My caller said my voice sounded warmer, a sentiment I shared as he sounded more present than he had on the previous call. As for background noise, he could barely hear anything as I walked along Bryant Park, but as I got closer to Times Square, he said he could faintly hear cars. In practice, the multifunction button provides firm, springy feedback with an audible click when pressed, so I had no problem mastering the multiple-tap cadence. The headphones gave a near-instantaneous response to all my poking and prodding.
After spending time with the Solo Pro, I tried Beats’ other premium headphones, the $350 Studio 3 Wireless. Fresh from launching the Beats Fit Pro, Beats has refreshed its product range by culling some of its older headphones (as spotted by MacRumors ). The Powerbeats, Solo Pro and Beats beats solo pro wireless EP have all been discontinued, to spend some time in the headphone retirement home. As you’ll see in our Beats Solo Pro review, we liked their sound quality and noise-cancelling functionality. We also liked how easy they were to pair and gave them an overall rating of 4.5 out 5 stars.
The Beats Solo Pro noise cancelling headset showcases a striking, mature appearance. The concealed hinges maintain a streamlined design, and the headband extension mechanism is nearly undetectable. Limited degrees of rotation is allowed in every direction. This design is meant to increase comfort by allowing the ear cups to rest along with the natural angle of your ears. Yet, it can’t negate the immense pressure placed on the head. After an hour of listening, it felt like I was removing an expensive clamp, rather than a pair of headphones.
Once paired, the headphones automatically reconnect to the most recent device. They use Bluetooth 5.0 firmware and support AAC streaming. Again, this is mainly to the benefit of iOS users as AAC performance on Android devices is unpredictable. If you’re an Android user who wants high-quality wireless audio, you’ll have to look into some Beats alternatives. Battery life is 22 hours if you stick to noise-canceling and transparency modes. If you turn both of those off (with a double-press of the aforementioned button), you can get up to 40 hours of good old music playback.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound surprisingly solid through the Solo Pro. That’s easier said than done—most bass-forward headphones we test sound less-than-great on classical tracks. Turning the ANC on, the first thing we notice is some slight hiss, akin to faint white noise. Interestingly, the hiss seems beats studio3 to be less obvious when you’re in a quiet room, versus, say, in a loud, low-frequency rumble scenario like a train. The hiss isn’t a deal breaker, and the ANC here is effective—it does a good job with office chatter, keyboard clicks, and louder low-frequencies sounds. Even if the earpads aid in the overall result, there’s no denying this is an above-average ANC experience.