The San Francisco 49ers all seemed to be wearing matching gold and scarlet headphones when shown warming up on the pre-game show for Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday, Feb 3rd. Unlike the type worn by Colin Kaepernick when he arrived at the stadium though (see Headphones Colin Kaepernic Wearing At The Super Bowl – Beats Studio for more on that), the rest of the 49ers were wearing Beats Pro headphones (Beats By Dr. Dre). See the picture on the left. Kaepernick was wearing Beats Studio, as were the members of the Ravens (see Headphones Ray Lewis Was Wearing At Super Bowl – Beats Studios By Dr. Dre for more on that).
The Beats Pro (pictured on the left) are different from the Studios in a number of ways. First, they are designed not to compliment the audio, but to hear it accurately. This is desirable when in the recording studio and mixing audio – which is what the Pros are actually designed for. In that case, you don’t want the music to sound better than it is (which is what a lot of consumer headphones do); you want to hear it “warts-and-all” so you can correct any deficiencies. The Pros also have flip-up ear-cups so you can turn one of them away from your ear in the studio, which can help when singing overdubs, or for other critical listening chores. And finally, though they provide some noise isolation due to the around-the-ear and closed-back design, they do not have active noise-isolation, which manipulates the audio to reduce certain sounds, especially common noise in planes and trains.
It’s a lot more difficult to provide flat and accurate audio than to make it sound “good” by adding amplification and EQ, etc. That is the reason the Beats Pro are more expensive than the Beats Studio (ironically, NOT made for recording studio use despite the name).
To find out more about the Beats Pro, or to buy a pair of your own, CLICK HERE.
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