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Although the Beats Solo Pro have some significant upgrades over the Beats Solo 3… To me, the Beats Solo Pro are Overhyped and definitely Overpriced at $300. Although their active noise cancellation is fairly decent, and I really like that they finally have a transparency mode… something thats has been standard for awhile now. I find it very hard to justify getting these headphones when there are a whole lot of other great ANC headphones out there that either perform better or just cost less.
Personally I think that paying $300 for any pair of On Ear headphones is a lot. Now obviously im being a little harsh on the Solo Pro’s cause I gotta look at them as $300 headphones. But personally I would only consider getting the Beats Solo Pro if they were on sale for $200… maybe $220. But I think that anything above $250 is still a lot for these headphones. So in the event that these headphones are on sale and if you want to pick them up, they’ll be linked down below… but im also going to leave links to some alternatives that I highly recommend.
Now first lets talk about the carrying case that comes included with the Beats Solo Pro. When ever you’re paying upwards of $300 for any pair of headphones a hard shell case is to be expected. But since these are beats… you’re stuck with a soft-shell case instead. So if you plan on traveling or commuting a lot with these headphones you gotta be carful about not crushing them when they’re in your back pack. So I feel that for $300 a soft shell case is unacceptable, but if these were $200 headphones its fair game.
But something that I just think is just unacceptable about these headphones is that they dont come with an audio cable cause they don’t have an audio jack. The only port on these headphones is a lighting port which is obviously used for charging. Now personally I think the removal of the audio jack on these headphones is just stupid cause you sometimes still need a wired connection. Now I highly doubt that if you’re a creator you’re going to be getting a pair of beats to monitor your audio… but if you’re a casual consumer you can’t do something as basic as plugging your headphones in to watch an inflight movie when you’re in an airplane.
But don’t worry apple’s got you covered. If you want to use a wired connection with your $300 headphones all you gotta do is get their $35 lightning to 3.5 millimeter audio cable. Bringing the grand total of these headphones to $335 plus tax. I just don’t think this is right specifically for constant flyers looking for headphones.
But now, lets talk about the headphones themselves. The most crucial thing to take into consideration whenever picking any pair of headphones is comfort. If your headphones don’t fit right you’re not going to want to use them. And plainly said, I don’t wear the Solo Pro’s I endure them. The Solo Pro’s have a lot of clamping force so they definitely aren’t big head approved. I even think that people with average sized heads will find the Solo Pro’s to be a little too tight on them as well. The most I can go with these headphones on is an hour before I finally tap out. Besides having a lot of clamping force the other reasons that I find these headphones to be so uncomfortable is cause obviously they’re on ear headphones instead of over ear headphones like the Sony 1000XM3 or Bose NC 700 but also the padding on the Solo Pro’s is fairly stiff and there isn’t much of it either. Leading to some very tender ears after im done wearing the Solo Pros. But also, the headband on the solo pro have very little padding as well which leads to a lot of discomfort on the top of your head as well. Usually, on ear headphones are less comfortable than over ear headphones… but I think the Solo Pro’s are the least comfortable headphones I have ever worn. Cause there are plenty of other on ear headphones out there that are still fairly comfortable.
Now tech spec wise, the Solo Pro have an advertised battery life of 22 hours with Active Noise cancelation or transparency mode turned on. And for me I’ve been able to go a solid week in between charges with these headphones. So not bad. But the fast charging on these headphones is very average. If you plug these headphones in for 10 minutes they’ll get you 3 hours of playback time. Which is ok but we’re seeing more and more headphones where they’ll get you 5 hour of playback time.
Regarding bluetooth connectivity just like the AirPods Pro, the Solo Pro have apple’s new H1 chip. So pairing to your iPhone is super easy barely an inconvenience and you can easily hot swap between any of your apple products associated to your iCloud account. Great for power users. And just like AirPods the Solo Pro have always listening Siri so you can talk to Siri by just saying Hey Siri do the thing. Which is great if you have your hands full or if you just don’t want to take your phone out. Personally I really like always listening Siri period.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones cause these headphones sound very different from the solo 3’s for the better but I do think some people will be a little upset. Sound signature wise these headphones put an emphasis on the mids and vocals and they still have a decent amount of bass to them which can be heard. Which personally I’m a fan of but I know some people will be disappointed. The Beats Solo Pro’s sound decent but you don’t actually feel the bass on these headphones rattling your head as much as before which I know some people actively look for in a pair of headphones. Some people will think of this as a downgrade but the Solo Pro’s sound way more balanced this time around. But from a performance standpoint, the Solo Pro’s sound like your everyday pair of $200 headphones. Their instrument separation and soundstage is average but I can’t help but feel that their bass gets eerily close to bottoming out when listening to bass heavy music. All in all the Solo Pro’s sound good enough and they should please most people… but if you’re looking for head rattling bass then you’ll might want to look elsewhere.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones cause even though its blocks out a decent amount of noise… over all I still think it's a bit of a mixed bag. Now the ANC on the Solo Pro’s manages to keep up with the big boys like the Sony 1000XM3’s and Bose NC 700’s. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
Like you may have just seen, the Beats Solo Pro’s give the Bose NC 700’s a run for their money but the Sony’s still block out the most amount of noise here. But from an over all performance standpoint the ANC on the Solo Pro is still a little far behind. Now the ANC on the Solo Pro’s doesn’t change how your music sounds which is good. But when it comes to cabin pressure, thats another story. The ANC on Solo Pro’s automatically adjust its self depending on your environment. If you’re in a quite environment where the ANC on these headphones doesn’t have to work all that hard you’ll barely notice any cabin pressure. But if you’re in a louder environment where the ANC on these headphone have to work harder thats when you’ll start noticing some cabin pressure. Some people can deal with it but for some other people this may lead to headaches or at the very least constantly feeling the need to pop your ears. Where as both the Bose and Sony’s have considerably less cabin pressure than the Solo Pro’s. Which is what you want. But also the ANC on the Solo Pro’s really likes to pick up wind noise when used out doors. Which is very surprising cause the AirPods Pro pick up basically ZERO wind noise when used out doors. And this is because the Microphones on the Solo Pro’s are so exposed where as the microphones on the Bose NC 700’s, Sony 1000XM3’s and even the AirPods Pro are much better shielded… resulting in all of them picking up much less wind noise than the Solo Pro’s.
Now besides active noise cancellation another major feature on the Solo Pro’s is that they now have a transparency mode. So you can set these headphones to pump in some of the ambient sound around you so that you can still be aware of your surroundings when you’re walking around the city or you can do what I do and have transparency mode turned on when you’re watching movie at home so that if someone calls you’re name you can still hear them. Now im glad that the Solo Pros finally have a transparency mode but this is something that should have been included back when the Beats studio 3 came out. But non the less the transparency mode on these headphones is for the most part decent. There’s no hissing the background which is crucial if you plan on watching lots of videos or movies with these headphones and it sound natural. But like the ANC on the these headphones transparency mode still likes to pick up a lot of wind noise when used out doors. But also the transparency mode on these headphones is still a little behind the competition cause you can’t actually adjust how much ambient sound these headphones pump in. And also the transparency mode on these headphones pump in everything, that don’t actively block out sudden loud spikes in noise like the Sony 1000XM3’s or Surface Headphones saving you from jump scares.
But just like AirPods, the Solo Pro’s have a great sounding microphone for phone calls. Which is still a very big deal cause a lot of other ANC headphones out there still struggle when it comes to their microphones.
But I still think the Bose NC 700’s have the best sounding microphone out there. But these are $400 headphones so this is isn’t an apples to apples comparison.
But over all, even though the Beats Solo Pro have some important upgrades and improvements over the Beats Solo 3’s I still can’t recommend or justify paying $300 for these headphones. First off $300 for any pair of on ear headphones is a lot, but still these headphones are very uncomfortable to wear. Even though these headphones sound better than previous beats, they still sound like your everyday pair of headphones. Even though the active noise cancelation on these headphones blocks out a considerable amount of noise… they have considerably more cabin pressure than other headphones out there. But for me, I think that these headphones just not having an audio jack and apple having the balls to charge you $35 for an audio cable is just insulting.