Beats Solo Buds review: budget earbuds with an epic battery… but where’s the bass?
Beats Solo Buds: two-minute review
The Beats Solo Buds are the cheapest earbuds the brand has ever made. Arriving in a compact package, they’re easy to sling in a bag or back pocket, lacking the bulk of many more premium true wireless options. They also come with possibly the best in-bud battery life I’ve ever seen, stretching easily to several days of intense listening. Nevertheless, they make several compromises that mean they're harder to recommend for serious music fans.
The Beats Solo Buds offer a good range of features – although, inevitably, not anywhere close to the number that come with pricier models. Multi-point pairing is rock solid, while one-touch pairing makes connecting them a dream for Apple users. Literally all I had to do was tap them to my devices and I was good to go.
Once you’re connected, you can settle in for a lengthy listening session: Beats states that the earbuds’ internal battery will last for an epic 18 hours – which rivals that of almost any of the best wireless earbuds. And while there’s no additional charge in the case, the Solo Buds’ fast-charging means you’ll gain a full hour of listening from plugging them in for just five minutes. No more worrying about your buds dying when you’re only part of the way home from work.
There are definitely a few features absent here, though. The lack of active noise cancellation means these aren’t the best buds for keeping background noise at bay. Often I also found myself missing the in-ear detection that many rivals offer, so they auto-pause when you remove them. There are no fancy smart features here such as spatial audio with head tracking or adaptive EQ, either.
In addition, when it comes to sound quality, the Solo Buds are a bit of a mixed bag. For a lot of people, Beats means bass; but the brand has changed its priorities in recent times, refocusing on feature-set over whomping bass. This is fully evident in the Solo Buds, which lack impact and definition in the low end; without the bass to provide a firm footing, busier mixes can end up sounding a little ill-defined.
It’s not all disappointing, though: the Beats Solo Buds deliver crisp and clear mids, showcasing vocals and many acoustic instruments at their best. Admittedly, the highest trebles do pull a few punches – but for me, that remains preferable than an overly bright and brittle edge to hats and guitars. Plus, they still manage a good sense of separation between different instruments when you’re listening to less crowded recordings.
Perhaps not surprisingly for a brand such as Beats, design is where the Solo Buds really shine. They’re some of the smallest buds I’ve ever seen: they sit relatively discreetly in your ears unlike many of the gargantuan earbuds on the market. And thanks to the lack of a separate battery, their case is slight enough that I could carry the buds around in my pocket everywhere I went, and only really think of them when I needed them.
Moreover, they’re some of the most comfortable buds I’ve ever worn. Being secure enough to stay in your ears while not being so unyielding that they start to ache during long listening sessions is a tightrope many earbuds struggle to walk; the Beats Solo Buds cartwheel along it. The only discomfort I ever experienced was due to the placement of their button – given it sits opposite your ear canal, I felt like I might puncture my brain or had to grasp the bud awkwardly every time I went to press it.
Not everyone is looking for the same things from earbuds. So if your priority is cool-looking, super-comfortable buds with a life that would make Methuselah envious, then they’re a solid choice. However, those looking for superior sound quality or features such as ANC would ultimately be better off with the Sony WF-C700N for a very similar price, or opting for another pair from our list of the best budget wireless earbuds instead.
Beats Solo Buds review: price & release date
The Beats Solo Buds come with a price tag of $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$129.95. This makes them the cheapest wireless earbuds the brand has ever produced, something that I’m certain makes them a super-tempting proposition for cash-strapped fans of the best Beats headphones.
They come in four different colorways. Matte Black and Storm Grey probably speak for themselves, given they’re basically the same hues that the majority of earbuds arrive in, but the Beats Solo Buds are also available in the more vibrant options of Arctic Purple (our review model), which is a pleasingly subtle lavender hue, and Transparent Red, a bold crimson with a translucent case.
Beats Solo Buds review: specs
Beats Solo Buds review: features
- Epic in-bud battery life…
- … but no in-case charging
- Fewer features than more expensive buds
For a pair of affordable earbuds, the Beats Solo Buds have a very solid feature set – even if they can’t eclipse many of their more high-end rivals.
Apple’s one-touch pairing is excellent, as always. Holding up the Solo Buds’ case to my iPhone 13 Pro, they paired in a trice. Pairing with my MacBook required a few more steps, but it was still trivially simple. In addition, the improvements in recent versions of Bluetooth have made chopping and changing between devices so much easier – I never once struggled to switch between my phone and laptop, with the buds switching as soon as I tapped their icon in Bluetooth settings.
Perhaps the biggest selling point of the Solo Buds is their battery life, which Beats maintains is an absurd 18 hours. This is a hell of a claim – and naturally, I wasn’t going to just take it as granted, so I set them to play continuous 256kbps audio at half volume for six hours. My skepticism was entirely unfounded. During that time, the battery drained just 34%, meaning that a rough life of 17.5 hours is entirely realistic. That’s an unreal amount of listening to get from a single charge, and I’ve never seen another pair of earbuds come close.
However, this does come with a heavy caveat. The Solo Buds’ super-slim case comes at the cost of an internal battery, which means that 18 hours is the total: you won’t get any more juice while the buds are stowed in the case.
Nevertheless, their fast-charging feature – or Fast Fuel, as it’s inexplicably dubbed – is a huge help when that battery does finally run flat. Keen to test Beats’ claims that it would deliver a full hour of juice after just five minutes of charging, I plugged them in for five minutes via USB-C and then listened at half volume until the battery died. They lasted 75 minutes, smashing the figure the brand promised.
The ability to charge the buds from your phone is also a seriously helpful feature when you’re caught short and don’t have access to a socket. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that you’ll only be able to access this feature if you have an iPhone 15 or a compatible Android device; sadly, anyone without a USB-C-powered device is out of luck. Still, you’ll likely be topping up far less than you’d expect, making these buds a good choice for someone who loves marathon listening sessions.
As mentioned, there are a fair few features missing from the Beats Solo Buds compared to more premium buds. If you’re hoping for active noise cancelling, you should look elsewhere – for example, the Nothing Ear (a) and Sony WF-C700N for only slightly more, or the Earfun Air Pro 3 for slightly less (though these are much bulkier).
Some of the features of Apple’s AirPods haven’t trickled down here, either: there’s no adaptive EQ that uses clever algorithms to optimize audio to the shape of your ears. Additionally, despite still having settings on the iPhone referring to Automatic Ear Detection, so they pause when removed or play when replaced automatically, the Solo Buds don’t actually offer it. It isn’t an essential feature; but once you’ve been relying on it, it’s hard to go back to buds that aren’t capable of it.
Finally, while the box advertises that the Beats Solo Buds have Spatial Audio, don’t get too excited – it doesn’t offer the fancy head-tracking that the AirPods Pro 2 and Beats Fit Pro do. Instead, this simply means you’ll get the same audio processing algorithms that allow other bog-standard buds to add extra separation to Dolby Atmos music with Apple devices.
- Features score: 3.5 / 5
Beats Solo Buds review: sound quality
- Weak bass
- Bit on the quiet side
- Call quality is decent
I’ll be 100% honest: when I first listened to the Beats Solo Buds, my response was… not good. The sound struck me as anemic, with a weak low end and a muffled treble; it gave me the uncomfortable sensation of my ears being stuffed with cotton wool. Worse, the volume was deeply underwhelming. I worked out that I was listening in Dolby Atmos mostly, and this was the culprit – it's much quieter, and mixed differently. I wouldn’t recommend dabbling in this for music with these buds, since it involves a few too many compromises.
So how do the Beats Solo Buds perform when they’re not attempting to simulate 3D soundtracks? The answer is probably “better… but not the best”.
For a brand that was once synonymous with bountiful bass, Beats has really struggled to get much oomph out of the Solo Buds’ low end. Listening to Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac, I found the toms and snares cut through well, giving the song a decent pace, while those crisp guitar strings displayed plenty of bite. Unfortunately, though, the bass guitar was almost entirely lost in the mix, which is a bit of a shame and makes the result feel a bit lacking in guts.
It’s not all bad news: these earbuds can definitely make certain frequencies in the mix shine. When I listened to St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins, Tommy Flanagan, Doug Watkins and Max Roach, Rollins’ sax line clearly sat in that acoustic sweet spot, soaring over the mix with all the expected harmonic richness, while the click of Roach’s drumsticks and the taut skins of the toms were easily appreciable. Unfortunately, the piano was mostly lost in the mix – it felt like a word that was on the tip of my tongue, so nearly in grasp and yet just out of reach.
And this becomes more noticeable depending on the quality of the material you feed these buds. While listening to Black Eye by Allie X on Apple Music’s higher-quality 256kbps AAC setting, I was impressed with the punch of the snare and the trebly kick, while those poppy synth lines really felt clear and immediate. However, swapping to Spotify’s more lossy, 160kbps free tier showed up more of the Solo Buds’ flaws – the mix sounded a little more cohesive but also quite insubstantial, with the sound much more concentrated around the mid-highs and coming out quite a bit quieter to boot.
On the plus side, when you’re listening to sparser recordings, the Beats Solo Buds do a pretty respectable job of positioning things in the mix, with each element able to enjoy much more space and clarity. Listening to Timeless by Poppy Ackroyd, I could hear the timbre of instruments much better than in more crowded recordings – the pizzicato strings and the creak of the piano mechanism were so wonderfully crisp in comparison to the more muted tone of the keys and the sweet ebb and flow of the bowed violin.
Sadly, the Beats Solo Buds aren’t especially loud. Often when I was using them in the office, it felt like the sounds of typing, chatter and gadget wrangling were more audible than the music to which I was listening. This wouldn’t be a massive issue in and of itself, but the earbuds also don’t present the best noise isolation. Playing podcasts in a quiet room, you can hear all the facts and banter with crystal clarity; when you’re walking along a busy street, they have stiff competition from the world around you. This means the Beats Solo Buds are almost certainly safe for listening to while cycling during rush hour, but less good if you’re looking to shut the world out on your commute.
While I was out and about, I also tested the Solo Buds’ leading-edge microphones to see how they handled voice quality for phone calls. While I didn’t get quite the crystal clarity you sometimes get from premium, over-ear cans, the people on the other end of the line said they could always hear me just fine, even when cars were tearing past. And this was borne out when I recorded some voice notes: traffic caused a slight whoosh as it went by, but not the roar you’d expect, showing how hard the algorithm is working to keep your voice clear.
- Sound quality: 3 / 5
Beats Solo Buds review: design
- Super comfortable fit
- Attractive design and slim case
- Button placement isn’t particularly ergonomic
While the Beats Solo Buds might not be an unqualified sonic success, their design definitely still feels like it has plenty of the old Beats magic. Visually, they’re deeply pleasing, featuring gentle rounded curves, rather than the unsightly tacked-on discs, stems and other protuberances you often see in earbuds these days. And while the buds themselves are slight and lightweight, it’s the case that really impresses: it’s far more slimline than many others out there, which makes losing out on extra battery charges for your buds an almost worthwhile sacrifice.
The various colors available look great as well. Personally, I feel that the Arctic Purple I received for review is the best of the bunch; but Transparent Red also looks great and is the obvious choice for anyone wanting to shout about their new pair of Beats from the rooftops. Matte Black and Storm Grey are more restrained but nevertheless exude class. No matter which color you choose, you can be sure of one thing: these look far better than your average pair of budget earbuds.
Both the buds and the case are made from a gloriously smooth matte plastic that feels great under your fingertips. The buds themselves feel particularly tactile; often I found myself reaching for them over other earbuds just because I enjoyed the way they felt in my hands. And they pop in and out of the case with a satisfying click as the magnets lock them into place – a nice bit of near-haptic feedback, so you know immediately that your buds have found their way home.
The Beats Solo Buds come with silicone ear tips in four different sizes, from small to extra large. After experimenting with every size, I found that the medium provided me with the best seal; but, naturally, you’ll want to try them all to find what works best for your ears.
Having tested no end of earphones and earbuds over the years, I can honestly say that the Beats Solo Buds are some of the most comfortable I’ve ever tried. They sat snugly in my ears, with the ear tips forming a close seal in my ear canal. Their contours closely mirrored the shape of my ear, meaning they never once felt loose or even needed adjusting, and they didn’t get uncomfortable, even after long listening sessions.
Keen to really put this fit to the test, I even tried doing a couple of workouts with the buds in my ears. Now, the Beats Solo Buds aren’t really designed for exercise, and their lack of IP rating means that they won’t be able to withstand sweat as well as actual dedicated workout buds – so you might not want to try this at home. Still, the buds stayed firmly in place, even during my most high-intensity workout, which means you can definitely count on them to stay put while you dash for a train.
That’s not to say the Beats Solo Buds are completely free of missteps where their design is concerned. First of all, their lack of stems and relatively uniform design means that, on occasion, I’d absent-mindedly find myself trying to put them in the wrong way up. This can be solved fairly simply by looking closely at the bud before you insert it, but it’s easy to forget this when you’re in the middle of other things.
Personally, though, I find this less of an issue than the controls. Like many earbuds, the Solo Buds feature a multi-purpose button on each bud that you press a certain number of times for various actions: once, for play/pause; twice, for skip forward; and three times, for skip backward. Unfortunately, the positioning of the button means pressing it drives the whole bud deep into your ear canal, making me feel like I was going to perforate an eardrum every time I paused my music. Eventually I realized that gripping the bud at the top and bottom with my fingers stabilized it enough to allow me to press the button without discomfort; but I feel like lowering the pressure required to push the button or repositioning the button would have been much more ergonomic.
- Design: 4.5 / 5
Beats Solo Buds review: value
- Cheapest earbuds Beats have ever sold…
- But they don’t offer as good value as other affordable buds
- You can get better sound for your spend
How sweet a deal you’re getting with the Beats Solo Buds will almost certainly depend on your perspective. As I’ve already mentioned, these are the cheapest wireless earbuds the brand has ever offered, and if you’ve been clamoring for a pair of Beats but have only a modest budget, then these will definitely scratch that itch for you.
However, in comparison to other products on the market, I’m not convinced that they offer the absolute best return on investment. Both the Sony WF-C700N and Nothing Ear (a) offer more well-rounded, energetic sound, not to mention ANC to boot – and while they both retail for $20 / £20 or less more, they’re often on sale for a similar price or even cheaper than the Solo Buds.
If you’re not so bothered about sound quality and just want a stylish, super-comfortable set of buds with epic battery life, this is still a very reasonable price. But if you want the best sound quality for your buck, you might be better off looking elsewhere.
- Value score: 3 / 5
Should I buy the Beats Solo Buds?
Buy them if…
You want super-comfortable buds you can slip in a pocket
These tiny buds not only feel comfortable for long listening sessions but their super-slimline case is easy to slip into a pocket and forget it’s even there. That makes them perfect for carrying wherever you go.
You want hours of listening without having top them up
With their 18-hour battery life, the Beats Solo Buds will go on and on without you ever having to take them out of your ears. If you have a long trip or a marathon coming up, these buds will last you – and then some.
Don’t buy them if…
You want the best audio quality for your buck
Frankly, well-rounded audio is not the Solo Buds’ strong suit. And while no budget earbuds will offer truly audiophile-grade sound, many similarly priced buds offer more confident, satisfying sound.
You want to hear your tunes and nothing else
Given their relative quietness and their lack of noise isolation, these aren’t buds for shutting out the world. Instead, they’ll leave you very aware of your surroundings – whether you want to be or not.
Beats Solo Buds review: also consider
Nothing Ear (a)
Costing only $20 / £20 (roughly AU$52) more than the Solo Buds – and often less than that – the Nothing Ear (a) are an enticing all-round package. They offer emphatic, detailed sound, effective noise-canceling, and in-ear detection. And that zesty yellow colorway makes them even more eye-catching than a pair of Beats. Here's our full Nothing Ear (a) review.
Sony WF-C700N
Not only do the Sony WF-C700N offer wonderfully clear, well-rounded sound, but they also rock Sony’s spatial-audio equivalent 360 Reality Audio. On top of this, their Adaptive Sound Control learns your routine, automatically tailoring their noise canceling based on whether you’re sat at your desk or out for a run. Here's our full Sony WF-C700N review.
Beats Solo Buds review: How I tested
- I used them for over two weeks
- Listened to a wide array of music, podcasts and movie soundtracks
- Compared them against other affordable earbuds
To test the Beats Solo Buds, I used them for over two weeks. I connected them to multiple different devices, including my iPhone 13 Pro and MacBook Pro.
I listened to a wide range of content, from compressed Spotify streams to higher-quality audio on Apple Music. Not only did I listen to tracks from TechRadar’s testing playlist, but a wide variety of genres outside of this, as well as listening to a range of podcasts and watching several TV shows and movies.
I tested their fit doing both cardio and weight-training workouts. And I tested their microphones by recording multiple voice notes and making several phone calls.
I also compared the Beats Solo Buds directly against similarly priced earbuds, as well as utilizing years of experience testing other headphones and audio gear.
- First reviewed: August 2024
- Read more about how we test
0 comments:
Post a Comment