Martin Lévay All our readers have probably already met the Beats brand, after all, the money for massive promotion on all media fronts has to show up somewhere. Beats bet on prices from higher categories, thereby clearly placing themselves among premium products in the field of speakers and headphones. They ranked there by price. But does the sound belong there too?
History of Beats by Dr. Dre
Although the Beats By Dr. Dre as a quickie, it's not entirely accurate. Audiophile Noel Lee founded the company, now known as Monster Cable, in 1979 to manufacture audiophile cables known not only for their good looks and high durability, but also for their hefty margins to retailers. But if you're a musician, then you're happy to pay extra for a cable that lasts, so why not. And it was Monster Cable in 2007 who agreed with Dr. Dre on the production of premium headphones, promoted by well-known musicians (most often those who shot in Dr. Dre's studio) - Lady Gaga, David Guyetta, Lil Wayne, Jay Z and others. The characteristics of the Monster Cable have also been transferred to Beats products: the construction is sturdy and well-made, the sound is definitely top-notch, and apparently the chubby margins for the merchants have also remained. But considering that they can hardly be faulted structurally, it doesn't matter that much.
A brief overview
It started with headphones that started at a price of CZK 3 and played very well. Like so good that I could no longer tell the difference in quality between Beats, Sennheisser or Bose. They just couldn't be faulted, the Beats were the most expensive, but I liked the cable, which promised high durability with frequent use, so it's not entirely fair to attribute high sales to massive advertising. Another interesting product was Beatbox. It was interesting for its price of around ten thousand crowns, but mainly for its construction. It reminded me of the good old worm subwoofers from the rehearsal room, and even though it was made of plastic, at higher volumes it had that specific "rehearsal" sound. I can't describe it, just like when a heavy membrane vibrates a massive worm (something like a bass reflex) cabinet, only it was produced by a speaker set the size of an elongated shoe box. It sounded very good, Metallica got incredible ratings. Unfortunately, the Beatbox was without Wi-Fi, although the module could be purchased, but for some absurdly high amount, perhaps around three thousand, I can't remember exactly. But you probably won't buy a Beatbox anymore and there are new models on offer, so I chose the tiny Pills.
Beats pill
Beats Pill are a fashion accessory. Pill really resembles a pill (from the English pill). Fashion accessory with decent sound. Really, the first listen pleasantly surprised me, my JBL OnStage Micro play very well, maybe they have more bass, but the Pill are much smaller and louder in the middle and highs, and they last longer on the built-in battery, and they also have Bluetooth. From what I had in hand, they are the smallest in volume. They fit in your pocket and the volume in the mids and highs is sufficient for sounding a picnic by the water or in the workshop or while working in the garage and garden. Pills will sound decently in a room the size of a block of flats living room. The only effect that bothered me was that the bass was lost at longer distances, but that's normal at this size. Less common, however, is how the JBL FLip 2 and Bose SoundLink mini, which are in the same category, coped with it. The Jambox plays the least loudly of all the ones mentioned, but it offers a very nice balanced sound as a backdrop to the room.
Sound
Highs and mids are very good, clean clear vocals, acoustic guitar sounds are decent, Vojta Dyk and Madonna sounded natural, even at higher volume I didn't hear any disturbing distortion, so the sound processors obviously fell into this category as well. Sure, missing bass. Um, how come… they're there. They're just there, the speakers will play it as such, but the design of this micro-speaker kit just can't emphasize it. I tested even the ugliest bass, Erykah Badu's floor-standing acoustic bass. Those speakers really played it, the sound can be heard there, but it is lost from a greater distance, the "acoustic short" unfortunately eliminates it.
Acoustic short circuit
Acoustic short circuit is a construction issue, more precisely an issue with the shape of the speaker cabinet. When you have the speaker playing freely in space, it plays in an acoustic short circuit. This means that the membrane does push out some volume of air (sound), but it returns around the edges of the membrane back under the speaker membrane. Low tones (bass) disappear and become short-circuited. You solve this by placing the speaker 1 meter by 1 meter against a board that has a hole the size of the diaphragm. So the sound cannot slip past the edges of the membrane and listening to low tones in front of the membrane is improved. Later, instead of a record (school radio in old movies), a closed cabinet began to be used, and even later, a bass reflex, which only simulated the larger volume of a closed cabinet. So far, they have probably the best case shape for a speaker in Bowers & Wilkins, see my note about the snail shell in the Original Nautilus.
Volume
It's a great thing for sounding a room or a gazebo, I would let it hum on a towel behind my head on the beach, it probably won't be very sandproof, but it will be nice to listen to your favorite music. Really nice, I like the sound, it's very decent. About the only event that Beats Pills aren't quite perfect for is a dance party, but we'll get to that in a moment.
Access available
Pills fits in your pocket, can play for 8 hours via Bluetooth, as a pleasant musical backdrop, it will serve as a very elegant and stylish gift for ladies too, because pairing is really painless, even ladies can do it (tested on a friend). For listening at short distances, the Pills are really a very good choice. Charging is via the included flat (stylish) Micro-USB cable.
záver
I like pills. It's certainly not a waste of sound, someone put a lot of effort into the sound, which is a compromise between size and appearance. They certainly stand up to Jawbone's Jambox, which have a little more volume, more edge and a little more bass, but at the cost of lower volume. Pills is more music for more money of the two products, both of which correspond to the purchase price. Both are via Bluetooth or via a 3,5mm audio jack and last about the same on the built-in battery. It defends its relatively high price mainly with processing and durability and a practical protective case for carrying included in the price. And if you can buy something with even better sound? You will learn about AirPlay in the last part of this series.
We discussed these living room audio accessories one by one:
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Mr. Levay, I wrote to Jesus after much thought about the UE Boom. I am a driver and I needed something more durable with presto good sound. I was deciding between these and the Bose soundlink mini. I would like it in the living room or in the cabin, but not in the truck .. I am a bit surprised that there was not even a mention of UE Boom in the series yet, will you be testing them? FP
It's tempting, but I'd rather remind you that I didn't test or review the mentioned loudspeakers, I just described subjective opinions, comparing technologies and products that can't be compared, because each one is intended for someone else and for a different purpose. I mainly wrote about products that I had at my disposal for months or even years to test two or three in one morning and write a PR article about them, I'll leave that to amateurs.
To answer, you seem to have made the better choice for yourself, the SoundLink mini is really a living room affair, and there will be so much noise, hum and noise in the car that it would be a wasteful investment. I haven't gotten my hands on the UE Boom yet, so I can't compare and I don't even have a place to get one. I don't know where you write to Santa, but last year I got socks instead of a retinal Proček, so I hope you will have better luck :-)