Came in the original packaging with all the original cords and documentation. They only way you can tell that they weren’t brand new is the box had a little wear on the corners. Before writing for Tom’s Guide, he worked many retail jobs and many Black Fridays, including a stint for Microsoft. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. In his spare time, Malcolm is a fantasy football analyst.
The level of creativity with headphone packaging has hit a wall that we’d like to see improved, but at least Beats has a little flair. With the shadow grey and gold version we ordered, we received the matching box, with gold accents and flashy slogans. Adaptor, and micro-USB charging is unheard of in the Apple world.
When you don’t have anything playing, it’s a distractingly loud white noise, though when you do it obviously disappears along with most other things in your environment. I think Sony has hands down the best and most effective noise canceling tech at the moment, and the Beats Studio 3 don’t really rival it. I can hear a lot more of the train noise on the London underground with the Beats headphones than I can with the Sony alternative. Even so, drowning out the hubbub of an open-plan office or some other simple task shy of taking a long-haul flight is no problem for the Beats cans.
There are a few spikes above the audibility threshold in the bass range, which indicates a loose bass. However, the rest of the response falls below this threshold, so treble reproduction is transparent. Unfortunately, the headphones are also mismatched in phase and frequency response. There’s a large peak in the phase response’s bass range, so the right driver sounds louder than the left.
However, they produce a lot of self-noise with the ANC on, which can be distracting if there’s no audio playing. The noise-canceling of the Studio3 Wireless certainly worked, but much like every other aspect of the headphones, it just wasn’t as good as other models. At the time of writing this review, Bose had just released their QuietComfort 35 IIs , which had flawless noise-canceling, and objectively better sound quality. In comparison to the Studio3 Wireless, the noise-canceling is far superior, blocking out all outside distractions and ambience. The noise-canceling in the Studio3 Wireless allows for a lot more intrusion. If you want something more comfortable and with the best active noise cancelling for less than $400 USD, look into the Bose QuietComfort 45.
Or as fellow CNET editor Ty Pendlebury remarked, “It’s really good headphone for people who listen to pop music.” The electronic circuitry for the noise cancelation function is integrated into headphones earpiece rather than incorporated as a separate module that is integrated into the audio cord. On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop’s attack gets plenty of high-mid presence and retains its sharp attack, allowing it to cut through the several layers of the mix. Thus, those seeking out a mega-boosted bass sound will likely be disappointed with the balanced, crisp Studio3 Wireless. The vocals here benefit from the solid high-mid presence—perhaps things get a tad too sibilant here and there, but this is a clean sound, generally speaking.
Suffice it to say, the Studio3 wireless headphones have come a long way from when the brand was under Monster. These are on par with the likes of the Bose QuietComfort 35 IIs, and with a suggested retail price of $349.95, they’re not cheap. GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. Pressing the play/pause button twice or thrice can also skip tracks forward and back.
You can charge your Studio3 headphones by following the following steps. In the event that your returned merchandise was mis-shipped, damaged or defective, BJ’s Member Care team will be happy to reimburse you for return shipping costs. Please contact BJ’s Member Care and we will be able to assist you. BJ’s selects the highest quality Merchandise for our Members and stands behind the products we sell. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you are entitled to a refund or exchange subject to the following guidelines.
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Meanwhile, the Beats Fast Fuel feature gives you three hours of playback from just 10 minutes of charging. Has a control that turns off the audio, and in the case of noise canceling models turns off the noise canceling function, so that ambient sounds can be heard. Useful for hearing ambience like travel announcements without turning beats flex review off the audio player or removing the headphones. Moving past the adaptive claims and simply testing the overall NC performance, we got solid results. Listening to the NC itself, with no music, the circuitry does produce a very slightly audible hiss, but this is typical, and you won’t notice the hiss with audio playing.