The Beats studio buds are Apples most interesting audio product since the original AirPods. With features such as active noise cancellation at the price of £129.99 or $149.99 US dollars. Here is my full review and guide; should you buy the Beats Studio Buds?
First impressions…
The box was slightly smaller than the box of AirPods but still has the little pull tab to open. In the box you get the buds and a set of small and large ear tips, the medium ones are already fitted onto the buds, this is good so that you can find the right fit for you, but sadly there is not an ear tip test like there is on the AirPods Pro. I was skeptical about the new stemless design at first and how it would feel in my ear, and how easy the buds would be to put in and take out of my ears, but I have fallen in love with the design. Its my favourite design that I’ve ever used on an earbud and I’ve used a lot of different earbuds including AirPods, AirPods Pro, Galaxy buds, Galaxy buds plus and Galaxy buds live yet these are my favourite, even beating out Apple’s own AirPods Pro, I love the hook with the beats logo on, as it enables you to easily remove the earbuds. And the case has a matte finish so it won't have all the micro scratches and show fingerprints easily like the AirPods do.
Comfort…
These are SUPER comfy! At last, I have found them, the most comfortable earbuds ever (at least for me) they are most comfortable earbuds I’ve ever used, I’ve always found that with AirPods Pro they are relatively comfy but after an hour they tend to slip out of my ear slowly, and become uncomfortable, but this doesn’t happen to me when I use the Beats Studio Buds. They have a small hook design so that you can easily place the buds in your ears, and also easily remove the buds.
Sound quality…
The sound quality is not anything special and definitely isn’t better than the AirPods Pro but I do find it to be better than the AirPods 2, or at least on par with them. As usual with Beats products they are very bass heavy and that’s great, especially if you listen to a lot of bass heavy songs. For most people the sound quality will be more than fine, after I few songs I was completely used to them and didn’t miss my AirPods Pro one bit.
Active noise cancellation and transparency mode…
The active noise cancellation on these buds is ok but its definitely not as good as it is on the AiPods Pro, but these are half the price and it is still better than other buds that I’ve used in the past as it has the in ear design which helps with blocking out background sounds. On the other hand the transparency mode isn’t that great, but at this price point its nice to have but it doesn’t feel natural, and I’m yet to find a pair of earbuds with better transparency mode than the AirPods Pro.
Compatibility…
Although these earbuds are made by Apple, Apple have actually tried to make them compatible with android phones. Obviously the experience you will get on an iOS device will still be better, and by better I mean the find my app, but the experience on android is still good, making these earbuds accessible to android users, unlike AirPods.
The cons...
There are a few features that these buds simply don't have, that even the standard AirPods have, but don't forget that these buds are cheaper and they are meant to provide a similar experience across all different operating systems. The main thing that I missed coming from the AirPods Pro was Apple's H1 chip which allows for features such as automatic switching between devices and the upcoming find my features in iOS 15 (which I haven't been able to test yet). You also lose wireless charging (which I don't use) and spacial audio which I don't miss at all, not saying it's bad but it's more of a nice to have than a necessity. But remember that the base model AirPods that cost £30 more than these do not include wireless charging either, and they are also missing a few feature that the Beats Studio Buds do have, but their main advantage is the H1 chip for the features I mentioned above.
My personal experience…
This is the most fun I’ve ever had reviewing a pair of earbuds! They are amazing, in fact they are now my favourite pair of earbuds and highly recommended by me, especially if you want a beautiful design with lots of features at a good price. I’ve gotten very used to the design and I love the red colour that I personally chose. I switched to them for a full 2 weeks and I was planning to switch back to my AiPods Pro, but now I’m considering staying with the Beats for even longer, I do use my AirPods Max a lot anyway and the Beats are just far more comfortable!
Should you buy them?
If you want a pair of wireless earbuds that just work, then these are the buds for you! They may not be the best of the best but they certainly pack a good amount of features in and they cost significantly less than offerings such as AirPods Pro. If your calling people all the time with them in, or if your using them for meetings I would not recommend these as their biggest downside is the bad quality microphone. The great thing about these earbuds is that they are not just for iOS users, they also work well on android so it does not matter which operating system you are on. So are they worth the £130? Absolutely! At that price they are almost half of what AirPods Pro cost and offer most of what AirPods Pro have to offer but in a better design. Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed this review be sure to check my work out over on Instagram and Twitter, see you next time.
Comments