We now have to say 3.5 mm headphone jacks are “traditional.” What a time to be alive.
Since Apple acquired Beats headphones, they’ve been doing their best to marry their tech products with the subsidiary audio giant. However, there’s now a gaping rift in balancing their product offerings thanks to the iPhone 7’s lack of a headphone jack.
Sure, Beats announced a new wireless line of headphones to go with the new iPhone, but anyone who still clings to their vintage 3.5 mm input just got treated to a bit of a downgrade. The Beats EP are the new wired model available to customers, and they come in four colors, retailing for $129.95. It has a battery free design (cool), and a hassle-free fixed cable, but unlike all the love given to the new generation of wireless headphones, there’s not really any innovation to be found on the EP.
It’s no secret that Beats headphones have been ousted for being of extremely low quality in relationship to price, but Beats Electronics president Luke Wood told Mashable that the EP model is “exceptionally well-built. The sound is beautiful and it’s extremely simple. It’s really the entry point into the brand.” This may sound harsh, but it seems like a pair of EP’s is nothing more than buying into the brand’s marketing scheme.
H/T Pitchfork