Design & Construction

It has been a long while since Beats have had a new product. Some of us predicated that that Apple was planning to close down the Beats brand as their popularity went downhill and their marketing toned down. While others pinned their hopes that Beats remain alive and well under Apple's care. Well, today Apple let us in on their latest move for the Beats brand with the new Beats Studio Buds. So how successful is this move? There is only one way to find out. The Beats Studio Buds fits rather well into the true wireless market as a conventional piece more than a stand out one. Starting off with the case, the case is rounded and fits nicely into the palm of your hands, it is as small and compact as the Apple AirPods Pro, Jabra Elite Active 75T and the Sony WF-1000XM4. Like all true wireless earbuds, the case feature magnets inside that keeps the earbuds docked in securely. There is a USB-C port at the bottom side of the case and a front LED indicator to notify you of the case charge when closed. Yes, you heard me right. It's USB-C, a crowd-pleasing decision that we have all been asking for. Inside the case, there is a button for Bluetooth pairing. The case is of a matte texture that will prevent fingerprint smudges but it may still scratch up in day-to-day use. As for the earbuds, Beats went with responsive old-school buttons that work really well without the need to press too hard to get a click. However, you will inevitably still end up pushing the earbuds into your ears. Now for the controls, a single press on any of the earbuds will play/pause your music, a double press skips forward and a triple press skips backwards, while a long press will toggle between Transparency Mode, Noise-Cancelling and Passive Noise Isolation. Unfortunately. there is no way to control the volume on the earbuds itself. In terms of battery life, we are looking at 5 hours of music playback with ANC on and 8 hours without ANC. The case holds an additional 10 hours for ANC and music playback use and 16 hours without ANC use, giving you at least 15 hours or up to 24 hours of use at its best. If you are in a rush, there is always quick charge which will allow for 1 hour of playback with a 5 minutes charge. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone ear tips to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Even though the Studio Buds isn't advertised as a sports earbud, it boasts an IPX4 water resistance for those intense workouts or rainy days, giving users the ultimate peace of mind.

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Sound Quality

Loud, clear and energetic is how I would describe the sound of the Beats Studio Buds. The drivers on the Studio Buds produced an exciting sound signature out-of-the-box. So let's start off with the bass response. In short, it is deep, punchy, and tight. It never managed to distort at loud volume. The bass never bleeds into the mids when it is at a low volume level and it hits as deep as the Powerbeats Pro but it is definitely is not as deep as the Sennheiser CX True Wireless or the Marshall Mode II. The highs sound very bright and overpowering. It is filled with plenty of details but it can get very piercing to listen to at volumes above the 80% volume. The mids do sound very crisp but as with most earbuds, the Studio Buds are tuned to a V-shaped sound signature where the emphasis on the mids is reduced. The soundstage isn't as wide as other earbuds that are of a higher price point like the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2. The instrument separation is decent with distinct left and right channels. If you are not so much of a fan of the Beats sound signature, it is with a heavy heart to let you know that it will not be easy to alter the equaliser unless you are using a third-party option. There is a compatible Beats app for Android users and built-in settings for IOS users. Inside, you will see the battery life of both the earbuds as well as the case. You can also customise the press and hold control on the earbuds to change between Noise Control or to bring up Siri. Other than those, you can only switch between Noise-Canceling, Transparency Mode or Off as well as update the software. Based on user experience, the noise-canceling is comparable to the Jabra Elite 75T. I could not hear much of my surroundings when there was music was playing at a reasonable level. The noise-cancelling blocks out everything apart from extreme loud traffic noises and chatter, wind reduction was not too bad either, but it managed to get through in really windy environments. Transparency Mode is a feature that allows you to hear your surroundings without removing your earbuds. In day-to-day use, I found that the Transparency Mode is somewhat weak and not very useful with music playback. It is significantly muffled down unlike the best of the best, the AirPods Pro. If you are looking out for auto-play and pause when you remove one earbud, the Studio Buds does not have that feature either. The call quality is somewhat usable though is it is far from the best of the best from the Apple AirPods Pro or Jabra Elite 85t which is the widely acclaimed champion of call quality experience.

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Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds support the basic AAC and SBC codecs together with Class 1 Bluetooth. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked and taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at a decent 5 hours per use with ANC and a total of 24 hours with the case at its best. If you noticed, there is a lack of wireless charging on the Studio Buds. The package also comes with a USB-C cable for charging. Either earbuds allow for one-sided listening as they use an independent connection to your phone. If you try to watch videos or movies with these, they do not have any latency in audio transmission.

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PROS​​

• Durable Construction

• Compact and Small

• Dynamic Sound Signature

• Active Noise-Cancelling

• IOS & Android Compatibility

• Transparency Mode

• Responsive Button Controls

• Quick Charge

• Find My Location Tracking

• IPX4 Water-Resistant Earbuds

• USC-C Charging

• A Range of Colours

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CONS​​​​​

• No Volume Control

• No Sound Customisation

• No Wireless Charging

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The Bottom Line

All in all, the Beats Studio Buds is a simple earbud that focus strictly on the essentials such as sound quality, cross compatibility and noise-cancelling. The sound signature is dynamic and energetic while maintaining on-the-go IPX4 water-resistance. It is indeed a seamless and hassle-free experience that Beats nailed for both IOS and Android users. The Studio Buds comes in Red, White and Black and in typical Beats fashion, we could expect new colour-ways to drop in the near future.