Beats by Dre President Defends Headphones after Criticism That They’re Too ‘Bass Heavy’

The president of Beats by Dre has defended the sound quality of the company’s headphones.

Luke Wood has disagreed with accusations that the headphones are too ‘bass heavy’. Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Wood said: “I’ve certainly heard that as an opinion on the headphone, I disagree. We didn’t go to build a reference headphone, something you build in the studio that is really a technical tool to hear when you are recording.”

He added: “If you look at Dre’s pedigree, Jimmy’s [Iovine] pedigree, even my pedigree, we are all recording engineers. What we did is build a headphone for playback. What does it sound like right when it is finished? And that is what we’ve accomplished.”

Wood refused to discuss rumours about sockets on Apple products being changed to accept only Beats headphones following Apple buying Beats earlier this year. “I’m not here to talk about Apple with you today,” he said. “The truth is that the deal has not closed with Apple, which it will shortly, once it goes through regulatory approval. And at that point we’ll actually sit down with Apple and figure it out. But right now, the truth is there’s absolutely no plans made.”

Apple is set to buy Dr. Dre‘s Beats Music streaming service and headphones company Beats Electronics for $3 billion. Beats co-founders Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine will join Apple as part of the deal. Iovine will leave Interscope, the label he co-founded, to work with Apple. “I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” he said. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.”

Apple will pay $2.6 billion for the two businesses in addition to approximately $400 million “that will vest over time” they say in a press release. Announcing the deal, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook stated: “Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple. That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

::::: NME :::::