Beats by Dr. Dre was founded in 2006 by the rapper and music producer Dr. Dre and the music executive Jimmy Iovine. The idea behind Beats came from the desire to hear music with the full, powerful sound of a professional recording studio. At that time, most headphones on the market were either of modest quality or designed for the mass market, lacking the strong bass response and detail that are especially important in hip-hop and other bass-driven genres.
The first major breakthrough came through a partnership with Monster Cable, which had extensive experience in audio equipment. Together they released the first Beats headphone, the Beats Studio, in 2008. Beats relied heavily on aggressive marketing and celebrity partnerships: artists and athletes became brand ambassadors, quickly turning the headphones into a fashion and status symbol.
In 2014, Apple Inc. acquired the company for about $3 billion, making Beats by Dr. Dre one of the most widely recognized audio brands in the world. Since then, Beats has continued to develop its products and integrate them closely into the Apple ecosystem, focusing on high-quality wireless headphones and speakers.
The first encounter between ULTRASONE and Beats took place at the NAMM Show in Anaheim. Beats had a small booth right next to ours and was advertising with the slogan:
“Life is too short to listen to bad headphones.”
All their staff wore the slogan on T-shirts.
We occasionally allowed ourselves a small bit of fun. When people who had just purchased their Beats headphones for $399 came by our booth afterward, we would invite them to do a sound comparison with our ULTRASONE HFI-450—incidentally the headphone that Eminem once listed as his favorite in his biography.
Without exception, every single person preferred our sound. When they asked what our headphone cost, we first asked how much they had paid for their Beats.
“399 dollars,” was their answer.
“99 dollars,” was ours.
The surprise—and sometimes frustration—about the $399 spent was equally large.
Uncompromising sound for a small price! 🎧
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