4 Days Till Geekmas Epic Gift Ideas

Hype is a very tricky thing. The core of hype is energy and therefore things can get carried away and over hyped very easily. Hype is a bastard like that. And usually when it comes to hype the bigger the hype the greater the failure. I mean, I'm not gonna say that a great example is James Cameron's giant cat smurf film containing every cliche in the book Avatar, but let's say James Cameron's Avatar is a great example. In fact I'll go a step further and call it the Avatar Effect.

So when I first came across Beats by Dre and heard all the hype I thought to myself "Well, here's the James Cameron's Avatar of headphones." Gwen Stafani is pushin 'em, Eminem is pushin 'em, FloRida is pushin 'em, and Soulja Boy is pushin 'em. Not to mention Will.I.Am and Kanye are pushin 'em so you know there is a good chance that something might be fucked up about them if Kanye and Will.I.Am is involved.

So being in the market for a good set of headphones and also being a whore for design and packaging I decided to give Beats a test ride. I will completely vouch 100% that Beats by Dre is not the James Cameron's Avatar of headphones. They may just be the Star Wars of headphones. The pair of Solo over-ear headphones I picked up are considered to be the base model but they cancel outside sound just as well as many studio headphones I've used and their sound quality puts Skullcandy's to shame.

Monster (the manufacturer) gives you an assortment of choices. If you aren't a fan of the massive headphones sitting on your head and at the same time hate your eardrums there are also a pretty sweet set of earbud Beats. Want something more trendy? Well you are in luck my friend! You can also purchase the exclusive artist series earbuds that have been designed by Diddy, Lady Gaga, Lebron (Don't really know how he is an artist.), and, of coarse, Justin Mother Fuckin Bieber.

Why is it that Beats sound so good? Well, if you take Dre at his word, the problem with modern day headphones is that they lack the ability to really get the sound quality of digital music. In other words, what the artists hear in the studio isn't entirely what you end up hearing when you download the song. So Dre is here to remedy that.

Down side about Beats? They aren't really the economy model of headphones. Solo Beats headphones will run you $199. Throw in some HD to those Solo's and you have yourself at $229.95 (strange number). (Product) Red Solo's are also about $229. And Studio's will cost you $349.95. If you want the Cadillac of the Beats family, the Beats Pro's will hit you hard at $449.95. I'm not gonna say you could just about get your ass an iPad for that amount but you could just about get your ass an iPad for that amount.

The earbuds are a tad cheaper. The tour's are $189.95 and the iBeats are $119.95. But it really doesn't get much cheaper then that kids.

As a designer headphones are an awesome investment for me. Plug 'em in to my iPhone, click on the music or a podcast, and burn the day away on projects. But it might not be as important as most. So if you are in to quality sounding headphones and you have a couple of Franklin's to spend I can't sing the praises of Beats enough.

P.S. If you get white they will begin to change color after 6 months to a year. Just a precaution.