Beats Solo Buds look great and are even better priced

The first sub-$100 true wireless earbuds from Beats (and, by extension, Apple) are here. From today you can request the $79.99 Solo Buds online in four different colors – black, purple, red and gray – and will be in stores on June 20th. The red headphones have an advantage over the others: they include a translucent case that resembles the one that comes with the Studio Buds Plus. The earbuds themselves are opaque, but they still look great. I’ve been testing the Solo Buds for a few days now and that red box really stands out. And whatever color you choose, it’s the smallest carrying case for any Beats headphone yet.

But therein lies one of the trade-offs the company made to achieve this lower price. See, unlike basically every competitor on the market, this case doesn’t include a battery to recharge the headphones every time you put them away. Instead, Beats decided to give the headphones themselves a marathon 18-hour battery life, after which you’ll need to put them in their case and recharge them via USB-C. In theory, this could help the Solo Buds last longer, as they’re likely to go through fewer charge cycles over their lifespan. But it’s an important thing to take into account.

Observation: Beats provided On the edge with a non-mass-produced sample of Solo Buds. As a result, this is an unpunctuated first look. Stay tuned for more coverage on voice call performance and more as soon as we receive the shipping version.

O other feature that can’t be found anywhere is noise cancellation. The Solo 4 earbuds don’t have ANC, and the Solo Buds also rely on the natural noise isolation of their silicone tips to reduce ambient volume. Beats includes four sets of tips, including an extra small size for those who need them. I found the buds to be quite comfortable, and each earcup has laser-cut ventilation to reduce unpleasant ear clogging.

In terms of sound, these are comfortably in third place compared to the Beats Fit Pro and Studio Buds Plus. They tend to run a little flat on several of my usual test tracks unless I really twist them into my ears for a tight seal. Every now and then, you might find a track (like Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather”) that matches your tuning decently. But Pearl Jam’s “Wreckage” didn’t land very hard.

There is nothing offensive about Solo Buds; in fact, they are quite balanced, offer good channel separation and are restrained when it comes to bass. They are very clean; Some cheaper wireless headphones can sound like you’re listening through a blanket, but that’s not the case here. Still, despite everything Beats says about their “fully custom acoustic architecture” and “ergonomically angled acoustic nozzles,” the Solo Buds aren’t a miracle pair of $80 headphones. it is not much.

I also struggled with the physical controls at first until I found and memorized the sweet spot on each earcup, which is above the “b” logo. If you try to press on the entire surface, it won’t work.

As with the latest Beats products, the Solo Buds are platform agnostic, meaning they natively support one-tap pairing and Find My/Find My Device features on Android and iOS. These are great perks for the money, even if you don’t get some extra details like head-tracking spatial audio. Multipoint connectivity is also missing.

I have a hunch the Solo Buds will sell really well. Even if the sound isn’t exemplary, there’s no denying the allure of its $79.99 sticker. And Beats still has a lot of brand power with athletes and celebrities. But there are many alternatives worth checking out. Beats faces competition from the Soundcore brand from Anker, JBL, EarFun and others in this price territory, and many of these options include noise cancellation and come with a battery case – albeit without an 18-hour battery life.

Photography by Chris Welch/The Verge