What you’re looking at right here is the brand new Beats Studio Pro, the sequel in a lineup that honestly I was worried Beats would give up on. It’s been since 2017 when the Beats Studio 3 came out, so about six years, and finally, we are getting a welcomed upgrade that has quite a few changes across the board while maintaining a really similar aesthetic, which I personally really like. But I’ve been trying to think of a different name for these, and I’ll explain why a little bit later in the article.
Introduction to Beats Studio Pro: New Features and Changes
Now I want to dive into all that’s new here, all the changes with these, everything I like, some things I don’t like, but I want to do that in four main categories. So this is based on where I use headphones. I use them when I’m working, being productive, of course. I use them when I’m exercising. I use them when I’m traveling, and I use them when I’m just hanging out watching videos.
Multi-Point Connectivity and Compatibility
Going through those, they each have different needs. And starting off with work, when I’m working, there are a couple of things I really want from a pair of headphones. I really want multi-point connectivity. I really want reliability. I don’t want the battery to ever die, and I need to have good microphones.
Comfort and Design
Looking at when I’m working with these, first of all, they do have multi-point connectivity. In fact, now not only is there multi-point connectivity, but these are also dual native. So Apple owns Beats, so it’s no surprise that within the Apple ecosystem, they work just like AirPods. You can connect to your MacBook and seamlessly switch to your iPhone. You can change the toggle active noise cancellation, and do all of that you normally see on AirPods. But on Android, you similarly have great functionality there as well. So you can get the Beats app, and of course, they also have Google Fast Pair, and they work with everything else in the Android ecosystem, for example, Find My Device.
But when it comes to multi-point connectivity, there is one little catch that honestly won’t affect you unless you’re a total weirdo like myself. And that is if you are cross-platform. So I’m using a Pixel Fold as my everyday phone, and my everyday laptop is a MacBook Pro. So I don’t have a multi-point between those two devices. But within Android or in Android and Windows, I should say, or within Apple, you do have multi-point, and it’s really functioning great.
But another thing that is important is flexibility with how you connect. There are three different ways you can connect these headphones. The first one is your first-class Bluetooth with a surprising range. I can go so far away, and it still stays connected. The second way is a classic 3.5-millimeter port, your typical headphone cable. And the third one, one that I’m really happy about, is the USB Type-C connections. By connecting these to my computer using USB Type-C, not only am I getting better audio quality, you’re getting 24-bit audio on here, but I’m also, of course, I don’t have to worry about it dying. It stays connected really well.
Microphone and Transparency Test
when I’m working, I tend to wear headphones for a long time. So comfort is very important with these. My ears actually don’t get hot despite having leather. So, of course, everybody’s ears are different, but for me personally, these are very comfortable. They have new memory foam on here, they have a new really soft leather that feels great. They were calling it engineered leather. Let’s actually get into a microphone test. So this is what the microphone sounds like on the Beats Studio Pro headphones. Honestly, after testing this a little bit earlier, I was more than impressed. It sounds so good to me, uh, so pretty fantastic indoors. But let’s test it outside in a noisier environment.
All right, now here’s a reference for how loud it is out here. All right, now this is an audio test. There’s really loud traffic behind me. Uh, these are the Beats Studio Pro, and we’re outside. So let me know if you can hear what I’m saying.
Now, speaking of microphones, the transparency here is also surprisingly good as well. I can hear everything around me. I could hear traffic outside. I could hear my keyboard click. I could hear things with direction as well, like it felt very natural, which is no surprise being an Apple company. Like that’s something that Apple has always done really, really well with the AirPods, and this is no different.
controls
Now moving on to the next category, just relaxing, hanging out, using these to watch media. So with that, one thing I want to talk about is the controls. So the controls are just a bunch of buttons on the left ear. There’s really not a lot. There’s a volume up, a volume down, and then a middle button that you can press once to pause or play, you can press twice to skip forward, three times to go back, and you could press and hold it for your voice assistant. You could double-press the power button on the other side, and that’ll toggle ANC and transparency. But otherwise, that’s really all the controls you’ll be getting on here. It’s not customizable either within the app, so what you get is what you get.
There is an app, as I mentioned; it’s a pretty rudimentary app. I’m looking at it here on Android. Of course, on iOS, you don’t really need the app, but it’s there. You can rename your Beats, and you can toggle ANC there. Maybe you can get updates on here as well. There’s not a whole lot you’re going to be doing with that. These do have spatial audio, again, a feature that I personally never really use, but it’s cool that it’s there in case you really want it.
And probably the big thing that I care about when I’m hanging out and just like watching videos or really listening to music when I’m just casually relaxing is the audio quality. So these have a claimed 80 percent less distortion than a Studio 3, but I mean, like, let’s be honest here, audiophiles aren’t the ones buying Beats. Most people who are buying Beats are doing so because they look really cool, they fit really well, they’re good for workouts, and they have good active noise cancellation, but usually audio quality is not the number one reason people buy it. They sound, you know, pretty decent, but I shouldn’t be comparing them to wired Sennheiser in-ear headphones, like, I don’t think we need to necessarily do that. But I mean, for the price, it’s worth noting what the audio quality is.
Audio Quality Assessment
So I listen to like a lot of different songs. One song that I thought sounded really good on these was “Constellation” by Dirty Heads. Like I was just going through the release radar on Spotify, it came up. It was pretty bright and pretty detailed, and the guitar sounded really good, better than the older Beats. I ended up turning up the volume a little bit more than I expected, and I think I tend to do that when I’m looking for more low-level detail on headphones. So they sound like they actually have a pretty neutral balance compared to a lot of older Beats. These are not super bass-heavy, but they’re definitely not airy.
They’re definitely a little bit more closed off. As I said, I wish they were a little bit more analytical, had a little bit more low-level detail, and a little bit more instrument separation, which is probably my biggest concern with these was that the sounds got a little bit jumbled together. It’s really only there if you’re listening for it or if you have a trained ear. I think a lot of people in general are going to be happy with these. They have a decent bass level overall, not too overpowering. Like I said, most people just buy these to work out, wear them on the bus, look cool, whatever; they’re going to sound more than good enough.
Ideal for Workouts
Now the next category is working out. This is the crowd that I think is going to be buying these the most, and it’s probably why I’m going to continue using these for working out. One weird catch is that they don’t have a water resistance rating, but a lot of headphones don’t. So even though you don’t want to drop these in water, they should be totally fine with sweat and light drizzle if you’re running outside in the rain. But technically they’re not rated for that.
And speaking of getting things sweaty, the material on the inside is really easy to clean, that leathery material there. The buttons make for easy control when you’re working out if your hands are sweaty, unlike other headphones that have touch controls that otherwise just don’t work. They also stayed on my head really, really well. So I have like three different levels I tested. First was just like lifting, so benching; they stood on my head perfectly fine. I tried running; they stayed on my head perfectly fine. I tried doing burpees, probably like one of the most dynamic workouts you’d be doing with headphones, and again, these stayed on my head perfectly fine, so that was more than impressive.
The clamping force on here is really ideal, as it gives you, in my opinion, maximum comfort but also a really nice, stable, secure pair of headphones. One small drawback to note for the longevity of these headphones, as is typical with a lot of other headphones, the ear cups are not super easy to replace. It’s totally doable, and there are videos out there, a little bit of headphone surgery, and you can get them replaced, but they’re not going to snap off super easily.
Portability and Travel-Friendly Features
And then, of course, we have traveling and commuting. Now with this, I want good active noise cancellation. I want a good foldability, a good case, very portable, and I want them to look really good. Now with Beats, it’s no surprise they look good. There are four different colors here; they’re a little bit more subtle, and a little bit more muted, and I think that’s making them look a little bit more premium. They also have some really nice accents across the board. The Beats logo and up there you have a brushed metal finish, and again, that’s still subtle. You don’t notice it until you look close, and you think, like, wow, that I think that looks really nice overall, clean design. They’re not going to be super bright red, or flashy like the older Beats, so it feels like more of a premium design.
In addition, they do fold up really well, as is no surprise there, but other headphones, for example, the Sony’s, don’t fold up, so for portability, that’s really nice. They also come with a redesigned case that has a different texture on the outside. Again, it looks more premium. I think it’s kind of a weird case like it doesn’t open all the way. It kind of opens like my grandmother’s change purse, if that makes sense, like, you know what I mean, those little coin things you squeeze, and then, like, you can put coins in; like, that’s how this thing opens. So not like my favorite case design, but it definitely gets the job done. It’s just a little bit unconventional.
Battery Life and Quirks
The battery life on these is also decent, but it was hard for me to test because I had this one kind of quirk with them. So these don’t have an auto-play and auto-pause. They don’t have a proximity sensor, at least not from what I can tell. So when I take them off my head, it continues to play music. Sometimes if somebody walked over to me, I would take them off, I would get distracted, and I would forget to press pause, and so it would just keep playing through podcasts or playlists or whatever, and it would drain the battery a lot faster.
Active Noise Cancellation Performance
All right, so I’ve been hanging out at a train station for the past 30, 40 minutes, and today, and seeing these is actually really good. I’m very impressed with this. It does a really good job of blocking out the wind. It does a great job of blocking out the droning sound like trains over there and stuff like that. It doesn’t do the best job with higher-pitched voices, but nonetheless, I am impressed with the ANC on here, which is no surprise. These are, again, a company owned by Apple, and Apple does a really good job with ANC as well.
Conclusion and Naming Considerations
But overall, I was more than impressed with these for travel, for working out, and many other use cases as well. But as far as what I said with that name, maybe these should be called Beats Tempo Pro like Beats Vibe Pro, or just Beats Pro. I don’t know, but Studio feels like maybe not the best word for these because it implies studio-grade audio quality, and that’s really not the focus of these.
These aren’t my favorites for listening to music with just audio quality. But these are among my favorites for working out, probably for traveling because, like I said, portable, have good active noise cancellation, have great versatility, the dual native iOS Android configuration works out well, I love the design, and overall, like they have a nice secure fit. I would say that I like these a lot, but you need to know what you’re buying. I think it’s pretty safe to say you’ll be seeing a lot more quarterbacks wearing these than audiophiles wearing these, which is not a bad thing, just a different crowd.
But my question for you is, what should I compare these to, the AirPods Max, the Sony 1000X Mark 5S, or something else? Leave a comment and let me know, and I will make that comparison article.
