Indeed, when it comes to instrument separation, I’m not sure I’ve heard anything quite like it in a pair of headphones at this price. The power button of Flex Beats features a LED light to indicate power and battery life; this glows white for on, flashes when pairing, and blinks red when charging. It’s hard to imagine a more complete pair of affordable neckband in-ears on the market right now, whether you’re an iPhone or Android user. If all you need is something that stays around your neck all day and lets you conveniently answer calls and listen to music, Beats’ budget in-ears will fit the task perfectly. While it’s not exactly the same in the Beats Flex, it is far more similar to Powerbeats Pro than Beats X and – so despite being cheaper than the X was at launch – the Flex actually sounds better than the X. There’s a clarity to the vocals and details, while the lower bass notes don’t fall away or get crunched when the volume drops off.
As long as you have more than an hour’s worth of power, it will glow white. There are two thicker portions of the strap that help weigh the rigid wires down, and give somewhere for the innards and battery to live. This is beats solo pro wireless where you’ll find the USB-C port for charging, a mic for taking calls and chatting to Siri/Google Assistant and a couple of buttons. All these buttons are easy and reliable to press, with firm feedback and a nice click.
These earbuds come with wingtips that can be attached for a more secure fit. Wingtips come in handy for beats flex review sports and other physical activities. When used correctly, they prevent the earbuds from falling off.
Magnetic earbuds automatically play music when they’re in your ears and pause when they’re attached around your neck. Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET’s Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He’s also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks. If you tried the BeatsX before, then you know what to expect here.
Comfort is great, and you can wear them all day long without experiencing fatigue. However, the fit isn’t ideal, as earbuds quickly pop out during light sports activities. Speaking beats solo pro wireless of chips, despite having one, a companion app for Android gives you the ability to check battery status percentages and lets you customize features, just like on an iOS device.
There’s a volume rocker on one side, a play/pause/multi-function on the inside of the same side, and a power/pair button on the other side. The design is comfortable enough and easy to wear, but I found the neckband to be less convenient and get in the way. My preference would just be a cable that hangs under my neck or around the back of my neck. The neckband got in the way during activities with a lot of movement (especially crunches!). The linguini cord goes where it wants to and ends up rubbing against our chin. If you own an Apple phone or tablet, you’ll be able to make the most of everything these wireless earbuds have to offer because they use the Apple W1 chip.