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Does anyone know if these would still announce your messages while wearing, like the AirPods and other beats? I know it doesn't have the W1 / H1, but so far no reviews address this specific feature (that I have seen), and tbh I don't know if it's that chip that makes it possible or not.

Announce message is a specific for H1 chips. But then again this Beats supports “Hey-Siri” which is also specific. So yeah, no idea.
 
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In the market for some new AirPods has I've got the Gen1 version, however the left battery life struggles after about an hour

Hoped Pro 2 would be out this year but with he delay to next year I'm seriously debating these when they land in the UK
 
For all of the high-tech wiz bang of my AirPod Pros, I can not get a good seal - even with foam tips. They simply don't go deep enough into the ear canal. Never had this problem with Klipsch, Sennheiser in-ear headphones. So if the Beats solve that problem alone, it'll be worth every penny.
 
Thanks, though I had to look up things that interest me most: The Studio Buds are compatible with Bluetooth 5.2, and support AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, but not AptX. The earpieces feature a modest IPX4 water-resistance rating, which means they can withstand light splashes from any direction... .
 
The standard Apple integration stuff with H1 or M1 are left out because Apple wants to charge you $300 for the AirPods Pro 2 next year.

Apple certainly isn’t going to offer the better ear tips of the Beats Studio Buds in AirPods Pro compatible form. That would doom the next AirPods Pro offering.
 
Really? So does that mean I can only use it with one device at a time? Can’t just pick up with Apple TV or anything? Does that also limit sharing with another person?
Yes to all those questions. You must re-pair to a first device if you pair it to a another device and want to go back to the first device.
 
Yes to all those questions. You must re-pair to a first device if you pair it to a another device and want to go back to the first device.
As in bluetooth pairing, or just bluetooth connect? I have Jaybird Vistas that I need to re-connect to whenever I change devices, but I don't need to re-pair them. Do you have a pair to confirm this, or are you just guessing?
 
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I am. I’m interested in the smaller form factor, and just felt the price is so cheap, why not. I also don’t care about the H1/W1 chip, what’s the main selling point here? My Airpods Pro are absolute crap at switching between devices as is. I try watching something on my iPad and my phone is next to me screen off, but somehow the APP will switch to that device, so I end up turning BT off on my iPhone. Plus I use Chromecast to stream to my TV, and it’s a complete mess at times. It’s bogus.
My APP is also crap at switching between devices. I had mine replaced a few weeks ago and the new ones still don't stay connected to my iPhone (eg. I listen to them one day and the next morning I put them back in they don't connect). There's also issues with connecting with the MacBook, iPad and Apple TV, even after clicking connect in the bluetooth settings.

Waiting to hear some real world usage and user reviews.
 


We've seen a lot of teasers about the Beats Studio Buds over the past month since they first showed up in Apple's beta software updates, and today they're finally official. The Beats Studio Buds are available to order today in red, white, and black ahead of a June 24 ship date, and they're priced at $149.99.

studio-buds-family.jpg

The Studio Buds are the first Beats-branded earbuds to truly compete with AirPods thanks to their wire-free design that fits comfortably in the ear without the over-ear hook seen on Powerbeats Pro.


In many respects, the Studio Buds are competitive with AirPods Pro at a lower price point, with a diminutive design that's slightly lighter than the AirPods Pro while still offering features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Transparency modes.

I've been using a pair of Studio Buds in "Beats Red" for the past week and a half, and I've come away impressed with their performance, especially given their price point. I'm a heavy AirPods Pro user on a day-to-day basis, and the Studio Buds stack up well against them in most respects.

studio-buds-pairing.jpg

If you've used AirPods Pro before, Studio Buds will be immediately familiar, with the same one-touch pairing and simple button presses to cycle between standard mode, ANC mode where the noise around you is actively canceled out to provide a more isolated listening environment, and Transparency mode where the sounds around are actively piped through the earphones and mixed in with your audio so you can hear what's going on around you even with the earphones sitting firmly in your ears.

studio-buds-open-tips.jpg

While AirPods Pro use a force sensor in the stem of each earbud for controls, Studio Buds each feature a button on the exterior of the earbud. You'll see the typical set of functions, with a single press allowing you to play/pause audio or answer/hang up a phone call, a double press skipping ahead to the next track, and a triple press skipping back to the beginning of the current track or to the previous track.

studio-buds-settings.jpg

That same button also handles the noise control modes via a long press, which cycles through the three modes. By default, both earbuds have the same set of controls, but you can use the Settings app on your device to configure the press and hold function separately for each ear, such as noise control on one side and activating Siri on the other side. Siri activation via button press isn't a necessity, however, as hands-free "Hey Siri" activation is supported.


Beats Studio Buds offer up to eight hours of listening time, with two additional charges from the included battery case bringing total battery life to 24 hours. That's with ANC and Transparency mode turned off, however. With either of those modes turned on, battery life will be closer to five hours per charge for a total of 15 hours with the case.

In my time with the Studio Buds, I've found the sound quality to be solid compared to other earbuds, and ANC is helpful for blocking out that noise around you. The ANC and Transparency aren't quite as good on the Studio Buds as they are on AirPods Pro, but it's not a huge difference in my opinion.

As with other AirPods and recent Beats headphones and earphones, the Studio Buds are automatically recognized as supporting Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in Apple Music, so you won't need to manually configure them in Settings as you do with third-party earphones. Spatial Audio tracks sound good on the Studio Buds, with good separation for the immersive experience you expect on well-mixed tracks.

Each Studio Bud features three microphones to assist with picking up your voice and managing the ANC and Transparency functions. My voice came through clear and crisp on some test phone calls using the buds, which leverage a total of five microphones during phone calls to help isolate your voice from background noise.

I really like the form factor of the Studio Buds, and they fit well in my ears. The inclusion of three sizes of ear tips should allow most people to find a good fit, and the default medium tips worked best for me. I never felt like they were going to fall out of my ears, and their 5.1-gram weight meant that they didn't feel heavy or put much pressure on my ears. I was able to wear them for two or three hours straight on multiple occasions without feeling any discomfort.

studio-buds-open.jpg

The "b" button on the exterior of each earbud is easy to find by feel as it's essentially the entirety of the accessible exterior surface of the bud, and I was glad to find that it didn't hurt my ears at all when pressing it. It only requires a light press to activate, so I don't feel like I'm shoving the bud into my ear canal when I'm pressing it.

One area where Studio Buds fall short in comparison to AirPods and AirPods Pro is the lack of wireless charging for the case. I definitely find it convenient to charge my AirPods Pro wirelessly on a Belkin multi-device charger next to my bed, so it's a little bit of extra friction to have to charge the Studio Buds over USB-C.

The choice between USB-C and Lightning for wired charging is always a controversial one, and while I have several convenient USB-C charging spots set up around my house for my iPad Pro that I can easily use for the Studio Buds, users operating primarily with Lightning-based devices might be a bit more annoyed by also having to deal with USB-C for their earphones.

The use of USB-C for charging on the Studio Buds is no doubt the result of Beats' desire to appeal to both Apple and Android users. That cross-platform appeal shows up in a few other areas including setup where the Studio Buds are the first Beats product to support one-touch pairing on both platforms.

studio-buds-packaging.jpg

Beats Studio Buds are also the first Beats product to support both Find My in the Apple ecosystem and Find My Device on Android, allowing you to find the last known location of your earphones or get them to make a sound to help you find them if you're within Bluetooth range.

I have just a few other minor gripes with the Studio Buds, but they're certainly not dealbreakers. I'm not a huge fan of the matte finish on the charging case. It's probably just that I'm used to the glossy plastic on AirPods and AirPods Pro, but the matte design of the Studio Buds case just looks and feels a little cheap to me.

While the Studio Buds support one-touch pairing, they don't include an H1 or W1 chip, so they're also missing out a few other features like seamless cross-device pairing you get with AirPods Pro and some other Apple and Beats earphones. They also don't support the head-tracking Spatial Audio that works with video content.

I also still haven't really gotten used to how the buds fit into the case to charge. With AirPods and AirPods Pro, the stems make it natural to just drop the earbuds into the case to charge, but the Studio Buds fit into their case in kind of an upside-down orientation. Again, it's not a big deal and I'm sure I'll pick it up eventually, but I'm a little surprised that I'm still frequently putting them into the case incorrectly and having to twist them around a bit to fit. I think I just need to get untrained a bit from all of my AirPods experience over the last few years.

Overall, the Beats Studio Buds are a great option that both gets you most of the way into the AirPods ecosystem while also offering solid support for Android users, all at a reasonable price point. The stemless design is something current AirPods models don't offer, and while they do protrude a bit from the ear, they still offer a comfortable fit.

With ANC and Transparency modes, they work well in noisy environments, and even with ANC turned off they provide a good seal in the ears.

Rumors suggest the second-generation AirPods Pro will be arriving next year with a stemless design, so perhaps we can expect something quite similar to the Beats Studio Buds but with some additional features like wireless charging for the case.

Beats Studio Buds are available to order today on Apple's website in the U.S. and Canada, and through select third-party retailers such as Amazon, with shipments beginning on June 24.

There will be a staggered rollout in other countries, starting with China, where orders will begin on July 2 ahead of a July 6 ship date. The rollout will continue this summer with launch dates to be announced for the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. They will also be launching in Brazil in the equivalent winter season.

Article Link: Beats Studio Buds Debuting Today With Active Noise Cancellation, Stemless Design, and More for $150
Who knew in 2021 we’d call £150 for earphones reasonable, we have been well and truly conditioned!
 
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So is anyone who has the AirPods Pro getting these? And why?
Already purchased, arriving on Friday. I've owned the AirPod Pros for a little over a year. Generally dislike them. Why:

* They provide a weak seal (for me ears), which compromises active and passive sound isolation
* When connected to MacBook, they almost never connect to iPhone or iPad w/o turning on/off bluetooth. So annoying.
* The sound is fine, but no where near as good as my wired Klipsch (basic model) headphones
* Call quality sucks outside (As told to me by more than a few people).

If Beats provides a better fit/seal, I'm selling my AirPod Pros asap.
 
I checked my online order today and the date has slipped from arriving June 28 to arriving June 30.
 
I checked my online order today and the date has slipped from arriving June 28 to arriving June 30.
And overnight I get a text message saying my order to be delivered Monday which changed to Wednesday has now shipped to be delivered this Friday.
 
UPS just updated my tracking to say delivery tomorrow (Friday) by end of day. Which is nice because when I ordered, I picked the free shipping for it to arrive next Monday, not the $13 premium to have it delivered on Friday.
 
UPS just updated my tracking to say delivery tomorrow (Friday) by end of day. Which is nice because when I ordered, I picked the free shipping for it to arrive next Monday, not the $13 premium to have it delivered on Friday.
Please post pics and some impressions when you get them! Maybe create a thread in the airpods forum?
These aren’t available to order yet in Australia :(
 
Received my Beats, and they're going back. They do have a much better seal than my APP, but the ANC and transparency mode is almost non-existent.

***
update after 24 hours of use:

I own APP, never was able to get a good seal (even w foam tips). So far, beats studio pro not only provides better passive noise isolation, the sound far exceeds the a PP. However, “hey Siri” has a bit more of a delay with Beats, not as seamless. I wonder if that’s due to where the mic is positioned as compared to the APP.

Also, anyone know if any foam tips would fit the new beats studio buds?
 
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Received my Beats, and they're going back. They do have a much better seal than my APP, but the ANC and transparency mode is almost non-existent.
Agree, transparency is pretty non-existent. Sounds the same in Off mode. ANC is ok, but need to test more. Loved the APPs but they hurt my ears even with Comply tips. Love the fit of my Jaybird Vistas but lots of issues with them. These are seem comfortable, but remains to be seen. Why can’t this be easy 😆
 
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