In case you missed the nine-year-old memo, Apple purchased the Beats brand (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre) from the co-founder and musician Jimmy Iovine for $3 billion in cash and equity. True wireless earbuds were not quite a thing in 2014, but they most certainly are today, and Apple’s AirPods seem to be comfortably dominating the worldwide market.
An ever-growing Beats portfolio has come to be known as one of their major competitors, which inevitably implies more sales, more revenues, and greater dominance over the wireless audio market for Apple.
New Beats Studio Buds + earbuds
Now, a new AirPods model joins the lineup, one that not only has cutting-edge active noise cancellation and spatial audio technology but also a design that is noticeably eye-catching and a little unorthodox.
Now, a new AirPods model joins the lineup, one that not only has cutting-edge active noise cancellation and spatial audio technology but also a design that is noticeably eye-catching and a little unorthodox.
We are aware of your collective thoughts, that much is true. Shame on Apple for stealing the transparent style from the Nothing Ear (1) from 2021 and the improved Ear (2) from earlier this year! Nevertheless, why? Why not draw motivation from smaller, more resourceful, and far less well-known businesses to appeal to a much wider audience with a novel and daring aesthetic concept?
The Beats Studio Buds + clearly stand out from the competition in terms of their design, tips stems (or lack thereof), and the size and shape of the charging case. It’s not as if they are copying their rivals. In fact, if you don’t pay attention to the (partially) exposed innards of these bad boys, you’ll probably notice they resemble the “normal” Studio Buds in appearance.
new buyers who may not want to stand out can choose between the Ivory and Black/Gold varieties; the appropriately titled Transparent version is simply one of three possibilities available to buy beginning today through Apple and outlets like Best Buy.
The official pricing for all three models is $169.99 per pair, placing the Studio Buds + exactly halfway between the non-Plus Studio Buds ($149.99) and Fit Pro ($199.99). The main difference, of source, is that the two “veterans” of the industry are already fairly easy to find at steep discounts, but this is likely to only be the case for the newest member of the family during the end-of-year holidays.
Are the Beats Studio Buds + priced reasonably?
On paper, it appears like Apple is on to something, but we’ll need to put them to the test thoroughly before we can make an informed judgment. The newest competitor for the title of greatest wireless earbuds money can buy in 2023, although not much improved, claims to provide “up to 1.6x more strong” active noise cancelling and “up to 2x” greater transparency than the already excellent Studio Buds.
The battery life, connection, iOS and Android compatibility, and overall sound quality are all better, at least if we are to believe Apple, the leading manufacturer of “wearables,” at the time. Those are some tall claims, but Apple often lives up to them.
The Studio Buds + is claimed to last up to 9 hours on a single charge (compared to just 8 and 7 hours for the Studio Buds and Fit Pro, respectively), and when you take into account the “pocket-sized” charging case (which regrettably still doesn’t seem to support wireless charging), that endurance rating jumps to an astounding 36 hours.
You can count on lightning-fast pairing and rock-solid communication whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone, as well as features like Hey Siri and Find Me for the former and Audio Switch for the latter.
Last but not least, “upgraded” headphones, an “intelligent” voice-targeting algorithm, and a “completely new” acoustic architecture are all guaranteed to provide “high-quality” call performance. Yet, like with everything else, it’s fantastic to watch Apple not rest on its laurels and always explore new ways to improve, enhance, and update its (Beats-branded) earbuds. Of course, voice conversations sounded perfectly clear on the Studio Buds as well. We can only hope that at least some of these adjustments will soon be made to the non-Pro AirPods.
