Enhanced sound, noise cancellation, and battery life in compact Bluetooth earbuds, accompanied by a stylish transparent case.

Apple’s latest Beats earbuds, the Studio Buds+, deliver improved noise cancellation and sound compared to their predecessors. Additionally, they offer enhanced compatibility across a wide range of phones and introduce a new transparent option. Priced at £179.99 ($169.99), these buds build upon the success of the previous Studio Buds released in 2021.

The size and shape of the Studio Buds+ remain unchanged, maintaining their compactness and comfortable fit. The package includes four sizes of earbud tips, ensuring a personalized fit. While they are sweat resistant, it’s worth noting that they lack stabilizing wings, which may affect their suitability for intense physical activities.

The earbud design features a slightly protruding top, facilitating easy gripping. Control functions are managed through the “b” button: a single press for pause/play, double or triple presses for track skipping, and a press-and-hold action to toggle noise-cancelling modes or adjust the volume.

With noise-cancelling activated, the battery offers approximately six hours of playback time, surpassing the duration of their predecessors and outperforming many competitors. The pocket-sized case, although slightly larger than some leading options, can fully recharge the earbuds three times, providing a total playback time of around 24 hours.

Charging the case via USB-C takes approximately two hours, while a quick five-minute charge is sufficient to deliver an hour of playback when the battery is running low.

The earbud design features a slightly protruding top, facilitating easy gripping. Control functions are managed through the “b” button: a single press for pause/play, double or triple presses for track skipping, and a press-and-hold action to toggle noise-cancelling modes or adjust the volume.

With noise-cancelling activated, the battery offers approximately six hours of playback time, surpassing the duration of their predecessors and outperforming many competitors. The pocket-sized case, although slightly larger than some leading options, can fully recharge the earbuds three times, providing a total playback time of around 24 hour.

APPLE AND ANROID CONNECTIVITY

One notable benefit of the Beats earbuds is their wide-ranging compatibility across both Android and iOS platforms.

Manufactured by Apple, these earbuds offer enhanced integration with iPhones compared to their competitors. They provide convenient features such as hands-free Siri, access to controls through quick settings, effortless pairing, and seamless iCloud syncing. Additionally, you only need to pair them with a single Apple device to utilize them across iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other compatible devices.

Moreover, these earbuds also offer similar functionalities on Android devices. They support instant pairing and syncing between Google devices, allowing for seamless switching between Android smartphones and Chromebooks. The Beats app grants access to controls and various settings, including battery widgets and other useful features. Furthermore, the earbuds integrate into both Apple’s and Google’s Find My systems, ensuring that you can locate them if they happen to be misplaced, regardless of the platform you’re using.

SPECIFICATION

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC

Battery life: 6 hours with ANC/9 hours without ANC, up to 24 hours with the charging case

Water resistance: IPX4 (sweat-resistant) Individual earbud

weight: 5g

Earbud dimensions: 15.6 x 21.6 x 19.8mm

Charging case weight: 49g

Charging case dimensions: 51.5 x 73 x 25.6mm

Charging case: USB-C for charging

UPGRADED SOUND AND SOUND CANCELLING

The Buds+ offer a slightly more robust sound compared to their previous model, delivering enjoyable and well-rounded audio across various music genres. While they are capable of reproducing deep notes, the bass remains controlled and is complemented by a well-balanced representation of treble and high tones.

Although they may not surpass the top performers from brands like Sennheiser or Sony, the Buds+ demonstrate occasional moments of lacking energy. However, they successfully avoid sounding excessively clinical and exhibit an appropriate rawness when needed. Notably, the issue of noise-cancelling compromising sound quality, which was present in their predecessors, has been significantly improved in the new earbuds.

The earbuds offer support for spatial audio on Android devices and for Apple Music on iOS. However, it’s important to note that they do not provide head tracking or advanced surround sound features for movies.

When it comes to noise-cancelling, the Buds+ demonstrate an improvement over their predecessors, effectively reducing the impact of bothersome city sounds. They efficiently suppress low-frequency rumbles, thumps, and similar noises, while also managing to attenuate higher tones better than before. However, voices, keyboard taps, and similar sounds may still break through when not listening to music. While they may not reach the level of performance offered by top brands like Bose or AirPods Pro, the Buds+ offer decent noise-cancelling capabilities given their price and compact size. The transparency mode has also seen improvements, providing a more natural and open sound. It is easily sufficient for engaging in conversations or remaining aware of traffic noise.

In quiet environments, call quality was crisp and clear, albeit slightly low in volume. Even in noisy street conditions, my voice remained clear with minimal background noise detected on the call.