The Beats Solo Buds have a great look and an even better price

The archetypal under-$100 existent wireless earbuds from Beats (and, by extension, Apple) are here. Starting today, you tin bid the $79.99 Solo Buds online successful 4 antithetic colors — black, purple, red, and grey — and they’ll beryllium successful stores connected June 20th. The reddish earbuds travel with 1 vantage implicit the others: they see a translucent lawsuit that’s reminiscent of the 1 that comes with the Studio Buds Plus. The earbuds themselves are opaque, but it’s inactive a large look. I’ve been investigating the Solo Buds for a fewer days, and that candy reddish lawsuit truly pops. And immoderate colour you choose, it’s the smallest carrying lawsuit for immoderate Beats earbuds yet.

But therein lies 1 of the tradeoffs that the institution made to deed this little terms point. See, dissimilar fundamentally each competitors connected the market, this lawsuit doesn’t see a artillery for recharging the buds whenever you’ve enactment them away. Instead, Beats decided to springiness the earbuds themselves a marathon 18-hour artillery life, aft which you’ll request to plop them into the lawsuit and recharge them implicit USB-C. In theory, this could assistance the Solo Buds past longer since they’re apt to spell done less complaint cycles implicit their lifetime. But it’s an important happening to beryllium alert of.

Note: Beats provided The Verge with a non-mass-production illustration of the Solo Buds. As a result, this is an unscored archetypal look. Stay tuned for aboriginal coverage. 

The other diagnostic that’s obscurity to beryllium recovered is sound cancellation. The Solo 4 headphones deficiency ANC, and the Solo Buds likewise beryllium connected earthy sound isolation from their silicone receptor tips to trim the loudness of your surroundings. Beats bundles 4 sets of tips with them, including an extra-small size for those who request it. I recovered the buds plentifulness comfortable, and each earbud has laser-cut venting to trim unpleasant receptor clogging.

Sound-wise, these are comfortably successful 3rd spot compared to the Beats Fit Pro and Studio Buds Plus. They thin to travel disconnected a small level crossed a fig of my accustomed trial tracks unless I really twist them into my ears for a choky seal. Every truthful often, you tin find a way (like Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather”) that’s a decent lucifer for their tuning. But “Wreckage” by Pearl Jam didn’t onshore with overmuch force.

There’s thing violative astir the Solo Buds; if anything, they’re reasonably balanced, connection bully transmission separation, and are restrained erstwhile it comes to bass. They’re precise clean; immoderate cheaper wireless buds tin dependable arsenic though you’re listening done a blanket, but that’s not the lawsuit here. Still, contempt everything Beats says astir their “fully customized acoustic architecture” and “ergonomically angled acoustic nozzles,” the Solo Buds aren’t immoderate occurrence brace of $80 earbuds. If they outperform their price, it’s not by much.

I besides struggled with the carnal controls astatine archetypal until I recovered and memorized the saccharine spot connected each earbud, which is supra the “b” logo. If you effort to property the full surface, it won’t work.

As has been existent of astir caller Beats products, the Solo Buds are platform-agnostic, meaning they natively enactment one-tap pairing and Find My / Find My Device features connected some Android and iOS. Those are bully perks to person for the money, adjacent if you don’t get immoderate of the other frills similar caput tracking spatial audio. Multipoint connectivity is besides absent.

I person a hunch that the Solo Buds are going to merchantability precise well. Even if the dependable isn’t exemplary, there’s nary denying the allure of their $79.99 sticker tag. And Beats inactive has tons of marque powerfulness with athletes and celebrities. But determination are plentifulness of alternatives worthy checking out. Beats faces contention from Anker’s Soundcore brand, JBL, EarFun, and others successful this pricing territory, and galore of those options see sound cancellation and travel with a artillery lawsuit — albeit without the 18-hour artillery life.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge