Beats Solo 4 Headphones Review: Same Look, but Better Sound and USB-C

Speaker 1: Hey there folks. Over the years you've probably seen beats solo on your headphones on a lot of people's heads. They're one of the most popular headphones of all time and this is the latest version of them, the solo four, which initially come in black, pink and the blue I'm holding here. I'm going to tell you what's improved about them and what's not and how they compare to some other models including Beats Own over your Studio Pro headphones. Let's do this. Okay, so I'm getting a little deja vu here because Beats is following the same playbook with the Solo four as it did with the Studio Pro, [00:00:30] which mostly maintained the same design as their predecessor while getting some upgrades on the inside that bumped up their performance along with USBC charging and a new improved soft case for the same list price. The SOLO four lists for $200. Speaker 1: That's what the SOLO three wireless listed for when they came out almost eight years ago in late 2016, and the SOLO four is design is nearly identical to the threes with only small refinements. The chrome accents on the outside of the hinges have been replaced [00:01:00] with a brushed matte finish and there's now only a small number four call out instead of the solo three and wireless labels on the hinges. Like with Studio Pro, the case is new and it's a definite improvement over the previous hard case as it's more compact and has pockets for the USBC charging cable and the headphone cable. The other small external change is to the material that covers the ear pads. Each says it's the same upgraded full leather that's on the Studio Pro. It's supposed to be more durable and help you get more life out of the ear pads, which unfortunately aren't replaceable from [00:01:30] what I can tell. Speaker 1: It does seem like the ear pads will hold up well over time, but I tend to treat my headphones better than some people I know, like my kids. As I said, these are on your headphones, which typically aren't as comfortable as over your headphones, but they are more compact and way less. These weigh in at 217 grams or 43 grams less than the 260 gram studio. Pros like the sold three wireless of the SOLO four are relatively comfortable for on-ear headphones with nicely cushioned ear pads. They do clamp a little, but I was okay wearing them for longer listening [00:02:00] sessions. That said, I find the Geo Pros overall more comfortable like previous Beats headphones, the SOLO four has physical buttons to control playback and volume through the left ear cup and are easy to use. Nothing new there. When I first heard the rumors that Beats was bringing out the SOLO four, I was curious whether they would have active noise canceling because it's a feature you'd expect a $200 headphone these days. Speaker 1: The Solo three wireless didn't have it, but the Step-up Solo Pro, which was discontinued in late 2021 did while the Solo four remained true to their roots and are not equipped [00:02:30] with a NC. I'm a little disappointed that they're missing that feature, but I will see that you do get some decent passive noise reduction from the cushy ear pads covering your ears. I wore them in the New York City subway and while they didn't muffle the noise as much as a good set of noise canceling headphones would, they did block out a fair amount of sound. Another missing feature is ear detection sensors that pause your music when you take the headphones off your ears and resume playback when you put them back on. A lot of headphones in this price range, particularly over your models have it ELAs, the Studio Pro [00:03:00] are also missing this feature, so this is obviously an area where Beats is cutting corners, okay, onto the bigger changes and improvements which follow a similar path to the Studio Pro. Speaker 1: On the feature side, you're getting a very similar feature set to the Studio Pro and Beats Studio Plus earbuds minus the active noise canceling like those models the solo for are geared toward both Apple and Android users and are powered by a custom Beats chip set, not Apple's H one or H two chip. They're equipped with Bluetooth [00:03:30] by 0.3. Android users are able to take advantage of Google Fast Pair and download the Beats app for Android to their devices. Interestingly, there's multi-point Bluetooth pairing for Android users with automatic switching between devices linked to your Google account. However, if you're an Apple user, the headphones link to your iCloud account, but you'll have to manually switch between devices, which some people prefer because auto switching can be a bit wonky and irritating. The headphones do connect simultaneously to your Apple Watch and your iPhone and Apple's [00:04:00] audio sharing feature for iPhone and iPad users is available for the Solo four and coming to the Studio Pro and Studio Buds plus with a firmware update. Speaker 1: Two other things that Android users don't get are spatial audio with head tracking and hands-free Siri. That's the feature where you can access Apple's voice assistant by just saying the Siri Wake command. Unlike the Buds Plus, these do have spatial audio with head tracking for Apple users video watching and music listening in my test using an iPhone 14 pro. It seems to be on par with the spatial audio you get with the AirPods Max [00:04:30] and AirPods Pro two for both Apple and Android users. There's a find my feature that helps locate your headphones should they become lost, but it's not. The more advanced precision finding is included with the Air Pods Pro two. Ultimately, I think the biggest improvements are to the sound quality and voice calling performance. These have 40 millimeter drivers, but they're not the same drivers that are in the Studio Pro, but Beast told me they revamped the acoustic architecture to help reduce distortion and automate the production process to improve consistency from unit to unit. Speaker 1: [00:05:00] It's immediately apparent that the SOLO four sound better than the SOLO three. They sound cleaner with better overall clarity and base definition. There isn't a huge difference in sound quality between the solo four and Studio Pro, but I think the Studio Pro sounds slightly more open and are slightly warmer. I would back and forth between the headphones using just regular stereo mode and spatial audio modes and the sound does change with whatever mode you're in. If you want to know more about sound quality, I do do a little bit deeper dive in my text review on cnet.com, [00:05:30] so check that out. I wouldn't say these are the most accurate or natural sounding headphones, but Beats has come a long way in terms of audio quality from their early days with boomy bass and under welding sound quality. The SOLO four sound quality is quite respectable, particularly for on your headphones and I did think the headphones sounded ever so slightly better in wired mode. Speaker 1: If you're listening to high res music files, you can not only connect these to an audio device with a 3.5 millimeter port using the included analog cable, but you can also connect them using [00:06:00] the USBC cable to get a digital wired connection to your computer or USBC equipped smartphone. I did appreciate that they have USBC audio like the Studio Pro. I should also note that when you are using the analog headphone cable, the headphones don't require power. There's no loss in audio quality. That's a nice feature as far as power goes, these do have very good battery life. They're rated for up to 50 hours of use at moderate volume levels. That's 10 hours better than what the SOLO three were waited [00:06:30] for and it does help that you're not using any extra use for active noise canceling since there is none on the voice calling front. Speaker 1: The headphones have been upgraded with beam forming digital MEMS microphones. They were analog mics on the SOLO three and these have the same advanced noise reduction algorithms as the Studio Pro, so you do get very similar voice calling performance as the Studio Pro and it's generally very good. Here's a test call I recorded that gives you a sense of the call quality though. Note that the call is recorded via the internet so you lose [00:07:00] a little bit of fidelity in my voice. Alright, I'm on a test call in the streets of New York City with fellow editor Speaker 2: Josh Goldman. Josh, I have bunch of traffic in the background, a little bit of wind too. Let me know how I sound. Speaker 3: Your voice quality is fine, it's nothing special. Sounds like an average Bluetooth connection, but the noise reduction, whatever is going on there, it works great because I can't hear anything really in the background. There's an [00:07:30] occasional low burst of static or something, but otherwise it's all nice and clear and I can't hear anything in the background. Speaker 1: So those are the Beach Solo four in a nutshell, pretty much the same look on the outside, but some notable improvements on the inside that bump up their performance by about 25 to 30%. When it comes to sound quality battery life and voice calling, would I pay $200 for these? No, I wouldn't. But if you look at what's happened with the Studio Pros pricing, which we've seen drop to as low as $200 [00:08:00] or $150 off their list price, they're not really going to cost $200. I think we'll see them fairly soon for what the SOLO three now costs, which is around $130. They make a lot more sense at that price, particularly if you're looking for a more compact on your headphone and don't need active noise canceling. This is where you'll see competing on your headphones like JBLs, $130 Live, six 70 NC and a hundred dollars Tune six 70 nc, both of [00:08:30] which feature active noise canceling and also sound good. That said, I think the Solar four have better build quality and extra features like USBC audio and spatial audio with head tracking. Overall, I think the Solar four are very good on here, wireless headphones. Just make sure to get them when they do go on sale, but lemme know what you think. Do you think BEAT should have changed up the solo's design or are you happy they kept it mostly the same? Post your comments below and hit the like button if you found this video informative at all. I'm David Connor cnet. Thanks for watching.