In one look
Expert Rating
Benefits
- Lightweight
- Good compatibility with Apple and other devices
- 3.5mm audio input and USB-C
- Excellent battery life
- Clear and balanced audio
The inconvenients
- The headband is a bit stiff
- No ear detection
Our opinion
Even though they weren’t $200 cheaper, we’d recommend them over the AirPods Max. The lack of ear detection is a disappointment, but Beats Studio Pro offers better sound, better battery life, controls and compatibility, and they also weigh a lot less.
Best Prices Today: Beats Studio Pro
Some of Apple’s best AirPods aren’t AirPods, they’re Beats. From the company other The headphone brand regularly releases products with nearly all of the same features and technology as the AirPods, but with better styling, better compatibility, and a better price.
If you’re looking for a set of over-ear headphones and are considering AirPods Max, now you have a better option. The new Beats Studio Pro may not be made of aluminum and steel with a fancy mesh headband, but it’s $200 less and offers better sound, wider compatibility and most important AirPods features. Oh, and they come with a real carrying case.
Excellent Apple (and Android) support
The main reason to get AirPods over other headphones is their seamless integration w ith your Apple ecosystem. They pair just by holding them close to your iPhone, easily switch to your Mac or iPad, and you can change settings and get firmware updates in Settings instead of requiring a separate app.
The new Beats Studio Pro does almost all of your favorite AirPods stuff. One-touch pairing, iCloud pairing (but no instant switching), transfer to Apple Watch, hands-free “Hey Siri” support, and Find My support.
On your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, they’re treated like the first-party Apple product that they are. You get native iOS sign-in hints, widgets and indicators, noise cancellation, and Control Center spatial audio controls, and you’ll find all the settings in…er…Settings.
Foundry
They even support custom spatial audio and head tracking. The only feature you will really miss is ear detection. Beats Studio Pro won’t stop playing as soon as you take them off and resume when you put them on, and you have to press the power button for a few seconds to turn them on or off.
These don’t use Apple’s H-series earphone chips like some Beats products do. Instead, they use the proprietary Beats processor which allows them to more easily support Android features like one-touch pairing, audio switching, and Find My Device.
Familiar design, familiar features
Visually, the Beats Studio Pro almost looks like the famous Beats Studio 3 headphones. Unfortunately, they feel like them too. They’re not uncomfortable on their own, but the ear cushions don’t have the same soft, velvety feel as the AirPods Max, and the headband is much stiffer.
On the other hand, they are noticeably lighter. Sitting perfectly still, the AirPods Max feel better. But if you move your head, you’ll instantly appreciate that, at 260 grams, the Beats are a third lighter than the 384-gram AirPods Max.
I have a particularly small head and often find popular headphones are only a few millimeters too big for me, even at their smallest size; this is also true for the Beats Studio Pro. That barely puts them on the edge of discomfort for me, which is how I find the AirPods Max and most other popular headphones. Unless you have a small head too, you’ll probably find these to be just a bit more comfortable than the older Beats Studio 3, but the headband and ear cushions could use some improvement.
Foundry
The left ear accommodates well-integrated physical controls. The “b” logo is a button used for the standard play/pause/forward/backward control. Tap above the logo to increase the volume and below to decrease it. Below, you’ll find a standard headphone jack. Yes, analog audio input is fully supported without dongles or adapters, and it even comes with a (short) cable to do so. Take that, AirPods Max!
On the right, you’ll find a small button used to turn the headphones on or off, enter pairing mode, or double-click to change noise canceling modes. Below, a USB-C port for charging. You get around 4 hours of playtime from a 10 minute charge and a full charge takes around 2 hours. Beats claims 40 hours of battery life with ANC off and 24 hours with ANC on, which is around 20% better than the AirPods Max. In my tests, this seemed to be about right.
The USB-C port on the right is for more than charging, though. You can Also Plug this USB-C cable into any supported audio source for audio input. The built-in DAC supports hi-res, lossless audio up to 24-bit/48KHz, and the headset mic even appears as a mic input on your Mac or PC (although the quality isn’t up to par with a good dedicated headset).
Foundry
Noise cancellation is not supported in USB-C wired mode. Instead, the power button alternates between three audio profiles: “Signature” for balanced sound, “Entertainment” for movies and games, or “Chat” for voice boosting calls or podcasts.
And yes, just like the Beats Studio 3, they fold up to fit more easily in your bag. They come with a real carrying case and USB-C and 3.5mm headphone cables, but no power adapter.
Foundry
Improved audio
It’s been over five years since the Beats Studio 3 hit the market, and you’d expect substantial improvements in sound quality when it’s replaced. Fortunately, the sound of Beats Studio Pro Really GOOD.
Beats likes to market a lot of numbers that, as a listener, I have no idea how to quantify. They feature all-new 40mm drivers with “a precise array of micro-vents and a fine acoustic mesh to optimize airflow and minimize distortion. Provide 0.02% total harmonic distortion even at high volumes. This is an 80% improvement over Beats Studio 3.
This all sounds like so much marketing technobabble to me, but these sound pretty good for a pair of cans in the sub-$500 price range. The low end has as much clarity and punch as the AirPods Max, but the high frequencies are noticeably sharper. I never thought the snaps and hi-hats looked muddy on the AirPods Max, but putting them directly after the Beats Studio Pro gives that impression.
The quality of the adaptive noise cancellation is excellent, although I think the transparency mode is a bit behind the 2nd generation AirPods Pro. It is important to note that the tone of the sound is not changed when switching between normal, noise canceling and transparency modes.
A great choice for Apple fans
There are certainly many great noise canceling headphones to choose from these days. I don’t know if the Beats Studio Pro sound better and have more compelling features than the Sony WH-1000XM5, for example, but they’re almost certainly a better choice for Apple enthusiasts thanks to their very AirPods integration into the ecosystem.
These are much easier to recommend than the AirPods Max. They offer better sound quality overall, and while the padding isn’t quite as comfortable, the lighter weight makes them easier to use. They fold up, come with a real carrying case, have a 3.5mm analog input, charge And play audio via USB-C and deliver superior battery life.
Sure, all that metal and mesh on the AirPods Max gives them a premium feel that you won’t find here and I miss the ear detection, but even though the AirPods Max is down $200, I’d still choose Beats Studio Pro.
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