They also have a better battery performance, and you can customize their sound using their companion app’s graphic EQ and presets. They’re better-built, have a more neutral default sound profile, and their ANC system can block significantly more background noise. The Beats Solo Pro Wireless and the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are casual-use headphones with different strengths. The Beats are better-built, have a more neutral sound profile, which some users may prefer, and leak less audio. However, the Anker have a more comfortable fit, a better battery performance, and their ANC has a significantly better noise isolation performance. You can also customize their sound profile using their companion app’s graphic EQ and presets, and you can pair them with up to two devices at a time.
The beats studio3 are a nice upgrade over the Beats Solo3 Wireless. They have active noise cancelling, which is very useful in public transit or at the office. However, the Pro are a bit too tight for some, and the Solo3 feel more comfortable.
A multifunction button in the center, on top of the iconic “b” logo, handles play/pause , skipping forward or going backward . If you prefer another virtual assistant, you can press and hold this button summon it. All of these controls are physical button pushes as opposed to touch controls, and they’re very reliable. The other control is a single button on the bottom edge of the left earcup, and it flips between ANC and transparency mode.
The vocals on this track are delivered clearly, with a hint of added sibilance, but not enough to ruin things. Transparency mode, which uses built-in mics to let you hear your surroundings, is quite effective. And switching between the two modes is as easy as a button tap, so there’s no need to remove the headphones in order to hear someone speaking. Turning the ANC on, the first thing we notice is some slight hiss, akin to faint white noise. Interestingly, the hiss seems to be less obvious when you’re in a quiet room, versus, say, in a loud, low-frequency rumble scenario like a train. The hiss isn’t a deal breaker, and the ANC here is effective—it does a good job with office chatter, keyboard clicks, and louder low-frequencies sounds.
However, the Beats are better-built and have a more neutral sound profile out-of-the-box. Beats claims a 22-hour battery life with noise cancelling turned on. We recorded nearly that, squeezing out 21 hours, 53 minutes of 75dB playback beats studio3 from a single charge. If you need more than that, you can get approximately 40 hours of battery life with noise cancelling and transparency mode turned off. Like other Beats products, the Beats Solo Pro supports Fast Fuel charging.