A little background: the PB3s are my first Beats products. I got them as a pair of workout and running headphones to replace my dead Jaybird X2s. Have been listening to the PB3s for a week now, and I'm sorry to report that they simply don't cut it for me.
- They stick out of the ears quite a lot and consequently gather a lot of wind noise when used outdoors
- Isolation is poor - I can't hear the voices clearly when listening to podcasts in the gym as the background music drowns them out
- As a result of (1) and (2), I find myself constantly dialling up the volume, and I don't want to damage my hearing by listening at high volumes
- Audio cuts off intermittently when playing .mkv files on my Mac
- The audio quality is simply poor at the asking price - my experience with headphones is quite varied, I've tried and owned products of various price categories (~$20 MEElectronics | ~$100 VSONIC GR07BE, Jaybird X2 | ~$200 Fischer DBA02, AKG 7XX | ~$1000 JH13, Campfire Audio Andromeda), and to my ears, these sound like $20-50 headphones. The bass is bloated, leaks into the midrange. There is very limited definition across all frequencies, with poor detail retrieval. Midrange is recessed, with poor vocal depiction. There is no PRaT (pace, rhythm and time) to these headphones - speed and articulation of the notes are poor. I didn't quite bother getting into soundstage analysis, because the tonality and frequency response are alarmingly and attention-grabbingly bad. I understand that audio quality might not be of top priority while using these for workouts, but the value proposition from a sound quality point of view is ridiculously poor. In comparison, the X2s, a product of a similar form factor, have much better sound for the buck.
There are a few redeeming features, but I don't feel these are essential upgrades over the competition, and overall, I don't think the PB3s are worth the money.
+ W1 pairing was great, but I don't switch between devices as often as I thought I would
+ Battery life is great, but I don't mind anything from 8 hours
+ Fit is comfortable, build quality is respectable
At this point, I'm going to return the PB3s. For home wireless headphones use I just ordered the Sony MDR 1000X at a discounted rate here in Australia. For the gym I got the Westone MMCX bluetooth cable and am currently on the lookout for a decently performing pair of MMCX IEMs to go with it (Shure SE215, iBasso IT03, Westones W10).