Beats Studio Buds

Apple’s affordable AirPods alternative

- Rob Mead-Green

£129.99 FROM Beats by Dre, beatsbydre.com/uk FEATURES True wireless earbuds, Bluetooth 5.2, Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), up to 24 hours battery life between recharges (8 hours earbuds, 16 hours case with ANC off), iOS/ Android compatible, water and sweat resistant to IPX4, hands-free Siri, USB-C charging port

Beats built its name and reputation on two things: being seen on (and in) the ears of pop stars, elite athletes and other influencers; and bass, lots and lots of bass. Since Apple took over in 2014, things have slowly changed. Beats still has that cool cachet (perhaps even more so), but its cans also finally sound as good as they look – that bass bias has been replaced by something more balanced and neutral. They’re headphones for the rest of us.

That applies to their pricing too. While the second-gen AirPods Pro cost a cool £249, Beats first true wireless in-ears are £119 less. That’s chiefly down to the absence of the H1 chip that enables the AirPods Pro to support features like spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, but it also prevents the Studio Buds from seamlessly switching between devices as you move from iPhone to iPad to Mac and back – instead you have to do so manually. However, that absence also enables the Studio Buds to pair seamlessly with Android as well as Apple devices, and they still offer automatic support for Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio tracks on Apple Music.