Beats Flex review: Not true wireless earbuds, but a good $50 AirPods alternative

The Beats Flex may have a small wire, but they also pack solid sound and big battery life for that stellar price point. You’re getting quality materials and a few key extras, too. The only reason you might want to spend more is if you really need specific additional features, like noise canceling or sweat resistance. The most bothersome thing I encountered with the controls was turning the buds on. There’s no “powered on” sound, so you have to hold the button for a couple of seconds and hope they turn on.

One of the things I loved about the BeatsX was their call quality. Crystal clear and superb for separating voices from background sounds, they were the next best thing to actually holding your phone to your face. It proved to be a great way to compare the sound quality of the Beats Flex and BeatsX .

beats flex review

Balanced sounding earbuds with a more substantial sub-bass boost. They’re also more transparent in the midrange and more sparkly in the treble. An exposed USB-C charging port on the left and an on/off button on the right, which also serves as a pairing button.The pairing process beats solo pro wireless is also straightforward. You only have to turn the Beats Flex on for the initial pairing, and they show up in your Bluetooth menu. Not only do you get a reliable range, but there’s also no visible audio lag in both videos and mobile games, even on Android devices.

In the process they’ve become the cheapest wireless headphones that Apple sells, the company having quietly stripped third-party options from its shelves. Eventually there’ll be Flame Blue, Beats Black, Yuzu Yellow, and Smoke Gray colors to choose from, but initially beats flex review only the black and yellow are shipping. I don’t expect them to do everything for $50, but if you’re hunting for similarly stylish Beats headphones that will hold up better during workout conditions, you might want to check out the Beats Powerbeats.

You never have to worry about losing an earbud, there’s no bulky charging case to stash in your pocket or purse, and when you want to have a conversation, just pull the buds out of your ears and let them dangle. For folks who routinely need to go back and forth between listening to music and listening to the world around them, it’s a much more convenient design. For $50, that’s a solid feature set, before we even talk about the audio performance, which is heavily boosted and sculpted, but will appeal to bass lovers.

You can take calls when they ring through your phone by pressing the multi-function button once on the left-hand side control module. Apple claims that the beats Flex can last up to 12 hours, meaning they can give you 12 hours of playback on a full charge. Now, keep in mind that this is with “moderate volume.” So, if you blast your beats, you’re not going to reach this high number. These are not noise-cancelling buds, and the passive isolation you get with the in-ear design is basic at best. They’ll cut out a bit of chatter if you’re taking calls, but they don’t help at all in getting rid of the loud chatter on trains or buses.