[Maukey]

 

[Maukey]

I didn't see a thread started for these and feel there should be one. I know many here aren't Beats fans, but these are looking very promising and I personally am looking forward to getting my hands on one. I actually have them preordered. Scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.

 

[Maukey]

Early Reviews are looking VERY good.

https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/beats-solo-pro
https://www.soundguys.com/beats-solo-pro-review-26938/
https://gizmodo.com/beats-turned-a-corner-with-its-new-noise-canceling-head-1839299447
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25...ing-on-ear-wireless-headphones-features-price

 

[tdx]

Got these today and so far I'm really liking them.

Went through a high end wireless headphone binge the last few months (MX3, H9i, Mw65, PX7, Momentum 3 etc) and all were great, and most sounded better than the Beats. But you know what? The moment I put these on I realized that, for me at least, convenience and comfort trump SQ. They are super light, super comfy (way more than all the others) and they are rock solid in their use. And honestly the sound is not as good as the other high end cans but it's not bad at all. For on ears they actually sound decently detailed and bass is there but not as bad as the previous gens. ANC works well, again not as well as the usual suspects but good enough for most cases. If I was using my headphones solely at home or on planes i would keep one of the more high end ones (probably the Momentums, they had the best sound by far). But I need these to go around the city, mass transportation, traveling, exercising etc and I really feel they will be easier and more pleasurable than the other ones in that regard.

So take all this for what it's worth but the fat that out of all these super well reviewed wireless headphones, the Beats were the ones that didn't make me feel I would return them within a week (which all the others did) says alot about how far along they've come...

 

[MICHAELSD]

Beats Solo Pro is the best on-ear wireless headphone on the market, objectively-measured by Rtings:

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/best/by-type/on-ear

I have tested Solo Pro and found the sound quality to be impressive, with a vibrant response throughout the range without having too much emphasis on any particular frequency. They fixed all of the issues with Studio3, and created a really solid follow-up to Solo3.

I’m still curious to see Beats create a good over-ear headphone. If they took the sound quality, ANC performance, and relatively premium build quality of Solo Pro, stepped it up a notch or two, and put it in an over-ear form factor it could be a market leader. I would already take Solo Pro over the WH-1000XM3 and the Bose QC35 II (I haven’t tried Bose 700).

 

[Maukey]

Beats Solo Pro is the best on-ear wireless headphone on the market, objectively-measured by Rtings:

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/best/by-type/on-ear

I have tested Solo Pro and found the sound quality to be impressive, with a vibrant response throughout the range without having too much emphasis on any particular frequency. They fixed all of the issues with Studio3, and created a really solid follow-up to Solo3.

I’m still curious to see Beats create a good over-ear headphone. If they took the sound quality, ANC performance, and relatively premium build quality of Solo Pro, stepped it up a notch or two, and put it in an over-ear form factor it could be a market leader. I would already take Solo Pro over the WH-1000XM3 and the Bose QC35 II (I haven’t tried Bose 700).

Agree with everything here. And I've owned the Bose 700 as well. The Solo Pro is definitely the overall better headphone than all of these in my opinion. Best sound quality a Beats headphone has ever had in my opinion. Really amazing job. The comfort is the only issue with it. The Bose 700 does a little better for heavy phone call users. And the 1000XM3 beats it in low frequency noise cancelling.

 

[SilverEars]

Agree with everything here. And I've owned the Bose 700 as well. The Solo Pro is definitely the overall better headphone than all of these in my opinion. Best sound quality a Beats headphone has ever had in my opinion. Really amazing job. The comfort is the only issue with it. The Bose 700 does a little better for heavy phone call users. And the 1000XM3 beats it in low frequency noise cancelling.

If it's technically competent like it measures, I'd be interested in circumaural with same tuning. I can't do over-ear for obvious comfort reasons.

Just realized closed-back measures like that is pretty rare.

Also, I don't take Rtings best of something seriously either. Their subjective impressions are all over the place. Just a place for graphs.

 

[Maukey]

If it's technically competent like it measures, I'd be interested in circumaural with same tuning. I can't do over-ear for obvious comfort reasons.

Just realized closed-back measures like that is pretty rare.

Also, I don't take Rtings best of something seriously either. Their subjective impressions are all over the place. Just a place for graphs.

I agree with this as well. Rtings has the Bose QC35 II and Audio Technica M50X as their highest rated closed back headphones as far as sound quality, plus a bunch of gaming headsets so I don’t put much stock in their opinions on sound quality. I will give them credit, they’ve recently changed their ratings and adjusted a few of the sound quality settings. Instead of just having a general sound quality rating, they’ve changed it to “neutral sound” since that’s what they categorize as “best”. That makes more sense to me since neutral doesn’t always mean best. Measurements can’t account for tone and musicality. To my ears the Solo Pro is the most neutral headphone Beats has made. It has an ever so slight bump in the low bass and low to mid treble to add a little excitement for songs that call for it. It really is an excellent tuning in my opinion. It’s very compact, has excellent ANC and battery life, and really is the perfect travel companion if you can deal with the Comfort. If Beats takes this same concept with the next Beats Studio, with the added soundstage and power you get from the bigger drivers, plus the comfort, it will hands down be my favorite wireless ANC headphone.

 

[SilverEars]

I agree with this as well. Rtings has the Bose QC35 II and Audio Technica M50X as their highest rated closed back headphones as far as sound quality, plus a bunch of gaming headsets so I don’t put much stock in their opinions on sound quality. I will give them credit, they’ve recently changed their ratings and adjusted a few of the sound quality settings. Instead of just having a general sound quality rating, they’ve changed it to “neutral sound” since that’s what they categorize as “best”. That makes more sense to me since neutral doesn’t always mean best. Measurements can’t account for tone and musicality. To my ears the Solo Pro is the most neutral headphone Beats has made. It has an ever so slight bump in the low bass and low to mid treble to add a little excitement for songs that call for it. It really is an excellent tuning in my opinion. It’s very compact, has excellent ANC and battery life, and really is the perfect travel companion if you can deal with the Comfort. If Beats takes this same concept with the next Beats Studio, with the added soundstage and power you get from the bigger drivers, plus the comfort, it will hands down be my favorite wireless ANC headphone.

You just took words out of my head.

I usually don't see such type of curved response on the mids to upper-mids from a closed-back. Closed-backs usually have some tuning weirdness in the response.

I thought ranking their headphones based on a point system was outrageous as I find headphone practicality is about sound. I think it makes sense to make a database out of different aspect so that people can rank them by particular aspects.

As far as their subjective ranking. Yes, giving neutral points based solely on measurements doesn't work well. Good measurements isn't everything, how it sounds is important as well. I really have no idea how they give points on neutrality. The way they give points based on frequency response doesn't seem consistent either.

 

[buzzlulu]

I had the chance to demo these a few weeks ago and like others came away quite impressed. I have demoed both the Sony and Bose ANC headphones (QC35,N700, X3) and was unimpressed with both the sound quality and the aggressive ANC which bothered me. I use Bluetooth headphones exclusively for one thing - airline travel. My current ANC cans are the B&O H9i and the H9 before that. I also have had the Dali IO-6 on demo which I returned. AirPod Pro's are keepers and amazing.

I am tempted to buy a set of the Beats Pro and test them out on my next airline flight. I am confident that the ANC capabilities will at least equal, if not exceed, my B&O's. The other advantage I see to them (for me) is their size. Although my B&O's fold flat they still take up a bit of room. I like the way the Beats fold up rather small - possibly easier to find a place for than my H9i's?

Question - can someone explain the philosophy between "on ear" like the Beats vs. "over the ear" like all other ANC cans. Is it because over ear are smaller and take up less space by collapsing more - or are there other reasons for on ear cans vs. over ear?

 

[Maukey]

I had the chance to demo these a few weeks ago and like others came away quite impressed. I have demoed both the Sony and Bose ANC headphones (QC35,N700, X3) and was unimpressed with both the sound quality and the aggressive ANC which bothered me. I use Bluetooth headphones exclusively for one thing - airline travel. My current ANC cans are the B&O H9i and the H9 before that. I also have had the Dali IO-6 on demo which I returned. AirPod Pro's are keepers and amazing.

I am tempted to buy a set of the Beats Pro and test them out on my next airline flight. I am confident that the ANC capabilities will at least equal, if not exceed, my B&O's. The other advantage I see to them (for me) is their size. Although my B&O's fold flat they still take up a bit of room. I like the way the Beats fold up rather small - possibly easier to find a place for than my H9i's?

Question - can someone explain the philosophy between "on ear" like the Beats vs. "over the ear" like all other ANC cans. Is it because over ear are smaller and take up less space by collapsing more - or are there other reasons for on ear cans vs. over ear?

The only 2 advantages that I typically see with On ear vs. Over ear are On ear is more compact for on the go, and for people with glasses, you don't have to worry about seal issues with On Ear so the frequency response for those users are typically more consistent. Others may have different advantages, but those are the two I notice.

 

[buzzlulu]

Ah yes - glasses! Good point - I wear them!
Thanks

 

[buzzlulu]

I would also imagine the updated Beats Studio with ANC will be a while coming considering that the Solo Pro was just released?

 

[MICHAELSD]

The only 2 advantages that I typically see with On ear vs. Over ear are On ear is more compact for on the go, and for people with glasses, you don't have to worry about seal issues with On Ear so the frequency response for those users are typically more consistent. Others may have different advantages, but those are the two I notice.

On-ear also provides a more stable fit (every over-ear headphone I’ve tried at the gym comes off on a bench) and unique sound characteristics. Having a slightly closed soundstage can work on some songs to create a coherent approach where frequencies are still adequately separated but come together to highlight intricacies in the “beat” when the imaging is as good as it is here.

It’s funny because Solo Pro is Beats’ only great headphone. I’m glad they realized how critically-acclaimed Solo3 was and decided to improve upon it.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I would also imagine the updated Beats Studio with ANC will be a while coming considering that the Solo Pro was just released?

Probably not until next holiday season.

We may also see an over-ear “Pod” headphone from Apple next year.