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Comment by teddyh | Hacker News Reader

It’s always weird when public figures (who are not engineers) try to develop sophisticated physical products. Of course it’s going to be terrible. It’s like if Google would, I don’t know, make an action movie. Or if, say, the Dalai Lama would launch his own brand of cars. It’s not what they do.

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What ? Kanye West is not developping the apps himself, he is just giving money and maybe the ideas. I don't see why it should be terrible.

And it's not what they do until it is. Amazon is making some decent movies and series.

Because software isn't something that you can just buy off the shelf given enough money, otherwise Bill Gates would have been Apple.

It also requires taste and vision, two things that Kanye West utterly lacks.

He's literally a multi-billionaire from his taste and vision (Yeezy fashion, music production).

I don't think his success in business is in any way whatsoever supportive of your claim. McDonalds also has billions in revenue; does that make it great food?

Popularity and quality are orthogonal.

Given popular reception isn't enough to indicate good taste and vision, what about critical reception?

Kanye's music, particularly from before the last few years, has been well reviewed by critics. His shoes were popular among "sneaker heads", or people for whom sneakers are a hobby.

That’s not what happened here. Kanye essentially worked with an engineering company that specializes in these kinds of products.

But as he is not an engineer himself, he does not know how to pick a good engineering company, nor how to evaluate their progress, or the end result.

You mean like Beats by Dre, who is also not an engineer, which was so terrible that Apple bought them for $3 Billion?

Isn't Beats by Dre considered not top of the line when it comes to sound quality and more like a fashion brand?

I'm not saying that they are bad, just that they aren't at the same level as brands like bose and sennheiser which are way less focused on celebrities branding.

The same level as Bose? The company famous for simply turning up the bass? Now they're used as an example of quality? How times change!

Hear the same thing about beats, too much bass.

Anyway, the point still stands, Beats is considered a fashion brand, it was used by athletes all around the world a couple years ago, now athletes are all in on apple airpods and it's been a while since I've seen someone talking about buying a beats.

yes, which is why i just but Sennheiser, because it's clear they really care about the music.

HiFiMAN is where it's at.

Weren't they bought for their music streaming service?

Beats are absolute dogshit for sound quality. So, yes.

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