The headphone scene is starting to be taken over by rap artists these days, most recognizably Dr. Dre and Curtis Jackson (50 Cent).
The market has gotten better each year, but 2012 might be looking the brightest for the headphone game.
These days, anything from ear buds, to wired, to wireless headphones are on the market and available to customers.
The two biggest competitors when it comes to rap artists’ headphones are Dr. Dre Beats by Dre and 50 Cents’ SYNC by 50 headphones. You can’t go wrong with either headphones, but there is a distinct difference between the two.
When it comes to Beats, as of right now, they offer two different options with wired and ear buds, compared to SYNC by 50 which has wireless, wired and ear buds coming early this year.
In terms of portability, both headphones offer unique styles. The SYNC by 50 headphones have a bigger carrying case compared to Beats. The Beats would win this category because they’re easier to carry around. Design is always important for headphones.
Beats design is very good with a black/red brushed metal look to make them really stand out. SYNC by 50 headphones surpass Beats a bit, though, when the letter “S” on the side of the headphones flashes its blue LED off and on.
Durability has always been a problem for all headphones. There have been problems with Beats because they can break easily if you don’t take care of them.
This is not a problem for the syncs as they are unbreakable; you can bend them and twist them as much as you want and they will not snap.
When buying headphones, comfort is a big part of choosing which brand you want.
Beats and SYNC by 50s both have comfortable fits and are different in their own way.
When you first get either set of headphones they take a few days to break in before they fit nicely, but once they do break in, they are really comfortable. Both headphones fit nicely, so it’s a tossup in terms of comfort.
One area where Beats are way better than SYNCS is noise cancellation.
Beats have complete noise cancellation, which means you can’t hear other people around you, and they can’t hear your music, either.
For SYNC by 50s, they have part noise cancellation, but the main reason they don’t have noise cancellation is because is it would interfere with the audio waves transmitted wirelessly from the dongle to the headphone.
When it comes to features of both headphones SYNCS feature far outweigh features of Beats.
Some of the different features of the SYNC by 50s are track controls, volume controls, on/off/mute and bass boosting control, which are on the actual headphones themselves.
This is a feature that no other headphone company has at this point.
They also are completely wireless with a 16–bit lossless audio where you can be up to 50 feet away from the audio source. Along with that you can sync up to four different headphones to one source of music. All that the Beats offer are an on/off and mute button.
Another advantage of SYNC by 50s is you don’t have to use batteries as you do for the Beats.
If you do purchase Beats it would be useful to buy rechargeable batteries for the headphones.
The SYNC by 50s have a rechargeable battery in the headphones and the wireless dongle that you can charge with a micro USB cable from your computer.
It comes down to possibly the biggest decision when it comes to buying either headphones: quality.
Alvin Tucker, a junior communications major prefers the Beats over the syncs.
“I feel the Beats sound quality is better than the syncs headphones,” Tucker said.
However some people like Oscar Macias don’t feel the same way.
“Not just sound quality but the overall presentation of the sync’s are better to me then the Beats,” said Macias, a junior communications major.
Beats fare ahead of sync’s at this point but they have also had a couple years’ head start on SMS audio. SYNC by 50 headphones are priced at $400 for the most expensive version, while it should be noted that the wired versions are the same as Beats and that it’s the wireless that are $400. With so much competition in the headphone game, it is hard to go wrong, and either headphone set would be well worth the purchase.
