What is the earphone that sells the most in the world?
Beats’ Solo series.
Before officially introducing us to the new Solo Pro, Beats CEO Luke Wood revealed to us:
The Solo series has sold more than 30 million units since its first headset, making it the most sold of all brands.
This most popular product ushered in its biggest update in history last month. Of course, this update is felt from its name: Solo Pro.
If you don’t know its name, I might see this earphone at first sight, I don’t think it will be a new product in the Solo series.
Because of its appearance, the Solo Pro is more like Beats’ other entry-level wired headset, the Beats EP.
But even so, the design of the Solo Pro, both in its entirety and in the details, is more upscale than the previous generation.
First of all, the overall outer casing has changed from the previous bright surface to matte matte, and the texture is stronger. It is not easy to leave fingerprints. It will not become a “big face” after a long time.
The new head beam has been redesigned and the length adjustment has changed from stepped to stepless. The damping is also quite in place during the adjustment, it will not be difficult, and it will not be too loose to cause the pull to pull over.
Including the headphone earphone connection part and the head beam hinge part, on this earphone, all the metal parts you can see are made of matte textured anodized aluminum.
In terms of buttons, Solo Pro was chopped, canceled the power switch, and retained the music control button in the b logo and the noise reduction mode switch button on the side of the headset.
How do I switch the power on without the power button? When using Solo Pro, expand the headset, the headset will automatically turn on, fold the headset, and the phone will automatically shut down.
I believe this feature design, for users like me who are used to using the headset after the headset is placed on the headset or directly on the table, it takes a while to adapt.
But you don’t have to worry about using the earphones because you forget to fold the headphones. Because the headphones have an accelerometer inside, you can detect if the headphones are worn. When the headset is not wearing and the music is not playing, the headset automatically enters a sleep mode with lower power consumption.
In addition, the power button is removed.5mm headphone input interface, no longer attached to the headphone cable on the package. This means that once the Solo Pro is out of power, it is no longer possible to plug in the headphone cable like the previous generation and continue to use it as a wired headset.
As for the earmuffs, the Solo Pro is bigger and thicker than the previous generation, and the filler inside seems to be softer than the previous generation.
So comfortable to wear?
First of all, although they are called headsets, they are also divided into earphones like Solo Pro and earphones like Studio 3, Bose 700 and Sony WH-1000XM3.
The latter will cover your entire ear, and the pressure on the ear will be relatively small, while the former will hold your ear and the pressure will be greater.
So unless your tolerance is different from ordinary people, it is unlikely that you will wear the Solo Pro on the ear for a long time.
As for an hour-long commute, or a two- or three-hour short flight, Solo Pro will have a performance. Due to the short experience time, we will leave a detailed evaluation later to answer.
Here, let’s share with you the first feeling of wearing. Compared to the previous generation, the progress is obvious, although there will still be a little bit of ear, but it has been much lighter than the previous generation.
The same is true for the head beam.
In addition to the larger vents (between the gap between the head beam and the earmuffs), the ear pressure is well balanced after wearing the headphones. In other words, it won’t be boring, and it won’t feel cramped.
Incorporating active noise reduction is the biggest update highlight of this Solo Pro. Although the experience was indoors, Beats also gave us an outdoor feel through two stereo speakers and several different outdoor scene videos.
Experienced, Solo Pro’s noise reduction effect is very similar to Studio 3. When you first wear it, you don’t have the feeling that the world will be quiet at once. But this sense of quietness will gradually increase.
The medium and low frequency noise of the subway and aircraft roaring is well filtered, but the sudden sound of the car horn, the irregular vocals can only reduce the volume, and can not be completely filtered out.
The overall noise reduction is still slightly inferior to the Bose 700 and Sony WH-1000XM3.
Wind noise is a signature skill in Studio 3. Although it can’t be experienced indoors, Beats tells us this skill.It has also been passed to Solo Pro.
In fact, compared to noise reduction, “Transparent Mode” is the biggest surprise that Solo Pro gave me this time. I am here to say the conclusion directly, which is comparable to the experience on AirPods Pro.
In fact, the transparent mode is also known as the “environmental sound mode”. However, the experience is different from other headphones. After turning on the “Transparent Mode”, the Solo Pro gives me the feeling (the sense of hearing) more like I have already taken off the headphones.
This means that the sound of the environment brought by Solo Pro does not have too many traces of digital processing. Naturally, you may even feel that Solo has a “transparent mode” instead of taking off the headphones. Pro hears more clearly.
In fact, there is another important indicator for measuring the environmental sound mode. The speed of switching is not fast enough. Because most of the scenes to use the ambient sound mode are wearing headphones, someone suddenly finds you to chat.
Switching fast enough means there is no such thing as “Wait a minute” or “You say it again.”
At this point, Solo Pro is still doing quite well. In addition to switching on the phone, you can also switch to the transparent mode directly through the physical button on the side of the headset. The speed of the switch is also fast enough, basically the switch is completed at the moment of pressing.
As far as sound quality is concerned, since the experience time is very short, I can’t feel it too carefully, but I can only say that Solo Pro just met expectations and didn’t give me too much surprise. The bass is still outstanding, and it is more friendly to pop concerts, but the sensation of the previous generation has been reduced a lot.
In fact, after being acquired by Apple, especially the products launched in recent years have been more balanced in sound, Solo Pro is naturally one of them. The specific sound quality performance, we will analyze it in detail later.
Can Andorid mobile users use it?
When introducing us to the new product, Beats CEO Luke Wood also highlighted:
Even Android users get almost the same experience as iOS users.
In fact, Beats launched an Android app earlier, with the app using headphones, connected to iOS as cool and convenient (yes, there are animations), the power can also be displayed in real time.
In addition to Hey Siri, Solo Pro can also call out Google Assistant (buttons for domestic users).
As far as sound quality and noise reduction are concerned, there is naturally no discount because you are using an Android phone.
In general, since you can add “Pro” to the name suffix, naturally, like other Pro products, there are many improvements in your product line.
The promotion of Solo Pro is also obvious, and it is not only reflected in the active noise reduction, “transparent mode”, but also in the wearing experience, sound quality, design and interaction.
All things are Pro? No, this Pro is what this generation of Solo products deserve.
This is limited to comparisons with your predecessor. There are still some gaps between Bose 700 and Sony WH-1000XM3 and even your own Studio 3. After all, the product form and positioning are different.
Want a more ultimate headset experience? Let’s look forward to the arrival of Studio Pro.