I think the best customer for the Beats Flex is anyone looking to replace a set of wired earbuds with something wireless that won’t break the bank doing it. The target audience here isn’t the person looking at AirPods or other true wireless earbuds that are more than twice the cost of the Flex, and the audio quality/features reflect that. And, although I’m never a big fan of the in-line controls you find on neckband-style earphones, I don’t mind those on the Beats Flex. The multi-purpose button is located on a different face of the left remote to the volume controls, meaning you never inadvertently press one instead of the other. And this multi-purpose button only very subtly protrudes, so it’s unlikely you’ll knock it by accident. As you’d expect, they come with a range of different earbud sizes in the box – four to be precise – to help ensure a snug fit.
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 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.
Athletic listeners may want to invest in the Beats Fit Pro instead. This pair of noise cancelling earbuds houses the H1 chip and has a 6-hour battery life. You get premium features like Apple spatial audio with head tracking, an IPX4 build, and comfortable, secure fit. This is currently the priciest set of Beats earbuds but may just be worth it for the right listener. The original Beats X sold for around £120-£130 in the UK, and over the last few years they’ve slowly slipped down to £60-£90 depending on where you looked.
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.
At either end of the U are elongated plastic housings that contain the battery and electronics (including the Apple-designed W1 Bluetooth chip), as well as the USB-C charging port and the power/pairing button. These plastic beats solo pro wireless housings are where Apple has focused most of its redesign (cost-cutting?) efforts. Instead of placing the microphone and controls in an inline pod on the left earbud’s wire, these are now contained in the left housing.
An advanced built-in microphone helps reduce wind noise for elevated voice clarity and call performance. On-device controls allow you to adjust volume as well as manage music, take calls, or activate voice assistant. Yes, these are “budget” headphones, but Apple didn’t skimp on the audio quality. They come with 4 silicone ear tips for an air-tight seal in your ear, so most will find the audio quality much better than Apple’s standard AirPods. We wouldn’t be surprised if some find the audio quality to be as good or better than AirPods too, just because of this tight seal. The more expensive PowerBeats would be the closest comparison, but those have a little extra detail and oomph.