The standard stable connection for most true wireless earbuds is about 30 to 35 feet away from an audio source, and these buds surpass that mark by about 10 feet. It felt joyous and liberating to stream music around the house while my phone was charging in the bedroom. I didn’t experience any dropout during calls, nor was there any stuttering when streaming Spotify. Beats’ most affordable wireless earbuds give you basic on-board controls with AirPod-level quick pairing. The Flex has longer battery life than the BeatsX as well, but the overall sound quality is not great.
Read on to find out more about the Beats Flex budget wireless earbuds. The Flex’s sound profile also favors vocals and spoken content. This is great if you’re watching a movie or TV, or listening to a podcast. It’s not beats studio3 the best when you want to blast the bombastic hip-hop of Run The Jewels. The lack of appropriately boomy bass at times also impacts kick drums from metal bands like Gojira, sucking a ton of energy out of the songs.
The Jaybird are better built and have a more neutral sound profile. They also have longer-lasting battery life, and their companion app offers a parametric EQ and presets to help tweak their sound. The good news is they sound better than both the original BeatsX and standard AirPods. They also work well for making calls and have better battery life than the original. Their design is passe in a world now dominated by true wireless earbuds.
Thankfully, the neckband houses a USB-C input, so you can charge this with the same cable that charges your Android phone and laptop. Beats Flex uses a USB-C connector for charging, which is a first for the company.Apple — make up your mind about USB-C! These are the first USB-C headphones in the Beats line up. In fact, there’s only a USB-C to USB-C cable included so hopefully you own a power adapter with a USB-C port. Hopefully, this is a sign that Apple will soon ditch lightning cables altogether so that we can have one USB charging standard to rule them all.
Deviate from the script, however, and holes begin to appear. It makes sense Apple-engineered buds should work best with its own devices, but a bit more democracy wouldn’t go amiss in 2020. A dose of digital processing is there to fine-tune the frequencies and provide enough audio separation. Beats isn’t rewriting the rulebook here, but on a pair of fifty pound earphones things are rarely this well balanced. Beats Flex aren’t just an iPhone 12 proposition, though, and the Beats team deserves credit for making sure Android users are as welcome as they can be. While there are undoubtedly ways to get better audio quality out there, they generally cost considerably more than the $50 that Beats Flex ask for.
They’re three times more expensive than the Flex at $150, but the audio is so much better. They also pack in the latest Apple Bluetooth chip, the H1, so you get access to things like hands-free Siri on top of the quick-pairing. They still have the wired-wireless style similar to the Flex and 15 hours of play time. However, you do have to decide if the over-the-ear hook design is something you can live with on your earbuds.
Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence. If your budget can stretch northwards a little, Earfun’s true wireless option bypasses potential cable beats solo pro wireless noise, sounds better for detail through the higher frequencies and lasts longer before needing a charge. Having cables to the earbuds means you won’t lose them quite as easily as true wireless models. The battery in the Flex lasts for just shy of 12 hours between charges. A 10-minute quick charge when the battery is low provides about 90 minutes of playback.