Beats Studio Buds +: Enhanced Features, Sound Quality, and Battery Life
Beats Studio Buds +: Enhanced Features, Sound Quality, and Battery Life
Beats has unveiled the Studio Buds +, an upgraded version of its true wireless earbuds. These earbuds offer improved features, sound quality, and battery life compared to their predecessor. The addition of acoustic vents improves airflow and comfort, making them suitable for extended wear. Beats also introduced an extra small ear tip size for a better seal and improved sound quality. While the overall design remains unchanged, 95 percent of the internal components have been upgraded for enhanced performance.
The Studio Buds + boast custom-built transducers that deliver cleaner bass and a powerful, balanced sound with minimal distortion. The larger microphones and increased battery capacity contribute to improved call performance and extended battery life. Beats has addressed the issue of accidental button presses with a revised design for better control interactions. The earbuds maintain compatibility with iOS devices, offering seamless pairing, iCloud device pairing, and hands-free Siri integration. Android users can access features through the separate Beats app or directly in the operating system, including one-touch pairing and multipoint pairing.
In terms of sound quality, the Studio Buds + offer a balanced mix of highs, mids, and lows, with clean bass. While the bass section of the EQ feels slightly subdued, the overall audio performance is impressive. The upgraded active noise cancellation (ANC) provides a 1.6x improvement, effectively reducing constant noise sources. However, noise suppression for human voices and random noise could still be further improved. The transparency mode has also been enhanced, although it falls short of the level achieved by some Apple AirPods models.
Call quality on the Studio Buds + is improved through a redesigned voice setup, utilizing new components and an algorithm trained with machine learning. While the noise blocking capability is noticeable, the overall call quality has a slightly muffled quality and lacks the clarity offered by some competing earbuds. Additionally, the earbuds disable transparency mode during calls, which may lead to difficulties in certain situations.
Beats has made significant strides in battery life, with the Studio Buds + offering up to six hours of use with ANC or transparency mode on, and up to nine hours with these features turned off. The charging case provides additional charges, extending the total usage time. During testing, the battery performance matched the advertised figures, with the possibility of slightly better results. However, wireless charging is not supported.
When comparing alternatives, the Beats Fit Pro offers fully adaptive ANC and spatial audio, while Sony's WF-1000XM4 remains a top pick for its comprehensive features and sound quality.
Overall, the Beats Studio Buds + offer an appealing upgrade with enhanced features, sound quality, and battery life. Although the price has increased, these earbuds remain a top choice for most users, particularly those in the iOS ecosystem. The Studio Buds + are available in various color options and can be purchased from Apple stores in the US, Canada, and China.
