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Plenty of celebrities assign their names to high-profile products these days, whether it be perfumes, cosmetics or sports shoes; but how many of them can claim to look beyond the paycheque to the point where they are truly invested in the product they’re supporting? Probably not very many.
Music producer Dr. Dre partners with Monster Cable to create revolutionary Beats headphones. Image: Monster Cable.
However, one notable celeb who certainly can stand proud beside his product endorsement is Dr. Dre. The respected music producer and one-time member of pioneering rap outfit NWA has spent the last two years working alongside Noel Lee, founder of audio accessory specialist Monster Cable, to craft Beats by Dr. Dre, a set of headphones that offer a level of performance unmatched by retail alternatives.
“People aren’t hearing all the music,” explains Dre regarding the majority of today’s retail headphones. “Artists and producers work hard in the studio perfecting their sound. But people can’t really hear it with normal headphones. Most headphones can’t handle the bass, the detail, the dynamics. Bottom line, the music doesn’t move you.”
That desire to move listeners drove Dre to break his own principle of withholding his name from product endorsements and joining with Monster Cable’s Noel Lee and Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine to create Beats, a revolutionary music delivery system that will enable people “to hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do.”
While the $349.95 USD price tag attached to Beats by Dr. Dre might dissuade the more casual music listener, it’s a fairly unsurprising dollar amount when considering other top-tier headphone products on the market from enthusiast favourites such as Shure, Bose and Sennheiser.
“These powerful, dynamic and ultra clear headphones are able to reproduce low bass notes like no others,” outlines California-based Monster Cable Products Inc., “In development for over two years, Beats feature newly developed driver technology by Monster Cable, tuned by Head Monster Noel Lee and Dr. Dre themselves, and deliver an unparalleled audio experience. The result is remarkably natural sound and incredible transient response with rich, deep bass -- a Dr. Dre trademark.”
Dr. Dre’s Beats promise the channelling of detailed highs, significantly deep bass, and the elimination of outside noise in a pair of robust and aesthetically slick headphones that, according to Noel Lee, achieve a level of performance that required studied evolution across some 150 different prototypes before Dre was satisfied with the final result.
“This is different from making perfume and having some rock star put her name on it,” commented Interscope Geffen A&M’s Iovine in a related USA Today report. “We’re pretty finicky guys. Those headphones (had to) sound better than every pair made.”
“If people think they like their music on those little ear buds or computer speakers, they’ll experience it on a whole different plane [with Beats by Dr. Dre],” he added.
Thus far, Beats headphones have been lauded by music industry producers and recording heavyweights such as Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Bono, and Pharrell Williams.
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