Beats Studio Buds
[MSRP $149, purchased at full price in October on Amazon, price matched down to $80 in November when they went on Black Friday Sale. Currently $99.99 at most retailers).
[Tl;dr: Great true wireless earbuds at the $99 price point, only okay at MSRP. Pretty good sound isolation, reasonable (but non-defeatable) active noise cancelation and passie noise isolation. Like most Beats products, the bass is a little boosted but not distractingly so, and it plays pretty well in the Apple ecosystem. These live in my gym bag and I use them in environments where I would worry about using my AirPods Pro 2. They’re great for that.]
Scores:
Cost-agnostic: 5 out of 10 Denalis
Cost-sensitive: 8 out of 10 Denalis (at $99.99, 5 out of 10 Denalis at MSRP)
Intro. Quick, short review because I just realized that I never actually reviewed them in the fall. Good, solid headphones with good, solid sound and decent active noise canceling. Perfect for the gym or other loud environments where you don’t care a whole lot of about audio fidelity and nuance. They play nicely with most of my devices and I don’t mind just throwing them in a bag or in my pocket because if they get damaged or lost, it won’t bother me all that much. These live permanently in my gym bag and if they ever go on a big enough sale I’ll snag another pair to live in my car.
Sound. They’re good. Not amazing, but basically what I want from this price point. The soundstage is wider than the AirPods Gen 3, and comparable to the Beats Studio3 Wireless, but nowhere near as wide as the Pro 2 or Max. Basically I’d say they’re the Studio3 Wireless in earbud form. Overall, they’re pretty flat headphone, sound-wise. Nothing jumps out as either exceptional or insufficient.
Treble: Perfectly serviceable. Can be a little muted on some tracks like Prides “What’s Love Got to Do With It” where the piano is very forward and the rest of the treble a little soft, but none of it is a deal breaker for me.
Midrange: Perfectly serviceable. Voices are pretty clear and feel about right in the mix, if occasionally a little lacking in dynamics.
Bass: Repeat after me: perfectly serviceable. Like most Beats products I’ve used, the bass is ramped up a bit but not enough that it distracts or detracts from the music. Good enough to keep you on a driving beat in the gym, but balanced enough that they won’t annoy you if you’re using them while working. Particularly good for quick bass hits on things like Jack Harlow’s “First Class,” and nimble enough to keep up with Radio Citizen’s “The Hop” (a track you all should listen to now).
Spatial Audio. Nope!
Noise canceling. Decent, but not defeatable. Like the Studio3, the active noise cancelation is always active and creates a little bit of over-pressure. The ANC is nowhere near as good as the Pro 2, and definitely can’t compete with over-the-ear offerings like the Bose 700 (another one I really should review) or the QC25/35/45 but that’s not what these are for. They’ll block out the grunts from your weight-lifting neighbors and quiet the gym’s speakers, but will leave you with enough situational awareness to duck when something gets dropped and rolls your way. They’re also good at blocking out low-level background white noise like fans, but I wouldn’t count on them to block out jet engines.
Unlike most Apple/Beats products, they don’t turn off automatically when you pull out one earbud. Not sure if I prefer it this way or that.
I would love a transparency mode like we get from the Pro 2, but that’s probably too much to expect for a $100 pair of headphones.
[edit: I take it back. ANC is defeatable by holding the right earbud button. It sounds SUUUUUPER weird when it’s turned off. I would not recommend.]
Controls. Pause/play, skip, and Siri on the right earbud. All are accessed by pressing in on the end of the earbud, which is … weird and slightly uncomfortable? I really don’t like pressing things into my ear, but it works. You can also control things on your audio source (like a phone or watch), which I’d recommend.
Connectivity. Bluetooth only. You can read my brief rant about Bluetooth here, but I will say that Apple’s implementation of Bluetooth is pretty great within the Apple ecosystem, and Beats are an Apple product (their USB-C charging notwithstanding). It seamlessly swaps between iOS devices and Macs, though I had some difficulty getting them to work with a Windows 10 machine for video conferencing and the stream from my MacBook Pro occasionally shorted out for a few seconds.
Like the Studio3 Wireless, the Siri implementation leaves something to be desired. There’s a noticeable delay between hitting a button to activate Siri and the microphone actually listening for a command, which can be frustrating. Honestly I’d rather turn off the microphone in the headset for Siri purposes, and I hope a future version of the software or headphones will let me do it.
Comfort. They’re surprisingly comfortable, at least for an hour or two. The silicon tips come in several sizes and I was able to find one that fits pretty well. The ANC creates a little bit of overpressure which can be fatiguing for a long period, but I don’t ever see myself wearing these for more than an hour or two in my use cases. They’re pretty stable even when moving around and sweating, which suits my needs pretty well.
Construction. They’re Beats. If you’ve ever had any Beats, you know that they’re generally pretty lightweight, cheap feeling plastic and that’s what you expect. They charge via USB-C and don’t have a Magsafe charger built into the case. Apple says you’ll get 24 hours of use between the Buds and the case, and that sounds about right based on how often I have to charge them.
Appearance. I actually like the way these look. Who knew, right? I went with the red version and I’m pretty happy with it. If nothing else, they’re easy to find in a pile of headphones!
Comparisons. In my opinion, these are a way better headphone for the money than the AirPod Gen 3 and I recommend them over those with no reservations. If you have an extra $150 in your pocket the Pro 2 is a much better headphone in just about every category, but I personally wouldn’t want to use them in the gym or any wet environment for longevity reasons. Since I bought these, I’ve almost entirely stopped using my Jabra Active 65t, as these sound better, fit better, and connect much more easily to my various Apple devices. I’m sure there are a lot of headphones in this general range in the market, but I like these enough that I’m not inclined to go try a bunch of others.
Overall. They’re great. If you want a solid gym headphone that will give you consistent sound and noise cancelation, these are what I would recommend with no reservations. If they break or I lose them, I’ll absolutely replace them the next time they go on sale. If you’re looking for more in terms of audio quality or nuance … well, you probably shouldn’t be looking at true wireless earbuds, or should just go with the Pro 2.
#reviews #headphones #apple #anc #bluetooth #spatialaudio #earbuds #beats
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