The first true wireless earbuds under $100 from Beats (and by extension Apple) are here. Starting today, you can order the $79.99 Solo Buds online in four different colors – black, purple, red and gray – and they’ll hit stores on June 20. The red earbuds have one advantage over the others: they have a translucent case reminiscent of the case that comes with the Studio Buds Plus. The earbuds themselves are opaque, but it still looks great. I tested the Solo Buds for a few days and that candy red case really stands out. And no matter which color you choose, it’s the smallest carrying case for all Beats earbuds yet.
But therein lies one of the tradeoffs the company has made to achieve this lower price. See, unlike almost all competitors on the market, this case doesn’t come with a battery to charge the earbuds when you’ve put them away. Instead, Beats decided to give the earbuds themselves an 18-hour battery life, after which you have to put them in the case and charge them via USB-C. In theory, this could make the Solo Buds last longer, as they’ll likely go through fewer charging cycles over their lifespan. But it is important to be aware of it.
Remark: Beats provided The edge featuring a non-mass production sample of the Solo Buds. As a result, this is an unscored first look. Stay tuned for more information on voice calling performance and more as soon as we get the shipping version.
$80
The Solo Buds are Beats’ first true wireless earbuds that cost less than $100. They forego features like noise cancellation and a battery case in favor of a long 18-hour playback time.
The other One feature that’s nowhere to be found is noise cancellation. The Solo 4 headphones don’t have ANC, and the Solo Buds similarly rely on natural noise isolation from their silicone eartips to reduce the loudness of your surroundings. Beats bundles four sets of tips, including an extra small size for those who need it. I found the earbuds to be very comfortable, and each earbud has laser-cut ventilation to reduce unpleasant ear congestion.
In terms of sound, these come in a comfortable third place compared to the Beats Fit Pro and Studio Buds Plus. They tend to come up a little flat on some of my usual test tracks unless I Real twist them in my ears for a good seal. Every now and then you can find a song (like Billie Eilish’s ‘Birds of a Feather’) that suits their mood. But Pearl Jam’s “Wreckage” didn’t land with much force.
There’s nothing offensive about the Solo Buds; In any case, they are reasonably balanced, offer good channel separation and are subdued when it comes to bass. They are very clean; some cheaper wireless earbuds can sound like you’re listening through a blanket, but that’s not the case here. Still, despite everything Beats says about their “fully custom acoustic architecture” and “ergonomically oriented acoustic mouthpieces,” the Solo Buds are not a miracle pair of $80 earbuds. If they outperform their price, it’s not much.
I also struggled with the physical controls at first until I found and memorized the sweet spot on each earbud, which is above the “b” logo. If you try to press the entire surface, it won’t work.
As is the case with most recent Beats products, the Solo Buds are platform agnostic, meaning they natively support one-tap pairing and Find My/Find My Device features on both Android and iOS. Those are nice benefits for the money, even if you don’t get the extra frills like head-tracking spatial audio. Multipoint connectivity is also missing.
I suspect that the Solo Buds will sell very well. Even if the sound isn’t exemplary, the appeal of their $79.99 sticker label is undeniable. And Beats still has a lot of brand power with athletes and celebrities. But there are plenty of alternatives worth checking out. Beats faces competition from Anker’s Soundcore brand, JBL, EarFun and others in this price range, and many of those options include noise cancellation and come with a battery case – albeit without the 18-hour battery life.
Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge