Following their announcement at the end of April, the new Beats Solo Buds are now available to order ahead of their launch later this week. Priced at $79.99, the Solo Buds offer 18 hours of battery life right in the earbuds themselves and come in the smallest case ever for a Beats headphone.
We had the chance to spend a few days with the Beats Solo Buds and were pretty impressed with what you get for this budget price. These are true wireless headphones with a similar design and fit to the more expensive Studio Buds +, but without some of the more advanced features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Transparency, hands-free “Hey Siri” support, and ear detection auto play/pause. There’s also no official rating for sweat and water resistance, though they should hold up pretty well in everyday use.
Even without ANC, the Solo Buds in-ear headphones do a pretty good job of blocking out outside noise compared to the standard AirPods, which don’t seal in the ear canal, and the sound quality is surprisingly good, though definitely a notch below. higher class options. Four eartip sizes are included, ranging from XS to L, so most users should be able to find a good fit, and we thought they were reasonably comfortable for extended use. Surround sound support is included, but head tracking is not.
The tiny case for the Solo Buds is made possible by the fact that it carries no internal battery of its own, meaning it only serves as a storage case and a mechanism for recharging the buds themselves when they run out of battery. A USB-C port on the back of the case charges the headphones, but with 18 hours of battery in the cases, you should be able to listen for a few days before needing to plug the case in and charge them back up. .
Without the battery on board the case, the whole package is extremely light, weighing less than 35 grams with the buds inside. The case is slightly wider than the AirPods Pro case and is about the same thickness, but significantly shorter, which makes it even more pocketable, and the flat bottom makes it easier to stand the case.
The iconic ‘b’ logo button is present on both earphones, and default functions include the usual press to play/pause, double press to skip forward and triple press to skip back. For phone calls, a single tap will answer the call, while a double tap will either end or reject the call. A single press and hold activates ‌Siri‌, but you can customize this gesture in the Settings app so that both earbuds control the volume up and down if you prefer.
While there’s no Apple W or H chip on board, Beats’ proprietary chip platform supports a number of native Apple features, such as one-touch pairing with iCloud syncing across your devices, automatically streaming audio to your Apple Watch when you move out of range of your device. iPhone, support Find my last known connected location and audio sharing. Android users get many of the same features, including one-touch pairing with device sync via your Google account, ‌Find My‌ device support, and audio switching with multi-point pairing.
Overall, the Beats Solo Buds shape up to be a great budget headphone choice if you don’t need the features that more expensive options have. The 18-hour battery life right in the bud is certainly convenient, and the lightweight and small case makes them highly portable.
In addition to the more muted Matte Black and Storm Grey, the Solo Buds are also available in Arctic Purple, which is exclusive to Apple and Target in the US, plus Transparent Red, which lets you peek inside the case. All four colors are available to order now for $79.99, launching this Thursday, June 20th.