One minute review
The Beats Studio Buds have been Apple's worst kept secret. Star athletes wear them around town, while photos and whitepapers about them have leaked months in advance; almost everyone knew about these headphones long before they were announced. And yet we are still amazed at its quality. The Beats Studio Buds are rock-solid true wireless headphones with active noise cancellation and support for Apple Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos format. They sound great, with vivid sound quality that lifts the highs and lows of your music, and they're extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time. However, they are not without their drawbacks. Chief among them is its lackluster call quality and lack of an H1 wireless chip. Battery life with ANC or Transparency mode enabled is a bit short, just five hours (15 hours with the body), and its noise cancellation isn't exactly best-in-class, either. That said, these are our favorite Beats headphones since the Powerbeats Pro bumped up the workout headphone form factor in 2019 and offer a decent alternative to the new crowned king of true wireless headphones, the Sony WF-1000XM4.
Price and release date
- Release Date: June 24, 2021
- Price: € 149.99 / € 129.99 / A € 199.95
- Cheaper than AirPods Pro and better than AirPods
The Beats Studio Buds launched on June 24, 2021 for $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$199.95. That puts them well below the price of all Apple AirPods released to date, especially Apple's AirPods Pro with Active Noise Cancellation which will set you back $249 / £249 / AU$399 - and we love them more than the standard AirPods. . . However, you might want to pay more for Apple's flagship headphones, the Apple AirPods Pro, if you plan to use your headphones with multiple Apple devices, but the Beats Studio Buds are surprisingly good for the price.
(Image credit: Avenir)
Integrated
- The case and heads are small and easy to transport.
- The heads fit comfortably in the ear and look great.
- But there is no W1 or H1 chip for Siri or multi-point hands-free pairing
Unlike Beats' latest true wireless earbuds, the Beats Powerbeats Pro, the Beats Studio Buds come in a case that's almost as sleek and small as the earbuds themselves. The case is egg-shaped, just like the new Google Pixel Buds Series-A, and has a single USB-C port on the bottom and a status light on the front. Open it and you will find the headphones. To remove them, pinch the outer control panel and pull it up. The control panel is raised, helping the headphones sit firmly in the ear with no over-ear hooks or fin pressing on the outer ear. The heads then rest almost flush with your ear, and while you won't be able to wear them to sleep (they stick out too far for that), they're still extremely comfortable. In terms of water resistance, the Studio Buds have an IPX4 rating, making them resistant to sweat but not waterproof. This means you can certainly take them to the gym for a quick workout, however without the ear hooks they're a bit less secure and the lack of full waterproofing means they're definitely not something you should be taking with you to the beach. . Inside the box, you'll only find a USB-C to USB-C charging cable and extra ear tips. Unfortunately, all of the included tips are silicone rather than foam, and they only come in two additional sizes, but you should have everything you need to get a good seal. Beats designed the Studio Buds to work with Apple and Android phones with just a touch. All you have to do is open the case near any of the devices and you'll see them appear on your screen, ready to be paired. Now, that's because the Studio Buds are running a proprietary wireless chip that's not exactly the W1 or H1 chip we've seen in other Apple earphones. It's refreshing for Android owners who haven't been endorsed in recent years by the Beats brand since it was acquired by Apple, and a bit disappointing for some Apple users who appreciate features like multi-point pairing with other Apple devices and hands. . free siri While that last item is rather disappointing, the advantage of the Buds' wireless chip is that it enables Bluetooth 5.2 and supports Find My on iOS and Find My Device on Android. This is a good thing, as the headphones themselves are quite small, and if you do get the all-black color, it can be quite easy to lose them if they accidentally fall behind the bed... not that we're speaking from experience.
(Image credit: Avenir)
- Fun, lively sound quality that's a pleasure to listen to
- Active noise cancellation is a nice addition, but needs to be improved
- Call quality and battery life take a bit of work, too
Once you have the right fit, it's time to turn on the headphones and listen. For our tests, we paired them with an iPhone 11 Pro and enabled Apple Music, which now supports Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio. While you can't get the full effect of lossless audio with headphones (Bluetooth compression ruins the lossless nature of music), you can still use them to play songs with Spatial Audio, and it sounds great. Unlike previous Beats headphones and headphones that blew you away with booming bass, the Studio Buds have vivid sound quality that lifts both the highs and lows of the mix. The result is clapping, nodding music that doesn't tire you out, but rather draws you in for long periods of time at a time. As for the noise canceling aspect of the headphones, this is a great inclusion and works moderately well, though Beats still has some work to do to catch up with Sony and Bose, each with years of experience tinkering with the design, the processor. And noise canceling algorithm, so your Buds keep as much noise out of your ears as possible. To that end, it sounds like the Studio Buds will make a great office companion, downplaying the muffled roar of office conversation, but probably struggling to be heard over the jet engine of a plane or the rattle of a subway. car. Of course, thanks to lockdown restrictions, it's been a while since we've been on one or the other, so that's something we'll have to test in the future. Our other small issue is that the battery life and call quality left something to be desired. They're only good for five hours per charge, or 15 hours with the case on, when you've turned on ANC or Transparency mode, which isn't terrible and is certainly in line with other noise-canceling headphones, but it's not enough. class leaders like the WF-1000XM4 that offers eight hours per charge and another 12 in the case for a total of 20 hours before having to put the charger back in. Call quality is also not great. This is good enough when you have them for walking around the house, but take them outside where it's windy, traffic, and other background noise and you'll quickly want another pair of shoes. Lastly, they don't support wireless charging either, which isn't a problem, but may be a minor inconvenience if you already have a charging station set up for your other devices. The good news is that the Studio Buds support fast charging and you can get an hour of playback in just five minutes on the charger.
Should you buy the Beats Studio Buds?
(Image credit: Avenir)
Buy them if...
You miss the audio quality of Beats
Listen, audio purists have always questioned the quality of Beats' audio, but its fun, bouncy sound is actually fun to listen to. Its accentuated highs and lows will make your music shine and make you nod to the beat. You want something comfortable and elegant
We really like the Powerbeats Pro and the Sony WF-1000XM4, but they're not the most stylish. The Beats Studio Buds are quite stylish and extremely comfortable. We could use them for hours and still want to hear more. You want *affordable* true wireless noise canceling headphones
The Beats Studio Buds aren't the best noise-canceling headphones out there, but they are more affordable than the AirPods Pro and WF-1000XM4. If you don't have € 300 / € 300 to spend on headphones, the Beats Studio Buds offer a good combination of price and performance.
Don't buy them if...
You need top-notch noise cancellation
The Beats Studio Buds aren't the best noise-canceling headphones - we found the Sony WF-1000XM4 to be slightly better in this area, and we'd probably pick them instead if we were about to hop on a transatlantic flight. You buy some headphones for the gym.
The Powerbeats Pro are still our go-to headphones for the gym. With in-ear hooks, they stay locked in a bit better, and while they don't have active noise cancellation, their waterproof seal does block out a lot of noise. Are you passionate about Apple?
If you have an iPad, iPhone, Mac computer, and Macbook, you probably need a pair of headphones that works well with all of them without needing to re-sync each time you use a new device. If you're in that field, get the Apple AirPods Pro instead.