Still, the Studio Buds offer good control of bass, and good separation between the bass and treble frequencies. You can feel the bass, and it feels like there's a bit more cohesion between the different frequencies. The best way to describe the sound difference is probably to say the AirPods have a bit more presence, clarity and warmth to them.
Loud children squabbling, or high pitched, high impact noises will cut through still. You don't get the same feel of being in a vacuum, but they still cope well with most noises. Still, the Studio Buds do an effective job of killing the types of constant, droning ambient noise. But this feeling does sometimes have a slightly nauseating effect for some people. Put them in your ears, the ANC engages and you're immediately in this noiseless vacuum.
There's no doubt that the AirPods Pro offer the more effective complete cancelling.
And, while the Studio Buds case conveniently charges with USB-C, you don't get to place it on a wireless charging base to charge it, whereas AirPods Pro do.Īs for battery life, there's not a huge amount in it overall when you combine the play time and the battery in their respective cases. There are a couple more features in AirPods Pro's favour: in-ear detection and wireless charging. Just like AirPods. The only thing you don't get is the automatic sharing across all your iCloud devices and the ability to seamless switch between your iPad, iPhone and Mac, like you do with AirPods. You get get one-touch pairing on iPhone as well, you get Find My support for locating them when missing, and you get controls for the noise cancelling and transparency modes within Control Centre. This integration is also compatible with iOS.
Of course, you can download a Beats App to see that info too, if you want. What's more, the Fast Pair compatibility means you see detailed battery information right within the phone's interface.
On the other hand, Beats Studio Buds are compatible with Google's Fast Pair technology, so you get simple one-touch pairing and connection, but it also means the buds are registered to your Google account, so if you sign into another Android device or Chromebook, they will recognise when your Beats Studio Buds are nearby, display a popup and you can connect to them. So the H1 chip inside means that once you pair it with your iPhone, they're automatically paired with any other Apple device signed into the same iCloud account. It's also where you start to see why one is more expensive than the other.ĪirPods Pro, of course, have been built to seamlessly blend into Apple's ecosystem of products. It's probably in features and compatibility where you'll decide which one of these is for you, and it's where you see the clearest picture of who Beats and Apple are targeting with the two products. Both: Up to 24 hours total battery life.AirPods Pro: Up to 5 hours play time (ANC off).Studio Buds: Up to 8 hours play time (ANC off).AirPods Pro: One-touch pairing on iPhone.Studio Buds: One-touch pairing on Android and iPhone.We often find the AirPods Pro sliding out slightly and losing its fit, whereas Beats Studio Buds didn’t seem to at all.
The other thing we preferred about the Beats was the fit in the ear. Besides, often times it’s easier just to grab your phone and control it from there. In our experience, clicking that button on the Beats is a little more convenient than activating the touch system on the AirPods, but in truth it doesn’t take long to get used to either. It’s a button, and it physically clicks, rather than being a touch sensitive panel. Plus, the button does the same thing on both Beats buds, so it's a completely ambidextrous control system.Īpple’s AirPods Pro has an identical system but it's a touch sensitive panel built into the stem for controlling aspects, like playing and pausing music, or controlling the noise cancelling or transparency mode. And this isn’t there just to give it a unique look. Instead, its earbud casing curves up towards a classic Beats style pill shaped exterior. While Apple’s earbud has that external stem pointing down out of the ear, Beats’ Studio Bud doesn’t.