Wait, what happened to over-the-ear headphones?
Well, Apple's AirPods happened, that's what. They are arguably the best way to experience wireless headphones with your iPhone.
You know, the excellent auto-switching, noise cancellation and all that other magic.
But unless you want to spend 500 plus on AirPods Max, you're using earbuds.
That's quite a shame, as I'm not a huge fan of earbuds, especially if they have silicon
tips. This makes me realize I miss using over-the-ear headphones.
Is there really nothing for me? Well, there is a new pair of over-ear headphones with a loft of Apple magic without the max
price. Meet the Beats Studio Pros.
Beats? There haven't been new over-the-ear headphones from Beats since 2017, and despite companies
like Sony, Bose and Apple making big improvements to their headphones, especially to active
noise cancelling, Beats is still using micro-USB and selling for $350.
That was the same price they launched at, I mean it's just sad to see.
This is Beats, the same company that a decade ago popularized the whole idea of over-ear
headphones. See them languish like this, it's just sad.
Oh yeah, I remember everyone having huge and bassy Beats headphones, I was definitely
not cool enough for those. Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore, because the new Studio Pros are a
lot more mature. In many appearances, almost everything here is new or improved.
New speaker drivers, plus your ear pads, improved active noise cancelling, transparency and
microphone quality, and a USB-C port with wired playback.
There's even a 3.5mm port, which is refreshingly not new.
These also continue the trend of Beats appealing to everyone regardless of ecosystem, meaning
it includes all the same Android fast-pair and device switching tricks that we saw in
the Studio Buds Plus on top of the usual Apple luxuries, though not quite all of them,
as they still lack some features like audio sharing and automatic device switching.
How kind of them. I did joke about this in our last Beats review, but I do wish that Apple would afford some
of the benefits to Android users with their AirPods, but it appears that Beats will fill
that role instead. In fact, these are the first headphones without an H chip to feature head-track spatial audio.
And check out the Settings app and Control Center. These feel exactly like AirPods here, while they also remind me how much I love over-ear
headphones. Performance-wise, these do a good job of holding their own against stalwarts like the Sony
XM5s. Despite the Beats coming in at $50 less, these two are pretty evenly matched.
Surprisingly, the Beats are more neutral than the XM5s, which skew a bit bass-heavy.
This may not be to your liking if you want some extra thump in your songs.
That said, a lot of people prefer to hear a signal closer to your synth tent.
It's clear that the company has grown a lot since their pre-Apple days, when their
products were known for nothing but bass. I agree, I really like the neutral sound.
As for noise cancelling, the Sony's do a better job of handling low and high frequencies,
while the Beats are better at everything in between. It means the Sony's might be ideal for something like keying out engine noise from a plane,
while you may want to go for the Beats if you're using them in a chatty office or coffee
shop. I found the ANC mics in the Beats to be more sensitive to wind noise, sounding quite harsh
and sharp. Otherwise, the ANC transparency are similar to the XM5.
They also improve the microphones, which is to say that you're clear enough to understand,
also clearly, still using a headset mic.
Now when it comes to features, you can get higher quality audio with the wired USB mode.
Plugging into your device enables lossless from Apple Music, and title, and Amazon, and
so on and so forth. Where it does work, however, you get access to a few EQ modes.
The Beats signature profile, an entertainment profile, and a conversation profile.
Plus, there's no ANC or transparency when using USB playback, though there's no reason
this could come in a future update. Now when you're using these in USB mode, they obviously charge, but better yet, you
can also charge them while using them in Bluetooth, unlike the XM5's.
Now Comfort is a bit of a mixed bag. When you put these things on, they are snug, and you feel it.
This is in part due to the clamping force being unchanged from the previous model.
Between this and the air cups being fairly shallow and small, these can almost feel like
on-ear headphones. The pressure and discomfort went away after wearing them for a bit, though, at which point
they felt perfectly fine. And thanks to a nice wide headband, I didn't experience any of the crown fatigue, which
both the XM5's and AirPods Max are susceptible to.
These might actually be a better choice for the gym. Thanks to the extra clamping force, they stay on much better during exercise than something
like the XM5's, which I found fell off quite easily.
My issue with over-the-ear headphones is feeling them pressed against my glasses, which I hate.
However, I actually didn't notice that at all with these.
Weirdly, where I feel the pressure is below my ears at the jaw joint.
I can get used to it, but I wasn't expecting to feel them there.
You know, I actually felt the same thing and also got used to it.
The glasses, though, that's still going to be an issue.
Why is that? Because with something like the XM5's, these don't actively compensate for a gap in the
seal. So, while these beats sound good in a best-case scenario, your results may vary, depending
on how you wear them. In our tests, the Sonys and AirPods Max give us consistent results across multiple tests,
whereas the beats show different measurements every time.
They're also missing other pretty standard smart features that we'd expect, like transparency
kicking in when you start talking, or music pausing when you take them off.
So they're kind of dumb headphones there. I do have to admit, they do look nice, even in this brown color, which many will wrongly
overlook. The other colors, navy, black, and sandstone, are decent, too.
Yeah, I really like the navy color. It reminds me a lot of the Midnight Mac book.
But the smudges. Yeah, I mean, I used to be worried about it, but that color is just too nice and I don't
care anymore. Though I do think most people will go for sandstone.
So the design is exactly the same as the Studio 3's.
Yes. The beats is clearly proud of this fact, banking on an iconic design to help them sell units.
But I'm not sure that that's the right move. If I saw someone walking around with these, I'd probably just think they're the old
model and ignore them. Yeah, I really am curious what a modern interpretation of this beats design would look like.
Redesigns can be risky. Look at Bose, who abandoned theirs after just one attempt.
On the other hand, Sonys' new design for the XM5s are a radical departure, and even
sacrificed some function for form. But despite that, they've hit a level of mainstream appeal that used to exclusively
belong to beats. Seriously, these things are everywhere now.
The beats also have the least flexible ear cups of the bunch, meaning that they're easily
the worst choice for one-eared usage, something which I frequently like to do.
This old design is still pretty usable. Compared to the XM5s and the much more expensive AirPods Max, these actually do something called
folding, which also means that they fit nicely into their small case.
And yes, it even comes with an actual case. And look, there are even physical and clicky buttons on the ear cup.
I hate touch controls, so I'm happy to hear this.
But do you like hearing it, though?
Uh, yeah. These have a really prominent and frankly cheap-sounding click whenever you use them.
It's so annoying. I try to just avoid it altogether, use my phone instead.
It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
You know, I personally have the Sonys, they cost $50 more, and you know, between the two,
it's close by think I'd still buy the Sonys again.
You know, I like to travel, so the noise cancelling is better for that.
I like a bit of extra bass in my songs, and it's so nice to put them on and feel like
I'm wearing a cloud. But the beats are definitely better for working out in, and having all the fancy Apple features
is nice. Jonathan said, for example, it can read your messages out to you, and since you can use
Siri to reply, you don't need to pull out your phone as much.
You know, the beats are good, but overall, I just don't think they're the ones for
me. Interesting. It is really nice that Beats has finally updated their iconic over-the-ear headphones.
For the last half decade, they've given a lot of attention to the many earbuds in their
lineup, and left people like me to almost forget about the over-the-ear option.
Until now, for a good set of Apple headphones, you need to swallow a huge price jump over
the AirPods Pro. Sure, these have better frequency response, ANC and transparency, and mic quality, but
they're just in a completely different price category.
Now though, these are much more reasonable, and for someone who wants to stay in this
ecosystem, these are a great choice. Oh no, the train put on your ANC headphones!
Thanks for covering your ears with this Mac Address. If you're excited that they're finally cheaper ANC over-the-ear headphones, give this video
a like. And if you want to see how long it takes for Beats to release another pair of headphones,
you may as well subscribe. I'm curious, in the comments below, how many of you are over-the-ear headphones?
Or do you all just like earbuds?