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The new Studio Buds are Beats’ second pair of true wireless earbuds and follow the Powerbeats Pro, which remains my go-to for the best all-around earbuds for fitness purposes like running or going to the gym. With her latest pair, Beats hopes to appeal to a much wider audience. That starts at $149.99 – which is $100 less than the AirPods Pro. For the first time in Beats Earbuds, they feature active noise cancellation. And with other new features, Beats is expanding its olive branch to Android users, which may come as a surprise for an Apple-owned brand.
Beats says she’s put an incredible amount of work into how Studio Buds sound. This is where they are supposed to exceed price expectations. But you don’t get everything in the sun for $150; The most obvious missing piece is wireless charging. And its noise-cancelling and transparency modes don’t keep up with some of the more expensive earbuds, including the AirPods Pro.
Verge scores 7.5 out of 10
Good Stuff Compact, ergonomic design Good sound quality for the price USB-C It supports Android features Bad stuff Weak noise cancellation Frustrating microphone performance No wireless charging They don’t do all the Apple software tricks
The Studio Buds feature a compact, lightweight stemless design that loses the ear hooks of the Powerbeats Pro. They look at miniatures frankly by comparison. The weight difference is also significant: Each Studio Buds weigh 5.1 grams, which is more comfortable for your ears than the 20-gram Powerbeats Pro. It’s also slightly lighter than AirPods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro, Jabra’s Elite 85t/75t and many more on the market. There’s a very small air vent meant to reduce the feeling of stuffy pressure in your ear, and Beats includes the three standard sizes of silicone eartips. The fit is a big plus; Studio Buds feel very comfortable and never tire my ears at any point.
The Beats Studio Buds are much smaller than the previous Powerbeats Pro headphones.
Beats drew on what it learned from previous earbuds (and those from Apple) while working on this design; It has also undergone some prototyping with consumers to land on the final form factor. The outward-facing side is outlined around a slanted, pill-shaped “B” button. It is actually touch and click operation rather than relying on capacitive touch sensors. I prefer this approach a lot since you won’t have to deal with unintended pressure as much when adjusting the earbuds. The button requires only light pressing, so you’re not constantly jamming the buds deeper into your ears. The controls work the same on both sides: press once to play/pause, twice to skip tracks, three to go back, and long press to toggle transparency on/off on/off ANC. You can customize the long press to activate the voice assistant instead, but that’s as far as Beats lets you switch things up.
The oval charging case is much smaller than the giant case that holds the Powerbeats Pro, and the red color of my review unit is quite striking. There’s also something reassuring about how strong Studio Buds are magnetically drawn into their slots. I’m hoping you’ll avoid these accidental errors actually charging with only one earbud on the Powerbeats Pro.
And the charging case can be more pocketed.
I’d say the most curious thing about Studio Buds is what’s left out: there’s no Apple-made chip inside. The Powerbeats Pro, Powerbeats, and even the $50 Beats Flex earbuds all have one of Apple’s branded chipsets — either the H1 or W1 — for features like instant setup, and auto-pairing across all Apple devices signed in to Your iCloud account, audio sharing.
Despite the lack of Apple silicon, Beats was able to replicate some of these conveniences through software. Studio Buds supports hands-free “Hey Siri” voice commands. When you open the case near your iPhone for the first time, you’ll see the familiar setup screen (or at least something close) slide out from the bottom, just like with AirPods or other Beats products. Studio Buds have special integration in Control Center: you can switch between noise canceling and transparency modes from here just as you can with AirPods Pro. They’ll also play new Dolby Atmos spatial audio tracks from Apple Music automatically.
Although there is no Apple chip inside, Studio Buds iterates some of the AirPods’ features through the software.
But the illusion still exists today. If you search for it, you’ll notice the MIA features that were there if the Studio Buds had a proper Apple chip. Pairing it with your iPhone doesn’t sync with your other iCloud devices. The audio post was not found anywhere. And Studio Buds lacks the ability to automatically switch between iPhone, iPad, and Mac based on which one you’re actively using. (They don’t have multiple points either.) These are small sacrifices, but they put the Studio Buds behind Apple headphones or even other Beats models in terms of supporting Apple’s ecosystem.
There is a touchable “b” button on each control earpiece. The can holds enough juice for 2 more times.
My hunch is that Beats was likely to discard Apple’s silicon in order to include Android-specific features. Studio Buds go further than any of the company’s recent products in accommodating Android listeners. First of all, charging is via USB-C. It also supports Quick Pairing, so it will be automatically linked to your Google account after the initial setup. The earbuds and the clipboard now appear in your Android’s Bluetooth settings, where you can see the battery status or see which location they were last paired with your phone. (This means that the earbuds support Apple’s Find My network and its Google equivalent.) But you don’t get the hands-free Google Assistant, which may have been a bridge too far from the Apple-owned company’s realization.
Beats now supports native Android features like Fast Pair.
Now to the sound. The Beats Studio Buds feature a new driver construction, so while the company aims for their signature “powerful” sound, there’s a noticeable difference when compared to the Powerbeats Pro. Each has its own strength. If you care too much about driving the bass to keep you motivated while you work out, your old earbuds can still outshine it. The Powerbeats Pro still sounded stronger for me. But Studio Buds are better balanced with increased clarity and separation across the frequency range. While the Powerbeats Pro tend to de-emphasize the mediums, they’re not lost in the shuffle here. EQ refinement has been improved, although it’s still the usual curve that cranks up the bass and treble, and the highs can sometimes give more bass than I prefer. Overall, Studio Buds sounds a lot better, but despite all the talk about special audio diaphragms and custom-designed drivers, Beats doesn’t flip the script on what to expect for that amount of money.
And it needs to do a better job elsewhere. The Studio Buds’ passive noise isolation still leaves something to be desired. Even with a good seal, you won’t feel particularly isolated from the outside world. Unfortunately, Beats’ noise canceling system is one of the weaker offerings you’ll find in this price range. Beats says it dynamically adapts the noise-cancelling strength based on ambient noise, but I felt awkward in most of the scenarios I tested it in. Studio Buds do a poor job of eliminating basic traffic street noise, which makes me wary of how they’re managed on board. Transparency mode also lacks the natural feel of AirPods Pro and other premium earphones like Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. You don’t have to spend an extra hundred dollars to get better results: To my ears, the second-generation Amazon Echo Buds beat the Studio Buds in both noise-cancellation and transparency for less money than Beats.
Battery life is rated at around five hours with noise canceling activated or eight hours without it, and the case can provide two more connections. Studio Buds are IPX4 rated for water and sweat resistance, making them workout ready and splash-proof. And you can use either earbud independently if you want to keep one of your ears clear. Performing voice calls was very difficult outdoors in crowded environments, and callers found it difficult to get my voice out of the background noise. Things have improved in some indoor spaces, but microphone performance is another area where Studio Buds competitors and their compact design may lag behind. Another annoyance is that these buds don’t have any kind of sensor to detect when you’re removing them from your ears, so the music won’t stop automatically.
Studio Buds can last for five hours with noise canceling on or eight hours with it turned off. It is also IPX4 rated for water and sweat resistance.
There are aspects that I really like about Beats Studio Buds. It is remarkably convenient and has simple and easy controls. It’s a good idea for the company to switch to a fairer strategy that appeals to iPhone and Android users. And the sound is fun and detailed, if not awful for $150. But they settle for mediocre active noise cancellation, lack wireless charging, and come with an unfinished carrying case of the bells and whistles of the Apple ecosystem. It’s as if the Beats tried to do too much at once.
If you already have Powerbeats Pro and you’re happy with it, there’s not much about Studio Buds that warrants an upgrade. Like a lot of competitors fighting at this price, they’re a perfect fit, but they lack anything a must. Given the cultural clout that the Beats brand still has, that might be enough for them to succeed.
Photography by Chris Welch/The Verge
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