The vocals on this track are delivered clearly, with a hint of added sibilance, but not enough to ruin things. Transparency mode, which uses built-in mics to let you hear your surroundings, is quite effective. And switching between the two modes is as easy as a button tap, so there’s no need to remove the headphones in order to hear someone speaking. Turning the ANC on, the first thing we notice is some slight hiss, akin to faint white noise. Interestingly, the hiss seems to be less obvious when you’re in a quiet room, versus, say, in a loud, low-frequency rumble scenario like a train. The hiss isn’t a deal breaker, and the ANC here is effective—it does a good job with office chatter, keyboard clicks, and louder low-frequencies sounds.
They have a better-performing boom mic and a companion app so you can tweak their sound to your liking. The Beats Solo Pro Wireless are more versatile headphones than the Audio-Technica ATH-M20x. The Beats are better-built, have a more neutral sound profile, which some users may prefer, and a significantly better noise isolation performance, thanks to their ANC system. They also have an integrated mic, a wireless design, and an H1 chip, so you can seamlessly pair them with your Apple devices. However, the Audio-Technica are more comfortable, and have a better passive soundstage performance.
Microsoft’s headphones feature an over-ear design and they apply much less force to the sides of your head than the Beats on-ear headphones. The ANC does a nice job of blocking out your surroundings so you can focus on the music or podcast you’re listening to. Again, these are on-ear headphones, so we’re not talking Bose or Sony levels of noise cancellation, but the Solo Pro does a very good job countering ambient distractions. Plus, the transparency mode offers a window into your environment when you need to have a quick convo or listen for your stop on the train. The Solo Pro also uses Beats’ Pure ANC, so the audio is being constantly adjusted automatically to suit your surroundings.
“It’s so simple, a child could do it.” The bulk of the Solo Pro’s controls are accessed via the hidden multifunction button in the right earcup. beats solo pro wireless Press the center of the b once to pause and once again to play. A quick double tap skips songs forward, while a triple tap goes backward.
However, the Beats are better-built and have a more neutral sound profile out-of-the-box. Beats claims a 22-hour battery life with noise cancelling turned on. We recorded nearly that, squeezing out 21 hours, 53 minutes of 75dB playback from a single charge. If you need more than that, you can get approximately 40 hours of battery life with noise cancelling and transparency mode turned off. Like other Beats products, the Beats Solo Pro supports Fast Fuel charging.