Beats Solo 3?

[Rasta4i]

I'm not usually a fan of headphones but there's something about the Solo 3 and those 40 hours of battery life. I'm sold on the w1 chip, however I can't decide if i should go for something smaller like the airpods. The airpods will be much smaller to move around with and also just use one earpiece if i want to be aware of my surroundings for some reason. With the Solo 3 i can't really be aware of whats going on around me when i want but 40 hours and better sound quality .... Anyone else considering the Solo 3's?

 

[sammyman]

I just ordered.

 

[neiled]

Mine keep needing to reconnect (put the headphones near the phone, turn on, choose connect from dialog on the phone). Maybe hold off for now, sure it's just a software thing though.

 

[Rasta4i]

Mine keep needing to reconnect (put the headphones near the phone, turn on, choose connect from dialog on the phone). Maybe hold off for now, sure it's just a software thing though.

sorry to hear that, hopefully a fix comes for that soon!

 

[ILowry82]

With the Solo 3 can you seamlessly switch between an iPhone and an ipad? That would be a game changer for me since I am constantly using both devices with headphones and keep having to disconnect and reconnect each time.

 

[damiensmunki]

With the Solo 3 can you seamlessly switch between an iPhone and an ipad? That would be a game changer for me since I am constantly using both devices with headphones and keep having to disconnect and reconnect each time.

Yes. Once you pair with your iPhone in iOS 10, the headphones are available for audio output on all your iOS 10 and Sierra devices that are logged into your iCloud account.

 

[Rasta4i]

Yes. Once you pair with your iPhone in iOS 10, the headphones are available for audio output on all your iOS 10 and Sierra devices that are logged into your iCloud account.

That's a massive plus for me along with the battery life, I was considering the airpods but they only have 2 hours of battery for phone calls...

 

[madharvey]

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.

 

[Nikhil72]

Ended up returning mine only because on ear headphones hurt my ears too much. Went back to my QC35s. The W1 pairing and battery and even sound were great. Oh well. Just going to wait for AirPods.

 

[WiiDsmKR69]

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.

When you say wireless earbuds , do you mean the apple stock ones?

 

[boston04and07]

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.

Thanks for sharing this, that's all very interesting. Too bad they don't connect to the Apple TV though. I hope they figure out a way to do that that isn't confusing when you have multiple people in the same home each with their own Solos, Airpods, etc.

It's also great to know that the wireless range is so good. What model iPhone were you pairing with? I'm wondering if I'll see a range improvement with my 6s or if it's just an iPhone 7 thing...

 

[Rasta4i]

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.

Thanks, hearing your experience is definitely pushing me towards the beat. Especially that crazy battery life, I can go through the 2 hours of talk time far too easily

 

[satchow]

I really like mine but switching between devices and pairing aren't quite perfect yet. I paired them as advertised with my iCloud account when I had my 6s Plus and it worked perfectly. Then came my iPhone 7, long story short I had to "forget" the headphones off of my iCloud and pair them again. They paired to my iPhone and OSX fine, but my iPad wasn't recognizing them until I manually paired them via the Bluetooth menu. Now you're supposed to be able to switch devices via command center, and it works that way when they're being used with OSX, but if they're being used with my iPad or iPhone and I want to swap it to the other one, I have to go through the Bluetooth menu. Hopefully they figure this out. Minor problem, but I'd like a little more special sauce.

 

[AppleRobert]

Got a pair this morning, I also really like them wihich speaks volumes since it only has been a half day with them so far.

I will only be using them with my ip 7 so pairing isn't a hot button if there is issues with other devices.

Sound quality is very good, pretty good noise isolation at 50% volume. No bloated boomy base as aforementioned above, nice and tight imho. Bluetooth range is superb. They are a bit snug, not uncomfortable but I know I am wearing them.

Impulse buy at Apple today, 14 day return policy helped. 🙂

Very mixed reviews out there, so much so I think there are some duds, mine are excellent.

Oh and the battery life remaining is monitored on my iPhone 7 with the batteries widget. 🙂

 

[madharvey]

When you say wireless earbuds , do you mean the apple stock ones?

My current earbuds are Shure se215. Se215 also have extended bass, so the sound profile is similar on that end. The Shures do have more detailed sound in the mid/upper range, but the beats sound better than I was expecting.

What model iPhone were you pairing with? I'm wondering if I'll see a range improvement with my 6s or if it's just an iPhone 7 thing...

I was using the iphone 7. I've also been looking for an explanation for the increased range (i.e. if the iphone 7 is capable of class 1 power output to match the headphones) but wasn't able to find anything.

 

[Rasta4i]

Any updates from anyone using them for a few weeks now?

 

[matrix07]

Got a pair this morning, I also really like them wihich speaks volumes since it only has been a half day with them so far.

I will only be using them with my ip 7 so pairing isn't a hot button if there is issues with other devices.

Sound quality is very good, pretty good noise isolation at 50% volume. No bloated boomy base as aforementioned above, nice and tight imho. Bluetooth range is superb. They are a bit snug, not uncomfortable but I know I am wearing them.

Impulse buy at Apple today, 14 day return policy helped. 🙂

Very mixed reviews out there, so much so I think there are some duds, mine are excellent.

Oh and the battery life remaining is monitored on my iPhone 7 with the batteries widget. 🙂

Have you met with drop out yet?

 

[AppleRobert]

Have you met with drop out yet?

No dropouts, these are solid. It is more than I care to spend but color me impressed so maybe.

 

[matrix07]

No dropouts, these are solid. It is more than I care to spend but color me impressed so maybe.

Good to hear. Since W1 handle connection this is boding well for all W1 headphones.

 

[Nikhil72]

No dropouts, these are solid. It is more than I care to spend but color me impressed so maybe.

Do they loosen up at all? I loved the sound and connection but the clamp force was too much for my head and ears. Only lasted 24 hours or so, so I'm wondering if they open up a bit.

 

[boston04and07]

Do they loosen up at all? I loved the sound and connection but the clamp force was too much for my head and ears. Only lasted 24 hours or so, so I'm wondering if they open up a bit.

I have the Solo 2's and not the 3's, but I had the same issue too at first, and since the design is apprently the same, hopefully this will apply to you - I had the same issue and just left them open gripping the sides of a decorative box that's on my desk. The box is about 8" wide, meaning the headphones were opened pretty much all the way. I left them like that whenever I wasn't using them for a day or two and they loosened up just as I wanted them to. I'm a glasses wearer so I need my headphones to be very loose so that they don't smoosh my ears up against my glasses, and I don't really have that problem anymore. Whenever I sense they're getting a bit tighter, I just give them another stretch on the box and that seems to help.

 

[AppleRobert]

Do they loosen up at all? I loved the sound and connection but the clamp force was too much for my head and ears. Only lasted 24 hours or so, so I'm wondering if they open up a bit.

Yep, just use the box they came in as a headphone stand.

 

[AustinIllini]

Have yet to have a dropout on mine. They do stretch out some.

 

[bruinsrme]

Ended up returning mine only because on ear headphones hurt my ears too much. Went back to my QC35s. The W1 pairing and battery and even sound were great. Oh well. Just going to wait for AirPods.

Sound wise how do the two compare.

I broke down an purchased the QC35 and I am impressed with the quality and ease of pairing

 

[Nikhil72]

Depends on your preference. QC35 has the noise cancelling in its favor. Audio quality is good but very neutral which can get a little boring. Solo3s have more basss which purists may dislike but I sometimes find more energetic. To each their own.