Beats Solo 3?

[FenC]

I'm using mine now, I bought them 8 days ago.

I used them first with a 6S Plus before my 7 Plus arrived a couple of days ago. Range is the same with both iPhones I'm pretty sure. I can't believe it could be better with the 7 given how it was with the 6S.

I charged them overnight last Thursday, and I've used them several hours each over 4 work days, and am onto the fifth. Battery says 64% right now.

I had dropout testing range one time. I wasn't a huge distance from my phone; perhaps 25 to 30m, but I was through 4 or 5 walls. Way, way, way better than regular Bluetooth. In a more open space I've been much further away with no issues at all.

Switching between devices is pretty straight forward, but I didn't get the option to switch to the Beats on my iPhone yesterday when they were connected to my iPad Pro, I had to connect through Bluetooth. That didn't happen on the 6S Plus. Also the 7 isn't showing the battery percentage today in the output selection (it's available in the Batteries widget though), whereas the 6S and the iPad (still) showed it. I just forgot them and they won't do the W1 pairing magic now, so I'm rebooting the phone (and as an aside, the volume drops to zero while holding the volume down button as part of the new reboot process - not Apple-slick). **After a reboot they paired properly and the battery level is back. I probably should have forgotten them from my 6S when I switched over rather than just pairing with the new 7 Plus.

Sound wise I like them. I listened to a Solo2 and QC35 back to back (as I couldn't find a Solo3 to try locally) and I was surprised by the Beats sound having believed the hype about bass-heavy, awful sound. They do make some recordings sound terrible, but I'm pretty convinced its the fault of the recording (it's mostly been 80s rock I've noticed it with) as everything else sounds great. I do like emphasised bass, but not to the point of ridiculous.

Part of the reason I avoided the QC35 (aside the boring looks and 30% higher cost) was the over ear design. I have some Blue MoFi wired headphones that I like, but they press on my jaw uncomfortably (and they are too heavy as well), so I wanted to keep the pad off that area. I find the Solo3 increasingly comfortable. On day 2 I had to take them off for a while, but maybe they are relaxing (through use; I haven't stretched them), or I am becoming used to them.

Worth the money? I don't know. All of us on here buy Apple gear which others will say isn't worth the money and I'd say the Solo3 is in the same camp. It's good, and I like it, but I accept I paid a premium over what I could have for something with similar performance. Then again they have a range and battery life that is lightyears ahead of anything else on the market. The gloss black I have also nicely carries through the greasy finger smear theme of my jet black iPhone perfectly

 

[AppleRobert]

I returned them, nothing wrong with them but more than I care to spend to tell the truth.

They did loosen up a bit wearing them but not really enough.

I await the alternatives to become available for cheaper and will give them a whirl. If they are a no go I will revisit these at a cheaper price.

 

[Intenost]

Got them as kind of an impulse buy.

I've had other bluetooth headsets from Plantronics, Bose, etc, but this is really empowering because:

1) Range -- I can leave my phone in my home office (2nd floor) and do stuff in the basement, walk around the house outside, with no break in signal.

2) Battery life is awesome, I can see myself charging it once a week or so. No anxiety about battery during any given day.

I usually prefer earbuds so this is a bit of a different experience for me, over the ears, but I like it. Not an audiophile, but not complaints about sound quality for streaming music, podcasts, and for phone calls.

I took it on an errand with my wife, it was during the workday and I needed to listen in on a couple of calls. Worked fine, but my wife thought I looked like a dork. That's really the only negative, and not being able to just slip it in a pocket. So they aren't a great mobile solution, but there are options coming for that, although probably with less range and battery capacity.

 

[AppleRobert]

I usually look for bargains, these were purely an impulse buy.

Doubt I will ever get much better bang for buck from headphones than just waiting it out. Jaybirds X and Sony mdrzx770bn were outstanding purchases on sale.

 

[matrix07]

Depends on your preference. QC35 has the noise cancelling in its favor.

Solo 3 doesn't have voice cancelling function or it's just not as good?

 

[FenC]

Doesn't have it

 

[ayobonus]

Hey everyone,

I just bought the Solo 3's a few days ago. The ease of pairing is unbelievable, and the ease of switching between iPhone and iPad is a huge plus. However, I do have a problem with connectivity. After watching YouTube reviews and reading the comments on this thread, it looks like people are getting unbelievable range and connectivity out of their headphones.

I actually already exchanged my first pair of Solo 3's because of connectivity issues. My first pair would have a drop out/blip here and there while walking. I work in NYC so I walk a lot, and I noticed that audio would drop out here and there. Strangely enough, I noticed that the audio would really drop out after I lock my phone and put it in my pocket. Drop outs would also occur once I get to my desk at work and sit down. Even the replacement pair I got does this same exact thing.

I also did a range test where I left my phone inside the house and I took out the garbage. I probably got around 50-60 feet away from where I left my phone before the audio completely dropped out (as in I never heard music again until I walked closer). I understand that these are Class 1 Bluetooth headphones, and supposedly get up to 300 feet of range, but I'm not even getting anything close to that. I think I'll be going back to the Apple Store for another replacement. Do you guys think I'm just getting duds? Conversely, I also have a pair of QC35s and I have never had a problem with audio dropping out at all (even while walking in NYC). Thanks!

 

[AustinIllini]

2 week update. These things are ridiculous from a usability standpoint. The pairing is amazing (haven't had to do this more than once) and the range is incredible. By and large, the best feature remains the battery life.

The sound is overall good and no it doesn't noise cancel.

 

[woozor1]

I tried these today in the apple store. I Wasnt that impressed with the sound they Sounded ok nothing special certainly not £250 worth.

 

[AustinIllini]

I tried these today in the apple store. I Wasnt that impressed with the sound they Sounded ok nothing special certainly not £250 worth.

Yeah, I understand that, but they are crazy good from a usability standpoint.

 

[FenC]

I tried these today in the apple store. I Wasnt that impressed with the sound they Sounded ok nothing special certainly not £250 worth.

What do you think beats it, either for similar quality at a lower price or higher quality at the same price?

I only auditioned Bose in comparison, and while I think the QC35 may have been better it was 30% more expensive (here in NZ at least), and the comparably priced Bose (Sound Link?) was definitely inferior to my taste / ear. I personally am also unsure about noise cancelling; I find the isolation a bit odd and it can give me a weirdly empty feeling, but that's probably just me, or I may need to get used to it as I've only auditioned it rather than really use it.

Since saying in my review above that they are probably overpriced I've started to wonder if they really are. I think it's like the iPhone itself; maybe you can pick up an Android handset with similar screen size, great camera, powerful processor or whatever for less money, but the entire experience of the look and feel of the hardware, slickness of the apps etc. makes the iPhone feel more quality.

I think the Solo3 is the same idea; you may be able to find a similar sounding wireless headphone for less money, but it probably won't look as slick (in an understated way for my taste, hence I have black, but you can go bright also with Beats if that's your thing), it probably won't have as stable a wireless connection, it definitely won't have anything like as big a range, and the battery life will definitely be a lot shorter.

I wouldn't listen to a headphone that sounds bad, and while I like the idea of the best sound possible, for my personal needs I wanted something I can wear in the office when I need to focus on what I'm doing without interruption, walking around the street, or on the odd day when I get the bus to work. None of those use cases are ideal listening conditions for audiophile sound, and the iPhone is not the source I would choose for audiophile listening either. The convenience of long battery life, fairly easy transportation, stable Bluetooth that doesn't get "blown away" by the more powerful Bluetooth in passing cars like the Trekz Titanium I listen to when I cycle does sometimes, while still sounding pretty good, and not looking embarrassing is a good package in my view. One that I actually don't think can be bettered for the asking price.

I'm not saying you're wrong to believe they aren't worth the asking price; there are cheaper options and there are very possibly similarly priced options that are better at what you want in a headphone, but your short post made me re-evaluate the value for money question and made me a realise that sound quality is only perhaps 60% of the deciding factor for me, and I really value some other aspects that the Solo3 is leading the market in.

 

[woozor1]

I agree from a userbility perspective and ease of sync ability betweeen devices is a big plus. I was just going by my first impression on hearing them not a day to to day review of owning them. I find headphones overpriced in general I'm not an audiophile but for £250 I expect some kind of wow factor. The only headphones I own for home use are the Phillips fidellio x2 which sound in a different league but there for home only and non comparable.

It's exactly the same as the bowers and Wilkins when I tried them I did not think much of them either and they seemed to get top reviews. I feel like if the beats were priced around £175 max then I'd pick a pair up but £250 for me is steep. Although I am after Bluetooth headphones and options are limited.

 

[freechef]

Have owned the matte black for a week and a half. Just crazy usable. Like everyone says about the range and battery life. W series chips are the future.

 

[AustinIllini]

I think the thing is a lot of people review Beats under the pretense that the last pair they owned were the over-bass Monster-Beats. I was really happy with the sound of the Solo3 and not at all worried about the bass level.

 

[robertpatryk]

Hi! How does the sound of Solo 3 compare to Studio Wireless?

One more thing I wanted to ask you all:

When I connect Beats to iPhone, the loudness level on the iPhone is the same as on Beats. However connecting Beats to an Android-powered phone makes the headphones sound twice as loud: you can max out the phone and still make Beats with buttons louder - why can't I do the same thing on an iPhone?

 

[iAdamator]

I decided to try out the solo 3's because they had the W1 chip, and the 40 hour battery life. I've been using them for a couple days and overall have been impressed. The range of the headphones is borderline ridiculous, I can set my phone at one end of our work building and use the headphones at the other. The battery life also living up to the 40 hour claims so far.

I was interested to play around with the W1 pairing process, since there aren't many demonstration videos around yet. Pressing the power button brought up the connect panel on the phone. After connected to the iphone, they showed up on my ipad pro and apple watch.

Interestingly, they did not show up on the apple tv (4th gen), and had to be manually paired. Once manually paired to the apple tv, they didn't show up on the other devices anymore and the connection processes had to be re initiated on the phone. I also noticed that if you "forget" the headphones from any icloud device, all icloud devices will forget the headphones--which is probably as designed, but interesting.

The sound quality is not as good as my wired earbuds, but better than I expected. There is much less emphasis on bass than you would expect from reading reviews of older Beats products.

I've been a little unclear on exactly how these work across multiple devices. For my situation, they'd be used with my iPhone 6S, Apple Watch, and iPad Pro. Is playing audio from another source, literally as simple as pressing play on that device and then the sound routes from that device to the headphones?

My primary usage for these would be my phone as a source, followed by my iPad, and then my watch Occasionally. Is it really as seamless as I think or is there a step I'm missing?

Thanks.

 

[FenC]

I haven't used them with my Watch as I have never put any music on it, so I can't comment on that, but the way they work is that you turn them on and they make their connecting sound and are connected to the phone. Pressing play on phone or Solo will start playing.

If you want them on the iPad you need to select them as an output in the iPad's Music panel, and you have to switch manually back to the phone in the same way. I'm guessing that they might default to the iPad if the phone (and Watch?) were both out of range, and in all honesty I haven't tested what device they power up connected to if they were powered down connected to the iPad and both are in range when they are turned back on. I'll try that at the office later and post back.

I had understood from the Ear Pods part of the keynote that any connected device would seize the connection and start using the Beats if they are powered on and in range, at least if no other device is playing through them, but that doesn't appear to be how it is designed.

 

[iAdamator]

I haven't used them with my Watch as I have never put any music on it, so I can't comment on that, but the way they work is that you turn them on and they make their connecting sound and are connected to the phone. Pressing play on phone or Solo will start playing.

If you want them on the iPad you need to select them as an output in the iPad's Music panel, and you have to switch manually back to the phone in the same way. I'm guessing that they might default to the iPad if the phone (and Watch?) were both out of range, and in all honesty I haven't tested what device they power up connected to if they were powered down connected to the iPad and both are in range when they are turned back on. I'll try that at the office later and post back.

I had understood from the Ear Pods part of the keynote that any connected device would seize the connection and start using the Beats if they are powered on and in range, at least if no other device is playing through them, but that doesn't appear to be how it is designed.

Thanks. What you said about the keynote is precisely what I thought as well would be the case with these. Perhaps that will be the case with the AirPods? Somehow I doubt it though.

 

[FenC]

Thanks. What you said about the keynote is precisely what I thought as well would be the case with these. Perhaps that will be the case with the AirPods? Somehow I doubt it though.

Yup, I think so.

Anyhow I'm at the office and I was just about to do the test by playing music from the iPhone, switching to the iPad and powering off and back on to see which device has the connection.

Unfortunately I had a problem with that, which I think is worth mentioning in this thread. Since i got a JB iPhone 7 Plus to replace my 6S Plus a week ago the W1 pairing has been a nightmare. Initially when I got my 7 I just paired the Solo with it and thought all was good.

Over the next couple of days I first noticed that I wasn't seeing the battery percentage (still 33% now, 13 days after the last charge FWIW) on the iPhone in the output selection (but it did show in the batteries widget), then the next day they weren't available to select on the iPhone at all, and I had to reboot the phone to get it to 'see' the Solo to initiate the fancy W1 pairing routine when that happened. I tried some forgetting an re-pairing steps with no long term success until the weekend when I went through all my devices, including the 6S Plus, and forgot the Solo3 if it was listed in Bluetooth. I had to do that three times on three separate devices that are all logged into the same iCloud account. So much for linking to all the devices... I then signed the 6S Plus out of iCloud reset the Solo (I guess; I got it to blink a red light, but as there are no useful instructions I can find anywhere I am only guessing) and re-paired with the (rebooted) 7 Plus. All seemed good and I was happy to consider it user error when switching out my iPhones (I should have told the 6S Plus to forget the Solo, like I did with my Watch, before taking the final backup, basically).

Until yesterday that is, when the Solo had entirely disappeared from the iPad, Watch and iPhone. That is a new issue, as if it had been forgotten from my iCoud account all together (my MacBook was at home so I couldn't check it). I re-paired (without having to reboot the phone this time I think, though I'm not certain, it's happened so often I've lost track) and thought it was just one of those things. Today I powered them on and they connected to the iPhone straight away. When I went to the iPad to do the switching test they weren't even listed on the iPad as a Bluetooth device, never mind in the available outputs list. I'm not entirely sure they showed up on the iPad yesterday after I paired as I didn't check, but either the pairing with all iCloud devices didn't work, or they dropped off after pairing. Either way it's not working.

I just forgot the Solo3 from the iPhone (and accepted forgetting on all iCloud devices), then I had to reboot the iPhone to get it to do its W1 pairing trick, and it's not appearing on the iPad. I could probably Bluetooth pair it, but other than that I can't even use them with the iPad today.

I'm now at the point of calling the whole W1 pairing thing flaky (moderating my language for a forum). Yes; the range is great, and yes; the battery lasts a long time, and for my ear, with well recorded music (and I've recently been using Apple Music Dubstep Radio as a guide to what I mean by that) they sound good. W1 though - another half baked, not quite ready for the big time implementation by Apple, I'm afraid.

Hopefully 10.1 will stabilise it (I'm off the public beta train with my new handset so still on 10.02), or Beats will push a firmware update if it's on their end, and perhaps it was solid with the 6S Plus (it seemed to be for the 5 days I had that combo) so it's a 7 hardware thing, but for now, for me at least, it's borked.
[doublepost=1476217498][/doublepost]Update. I followed the steps for resetting a Beats Solo2 (hold the power button down for 10 seconds, release and the battery lights will flash single red then 5 white three times, which is what I had seen previously), forgot the Solo on the iPhone, rebooted the iPhone, re-paired, check the iPad and no Solo3. Rebooted the iPad and still no Solo3.

Buy them for range and / or battery life if you like how they sound by all means, but don't buy them for the W1, at least until Apple gets it to work. The inconsistency of what I'm seeing suggests to me there is more than one bug in the implementation currently.

 

[FenC]

Further update:

I'm suspicious that the office wifi has been 'secured' further over the weekend and that I can no longer reach iCloud using it. In case that was an issue, when I got home I forgot the Solo3 on my iPhone. It was still listed under Bluetooth on the iPad and the MacBook, so I forgot it on those also, and I reset the Solo3s.

I had to reboot the iPhone again to get the pairing to work (that's getting really old now), but when it did the Solo3 also appeared on the MacBook Pro short;y after. It also appeared on Bluetooth on the iPad but I can't select it as an output to select, so that's still screwed, even after a reboot.

I did the test I was aiming for this morning however: I powered on the Beats and they connected to the iPhone and played music. I paused it and switched to the Mac and played some music on that, then powered them off, and back on again. They reconnected with the Mac at power up.

I then paused the Mac and started music on the iPhone, which did not seize the unused connection; I had to manually select it on the iPhone.

So, W1 pairing is potentially broken on my iPad Pro running iOS 10.02, but seems ok on the rest of my kit. It's possible it somehow depends on a regular connection to iCloud (as well as the obvious need for a connection at setup) to maintain solid operation, explaining why I have problems at work if the wifi no longer allows me to connect to icloud. Or it's just flaky.

What seems certain is that it's nowhere near as flash at switching between devices as it was made to sound in the keynote, unless of course that's another aspect that currently doesn't work.

 

[AustinIllini]

What seems certain is that it's nowhere near as flash at switching between devices as it was made to sound in the keynote, unless of course that's another aspect that currently doesn't work.

I can corroborate this. The pairing is fine, but it's not as seamless as it appeared, and manually pairing the bluetooth is not that big of a deal for the three devices you use.

The battery life is still worth the price of admission.

 

[Statusnone88]

I can corroborate this. The pairing is fine, but it's not as seamless as it appeared, and manually pairing the bluetooth is not that big of a deal for the three devices you use.

The battery life is still worth the price of admission.

I'll add to this as well. Paired my Beats Solo3 on my iPhone 7 Plus, but cannot select them as an audio output on my iPad Pro. Have to go into the Bluetooth settings and select them. Not a huge deal, but would be nice if you could at will select the audio output on any Apple device attached to your iCloud account.

Loving these headphones btw.

 

[AustinIllini]

I'll add to this as well. Paired my Beats Solo3 on my iPhone 7 Plus, but cannot select them as an audio output on my iPad Pro. Have to go into the Bluetooth settings and select them. Not a huge deal, but would be nice if you could at will select the audio output on any Apple device attached to your iCloud account.

Loving these headphones btw.

I have a pair of Studio Wireless, and yeah, it can be a little more annoying without the W1 functionality, but it's really not a big deal.

 

[ascender]

I picked up a pair last week on an impulse buy and its my first pair of over-the-ear headphones.

Positives are like everybody else has found - amazing range & battery life. Sound is quite good, definitely not the stereotypical "bass heavy" old Beats/Monster thing which gets trotted out a lot. I think the physical build quality is quite good - they're certainly lightweight but feel sturdy enough.

FWIW the new pairing mechanism with iPhone 7 and iOS10 never worked once for me. I had to use the traditional manual searching under Bluetooth settings, but once paired the connection was rock solid compared to other headphones I've used.

I am taking them back to Apple today though...

I found the fit a bit too snug - after a while of listening they physically hurt my ears which wasn't great. I've seen it mentioned on a few places and people were suggesting using the box they shipped in to stretch them out a bit, but possibly its just confirming that over-the-ears aren't for me.

Sound-wise I think they're almost identical to the PowerBeats2 Wireless ones which have been my go-to headphones for the last while. I really like the sound of those and so I really liked the sound of these Solo3, but I'll be honest, I was expecting them to be an upgrade over the PowerBeats and they really weren't. I was expecting to be impressed by the sound quality, but just wasn't.

Its good, but not great and although I couldn't do a side by side, I was certainly more impressed from an audio perspective by a similarly-priced pair of Bose ones I borrowed from a friend a couple of weeks back. So my non-scientific review summary is that they're good but not £250 good if that makes sense, although I do get that the fit hasn't helped.

 

[AustinIllini]

Its good, but not great and although I couldn't do a side by side, I was certainly more impressed by a similarly-priced pair of Bose ones I borrowed from a friend a couple of weeks back. So my non-scientific review summary is that they're good by not £250 good if that makes sense, although I do get that the fit hasn't helped.

That's kind of my impression now, too. Good, but probably not $300 good. The Studio Wireless for 260 USD are a much better deal.