Just in time for the holidays, we have another pair of headphones to review! This time, the Beats Studio Wireless Headphones. These are very similar to the Kicker headphones we almost reviewed this year, but couldn’t as they never made it to the market. These however did, and Beats is seeking to impress even the audiophiles with its upgraded design.
The new headphones support any Bluetooth enabled device (phone, tablet, laptop, iPod, etc) and has a decent distance/range to it while walking around the room while your music remains stationary.
They have built-in active noise cancellation with two separate modes. You can either use it while listening to your source of music/sound (balanced), or you can use them strictly as a solution to cancel the sound around you while not listening to anything. Oddly, there is no way to disable the noise cancellation, so it’s important to keep that in mind as it could affect the music very slightly in certain environments where noise cancellation isn’t needed.
Sound-wise, these headphones aren’t bad at all. They are a little expensive for what they are, but they at least compete very well with other noise-cancelling and wireless headphones within the $200-400 range. Similar to a mashup of Kicker and Bose, they put out a decent range of sound that would satisfy most listeners. How well they will impress a true audiophile is questionable, mostly due to price, but they will at least come close. They would fair better within the $199 range.
The high through mid range is very well balanced and compliments the music you are listening to, while there is a little extra focus than normal on your lower frequencies (bass), but nothing terrible. Clearly, they are designed more for hip hop and club enthusiasts in mind, but don’t cross the line so far that other genre listeners won’t still be able to enjoy them.
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Quality of phone calls is pretty much perfect with these headphones. I had no complaints while talking to anyone (nor did they). At this price range, you shouldn’t ever have to worry about phone conversations as at this point you are far beyond that and instead focused on the quality of music/reference listening.
Battery life is pretty good. It offers up to 12 hours of playtime wirelessly on a single charge, and up to 20 hours if you are using them wired. They seem to live up to that claim very well which is always important (especially when it comes to being competite).
They come in multiple colors, including: black, titanium, white, red and blue. The body is mostly made of plastic and can fold inwards to compact itself into its carrying case.
On the left side you will find 3 button options. A volume up and down button and a master button in the middle which is used to pause, play and skip to the next track (based on if you click it once or twice quickly). Right side you will find an LED indicator that displays your current battery status.
Inside the box you will find (alongside the headphones and case), 2x 3.5mm cables (one with in-line controls and microphone), a microUSB charging cable with power adapter and a small cloth for wiping them down with. All of these cables are red in color to match the Beats logo, so choose carefully when it comes to the color of the headphones.
Our Conclusion
They sound very nice, and have excellent battery life to them. Most listeners should find they enjoy these, with the exception for the price. At their price, these are potentially competing with some really big names in the industry. Noise cancellation works well, although I would prefer to be able to disable it at times like most other headphones. We decided to go with a 7 out of 10 score for these, this time mostly due to price than anything else. They sound great! They just need to come down a bit.
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Specifications:
- Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
- Other Features: Active Noise Cancelling, With Remote and Mic, Wireless
- Form Factor: Over Ear
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