Beats Studio 3 Wireless Review

COMPLETE REVIEW

Beats is an electronics manufacturer based in California and founded by Dr. Dre and one of the co-founders of Interscope Records. Since 2014, the company is a subsidiary of Apple.

Beats is a very popular brand when it comes to consumer headphones and speakers. The Studio 3 is a wireless model, with Adaptive Noise Cancelling.

Main specifications:

• Height: 7.2 in
• Weight: 9.17 oz
• On-board call, music, volume controls
• Noise isolation
• Adaptive Noise Cancelling
• Battery: Up to 22 hours
• Apple W1 chip for Class 1 Wireless Bluetooth

The Beats Studio 3 come in a wide palette of colors: black, white, red, blue, shadow gray and porcelain rose.

The design of the headphones pretty much follows the Beats signature: while they are made of plastic, they somehow manage not to convey a cheap look. They have a slick design, the ear cups are covered in synthetic leather, are soft enough to feel comfortable on your ears, and have the Beats logo on them. The headphones are foldable. The only drawback to them is that after longer periods of time, your ears will get really warm. The fact that there’s no metal in the Studio 3, makes them light and easy to carry around.  

When it comes to battery life, the Beats Studio 3 last for up to 22 hours of play with the noise-cancelling enabled and around 40 with it off. The Fast Fuel feature gives you 3 additional hours of battery life with only 10 minutes of charging. What we didn’t like about these headphones though, in terms of battery life, is that it seems to vary depending on whether you are using iOS devices or other types of gadgets. There is an Apple W1 chip inside them which ensures the aforementioned battery life, but only when used with iOS devices. If you are using them with Android for instance, that battery life drops dramatically, to approximately half.

This difference is also noticeable when it comes to connection, with a better pairing on iOS.

Sound

When it comes to sound, the Studio 3 model has definitely been improved compared to previous versions. While these headphones still focus a little more on the low frequencies, they are no longer muddy and exaggerated when it comes to bass. Their sound quality is also equally good regardless of the type of device you are using (iOS or Android). Mids are well balanced and highs are crisp. They are also considerably louder than a lot of other headphones we’ve tested. What is missing though is that sense of space and depth provided by other top competitors such as Bose or Bowers and Wilkins.

The noise-cancelling feature of the Beats Studio 3 is good enough, but not the best. It will manage to block most of the outside noise, but again, is not as effective as say the QC35 or the Sony WH-1000XM2.

Most of the smart controls of the Beats Studio 3 are placed on the left ear cup. There’s also a button on the right ear piece, which lets you enable or disable the noise-cancelling and turn the headphones on or off.

There’s Google Assistant and Siri support and the ability to take calls. The call quality is very good.

On iOS gadgets there’s seamless switching between devices. Thanks to the W1 chip, you also get a better range, of approx. 45 feet.

Beats Studio 3 are smart and sound good. Battery life is great, the price, not so much, and we would have liked them better if they weren’t better optimized for Apple devices.