Over ear bluetooth beats

The Best Beats Headphones in 2023

There aren’t many brands in the world that share the same popularity (or at least recognition) as Beats. A headphone brand, created by rapper Dr. Dre, quickly became one of the most successful audio industry names.

Their heavy marketing, with superstars wearing nothing but Beats by Dre, paid off. There isn’t a single human being, even those who usually don’t care about audio, that doesn’t know what the “b” logo means.

How is Beats Brand Evolving?

The sound quality is getting better.

Even though most Beats headphones, especially previous models, still aren’t the first choice for diehard audiophiles, they have come a long way, most notably in the sound quality department.

While the bass is still emphasized in the best Beats headphones, its performance is getting tighter and more controlled. They offer an enjoyable audio experience, even for more demanding users.

Perfect for Apple users

Ever since Apple acquired the Beats brand, all of their headphones come with W1 and H1 chips inside, the same technology that’s inside Apple headphones.

If you’re an iOS user, these chips are great since they offer fast pairing, better Bluetooth connection range, good sound quality, and seamless transition from one device to the other.

Find them at any price range.

Best Beats headphones are considered expensive, although that isn’t true anymore. While the most expensive models reach prices slightly above $300, the most affordable ones come within a $50 price range.

In this guide, you’ll find the best and latest Beats headphones that you should consider. Without further ado, let’s dive into the list.

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Best Beats Headphones 2023

1. Beats Studio3 Wireless

Best noise cancelling headphones with a significant bass thump and comfortable design.

Type: Over-ear | Battery life: 22h (or 40h with ANC off) | Wireless range: 33ft (10m) | Noise Cancelling: Adaptive ANC | Charging: Quick charge – micro-USB | Mic & Controls: Yes | Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC | Water resistance: / | Features: ANC, foldable, W1 chip

• Good active noise cancellation
• Punchy sound
• Comfortable & plush earpads
• Expensive
• Not the best build quality

This fantastic pair of Beats headphones possess an old-school Beats sound signature with a dominating low-end. Beats Studio 3 feel like a portable disco, which makes them a fantastic choice for bassheads.

Studio 3 Wireless are the only over-ear headphones that the company currently sells. With big ear cups and thick earpads that go around ears, you get exceptional comfort and outside noise isolation.

Over-ear headphones come in a variety of colors and are made of flexible plastic. iOS users will find the implementation of the Apple W1 chip super handy.

Active noise cancellation works reasonably well, especially with low frequencies. Beats Studio 3 Wireless should last around 40 hours of battery life if you don’t plan to use the active noise cancellation feature.

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Best Beats headphones 2023: budget and premium

When Beats headphones first launched back in 2008, their bold, bass-heavy sound quickly made them favourites among hip-hop heads, but anybody seeking a more refined sonic presentation – including this esteemed publication – found they came up a little short.

In those early days the biggest impact Beats had on the headphone industry was to convince the average consumer to invest a little more in their cans, with a flurry of clever marketing and celebrity endorsements ensuring Beats were the ones to be seen wearing.

Its latest products now also offer a more mature performance, and while we wouldn’t exactly call them neutral, they deliver a fun and energetic sound that suits most popular music. The company’s purchase by Apple almost a decade ago means they also work seamlessly with iPhones and other Apple products, offering extra functionality such as hands-free Siri support and compatibility with the Find My app.

Beats headphones can still struggle in terms of outright sound quality, but the best pairs, which we’ve outlined below, offer a combination of modern design, handy features, and all-day comfort that makes them a great option for many.

How to choose the best Beats headphones for you

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi?

Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

All of these Beats pairs are wireless, so it really comes down to what you prioritise: low-end or portability. On-ear pairs like the Beats Solo 3 Wireless offer more body towards the bottom of the frequency scale, while the Studio Buds are an altogether more sedate offering, though still impressive in a more understated way.

Beats offers some brash colourways too – check out the Yuzu yellow of the Beats Flex. And active types will want a pair made for exercise, like the Beats Fit Pro.

We’ve included other specs like weight and battery life too, to give you an idea of what they’re like to live with.

1. Beats Studio Buds

Specifications

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Studio Buds are unlike any Beats headphones that have come before them: gone are the over-ear clips, the brash branding and lurid colourways. Instead, they’re demure – understated even – with a true wireless design and one-touch wireless pairing not only to iOS, but Android devices too.

They’re the smallest and subtlest of any Beats headphones, with impressive longevity. Battery life totals up to 15 hours with noise cancelling on, or 24 with it disabled, while a five-minute Fast Fuel charge gives up to an hour of playback if you need to dash out the door.

Apple Music users can enjoy Spatial Audio for available tracks mixed in Dolby Atmos without having to enable it in their phone’s settings (as with other headphones). They can also speak to wake Apple’s Siri personal assistant. Active noise cancellation adjusts 48,000 times a second to mute background noise, though it doesn’t have adjustable levels, just on or off.

Sonically, the Beats Studio Buds are more refined than the usual bass-heavy Beats sound, marking these out as a cut above the rest of the pack. A refreshing change of direction from Apple’s subsidiary.

2. Beats Fit Pro

Specifications

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Beats Fit Pro are the usual stylish, workout-friendly, active noise-cancelling earbuds, yes, but they also have glimmers of brilliance.

The new wingtip design promises a more secure fit so they don’t fall out of your ears mid-burpee. The Beats app for Android allows non-Apple users to enjoy the features of Apple’s own brand products, which are usually closed off to anyone not in the iOS ecosystem. The performance has been taken up a notch too, with better noise-cancelling, better sound and the addition of Spatial Audio. And they come in at a very reasonable price.

It’s a good job too, as the wireless earbuds market is now more competitive than ever. But the Beats Fit Pro show that Beats can mix it up with the best at their price level. Looks like Beats might have just come of age.

3. Beats Flex

Specifications

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Beats Flex are a step up from Apple’s bog-standard Lightning wired buds. They’re available in some fresh hues (including the Yuzu yellow sample before you), they charge via USB-C, have a 12-hour battery life, and courtesy of one-tap audio share you can split sounds with nearby Beats or AirPod headphones (provided you have an iPhone 8 or later running at least iOS 14). They’re very affordable, too.

Four ear tip options give a good chance of finding a decent fit, and the cable is flat, like a strand of tagliatelle. Magnets keep the earbuds together when not in use.

Pairing is a doddle (even more so using an Apple device). They don’t support some iOS features, including automatic switching to another device or hands-free Siri‌ support. And there’s no noise cancelling either. But with the correct seal you’ll still enjoy good levels of passive noise isolation.

Audio quality is good, but not great. There’s just not the same impact that the best Beats headphones manage to pull off. Still, the Flex offer a considered, smooth sound profile that’s preferable to one that is harsh or bright through the upper frequencies. A solid Beats bet at this end of the market.

4. Beats Powerbeats Pro

Specifications

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Beats Powerbeats Pro true wireless buds have all the ingredients of a good pair of sports headphones. Entirely wireless, their build, fit and features are nothing short of superb. Plus, thanks to Apple’s upgraded H1 Bluetooth chip technology, they’re easy to use and virtually glitch-free in their delivery of wireless audio.

With nine hours of battery life, there is more than enough power here to see you through a marathon, and with a further two charges in the included case, you could even take on an Iron Man with these by your side.

Unfortunately, their musical performance does let them down. While not chronically bassy and replete with detail, they lack some liveliness, which is particularly important in helping you power through a tough point in exercise.

For that reason they’re not the absolute best Beats headphones available, but a comfortable fit, strong wireless performance and excellent battery life still make them one to consider.

5. Beats Solo 3 Wireless

Specifications

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

The Beats Solo 3 Wireless are a tale of two halves. From a technology perspective, they shine. As the smallest of the Beats on- and over-ear family, they wear their Apple ownership on their sleeve and come with Apple’s W1 chip built in for faster pairing with Apple devices.

The newer Class 1 Bluetooth helps to create one of the most stable wireless connections we’ve ever tested, and their 40 hours of battery life is impressive, though they can also be used wired if you run out of juice.

From a sound perspective, however, these Beats headphones fall a little short. It’s not that the sound is bad, and it’s certainly not as unwieldy as some Beats naysayers would have you think. But for all they give us in full-bodied sound and enthusiasm, they miss out in subtlety and refinement compared to the cream of the similarly-priced crop.

The overall performance just isn’t as explicit or engaging as we would like – it needs to be tighter and more insightful to keep us entertained over longer listens.

How we test headphones

We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door.

Of course, testing headphones don’t often require such facilities (though we do often try audiophile headphones in our reference hi-fi system). What is important in our headphones reviewing process is that each pair is compared to the best in its price and style class – whether that’s one standout pair or a few we favour the highest among the 100+ pairs we listen to each year for reviews and What Hi-Fi? Awards judging. What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, and we keep class-leading products in our stockrooms so we can always compare new products to ones we know and love.

We are always impartial and do our best to make sure we’re hearing every product at their very best, so we’ll try plenty of different types of music and give them plenty of listening time (and time to run in). It’s not just about sound quality, of course. If a pair has active noise cancellation – increasingly the case these days – we’ll ensure part of our testing involves using them in different environments.

All review verdicts are agreed upon by the team rather than an individual reviewer to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we’re being as thorough as possible, too. There’s no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for decades.

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