Apple Releases New Beats Solo Pro With Noise-Cancellation

Beats just introduced its new $299.95 wireless headphones called Solo Pro with a noise-cancelling feature, common on-ear design found in previous Solo headphones. In fact, Solo Pro is actually the Solo 4 Wireless, but its name was changed to match the Powerbeats Pro line (and the iPhone 11 Pro and any other Apple’s tech product with “pro” in its name). This new pair of headphones is the first on-ears of Beats with active noise cancellation and will be on the market on October 30th.

Beats wireless headphones can be seen everywhere. And the Solo Pros are classified as a flagship consumer model. The company hopes that the Beats logo will appear on the streets, on public transportations, at the gym or worn by celebrities. The company regards the Solo Pros as a part of the collection of “next generation” products, with the Powerbeats Pro being the first one in the collection.

The Solo Pro clearly get the inspiration from Solo 3. But Beats said that it has redesigned the headphones. A few notable changes are: the two metal sliders are now completely exposed, making the headphones no longer looking like a plastic block like the previous generations. Beats is confident that the new aluminum sliders will not move accidentally, ensuring a good seal while optimizing noise cancellation.

The Solo Pro doesn’t have any power button because it will automatically turn on when being unfolded and turn off when being folded and put into its case. Instead of a glossy, cheap-looking finish, the new headphones have a matte finish. The color options include ivory, gray, black, light blue, dark blue, and read. The last three colors are limited edition as a collaboration with Pharrell Williams.

The company has also redesigned the ear cushions to have the softest, most comfortable and secure fit. Beats also focused on the clamping force so that wearers can put on the Solo Pro in hours without having any head pain. At least, that’s what the company hopes.

On the left ear cup, at the bottom, there is a circular button that activates noise cancellation once pressed. The button is placed at the position of the 3.5 mm line on previous Beats headphones. Beats has gotten rid of this completely. So if you want to use the headphones in a wired connection, an adapter for the Lightning port will be needed.

Obviously, Beats can’t go against Apple when it comes to killing the headphone jack.

The Studio 3 Wireless’ adaptive noise cancellation tech called Pure ANC has been brought to Solo Pro. However, since the Studio is over-ear headphones, the company needed to adjust the noise cancellation algorithms.

According to Beats, the Solo Pro will record an audio clip from the environment and eliminate the common interfering frequencies. The effect will automatically be changed if a wearer wears glasses, earrings or anything that can affect the fit of the headphones, even when it is just your hair.

The headphones will make a comparison between the noise-canceled waveform and the original file for sound quality optimization and make sure that the noise cancellation process doesn’t create any unwanted audio artifacts.

This process makes use of Apple’s H1 chip. At the same time, it allows you to use voice commands and pair the headphones with any Apple device. The feature fore audio sharing which was introduced in iOS 13.1 is also supported. With this feature, you can listen to the same movie/TV show or music as other wearer wearing other Beats headphones or AirPods offering this feature.

Unlike other headphone manufacturers, including Microsoft and Bose, Beats doesn’t allow you to adjust the level of noise cancellation. You can either activate it or turn it off. Once ANC is activated, the Solo Pro can work for 22 hours (on both iOS and Android). If you are in a quiet environment and don’t need ANC, the time can last up to 40 hours with one charge. It’s unfortunate that the Solo Pro is still charged via Lightning rather than USB-C. Fast Fuel feature is still available with which you can charge for 10 minutes and use the headphones for 3 hours.

As noise cancellation can make you feel isolating, there is also a built-in transparency mode. Another tap and you can hear the noises of your surroundings. The company has been making its efforts in making the audio as naturally sounded as possible.

In terms of sound quality, according to Beats, the Solo Pro is built “build upon Solo 3 Wireless’ award-winning sound profile with an evolved acoustic platform to drive improved performance.” The 40-millimeter drivers are still there. But they have been re-engineered to have “exceptional frequency response with lower total harmonic distortion.”

The Solo Pro has a slightly warmer sound quality and a bit clearer compared with its previous generations. The headphones have two microphones working together with a speech-detecting accelerometer, resulting in an excellent voice call quality.