Beats Studio Over-Ear Headphones (Black)

Beats Studio Over-Ear Headphones (Black)..

Special Price Beats Studio Over-Ear Headphones (Black) By Beats

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356 of 385 people found the following review helpful.
Sound? Good. Build quality? Great. Price? STUPIDLY HIGH.
By Jeff Edwards
I really dig cool headphones...which is only fair seeing as I work in radio and have to wear them every day for at least 4 hours each day--generally longer than the average person, by a rather large degree. I've always been fascinated with not just sound, but good quality sound. It's been that way ever since I really discovered what stereo really was sometime back in the mid 70's (yeah, I'm old--get over it). Over my career in broadcasting I've managed to use any number of good, poor and fantastic headphones. Names like Sennheiser, Shure, Sony, Bose, Panasonic, Phillips and more come to mind as models I have either owned or used extensively in my 22+ years in radio. I understand what good sound is, and the difference between that and great sound can be miles apart depending on what it is you want and need your headphones to accomplish.

Since the meteoric rise of Beats in the last 4-5 years or so has essentially not just brought quality sound to more people, but literally created a whole new category of headphones to choose from. Do my Beats sound good? Absolutely. Do they sound great? Well, this is where I'm going to get some flak, but in my personal & professional opinion, no, they don't. I can think of a number of headphones which can evenly match the Beats for bass quality--and yet will cost you less than a third the price. Face it, these headphones are expensive. Do they offer the bang for the buck you forked out, though? No, not even close. When looking for headphones however, I must admit that I look for a few things that not everyone searches for...like durability for instance. Wearing headphones for long periods of time requires comfort as well. Sound is mighty important, but ranks 3rd in my list of what I buy, and may actually be MORE important to you than it is for me.

Let me break it down:

Durability: 5 stars. I believe that these phones are really manufactured well, and that is a very STRONG point for me.

Comfort: 4 stars. Good, but not enough for a full 5 stars and please keep in mind that EVERYONE'S head is different. What fits me perfectly may not fit you well at all. It is CRITICAL that you try them out in advance for this reason alone whenever possible.

Sound: 3 stars. Lots of bass? Yeah...but I need the entire sound spectrum, not just the low end.

Being an amazon top reviewer has afforded me the opportunity to be exposed to a lot more products than I otherwise may be able to afford. People seek me out regularly and email asking if I would be interested in trying out their products in exchange for a fair review. That is how I came to own these Beats...otherwise I seriously doubt I could have been able to purchase them considering their price.

Being in radio I have noticed one major thing over the years: the pair of headphones that are worn the most by those in the business for 10 years or longer is without question, Sony MDR 7506's. By a margin of probably 8 to 1 Sony's really ARE the industry standard. They are also MUCH cheaper, which really IS a sticking point if you ask me. Great sound is one thing, but for the price, I know of several which will give you the same quality for a LOT less--experience counts.

Long story short, yes the Beats are good headphones. Built very well, and even above average for comfort--but for the price, I honestly believe these headphones are ridiculously over-priced. However, if you can afford them and absolutely MUST have a pair of phones that'll impress your friends, by all means go ahead and spend the extra $$.

245 of 290 people found the following review helpful.
Improvement over the orignal pair but still a overpriced fashion item
By Arjun S. Kahlon
While these are an improvement over the trash that were the originals, they are still extremely overpriced and not that good. $300 is $200 over what the asking price should be for this pair of cans. The bass has been toned down, which has helped clean up the mids. However, the highs still lack clarity and detail. Thus, I would label these genre specific headphones (for hip/hop, rap). These are in no way, shape, or form "Studio" headphones. In addition, the noise cancellation is terrible. Bose does noise cancellation right. The Beats simply emit a hiss that drowns out ambient noises. My main problem is the asking price. For $300, you can get a pair of V-Moda M100s, which not only sound significantly better, but look nicer and have a significantly better build (flexible steel at all the pressure points). Another great pair you can get for $300 are the Senheisser Momentums.I just don't see the point of shelling out all this dough for an inferior product. I bought my son a pair of $60 Senheissers that blow these Beats out of the water.

155 of 198 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent, stylish, and not as bassy as previous Beats
By Art History Professor
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RGK3FTM35F3A9 I must confess that I was a hesitant Beats customer. I had borrowed (test driven!) several different pairs from willing students so that I could hear them over a few hours worth of music. I came away each time thinking that they were entirely too bassy for my musical preferences. These new Beats--the redesigned Studios--have fixed that and replaced the need for a new set of AAA batteries every week. In all, these are the most comfortable headphones I own, and although the noise reduction and sound in this model is not as consistently excellent as my Sennheiser 450s, these are, perhaps, a bit more commuter friendly given the streamlined redesign.

Something I forgot to mention in my video review: many owners of previous Beats models have commented about the ways the sound bleeds out at high volumes. No one--at a coffee shop, university library, wife in bed--has mentioned this to me about this model. So hooray for that.

In all, I'm very happy with these, and although the Sennheisers will remain my go-to travel headphones, these will find excellent service in my daily life.

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M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Active Studio Monitor Speakers

M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Active Studio Monitor Speakers..

Special Price M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Active Studio Monitor Speakers By M-Audio

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236 of 257 people found the following review helpful.
Great sound quality, but the right speaker broke in about a year.
By Curious Reader
I'm using these as computer speakers for
Pandora, mp3s and DAW software;
and I am enjoying the sound quality.

For the sake of informing potential buyers,
I'll say:

With a 'normal' at home computer set-up,
these are very large compared to
'normal' computer speakers,
so keep that in mind.
It's the trade off for superior sound,
and not needing a sub-woofer,
or a large box shaped
power adapter plug spanning 2-3 outlets.
These have a basic electrical plug (like a table lamp).

I have these speakers pointing straight ahead,
with the tops of them around heart level,
and they sound fine.
However, it is recommended by M-Audio
that you have them at ear level,
and angled to make an equilateral triangle with your head.
I would say it's good advice, if you can pull that off.

The main speaker with the connections / volume is the left speaker.

You have two options for connecting these speakers
with your computer.
The standard 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable,
which plugs into 'Aux in' on the front of the left speaker;
or 3.5mm to RCA which plugs into the back of the left speaker.
Both cables are included.

If your computer room gets hot
you might want to turn these off
when you don't need them;
because the left speaker produces a noticeable
amount of heat from the back,
after being on for hours.
Honestly, it's the same amount
that those big box power adapters
emit; the only difference is that it's coming
from the location of your speaker.

== Update ==
10/8/2012
===========

The right speaker stopped producing sound,
on 9/21/2012, a little over a year after purchase.
A month or so prior to this
the right speaker started to produce a
crackling sound if I changed the volume
(using the knob on the left speaker)
while listening to music.

When I emailed m-audio about this the reply was a list of
repair centers that I could contact for a "non-warranty repair".
I called the one nearest to me, and they said it would be $35 to start
and then $75 per hour, plus parts. That's not going to happen...

I want to do business with a company that is
utterly fascinated about why their product stopped working;
especially when it is a recurring case, which we can see from the reviews here.
M-audio doesn't seem to care.

4 stars for the sound quality I enjoyed for a year.
-2 stars for breaking shortly after the warranty expired.

113 of 124 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent, but might not be what you think it is.
By Matthew J. Gavin
My buddy has a pair of M Audio AV 30's, and whenever I would go to his house, I would think, dang, I wish my music sounded like that. Flat. Smooth. Not kicking up the bass, not distorting at moderately loud volumes. It just sounds good. It doesn't hurt your ears. It's a pleasure, like looking at a beautiful painting, when you listen to good music through good speakers. These are built for mastering music in a studio, but as far as studio monitors go, they're dirt cheap. Most professionals have something nicer than these, but as someone who only listens to music, with a budget, these are loads better than most computer speakers you'll find at best buy or whatever.

So, what the heck I thought, the AV 40's are ten dollars more, I'll go with those. They just came in today and I'm very happy with them. I have an Audio Technica ATLP 120 USB vinyl turntable currently playing Sigur Ros' album Inni, and everything is crystal clear. At low volumes, you can still make out detail. At high volumes, there's no distortion (until you crank it up to the very max... but nothing's built for that, really). Upgrading from a cheapo sony boombox to this is like night and day.

This isn't for you if you need something to fill an entire living room. I'm in a dorm room and it's great for that.

This isn't going to rattle the floors with bass and get the ladies to remove articles of clothing to little wayne. This isn't built for that, and you'll be disappointed when this doesn't have disproportionate thumpability or the ability to tweak EQ settings. Everything sounds flat. The vocals get the same attention to detail that the drums, guitar, and flute do.

This is self powered, which means you don't need an outside amp or receiver in order to make these things make noise, which is good. I was striving to keep the number of things I needed to a minimum. This does the trick. If I tried to hook these up to a separate subwoofer or amplifier, I do not think they would interface well. Keep that in mind.

One thing you need to be aware of is that these are the SECOND VERSION of the item. Notice that these go for $100 on Amazon, and the previous version goes for $150. These are the differences I have noticed:

1) These DO NOT allow you to manually select the voltage they take in. (So if you want to take these to Europe, you can't flick a switch like on the previous version. You'll need to buy a transformer.)

2) These DO NOT have a 'bass boost' switch. This isn't an issue. These things are FLAT and that's the way most people who buy them want it. But know coming in that you won't have the bass booster the previous version had.

3) These DO NOT have a detachable power cord. I think the size is sufficient, but I'm the kind of guy who likes detachable power cords. I think it's unfortunate they took it away. If something goes wrong with the power cable, I can't just buy a new one, it has to get replaced or repaired. Very sneaky, Avid!

4) These DO NOT take in 40 volts of power (20 per speaker). They actually take in 30 volts of power (15 per speaker). Does this make a difference? I think they sound fine. I was initially concerned, but one of Avid representatives on their forum commented that this was "a typo", and that they do, indeed, take in 40v. I don't have the equipment to test this myself. My theory is that they either understated the voltage (because this is better than overstating it), or that they changed the design to be more energy efficient. Or maybe it actually was a typo, but I don't believe that.

The previous design was prone to have overheating issues (remember, the amplifier is literally built into the speaker). If lowering the voltage, making design changes to the power cable connection, and taking away the power selection switch all make the new model more efficient and less prone to failure, that's awesome. As far as I'm concerned, if this was the only available model of the item, my first thoughts wouldn't be to include those things. They're fine as is, and $50 cheaper for it.

I have not had ANY trouble with this product. It sounds as fantastic as I had hoped it would. It was incredibly easy to set up. It does not heat at all, and the volume is consistent across both speakers.

Do not throw out the comic book style instruction manual that comes with the product. It explains the importance of triangulation when setting them up into position, and provides information on how to set up a room for maximum musical enjoyment.

MANY people across the internet have reported problems with *THE ORIGINAL* av 40 speakers, as well as the *MARK II* av 30 speakers. If you intend on buying either the new or old av 30 or av 40 speakers, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you do additional research on device failures before you decide to purchase.

After doing some reading, I would have not bought these had it not been for Amazon's competitive price point and return policy. I'd say I took a slight gamble that these might not have worked. Save yourself trouble, either buy from the guy across the street in the brick and mortar store where you can negotiate a price and return policy, or buy from Amazon (and not a third party dealer... trying to do returns with them is not as painless as with Amazon themselves).

What else is there to say? If this is what you're looking for, buy em. If you need something nicer for actual studio work, skip em. If you don't like your music crisp, and tweak your EQ settings in your car to +5 treble and +5 bass while effectively flipping the bird to the mid end, skip em. If you need something that interfaces passively with a receiver, skip em. I don't regret this purchase at all. If anyone scoffs at you, and says, "You paid $100? You got ripped off, my $15 logitech speakers work just fine", they haven't listened to these.

111 of 126 people found the following review helpful.
Hey Amazon! What the heck is a MK II AV40?
By James Fenton
This should be a good help to those with questions.

Having spent a full week researching desktop speakers to replace my old 5.1 Altec Lansing 2001 solution I decided upon the M-Audio Studiophile AV40s. The competition was a variety of Bose speakers promoted in a few trips to the local Best Buy store. I in fact bought one of the first Bose cube speaker systems in the early 80's, I considered strongly the Audioengine A2 offering. I had set a $200 soft target. The reviews for the AV40 exceeded that for other systems I considered. I have a few different systems in the house from a relatively recent home theater to a vintage stereo set up. The majority of my music has been converted to the FLAC format and I wanted a clear true sound that imaged well. This is a lot to expect for $200 speakers. I also hope to become a Spotify user but am yet to receive an invite. I use MOG and Napster also. As I was ready to check out for the $149 AV40's what should appear on my screen but the following:

There is a newer model of this item:
M-Audio Studiophile AV40 Powered Monitor Speakers M-Audio Studiophile AV40 Powered Monitor Speakers 4.5 out of 5 stars (22)
$114.99

What did this mean? Was I buying "obsolete" speakers. Were these "newer" speakers updated/better/more options/what? I went to the M-Audio web page and there was no mention of a "newer" model.
I held off the buy. In some web postings a MK II version of the AV30 was mentioned. Was this "newer" offering a MK II version of the AV40? Amazon did not mention this in the offering. Then a few postings from recent AV40 buyers mentioned that their new Amazon AV 40s did not have the bass boost option and 15 watt amps instead of the AV's 20 watt amps. When contacted M-Audio said "we do not make any AV40s with less than 20 watts per channel". Confusing, Yes. I would still like an answer from Amazon whether these are AV 40s specifically made to sell at a lower price point like the big box stores do with many of the products that they sell. And if so why was this not pointed out by Amazon. All that aside I did have a severe case of new speaker lust and decided to take a chance on the "newer" model AV 40s.
And guess what they are terrific. I can't compare whether I am missing something with 5 less watts per channel and no Bass boost, but what I have is very good at sound reproduction. I wish that Amazon comes out and openly addresses this issue.

PS. As good as the AV40's are my computer has an integrated sound card so I made a brilliant purchase of a $27 Behringer usb DAC adapter and now the sound is better than terrific. It sparkles. Close your eyes and there are no speakers. The vocals are front and center. One can hear sounds I even missed with my Ultimate Ears ear buds on my Cowon Flac player. The instruments stand out in time and space.

For $114 plus $27 I nearly have a concert hall on my desk.

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BLU Studio 5.0 Unlocked Dual Sim Phone--U.S. Warranty (Black)

BLU Studio 5.0 Unlocked Dual Sim Phone--U.S. Warranty (Black)..

GET BLU Studio 5.0 Unlocked Dual Sim Phone--U.S. Warranty (Black) By BLU

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110 of 118 people found the following review helpful.
Nice phone, but VERY limited memory for storing apps - microSD use doesnt help
By phoneman
This phone has lovely features worthy of a competitor to samsung etc.

4G/3G data is fast on Tmobile where they have 1900Mhz coverage, but WONT work at 4G/3G where Tmobile operate only at 1700Mhz. Best to check Tmobile's 4G/3G coverage map before buying this phone, otherwise you'll get slow 2G speeds only at 1700Mhz-only areas (this phone doesnt work at 1700Mhz, hence the 2G speeds). Works well on at&T, and Lyca mobile (uses Tmobile for 2g/3g/4g coverage).

Battery life is very good, around 12 hours with calls and data use during the day.

The dual sim functionality works well, with a blue-green color scheme for indicating which carrier is being used.
Wifi is OK, Bluetooth OK. Processing speed OK.

You CANT upgrade the factory installed version of android (4,1) to any of the later android versions.

Screen is large and bright, the back camera OK although pictures are somewhat grainy and pixelated when using the flash in indoor use.

Altho the phone comes with a basic rubber-type protector, its almost impossible to get a case for this phone. Only one supplier in the US seems to sell spare batteries.

THE BIG FLAW:
Sadly, despite these wonderful features, the phone has a MAJOR flaw that is not revealed in the specs. Although the specs say 2GB of storage, actually after the android operating system etc is installed, you ONLY have 512MB of storage to load apps AND data for apps that cant use a micro SD card. That is, some apps like Gmail need to be in the root of the phone and cant be stored (app itself and its data) on a micro SD card. You thus can only add a few apps to this phone in total. Gmail stops working if the mailbox gets too full as there is no space to download mail. While some apps can be stored on the micro SD card, you'll only know that this alternate storage is possible when you try downloading that app to the phone: it either stores on the micro SD card or not. If the internal memory is full, you'll have to delete other apps or not install it at all.Skype doesnt work at all, and doesnt even install as there is an error message.

In other words, you'll never know whether you can install ALL your favorite apps on the phone, as the limited 512MB internal app storage memory halts the ability and the micro SD storage option isnt certain.

The more expense Blu phones like the Life One have more internal app storage, so if you need apps, best to forgo buying this phone and spend extra on the Life One.

Blu support in Florida is very good. They respond to email quickly and are very helpful over the phone.

139 of 152 people found the following review helpful.
Blu Studio 5.0
By Dawn
I bought this phone for my son, as he liked the huge screen of the Note 2. Well my bank account said, no way to the price of a note 2 without contract. I purchased the
Blu Studio 5.0 for him, popped in a T-mobile 30.00 a month prepaid sim, and WOW. This phone does everything you need it to. It does not have an S pen of course. The 3G on it is fast, the wifi works great for all his games, the play store has all the android apps you could ever want or need. It is super light weight, that is what made me skeptical to start with, as I believed that it may have been a sub par phone. Not at all. The camera took great pics and it has a front facing camera for "selfies".
The battery seems to hold a long charge, I know this because my son plays lots of games from the app store on it. He charges at night and ready to go after school (after responsibilities and homework of course)until bedtime...BTW my son is only 11 years old.

All in all we have had the phone for about 3 months now and no issues at all. I am please with the phone and its performance.

ONLY CON!!!
NO CASES MADE FOR THIS PHONE!! Come on Blu!!! It does come with a thin rubber back case, but this is only to protect the back from scratches when its put down or slid across a surface. I purchased a Note 2 screen protector for him and cut it to fit as the glass is NOT the gorilla glass as on most newer model smartphones.
For the price, you CAN NOT GO WRONG with this one if you like a huge screen.

40 of 48 people found the following review helpful.
Phone is awesome after rooting.
By Amazon Customer
Seriously, this phone was awesome before I rooted it but it's even better now because it was rooted. The internal memory was my only issue and now it's not. I love my blu studio 5.0 LOVE IT.

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