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I've been dying to get my hands on the new Beats Solo Buds since they were announced in April. With 18 hours of battery life and a $79 price tag, this is one of the most exciting new products from Beats in a long time.
The Beats Solo Buds officially hit stores today and I've been using them for the past few days. Let’s take a look at some real-world impressions.
Beats Solo Buds Specifications
- chip platform: surpasses its own platform
- battery life: 18 hours
- Charging port: USB-C
- Basic Apple features: One-touch setup, iCloud pairing, iPhone/Apple Watch handoff, Find My Support, audio sharing
- Basic Android features: One-touch pairing, ecosystem pairing, find my device support, audio switch
- colors: Matte Black, Storm Gray, Arctic Purple, Transparent Red
- price: $79.99
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design
The Beats Solo Buds feature a stemless in-ear design, similar to the Beats Studio Buds+. The box includes four different sizes of silicone eartips to ensure a perfect fit. If you like this style, you'll love the Beats Solo Buds, as they're just as comfortable as any other in-ear earbuds on the market.
There's a button on the end of each bud to control playback and activate Siri.
- One press allows you to play, pause or answer a call.
- Double tap to skip forward.
- Press three times to skip back.
- Press and hold to activate voice assistant.
But what sets the Beats Solo buds apart is their size. The Beats Solo Buds case is much smaller than other Beats or AirPods earbuds on the market. This is mainly due to the fact that there is no battery in the case (more on that later) and the short, sturdy stemless design of the earbuds themselves.
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I didn't expect to notice or benefit from the Beats Solo Buds' ultra-small case design, but I was wrong. There's also the story of having Beats Solo Buds in your pocket but not realizing they're there until you actually need them.
Oh, and what about the transparent red color for the Beats Solo Buds? This follows the transparent Beats Studio Buds+ we reviewed last year, and solidifies the fact that transparent technology is very cool and fun. Meanwhile, AirPods come in solid colors.
battery life
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Beats says the Beats Solo Buds offer up to 18 hours of battery life. When I first heard these numbers, I thought they were too good to be true, so I asked Beats to confirm and they were happy to oblige.
And to be very clear, the Beats Solo Buds themselves have a battery life of 18 hours. There are no marketing gimmicks here. In fact, the case included with the Beats Solo Buds does not have an integrated battery. Instead, to charge your Solo Buds, place them in the case, then connect the case to the USB-C cable. Beats says 5 minutes of charging will give you 1 hour of battery life.
In my testing, the Beats Solo Buds almost reached the 18-hour mark. In tests that consisted of listening to a lot of music from Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, and Billie Eilish, the Beats Solo Buds consistently delivered 16 to 17 hours of battery life.
No matter how you slice it, those are incredibly impressive numbers. You don't have to worry about charging your Beats Solo Buds when you leave the house in the morning.
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And it can be played continuously for 18 hours. The AirPods Pro technically advertise longer battery life thanks to the included charging case, but the earbuds themselves need to be recharged every five to six hours. Especially when traveling, there are many days when I want to go for more than 8 hours without taking off my earphones. Now this is possible thanks to Beats Solo Buds.
sound quality
With a price of $79 and 18 hours of battery life, Beats had to make compromises somewhere. You won't find features like active noise cancellation, transparency mode, or automatic in-ear detection here.
Automatic in-ear detection is the feature I miss the most when using the Beats Solo Buds. This means that content will not automatically play or pause when you take it out or put it in your ear.
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Beats says each Beats Solo Buds earbuds “feature a dual-layer transducer designed to minimize subtle distortion across the frequency curve, ensuring high-fidelity sound with uncompromising clarity and detail.”
As I always say when I review headphones, I'm not an audiophile, and I probably won't be able to describe the sound quality perfectly in writing. But what I want to say about Beats Solo Buds is that decent. It doesn't have the bass-heavy sound profile of Beats, but it sounds relatively well-balanced and consistent.
Considering the 18-hour battery life and $79 price point, It's really okay. Although they won't win any awards for sound quality, the Beats Solo Buds are good enough for most people. These are the best true wireless earbuds under $100 I've tested.
finish
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Beats is firing on all cylinders right now (and I don't think that will change anytime soon). Over the past 13 months, we've seen the launch of Beats Studio Buds+, Beats Studio Pro, Beats Solo 4, and now Beats Solo Buds.
While the Studio Buds+, Studio Pro, and Solo 4 are revisions of existing products, the Beats Solo Buds are an entirely new product category for Beats, and they've been a success.
Low-cost wireless earbuds cost just tens of cents on Amazon, but the Beats Solo Buds set a new standard in the category. For just $79, you get the iconic Beats design language, nearly 18 hours of battery life, tight integration with iOS and Android, and an incredibly compact and easy-to-carry design.
What do you think of the current Beats product lineup? How do they compare to AirPods? Please let us know in the comments.
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