Overall, these headphones deliver wireless convenience, excellent sound quality, and long-lasting performance. Having been designed in tandem with some of the biggest musical beats studio3 artists of today means these are ready to rock. Music and motion are all rolled into one pair of sleek headphones. The Solo Pro are Beats’ most impressive headphones to date.
Many of your favorite celebrities have rocked a pair on camera at one point. However, Beats headphones weren’t really known for their audio or build quality. For $299, you get a pair of headphones with great audio quality, near-instantaneous pairing and seamless integration with Apple products.
You can pair your headphones using the app – it will show battery level when you turn them on in a little on-screen pop-up and manage various settings. At 267g, the Solo Pro are about mid-weight for headphones. The arms fold into thirds to collapse down but the thick ear cups means they do not get quite as small as I would like for travelling. They ship with a soft recycled-felt case for protection but they feel robust enough to just toss in a bag. The Beats Solo3 Wireless headset is the Beats Solo Pro’s three-year senior, and has outdated hardware.
There’s still plenty of bass, but it’s not a constant burden that overpowers everything else. The Solo Pro packs some pleasant thump, especially in genres with more low-end tone — hip-hop, electronic, and booming metal. The highs are bright and the mids are well represented, so the soundscape here is full. Guitars, drums, vocals and other elements come through clearly.
They’re more comfortable and have a more neutral, open, and spacious passive soundstage. They have an ANC system that can block out more background noise, a wireless design, and an integrated mic so that you can take calls when you’re on the go. The Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO and the Beats Solo Pro have different strengths, and you may prefer either one.
These headphones feature built-in controls on the ear cup. You can adjust the volume, change the track, and answer incoming calls with the push of a button. The Solo3, on either side, has a confined design to provide adaptive noise seclusion and is less appropriate for filtering out background noises in busy or noisy environments.
They come in multiple different color schemes, making it easier for you to match your preferred style. These headphones can’t be used wired and therefore can’t be used for wired gaming. But in real-world use, I’d say Beats’ noise cancellation is good but still not a match for Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 or Sony’s 1000X M3s. It definitely is better than no noise cancelation, however.
However, their on-ear design isn’t great for a very wide and natural soundstage. For years, it was about commanding, head-rattling bass at the expense of everything else. But that’s not true anymore, and it hasn’t been for a while now. Things started turning around with the Solo 3s a few years ago and then got really good with the Powerbeats Pro. With the Solo Pros, the bass is still pronounced but not boomy or overwhelming.
Apple’s H1 chip enables a whole host of convenient features with the firm’s devices, while the Beats app brings some of them to Android, too. The Beats Solo Pro are a great set of on-ear noise-cancelling headphones. The outside of the right ear cup hides volume and playback controls under the large Beats-logo disc. Press the logo in once for pause/play, twice to skip forward and thrice to skip back. Press and hold it to activate Siri on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, or Google Assistant on an Android phone. The Beats app on Android also provides some of the same functionality.
They’re more comfortable and have a more immersive passive soundstage. They have an ANC system and can significantly block out more background noise. They also have a wireless design and have an H1 chip, so you can pair them with other devices in your Apple ecosystem. The Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless are better headphones than the beats studio3. The Sennheiser are more comfortable and have a better battery and noise isolation performance.