First Listen: Beats by Dre Executives

It's often hard to find dedicated headphone stores where I live, so when I say that I listened to the Beats by Dre Executives in an Apple Store, please understand my situation.  It's one of the few places that has different types of over ear headphones to try on. So yes, I visited my local Apple Store, and when I was there I noticed the new Beats by Dre Executive were on display.  So with as open a mind as I could muster, I tried them on.  Here are my first impressions.

Firstly, I will say that I was relatively impressed with the build quality. They were comfortable and the leather ear pads and head band were very soft.  I was unable to determine whether it was real leather or not, although I tend to think it was fake.  The aluminum build was very nice, although I will say that they were a little heavy.  Compared to other Beats models (the ones constructed from primarily plastic such as the Solo Beats and Studio Beats) this particular model was very nice indeed, at least in terms of its build.  I liked how this model had a much more subdued look in comparison with other Beats models.  The detachable cable this time is black, instead of red.  Much less showy, and I honestly like that.  The problem is that I would never in a million years buy these headphones, and thats because they sound awful.  If they were maybe $50 to $80 dollar headphones, it would be acceptable.  However, the Executive Beats cost a ridiculous $300 dollars.  No true headphone listener nor audiophile would ever condone such a price for a headphone that performs so poorly sonically.

The Executive Beats retain all that I dislike about the brand (apart from the gaudy red color scheme).  They produce the same bloated and muddy bass as the Studio Beats and also retain their massively recessed mid range.  It's a sound characteristic that seems to only be produced by Beats headphones.  The only difference between the Executive Beats sound characteristic and the Studio Beats is that aside form the bloated muddy bass and recessed mid range, the Executive Beats possess a certain shrill quality to the sound in the extremely high ranges.  I found this to be very strange, as if the sound engineers at Beats by Dre (if they even have any) thought that making the upper range sound harsh and shrill would add some "fidelity" (a word that Beats by Dre as a company is not very well aquainted with) to their headphones.

Every time I listen to a new Beats by Dre headphone model, I try as hard as I can to listen to them with a open mind.  Every time I hope that maybe, just maybe this model wont be as bad as last.  Every single time, I am wrong.  While the Beats Executives do have a better build quality than many of the other Beats models, they still perform well below par, especially when you factor in the over the top $300 dollar price point.  It's another failure in Beats by Dre's long line up of previous failures.  Sonically? They suck.  Beats by Dre? Well to be honest, Beats by Dre Suck.  Beats by Dre will continue to suck as long as they produce products that continue to feed inferior sound to the masses at a ridiculous price.

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