who don't understand quality, comparing two sources the louder one will sound 'better', plus the EQ effect - that gives the impression of better quality sound to the sort of people who consider Beats headphones good in the first place.