Beats Solo3 Review

The Solo3 offers decent all-around performance, but in many areas, they fall short of similarly priced wireless headphones.

Performance Comparison

Sound Quality

The Solo3 sounded better than the average pair of headphones but not exceptional in our testing. Where the Solo3 really shines is in its clarity. Everything from crowded guitar riffs to swung notes on ride cymbals sounded crisp and clear. In this capacity, these headphones were just shy of the clarity of top-scoring models.

The major downside to the Solo3 is its bass, which was very weak compared to other high-end models. This robbed some degree of depth from most music. Overall, this sound profile makes the Solo3 great for things like podcasts and acoustic music, but it makes things like bass-heavy rock or hip hop sound a bit flat compared to other high-end models.

Noise Isolation

Noise Isolation is one area where the Solo3 really falls short of other high-end models. This is mostly because the Solo3 lacks an active noise-canceling feature, which is standard for most models in this price range. Though the headphones themselves do a decent job of muffling ambient noise, even with loud music playing, we could still hear a slightly quieter version of most of the surrounding noise. This paled compared to the almost complete sound isolation of the active noise-canceling models.

Comfort

The Solo3 was again lacking in our comfort testing. These are the only on-ear headphones that we tested, so they put some pressure on your ears by design. While this is fine for short periods after time, after using them for an hour or two, our ears were aching for a break. In contrast, over-ear models from Bose and Sony stayed on our heads all day without any complaint.

User Friendliness

The Solo3 is fairly easy to use but can be a bit finicky. The headphones have a single button that functions as a play/pause button. You can also quickly press twice to skip forward a track or press three times to go back a track. To fast forward, you press twice and hold on the second press. None of these commands are particularly intuitive once you get past the play/pause functionality, so there is a slight learning curve.

One plus for Apple users is that the Solo3 uses the proprietary Apple W1 chip. This makes pairing with Apple devices even easier than usual. It also means that once you pair these headphones with one of your Apple devices, every other device logged into your Apple account will immediately recognize the headphones.

Portability

The Solo3 was the most portable headphones that we tested. These headphones weigh just 7.5 ounces and fold up into a tiny, padded carrying case. These things will certainly not weigh you down when you carry them on to your next flight.

Should You Buy the Solo3?

Unfortunately, the Solo3 price to performance ratio isn't particularly good. Today's standard expects active noise cancellation in this price range. The Beats Solo3 are fairly good headphones that still fail to live up to their list price. If you're considering spending this much on wireless headphones, there are much better options available.

What Other Wireless Headphones Should You Consider?