Listening To Beach Boys With Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones on :D

[b00ts]

OMG idk where to start I heard all these harmonies I didn't notice at first the whole Today album blew me away it already seemed like Brian was mastering this complex yet beautiful sound...Seriously it was so beautiful it could make you cry  ..
Has anyone ever tried beats by dre headphones? They are seriously worth the couple hundred dollars.
Ever hear parts of a song that you didn't notice before that swept you away?
At first I didn't know the difference between mono and stereo..now I do and I realize I prefer stereo ...
When did Brian start working with the wrecking crew & how did it come about?

You spend a couple hundred bucks on any pair of headphones and you're sure to notice the considerable improvement...I can't assume Dr. Dre's brand is superior to many that are out there. 

In the meantime, have you tried Wikipedia to answer your question?

when i first got my ipod i listened to the music through the apple earphones...it was ok...so i switched to sony and they were worse then apple...now i have beats by dre earphones and the music sounds a million times better because you can hear everything so clearly but you won't totally understand me because you have to hear it for yourself.
no it didn't :/

Whatever, he got them as a gift and they are better than the previous headphones he had. He can hear new detail in the music. This is all good stuff.

New guy, it is true that at some point, you should check out lossless (wav, flac, apple lossless or best of all, vinyl) versions of the songs. They will offer you much better clarity, depth, and stereo separation. Also, if you are going to upgrade, definitely check out the above listed headphones, such as the HD280s.  In the meantime, It is cool that the Beats headphones are an improvement over what you had before.

Everybody, he is a new guy. His screen name says so. How about how we discuss the superior quality of lossless/high resolution Beach Boys music through good headphones instead of jumping all over him for not getting the best brand and model?

it is but as usual i'm always getting attacked for no reason smh...i thought the songs on my ipod were wav files i'm confused can you please tell me what you mean...
yes they are and if they ever break i will definitely check out the ones you suggested it just made me appreciate the beach boys music more...thanks for not bashing me

No problem, Newguy. Glad to hear that you are listening in-depth to this wonderful music!

MP3 and AAC (iTunes) files are compressed, so they can be much much smaller than .wav files. Where a .wav file might be 20 or 30 megabytes, MP3 and AAC are only about 2 or 3 megabytes. You may have .wav files on your iPod, it depends on how you obtained the tracks. If you bought them from the iTunes store, they are similar to MP3 and not great quality. MP3 basically takes out frequencies that it thinks the listener can't hear, in order to make a smaller file. Here is a primer on the differences between .wav and mp3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gdwpPrv_8

The best thing for you to do would probably be to rip Beach Boys CDs in iTunes with the Apple Lossless encoder, which you can select in iTunes preferences (Google "ripping CDs in Apple Lossless" for more info). Apple Lossless is a codec that keeps the sound quality of .wav but also shrinks the file to a manageable size. So, the audio is a direct duplicate of what you would hear on the CD.

Also, Google some information on 24-bit vs. 16-bit. CDs are only 16-bit, but 24-bit audio is superior (as on the Pet Sounds DVD-Audio). It is a big world of sound out there and you are just starting to wade into it - Happy listening!

It 's such a beautiful thing to hear things you haven't heard before, it makes you appreciate the art so much more I'm sure you can relate since your an avid music listener like myself.
oh ok now i understand thanks for explaining it i have all mp3's most of my music is from itunes and cds..and a few from other sources lol
You helped me so much with what you've told/ explained to me... you basically opened a door and showed me a whole new world, i appeciate it.

No problem, Newguy! Happy to help. Yes, it is pretty crazy what better equipment and higher-resolution audio can reveal in this music. At its best, it is so painstakingly crafted and produced that there are always new depths just waiting to be discovered.

This is an inherent advantage of Brian's "wall of sound" production technique. Pet Sounds, for example, always reveals new things to me when I listen to it, whether on speakers or headphones, and whether I am listening to the mono mix, stereo mix, or the excellent 5.1 surrond mix.

Another album that benefits greatly from this manner of listening is Friends. For my money, it one of the absolute top-notch Beach Boys albums. The production is superb and the songs all fit together extremely well. Brian loves to track electric "Fender" bass with upright bass doubling it; this can be heard in great detail on Pet Sounds. On Friends, there are also lots of great woodwinds and strings floating around the soundstage. It sounds like The Beach Boys' switch to stereo allowed them to do quite a bit more with their mixes - unlike the stereo mixes of contemporaneous Beatles albums, the stereo mixes on Friends are very well-balanced and don't sound too dated.

Of course, there is a lot to enjoy on Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, 20/20, Surfs Up.. And especially Sunflower. I don't know if you've gotten into Sunflower yet, but it is another one of the Beach Boys' "instant classics." The engineer, Stephen Desper, recorded it in such a way that it has one of the best stereo images ever committed to tape. Along with Friends, it may be my favorite Beach Boys headphone album.

I seem to recall that you are a big fan of Pet Sounds - my recommendation for you would be to check out the anniversary edition of Pet Sounds that includes both a CD and DVD. The DVD has high resolution stereo and mono mixes in addition to the surround mix. Pop that disc into your computer or DVD player and check out the mono and stereo mixes on headphones - it will reveal new layers of detail in the production. Great stuff.

[Newguy562]

OMG idk where to start I heard all these harmonies I didn't notice at first the whole Today album blew me away it already seemed like Brian was mastering this complex yet beautiful sound...Seriously it was so beautiful it could make you cry  ..
Has anyone ever tried beats by dre headphones? They are seriously worth the couple hundred dollars.
Ever hear parts of a song that you didn't notice before that swept you away?
At first I didn't know the difference between mono and stereo..now I do and I realize I prefer stereo ...
When did Brian start working with the wrecking crew & how did it come about?

You spend a couple hundred bucks on any pair of headphones and you're sure to notice the considerable improvement...I can't assume Dr. Dre's brand is superior to many that are out there. 

In the meantime, have you tried Wikipedia to answer your question?

when i first got my ipod i listened to the music through the apple earphones...it was ok...so i switched to sony and they were worse then apple...now i have beats by dre earphones and the music sounds a million times better because you can hear everything so clearly but you won't totally understand me because you have to hear it for yourself.
no it didn't :/

Whatever, he got them as a gift and they are better than the previous headphones he had. He can hear new detail in the music. This is all good stuff.

New guy, it is true that at some point, you should check out lossless (wav, flac, apple lossless or best of all, vinyl) versions of the songs. They will offer you much better clarity, depth, and stereo separation. Also, if you are going to upgrade, definitely check out the above listed headphones, such as the HD280s.  In the meantime, It is cool that the Beats headphones are an improvement over what you had before.

Everybody, he is a new guy. His screen name says so. How about how we discuss the superior quality of lossless/high resolution Beach Boys music through good headphones instead of jumping all over him for not getting the best brand and model?

it is but as usual i'm always getting attacked for no reason smh...i thought the songs on my ipod were wav files i'm confused can you please tell me what you mean...
yes they are and if they ever break i will definitely check out the ones you suggested it just made me appreciate the beach boys music more...thanks for not bashing me

No problem, Newguy. Glad to hear that you are listening in-depth to this wonderful music!

MP3 and AAC (iTunes) files are compressed, so they can be much much smaller than .wav files. Where a .wav file might be 20 or 30 megabytes, MP3 and AAC are only about 2 or 3 megabytes. You may have .wav files on your iPod, it depends on how you obtained the tracks. If you bought them from the iTunes store, they are similar to MP3 and not great quality. MP3 basically takes out frequencies that it thinks the listener can't hear, in order to make a smaller file. Here is a primer on the differences between .wav and mp3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gdwpPrv_8

The best thing for you to do would probably be to rip Beach Boys CDs in iTunes with the Apple Lossless encoder, which you can select in iTunes preferences (Google "ripping CDs in Apple Lossless" for more info). Apple Lossless is a codec that keeps the sound quality of .wav but also shrinks the file to a manageable size. So, the audio is a direct duplicate of what you would hear on the CD.

Also, Google some information on 24-bit vs. 16-bit. CDs are only 16-bit, but 24-bit audio is superior (as on the Pet Sounds DVD-Audio). It is a big world of sound out there and you are just starting to wade into it - Happy listening!

It 's such a beautiful thing to hear things you haven't heard before, it makes you appreciate the art so much more I'm sure you can relate since your an avid music listener like myself.
oh ok now i understand thanks for explaining it i have all mp3's most of my music is from itunes and cds..and a few from other sources lol
You helped me so much with what you've told/ explained to me... you basically opened a door and showed me a whole new world, i appeciate it.

No problem, Newguy! Happy to help. Yes, it is pretty crazy what better equipment and higher-resolution audio can reveal in this music. At its best, it is so painstakingly crafted and produced that there are always new depths just waiting to be discovered.

This is an inherent advantage of Brian's "wall of sound" production technique. Pet Sounds, for example, always reveals new things to me when I listen to it, whether on speakers or headphones, and whether I am listening to the mono mix, stereo mix, or the excellent 5.1 surrond mix.

Another album that benefits greatly from this manner of listening is Friends. For my money, it one of the absolute top-notch Beach Boys albums. The production is superb and the songs all fit together extremely well. Brian loves to track electric "Fender" bass with upright bass doubling it; this can be heard in great detail on Pet Sounds. On Friends, there are also lots of great woodwinds and strings floating around the soundstage. It sounds like The Beach Boys' switch to stereo allowed them to do quite a bit more with their mixes - unlike the stereo mixes of contemporaneous Beatles albums, the stereo mixes on Friends are very well-balanced and don't sound too dated.

Of course, there is a lot to enjoy on Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, 20/20, Surfs Up.. And especially Sunflower. I don't know if you've gotten into Sunflower yet, but it is another one of the Beach Boys' "instant classics." The engineer, Stephen Desper, recorded it in such a way that it has one of the best stereo images ever committed to tape. Along with Friends, it may be my favorite Beach Boys headphone album.

I seem to recall that you are a big fan of Pet Sounds - my recommendation for you would be to check out the anniversary edition of Pet Sounds that includes both a CD and DVD. The DVD has high resolution stereo and mono mixes in addition to the surround mix. Pop that disc into your computer or DVD player and check out the mono and stereo mixes on headphones - it will reveal new layers of detail in the production. Great stuff.

I really got into the beach boys music last year so far i have all the albums you named..at first when i checked out the beach boys i heard today,pet sounds...i was completely blown away so i expected everything else after to be just as good or better. when i heard smiley smile it frightened me and i was overwhelmed/confused :/...i checked out the history of that and smile and appreciated it and now i love it. wild honey is one of my favorites it always great to me even at the first listen ...friends took me the longest to appreciate mainly because i didnt like the whole first side of it except passing by smh :/...20/20 has many songs i liked i just thought the album was so mismatched it seemed like a pile of songs, it didnt have a flow at all(unlike smile/pet sounds and today)...i'm definitely going to check that out..is it on amazon?(excuse my run on sentences i usually always write like this online lol)
i'm going to check that out might show my girlfriend..she knows that's my favorite album of all time so she checked it out and beca

[Biggus Dikkus]

The SACD release of Pet Sounds is probably my favorite next to the 2009 AF release.
The DVD-A & 40th anniversary version suffer from bad compression issues that isn't present in the mo-fi release.

[Don_Zabu]

The best headphones I ever had were about the size of Oreos and they clipped around your ears directly - no band holding them together. Hearing the bass on Wouldn't It Be Nice with those things for the first time was godlike.

[buddhahat]

The SACD release of Pet Sounds is probably my favorite next to the 2009 AF release.
The DVD-A & 40th anniversary version suffer from bad compression issues that isn't present in the mo-fi release.

If I don't have a dedicated Sacd player will I be able to play the mofi pet sounds and, if so, will I be able to notice any difference between it and the previous stereo mix?

[runnersdialzero]

Lossless on portable media devices feels a bit goofy unless you have a small music collection and one of those huge 120 gig MP3 players. I'm all for furthering lossless formats being more commonplace, the fact that 128kbps files still pop up from time to time is appalling. But man, you're gonna fit like five songs on your iPod or whatever if you're dealing with lossless. A well-encoded MP3 (V0 >>> 320 imo) for portable media devices should be good 'nough, which is as simple as adjusting a couple settings.

[Biggus Dikkus]

The SACD release of Pet Sounds is probably my favorite next to the 2009 AF release.
The DVD-A & 40th anniversary version suffer from bad compression issues that isn't present in the mo-fi release.

If I don't have a dedicated Sacd player will I be able to play the mofi pet sounds and, if so, will I be able to notice any difference between it and the previous stereo mix?

It's hybrid, so yes. Since you don't have a dedicated SACD player it'll just switch over to the CD automatically for you. And yes, the stereo mix that mo-fi did is the definitive stereo mix out there right now. It feels like the mono in presentation, but with the clarity of stereo. It's really damn good.

Lossless on portable media devices feels a bit goofy unless you have a small music collection and one of those huge 120 gig MP3 players. I'm all for furthering lossless formats being more commonplace, the fact that 128kbps files still pop up from time to time is appalling. But man, you're gonna fit like five songs on your iPod or whatever if you're dealing with lossless. A well-encoded MP3 (V0 >>> 320 imo) for portable media devices should be good 'nough, which is as simple as adjusting a couple settings.

Oh sure, if you don't have a high gigabyte portable player like I do (160gb) it doesn't make much sense to only be able to fit 5 albums on your device. Though loseless doesn't take up THAT much space, but 24bit loseless takes up a considerable amount of space compared to regular loseless.

Call me an audiophile, but now that I've gone 24bit I can't even listen to other forms of lossy music. The only times I force myself is when I don't have access to such high quality music.

[absinthe_boy]

OK, I do not own a pair of Beats headphones. But what I do notice is that they seem to leak a lot. I commute to work by train and a few regular passengers have Beats 'phones...and I can easily hear whatever they're listening to.

At the moment I have some £15 (roughly $25)  Sony earbuds which are OK considering I use them with my mobile phone to play .wav and high quality MP3 files on the train.

iPhone/iPod headphones are notoriously poor, almost anything is an improvement. Often the 'phones that come with many mobile devices are rather poor because most users don't use them with high quality sound files.

From what I've heard from users, those Beats by Dr. Dre headphones are pretty good...but nobody actually pays full price for them.

[Paulos]

When I rip a CD on my laptop it converts them to wma files autmatically, is wma better than MP3?

[buddhahat]

The SACD release of Pet Sounds is probably my favorite next to the 2009 AF release.
The DVD-A & 40th anniversary version suffer from bad compression issues that isn't present in the mo-fi release.

If I don't have a dedicated Sacd player will I be able to play the mofi pet sounds and, if so, will I be able to notice any difference between it and the previous stereo mix?

It's hybrid, so yes. Since you don't have a dedicated SACD player it'll just switch over to the CD automatically for you. And yes, the stereo mix that mo-fi did is the definitive stereo mix out there right now. It feels like the mono in presentation, but with the clarity of stereo. It's really damn good.

Thanks guess I'll have to track this one down.

As for headphones, I listen a lot on Grado SR80s. Not necessarily a pair you'd want to be seen outside the house in (and they leak like crazy) but they sound fantastic.

[b00ts]

The SACD release of Pet Sounds is probably my favorite next to the 2009 AF release.
The DVD-A & 40th anniversary version suffer from bad compression issues that isn't present in the mo-fi release.

If I don't have a dedicated Sacd player will I be able to play the mofi pet sounds and, if so, will I be able to notice any difference between it and the previous stereo mix?

It's hybrid, so yes. Since you don't have a dedicated SACD player it'll just switch over to the CD automatically for you. And yes, the stereo mix that mo-fi did is the definitive stereo mix out there right now. It feels like the mono in presentation, but with the clarity of stereo. It's really damn good.

Lossless on portable media devices feels a bit goofy unless you have a small music collection and one of those huge 120 gig MP3 players. I'm all for furthering lossless formats being more commonplace, the fact that 128kbps files still pop up from time to time is appalling. But man, you're gonna fit like five songs on your iPod or whatever if you're dealing with lossless. A well-encoded MP3 (V0 >>> 320 imo) for portable media devices should be good 'nough, which is as simple as adjusting a couple settings.

Wait, so this is a brand-new stereo remix? Different from the one mixed in the 1990s and present on the Pet Sounds Sessions and DVD-Audio/Anniversary set? Or was it just remastered? Very interesting, I may need to actually pick up the SACD version. I have an SACD player, but I figured since I own the DVD audio version in two formats, I wouldn't need it. If it is a brand new stereo mix, I'm picking it up.
Oh sure, if you don't have a high gigabyte portable player like I do (160gb) it doesn't make much sense to only be able to fit 5 albums on your device. Though loseless doesn't take up THAT much space, but 24bit loseless takes up a considerable amount of space compared to regular loseless.

Call me an audiophile, but now that I've gone 24bit I can't even listen to other forms of lossy music. The only times I force myself is when I don't have access to such high quality music.

[Amanda Hart]

When I rip a CD on my laptop it converts them to wma files autmatically, is wma better than MP3?

No, wma is just the Windows Media Player version of MP3. You can change this by clicking on "Rip Settings" in the top panel, then select "Format."  You can change to Windows Media Lossless, MP3 or WAV from there.

[Newguy562]

When I rip a CD on my laptop it converts them to wma files autmatically, is wma better than MP3?

No, wma is just the Windows Media Player version of MP3. You can change this by clicking on "Rip Settings" in the top panel, then select "Format."  You can change to Windows Media Lossless, MP3 or WAV from there.

i'm trynna rip songs from a cd i burned on windows to my itunes but it doesnt allow wma files...what do i do?

[RadBooley]

When I rip a CD on my laptop it converts them to wma files autmatically, is wma better than MP3?

No, wma is just the Windows Media Player version of MP3. You can change this by clicking on "Rip Settings" in the top panel, then select "Format."  You can change to Windows Media Lossless, MP3 or WAV from there.

i'm trynna rip songs from a cd i burned on windows to my itunes but it doesnt allow wma files...what do i do?

If you don't want to be bothered to convert them into another format, just rip them again in iTunes.

[Biggus Dikkus]

The SACD release of Pet Sounds is probably my favorite next to the 2009 AF release.
The DVD-A & 40th anniversary version suffer from bad compression issues that isn't present in the mo-fi release.

If I don't have a dedicated Sacd player will I be able to play the mofi pet sounds and, if so, will I be able to notice any difference between it and the previous stereo mix?

It's hybrid, so yes. Since you don't have a dedicated SACD player it'll just switch over to the CD automatically for you. And yes, the stereo mix that mo-fi did is the definitive stereo mix out there right now. It feels like the mono in presentation, but with the clarity of stereo. It's really damn good.

Lossless on portable media devices feels a bit goofy unless you have a small music collection and one of those huge 120 gig MP3 players. I'm all for furthering lossless formats being more commonplace, the fact that 128kbps files still pop up from time to time is appalling. But man, you're gonna fit like five songs on your iPod or whatever if you're dealing with lossless. A well-encoded MP3 (V0 >>> 320 imo) for portable media devices should be good 'nough, which is as simple as adjusting a couple settings.

Wait, so this is a brand-new stereo remix? Different from the one mixed in the 1990s and present on the Pet Sounds Sessions and DVD-Audio/Anniversary set? Or was it just remastered? Very interesting, I may need to actually pick up the SACD version. I have an SACD player, but I figured since I own the DVD audio version in two formats, I wouldn't need it. If it is a brand new stereo mix, I'm picking it up.
Oh sure, if you don't have a high gigabyte portable player like I do (160gb) it doesn't make much sense to only be able to fit 5 albums on your device. Though loseless doesn't take up THAT much space, but 24bit loseless takes up a considerable amount of space compared to regular loseless.

Call me an audiophile, but now that I've gone 24bit I can't even listen to other forms of lossy music. The only times I force myself is when I don't have access to such high quality music.

You messed up your quote a little bit there, but I was able to read it. Yes and no. This is a new stereo mix in that YSBIM & Wouldn't Be Nice are completely different stereo mixes, but the rest of them are pretty much the same from the sessions box-set. The key difference is that it isn't compressed like 40th anniversary, and DVD-A version. Even Pet Sounds Sessions boxset had some bad compression issues on a few songs. What you're left with is a new stereo release that brings about much more clarity than the previous versions.

As for the new mixes, I believe YSBIM used completely different multitracks than what were used before (evidently they discovered these new tracks not too long ago), and Wouldn't It Be Nice has Mike restored on the bridge.

[Newguy562]

When I rip a CD on my laptop it converts them to wma files autmatically, is wma better than MP3?

No, wma is just the Windows Media Player version of MP3. You can change this by clicking on "Rip Settings" in the top panel, then select "Format."  You can change to Windows Media Lossless, MP3 or WAV from there.

i'm trynna rip songs from a cd i burned on windows to my itunes but it doesnt allow wma files...what do i do?

If you don't want to be bothered to convert them into another format, just rip them again in iTunes.

i try but it doesnt convert

[Paulos]

When I rip a CD on my laptop it converts them to wma files autmatically, is wma better than MP3?

No, wma is just the Windows Media Player version of MP3. You can change this by clicking on "Rip Settings" in the top panel, then select "Format."  You can change to Windows Media Lossless, MP3 or WAV from there.

Thanks, just adjusted the settings to wma lossless - had no idea I could do this!

[guitarfool2002]

I've heard some good things about the Dr. Dre headphones, but I have not tried them nor read any reviews. I'm only assuming they're "tuned" and tweaked in a way to emphasize or enhance certain frequencies that are popular in 2012's standards of listening, which might be a lot of the positives I'm hearing about them from owners.

But I think the best headphones apart from consumer grade sets are studio monitoring headphones like the AKG K240. I had a pair which I loved but used regularly in studio recording, and they finally reached a point where the heavy use broke them to where they could not be repaired with a soldering iron. I currently have older AKG K141 monitor headphones, which I use regularly,  and they're great too. But something about that K240 pair was just fantastic. AKG studio 'phones offer great quality and they should still cost around $100 new, give or take.

The difference there is the way the sound is reproduced more naturally and not specifically boosted anywhere to make the bass pump louder, or whatever the case might be. But that's personal preference, of course, and depends on what styles of music you're playing.

[jimmy1949]

Which model on the DR Dre's is a good one..I just checked Amazon and there are several models. Thanks. Also I listened to a set of Bose the other day  and they were incredible and felt so good on my ears. Price was $149.

[Newguy562]

Which model on the DR Dre's is a good one..I just checked Amazon and there are several models. Thanks. Also I listened to a set of Bose the other day  and they were incredible and felt so good on my ears. Price was $149.

i have the wireless ones

[Jay]

I have a pair of Koss headphones and they sound great. They have a certain amount of hiss though. I hate ear buds. They hurt!

[RadBooley]

Got these for about $40, shipped: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002D03ZW/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

I think they're pretty spiffy and sound great. Needed them for some radio stuff so my only real requirements were having a 1/4" jack and long cord.

[Alan Smith]

http://www.mediafire.com/?hto7e1hlt2ydme0

Oh, thanks for this - it's awesome and made my lawn mowin' chores a pleasure, to be sure!  I love your cool headed restraint - I would have blown it by going 52 mins or so.