Apple is slowly and grindingly moving away from its proprietary Lightning cable standard, and surprisingly, that shift towards USB-C continues with the low-cost Beats Flex. You get a USB-C cable in the box, but no charger, with a socket on the right control module for actual charging. Apple’s claim is that a 10-minute USB-C charge can give you up to 1.5 hours of playback beats flex review time, although naturally, a full charge takes a tad longer than that. One solution to this would be to drop the entire loop down my back, which does work, but then leaves you scrambling to grab them when you need to make a volume or track change. They’re pretty clearly not designed as fitness-friendly headphones in any case, given the lack of IP-rated water resistance.
10-Minute charge testing conducted with drained Beats Flex that were charged for 10 minutes, then audio playback was started until Beats Flex stopped playback. Battery life depends on device settings, environment, usage, and many other factors. The Flex-Form cable provides all-day comfort with durable Nitinol construction while four eartip options offer a personalized fit. Magnetic earbuds make listening that much easier by automatically playing music when they’re in your ears and pausing when they’re attached around your neck1.
Although this falls short of the listed specification, you can always rely on the quick charge feature, which gives you an extra 90 minutes after just 10 minutes on the charger. Thankfully, the neckband houses a USB-C input, so you can charge this with the same cable that charges your Android phone and laptop. The price is very fair for what you get — you’ll be hard pushed to find a better pair of wireless earphones at the price. I listen to dance-y tracks when beats studio3 I run outside, and though the Flex lacks active noise cancellation, I couldn’t hear much ambient street noise while I pounded the pavement. Saweetie’s “Tap In,” which uses Too Short’s signature “Blow the Whistle” hook, absolutely slaps on the Flex, as does Bad Bunny’s “Yo Perreo Sola,” which features a classic reggaeton beat and drums. The underlying heart of the Beats Flex for pairing is Apple’s own W1 chip, as found in the original generation of AirPods.
However, there are benefits to this classic style and the Beats Flex are a great budget buy for runners. And for general listening if you’re not going to sit down and critique every last element of their sound quality. As with all Apple wireless headphones that use the company’s W1 or H1 wireless chips, pairing the Flex to an iOS device is a snap. Simply turn them on and wait for your iPhone to show you the one-tap pairing animation. If you own more than one Apple device, switching the Flex from one to the other is also a breeze.
Get one with both the USB-A and USB-C slotsthat will be more versatile and let you charge other devices. Bass is a little lacking too, a bit of a surprise for a pair of Beats. Yes, when compared to EarPods there’s definitely more oomph beats solo pro wireless in bassy tracks – but it pales in comparison to even the AirPods, which I wouldn’t class as particularly bass-heavy. The Beats Flex charge via USB-C, which is good news if you’re on Android but a little annoying if you have an iPhone.