Beats Fit Pro is $ 50 Cheaper AirPods Pro? I tried using it for a week

The design is quite different, but what about the sound? How easy is it to use?

Beats' new wireless earphone, Beats Fit Pro, is now available in the United States. Active noise canceling (ANC) while setting it at 199.99 dollars (about 22,000 yen, Japanese domestic price unpublished), about 50 dollars (5,500 yen) cheaper than AirPods Pro of 249 dollars (Japanese domestic price 30,580 yen) It is equipped with Apple's H1 chip, so it works smoothly with the iPhone, and it is compatible with spatial audio, so it makes me think "Isn't this right?"

Gizmodo reporter Caitlin McGarry has been reviewing it for about a week, so check it out!

Beats is a mysterious standing position. Their marketing was top-notch, and their low-pitched headphones were known to be used by celebrities, athletes, musicians, and others (at least when photographed). That design is "Ah, Beats" and you can see it right away. But recently Beats has expanded its defensive range from traditional over-ear headphones to Bluetooth earphones, but its design is more modest and seems to be less useful for branding. When Kim Kardashian was recently photographed wearing Beats Fit Pro, it wasn't as straightforward as the Beats "b" logo shining over-ear headphones he used before.

Being part of Apple, we expect Beats earphones to benefit from Apple's technology. However, Beats' first completely wireless earphone without ear hooks released in June this year, Studio Buds, has partially removed the function of linking with iOS like AirPods Pro. For Android users, it can be used more seamlessly than AirPods.

Anyway, I tried Beats Fit Pro for a week. As a result, I can affirm. If you want a Neucan earphone that connects to Apple devices as magically as AirPods Pro or 3rd generation AirPods and fits perfectly, you should buy Beats Fit Pro.

Beats Fit Pro

What is this? : Completely wireless earphones from Beats under Apple. Basically, AirPods Pro is 50 dollars (about 5,500 yen) cheaper.

Price: $ 199.99 (about 22,000 yen)

Likes: Wings for a secure fit when exercising, great noise-can performance, automatic device-to-device switching with Apple's H1 chip, adaptive EQ (+ α), long battery life, cheaper than AirPods Pro.

What I don't like: The charging case is big and I can't charge wirelessly.

Super stable fit

The first thing you see in Beats Fit Pro is the wing design. Unlike the Powerbeats Pro, which was fixed with a hook on the back of the ear, the Beats Fit Pro has a flexible wing, a dent on the ear canal, and a part called "ear-capped boat" according to Google search. It fits tightly. This wing holds the entire earphone in place and does not move.

Beats Fit Pro isn't the smallest Beats earphone (Studio Buds is smaller), but it's more ergonomic and has wings, which makes it fit better than Studio Buds for people with small ears. To do. Like Studio Buds, Beats Fit Pro comes with 3 sizes of silicone ear tips to choose the fit, but if you take the ear tip fit test in the iPhone's Bluetooth settings (Beats app for Android), You can find the tip that can be sealed the most.

Beats Fit Pro, high adhesion. It's not unpleasant, but as far as I know, it fits better than the AirPods Pro, which doesn't fit well in Neucan earphones. Of course, the fit of earphones varies greatly from person to person, so what is good for me is not always good for everyone.

I'm famous for dropping earphones just by putting my hair on my ears, because my hair is a curl that seems to be another creature in itself. Such incidents occur frequently while running, and nothing is more miserable than the appearance of myself chasing an AirPod rolling on the sidewalk.

Fortunately, Beats Fit Pro doesn't have this problem. Last week I paired my Beats Fit Pro with Peloton Bike + for some cycling classes, running outdoors, and doing muscle training, but I even forgot to wear earphones in the first place. In terms of weight, the AirPods Pro is 5.4g and the Beats Fit Pro is as light as 5.6g, but the Beats Fit Pro wing still works. When you sweat with exercise, the AirPods Pro tends to get out of your ears little by little, but the Beats Fit Pro doesn't move. Beats Studio Buds are also comfortable while exercising, and Beats Fit Pro, AirPods Pro, and Beats Studio Buds are IPX4 certified water and sweat resistant.

But after all, the Beats Fit Pro wing works well for fixing. No matter how hard I tried, the fit never loosened.

One of the Beats Fit Pro design elements I don't like is the charging case. However, the rounded square case is cute, and the lilac-colored and gray-inside type I tried is especially cute. But it's a little too big, not as big as the Powerbeats Pro, but it's bigger than the 3rd generation AirPods, of course, and it's a little hard to carry as a woman who isn't blessed with clothes pockets. Other than lilac, there are black and white, then gray on the outside and sage green on the inside.

AirPods Pro grade sound

Beats Fit Pro has a total of 6 mics (3 on each side) and a built-in 9.5mm dual dynamic diaphragm transducer, which is 15% larger than Beats Studio Buds. After trying it for 6 days, the overall sound quality is very good. The fit is better than the AirPods Pro, but the sound quality is about the same, and in some cases it's even better in design.

Like Beats earphones, Beats Fit Pro is good at handling bass, from the industrial bass of Kim Petras'Demons to the 90's R & B-esque beats of Normani and Cardi B's Wild Side, and vice versa. In addition, the acoustic guitar of The Mountain Goats and the low-fidelity sound of cymbal rolls can be heard exactly as it is.

With Beats Fit Pro, the bass is still more prominent than you hear on AirPods Pro. When I listened to and compared the same songs on Beats Fit Pro, AirPods Pro, and 3rd generation AirPods, they were all just as good, but I felt that AirPods and AirPods Pro often sounded more natural. The Beats Fit Pro sounds sharp and bright, and rust can be overemphasized, especially when Neucan is on. However, such an impression is in the corner of the heavy box, and the sound is very good overall.

Beats Fit Pro can be used as a single unit on the left and right earpieces, which was convenient when calling. When using both earpieces together, 5 of the 6 microphones are used to pick up your voice and mute the surrounding sounds. When using only one, all three microphones on that earpiece will be used. The call quality was clear and the other party could hear me without any problems.

Beats Fit Pro has high adhesion, so the noise can also be very high performance. This time, I haven't tried it on an airplane yet, but the result of testing whether various environmental sounds can be turned off was good. The outdoor sounds, the in-flight sounds of the airplane played at a loud volume on Sonos Playbase, and the operating sounds of my old washing machine all worked. Compared to the AirPods Pro, I felt that the Beats Fit Pro's noise canceling was about the same, if not better.

You can press and hold either earpiece to switch between noise-can mode and external sound capture mode, but you can also assign a long-press gesture to another task in the Bluetooth settings on iOS or the Beats app on Android. I liked this mode the most because turning off both noise-canning and external sound capture enables adaptive EQ and produces a sound that fits my ears. By the way, AirPods also have adaptive EQ. I find full EQ control useful for earphones that have manual control of the app, but Beats Fit Pro's adaptive EQ also works well. The only strange thing is that when you turn off the noise cancel and external sound capture mode, you can't press and hold it, you have to set it to Bluetooth.

Other Beats Fit Pro gestures aren't customizable, but they work well. Normally, pressing once will play, pause, and answer the call, pressing twice will skip forward, and pressing three times will skip backward. It can also be operated with a voice assistant.

Like AirPods Pro (or 3rd generation AirPods and AirPods Max), Beats Fit Pro supports Apple's spatial audio and also has dynamic head tracking with a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope. This is a feature that Beats Studio Buds didn't have. These mean that you'll have a more immersive audio experience when listening to Dolby Atmos songs, and the sound will change as you move your head. I enjoyed this effect on all devices that support 3D audio. It's not as much as buying something just for 3D audio, but I think it's a good sign that Beats Fit Pro has this Apple push feature.

Apple experience as expected

Other than the winged design, Beats Fit Pro differs from Beats Studio Buds in that it is equipped with Apple's H1 chip and can use functions derived from H1.

Not only is it as easy to pair with your iPhone as AirPods, Beats Fit Pro has the same features that make AirPods and AirPods Pro seamlessly connect to your iPhone. Beats Fit Pro has a wear detection function, so when you put it in your ear, you can automatically play music from the previous part or answer the phone. You know the Apple devices your users are using and can switch between them seamlessly enough (with some lag, but because of Bluetooth). Beats Studio Buds didn't have either feature.

Beats Fit Pro also works nicely with Android, which is unusual for an Apple-owned device. With support for Android Fast Pairing, it's easy to connect to your Android phone, and the Beats app allows you to customize gesture operations, check battery status, and take eartip fit tests. Spatial audio head tracking isn't available, but it does support Dolby Atmos' immersive music.

Very long battery life

The battery life of Beats Fit Pro is 7 hours when the noise cancel / external sound capture is off and 6 hours when it is on, and the case contains 23 hours when the noise cancel is off and 21 hours when it is on. So when it's off, it's a total of 30 hours, and when it's on, it's 27 hours. This is longer than the AirPods Pro, which has 5 hours for earpieces and 24 hours for cases, and is a significant improvement over Beats Studio Buds, which had 5 hours for earpieces and 10 hours for cases. When this happens, Beats Studio Buds, which just came out a few months ago, seem to have little reason to exist ...

Even when I actually used it, the battery life of Beats Fit Pro was just as touched. I listened to music and podcasts for several hours every day, made a phone call, exercised and used it for about a week, but the battery level of the case was 65% and the earphones were always charged. It seems to be okay without charging for a few weeks, which is ideal.

Unlike AirPods, the Beats Fit Pro case is USB-C wired charging. It doesn't support wireless charging, but I don't really care about it. When I want to charge, I just want to charge fast, so I feel that wireless charging is too slow. But this may vary from person to person.

Who should buy Beats Fit Pro?

Apple already has a lot of earphone options, so I was worried that it would be confusing when Beats Fit Pro came out. But it was a melancholy.Now that I've actually used it, I think Beats Fit Pro is the earphone that anyone looking for a wireless noise-can earphone should buy.

.. It fits great, has a great battery life, has the best sound quality and noise cancelling, has all of Apple's unique conveniences, and is $ 50 cheaper than the AirPods Pro. Beats Studio Buds is cheaper and includes noise canceling, but it doesn't have Apple-related features, so I think it's tough.

For those who don't need noise canceling in the first place, AirPods are really good and a little cheaper than Beats Fit Pro. However, it may be difficult to fit because it cannot be customized with ear tips.

The only complaint about the Beats Fit Pro is the charging case, but I don't think this is such a big deal either. I really like Beats Fit Pro, and I think most people will.