I'm a bit of an audiophile who understands I've made a choice to give up sound quality from my expensive IEM's with 3.5mm jack and downgraded to wireless earbuds for my new iPhone X. (Which I really like).
I wanted to stay away from wireless earbuds that stick out of my ears like Herman Munster as I found they are to heavy for me. I feel silly wearing earbuds with blue lights blinking out to stores, running, or walking the dog.
I've recently purchased Beats X by Dr. Dre and wanted to share what I thought of them.
Charge and Features
I found Beats X are easy pair to my iPhone that comes with an Apple A1 Bionic chip implanted. It recognizes it instantly.
A 45 min charge gets 8hrs wireless time or close to it. A quick 15 min charge gives just about 2hrs seems to be accurate. I did not time it, I’m sorry.
I can walk quite a distance while listening to music away from my phone which has made chores around the house, yard work outside and exercise really easy since I don't have to carry the phone in my pocket or wires to get in the way from movement. A bonus to wireless for sure.
I can remotely adjust volume and initiate Siri from neckbuds and even turn if off. Convenient magnets on the back of the earbuds make it easy to clip together while on your neck that I forget I'm even wearing them. Easier to maintain than my 3.5mm IEM's as well.
I like having a pair of cans wrapped around my neck, like old school. Don’t need to shove it in your pocket.
When you first initiate the Bluetooth a pairing window pops up to let you know your connected and displays battery life percentage left. Very cool.
Sound
Sound has a lot of bass you expect from beats but not in a punchy good way though. It's not bad but it's a bit muffled, though recessed still loud enough to still cover the mids from excelling and the highs are a tiny bit on the pierced side to compensate. As a whole it sounds 'OK' but not spectacular. No 'wow' factor but no 'these are crappy' factor either.
The volume isn't as high as I'd like them. It was to be expected with wireless volumes one can reach anyway.
I didn’t “break them in” so my sound assessment may change if they do settle in over time but I have a feeling what you hear is what you get.
I'm used to Sennheiser IE60's & 80’s it's not easy to downgrade from sound or volume. If you've never owned good quality IEM's you won't know any better anyway and Beats X will sound nice to you.
Beats X has decent noise isolation, even at lower volumes.
If your listening to Hip hop, rap or R&B you'll be OK but every other genre will give something up in sound. Something Beats has always neglected as if other music styles don't exist, but then again it is Dr Dre's earbuds.
Quality and Price
I paid $119.99 on sale from Target and glad I didn't pay a penny more.
Beats X aren't worth $149.99 as the sound is easily beatable by many 3.5mm earbuds of same price. The wireless convenience should cost more but if the sound isn't as comparable I feel that has to be compensated by a lower price in the wireless.
Build wise they seem solid and flat thick wires with no tangle is nice. In other words they don’t feel cheap and has that Apple-ish premium feel.
They come with three different sized tipped earbuds so it should be easy for everyone to find a fit.
They also included a pair of wingtips if you want that extra support.
Conclusion
With all this said there isn't much more out there in wireless sound quality that sound any better that doesn't become very bulky over ear style.
Hope this helps others who might be thinking of Beats X. I've heard them called "walk around" earbuds and they are just that, if not much more, but truly convenient it's enough for me to use daily so i will keep them and can suggest them if your OK with everything.
I hope that as more androids give up 3.5mm jacks it forces earbud manufactures to make better earbuds that have audiophile quality sound. Naturally when I want to listen to real music I have my real earphones, DAC & AMP for home use.
For wireless and for now, it's Beats X.
I wanted to stay away from wireless earbuds that stick out of my ears like Herman Munster as I found they are to heavy for me. I feel silly wearing earbuds with blue lights blinking out to stores, running, or walking the dog.
I've recently purchased Beats X by Dr. Dre and wanted to share what I thought of them.
Charge and Features
I found Beats X are easy pair to my iPhone that comes with an Apple A1 Bionic chip implanted. It recognizes it instantly.
A 45 min charge gets 8hrs wireless time or close to it. A quick 15 min charge gives just about 2hrs seems to be accurate. I did not time it, I’m sorry.
I can walk quite a distance while listening to music away from my phone which has made chores around the house, yard work outside and exercise really easy since I don't have to carry the phone in my pocket or wires to get in the way from movement. A bonus to wireless for sure.
I can remotely adjust volume and initiate Siri from neckbuds and even turn if off. Convenient magnets on the back of the earbuds make it easy to clip together while on your neck that I forget I'm even wearing them. Easier to maintain than my 3.5mm IEM's as well.
I like having a pair of cans wrapped around my neck, like old school. Don’t need to shove it in your pocket.
When you first initiate the Bluetooth a pairing window pops up to let you know your connected and displays battery life percentage left. Very cool.
Sound
Sound has a lot of bass you expect from beats but not in a punchy good way though. It's not bad but it's a bit muffled, though recessed still loud enough to still cover the mids from excelling and the highs are a tiny bit on the pierced side to compensate. As a whole it sounds 'OK' but not spectacular. No 'wow' factor but no 'these are crappy' factor either.
The volume isn't as high as I'd like them. It was to be expected with wireless volumes one can reach anyway.
I didn’t “break them in” so my sound assessment may change if they do settle in over time but I have a feeling what you hear is what you get.
I'm used to Sennheiser IE60's & 80’s it's not easy to downgrade from sound or volume. If you've never owned good quality IEM's you won't know any better anyway and Beats X will sound nice to you.
Beats X has decent noise isolation, even at lower volumes.
If your listening to Hip hop, rap or R&B you'll be OK but every other genre will give something up in sound. Something Beats has always neglected as if other music styles don't exist, but then again it is Dr Dre's earbuds.
Quality and Price
I paid $119.99 on sale from Target and glad I didn't pay a penny more.
Beats X aren't worth $149.99 as the sound is easily beatable by many 3.5mm earbuds of same price. The wireless convenience should cost more but if the sound isn't as comparable I feel that has to be compensated by a lower price in the wireless.
Build wise they seem solid and flat thick wires with no tangle is nice. In other words they don’t feel cheap and has that Apple-ish premium feel.
They come with three different sized tipped earbuds so it should be easy for everyone to find a fit.
They also included a pair of wingtips if you want that extra support.
Conclusion
With all this said there isn't much more out there in wireless sound quality that sound any better that doesn't become very bulky over ear style.
Hope this helps others who might be thinking of Beats X. I've heard them called "walk around" earbuds and they are just that, if not much more, but truly convenient it's enough for me to use daily so i will keep them and can suggest them if your OK with everything.
I hope that as more androids give up 3.5mm jacks it forces earbud manufactures to make better earbuds that have audiophile quality sound. Naturally when I want to listen to real music I have my real earphones, DAC & AMP for home use.
For wireless and for now, it's Beats X.
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