Beats by Dr. Dre - Beats Solo³ Wireless Headphones - Matte Silver

Let's get this out of the way: Beats (now owned by Apple) isn't going to win any awards when it comes to sound quality. That's not to say that these are bad but they definitely provide a sculpted, bass boosted sound signature that purists will frown upon. Personally, I enjoy the sound quality but wish there was a little more detail in the highs. The lows and mids come through quite nicely but the highs need a little work. They don't sound nearly as muddy as the older generation of Beats products. They do sound the same as the Solo 2 wireless headphones that preceded them. So, if you liked those, you'll like these. Rap, hip-hop, EDM, radio rock, dance, electronics, and pop music all benefit from the sculpted sound signature that these provide. Metal sounds OK but it would benefit from having the mids set back a little while turning up the highs. Some of the drums (mainly the cymbals and hi-hats) lose their detail with these. It's still very listenable but would benefit from more detail in the highs. I purchased the rose gold Solo3's for myself. I was initially worried that the color would be too pink but, in reality, it's actually more of a copper-brown color. I'm really enjoying the rose gold, these are some of the most stylish headphones I have ever used. I just hope that the white portions can keep their color and don't become dirty over time. The Solo3's have controls built into the left ear cup so that you can play/pause music, skip tracks or go back, fast forward and rewind, and bring up Siri or the Google assistant. The controls work nicely and I didn't have any issues with my iPhone 7 Plus or my Surface Pro 4. I do wish that the center button would bring up Cortana in Windows 10. I do like that the controls are sleek and hidden, you wouldn't even know they were built into the left earcup. I think it's a better option than what Sony, Sennheiser, V-Moda, Bose, and pretty much everyone else does (they normally have physical buttons on the sides of the earcups). Pairing with my iPhone 7 Plus was simple and easy. I simply turned the headphones on near my iPhone and they were automatically detected. I was able to pair them with my Surface Pro 4 but I had to follow the standard procedure. The W1 Bluetooth chip that Apple uses in the Solo3's provides a very solid experience. The range that it provides is unmatched by any other wireless headphone that I've used (I've probably gone through 25 different ones). I can have music playing on either my iPhone 7 Plus or my Surface Pro 4 and the headphones will work, flawlessly, all over my house and even outdoors. I was able to mow my lawn while listening to music on my Surface without the connection dropping out. That is really impressive and I have never experienced a pair of Bluetooth headphones with this kind of signal strength. My Apple Watch doesn't interfere with my iPhone either. I have used a couple of headphones where my Apple Watch would cause issues but not these. Apple really hit it out of the park when it comes to wireless connectivity. The Solo3's also have stellar battery life. I routinely get over 40 hours per charge out of mine. I normally listen to music 2 hours a day during the weekdays and I can easily get 5 weeks of use before I have to plug them in. That's not a big deal either. Normally, with wireless headphones, you would have to plug them in for a good 30-60 minutes before you would fill them enough to get you through a couple of hours. Not anymore. A 5-minute charge will get you a good 3 hours of playback, a 2 hour charge will completely fill these. That is truly impressive and beats every other wireless headphone on the market. Granted, these don't have noise cancellation and are on-ear instead of over-the-ear headphones. Still, it's rather impressive to go a whole month without worrying about recharging my headphones. Lastly, there's the comfort. A lot of people complain about these headphones saying that they aren't very comfortable and I guess they're right. At the same time, I haven't found any on-ear pair of headphones that are actually comfortable. Either they grip your ears tight and stay on or they are too loose and fall off, you can't have both. I had a pair of Bose SoundLink II on-ear headphones and they could never stay on. They were light but never gripped my head enough so the slightest of motions would send them off my head. The Solo3 headphones are the complete opposite. These securely stay on my head without issues. To me, this is fine and I would rather have on-ear headphones like this that stay put instead of adjusting my headphones every few minutes because they're slipping off. There's ample padding around the earcups and, honestly, I don't have any comfort issues. I am able to wear these for hours on end without taking a break. I'm not sure if my ears are just not physically sensitive, if I have a higher threshold for pain, or if reviewers are just being picky. These definitely don't clamp down on my ears like the Sol-Republic wireless headphones did, those would get uncomfortable to the point where I had to take them off every couple of hours. My only real complaint regarding the comfort is that my ears hurt while wearing these with sunglasses. That's the norm, for me, with on-ear headphones and one reason why I prefer earbuds. The Solo3's represent the first Apple-influenced headphones from Beats. Apple didn't change the design or the sound, both of which I was already a fan of with the Solo 2 wireless headphones. Instead they upgraded the internals of these headphones by using Apple's own W1 Bluetooth chip, which drastically increases efficiency and wireless range, and a slightly larger battery. I am surprised that Apple didn't switch these over to Lightning from micro-USB but I'm sure Android smartphone users are fine with that. These have a class-leading wireless range along with truly excellent battery life. The sound signature isn't for purists but these are fun to listen to. Bass is definitely boosted while the detail in the highs takes a backseat. I'm not sure if these are worth the $299 retail. At that price, I feel like you're only paying for the solid wireless technology along with the battery life. However, at Best Buy's sale price ($250), I think these are well worth it. My favorite color is the rose gold. It feels a little awkward listening to a band like Lamb of God through rose gold headphones but it works, the color doesn't affect the sound quality. My wife likes her standard gold pair of Solo3 headphones.

I'm somewhat of a headphone connoisseur. I own a staggering six pair of premium-quality Bluetooth headphones that I've purchased since 2014, all of them supporting at least Bluetooth 4.0. So when I give a recommendation stating that I'm now using a pair of Bluetooth headphones exclusively and the rest are gathering dust, that has to mean something. First of all, let me get this out of the way: I use Bluetooth headphones excessively and for a variety of purposes. I am wearing them for about 8 to 10 hours per day on weekdays, and 12 to 16 hours on weekends. I detached myself permanently from headphone wires in about 2012 and have been looking for better and better headphones ever since. The main things I look for in a pair of Bluetooth headphones are: portability; durability; ease of pairing to all my devices and switching between devices; signal strength and reliability over moderate distances; and of course, audio quality. I also care about the little quality of life things, like the absence of loud and irritating "pop" noises when the headphones switch from actively playing audio to standby mode, and the ability for the headphones to drown out at least some of the background noise for activities like public transportation commuting and trying to work in a busy office. In almost all categories, the Beats Solo3 Wireless are as good or better than the competition, even though they only cost half as much as I usually pay for high-end Bluetooth headphones (I usually pay around $500). Most of what makes these headphones amazing originates from their Apple W1 Bluetooth chipset. This chip has an incredible ability to instantly and effortlessly pair between my different Apple and non-Apple devices, and switching between them is easier than it is with any other pair of Bluetooth headphones I've ever owned. This is insanely important for me, because I use them with my iPhone for phone calls, my Macbook Pro and Alienware laptop for listening to music and gaming, my iPad for watching videos, and my desktop's Bluetooth receiver for gaming. I think I switch between Bluetooth devices about 6 times a day, and I have to constantly fight and struggle and re-pair and unpair, etc. sometimes for minutes at a time to switch devices with any other pair of headphones.... except for these special headphones. Bluetooth is supposed to be an open standard where all the vendors participate and can get equal access to making their headphones compatible with computing devices like phones, tablets and computers. But in reality, it appears that Apple and Beats have cornered the market on producing headphones that are maximally compatible, reliable, and easy to pair and switch around. And I say that as someone who extensively uses my Beats headphones with NON-Apple devices, such as Windows PCs! I don't know how to put it differently: these are simply awesome. The audio quality is fine; I think the audio quality isn't noticeably worse than my $500 Beoplay headphones. And while there's no Active Noise Cancelling (which I DO appreciate on my Beoplay pair), I've learned to live without it: I'm slightly more aware of my environment without ANC, which can actually be a good thing, and the passive canceling on these is pretty good for those annoyingly loud noises in the environment, most of the time. Oh, and as far as range and dropouts? I often leave my iDevices or PCs sitting on my desk and move across the hallway, into the bathroom while listening to a podcast or video, and I've never once heard a single dropout with any of my devices. I can't claim the same flawless experience with competition from Beoplay or Sennheiser or Meelectronics. I really can't praise these headphones enough. The only thing I would like to see done differently in a subsequent release would be a sturdier, less plastic, more premium materials type design, maybe some of that magnesium alloy they use to build the sturdy chassis of ThinkPads. Or maybe the aluminum that they use to build iPhones. That would be awesome. I feel like I have to treat my Beats very gently or they're liable to fall apart. So durability is definitely a concern long-term. But as long as they last, I'll definitely enjoy the electronic internals of these headphones being as close to perfection as I've ever seen in a pair of wireless headphones that is compatible with a wide array of devices. Oh, and it helps that the battery life is basically the best on the market for any kind of Bluetooth headphones based on my research. Other vendors have tied Beats in expected battery life, but none have exceeded them by any significant margin. So if you don't like having to charge your headphones daily, these are one of maybe 3 or 4 different models of headphones that you can buy today with that kind of insane battery life. Just a short couple of years ago, I had a perception of Beats as a brand that was completely out of touch with what consumers wanted, offering anemically low battery life around 8 hours, with out of date Bluetooth protocol support, poor codec support, and limited compatibility. This product is the polar opposite of that in every way, and I couldn't possibly be happier. My quality of life is a little bit better each and every day because of this product, and I like them so much that I bought a second pair for use exclusively at work, so I don't have to risk damaging my Beats in transit.

I have to make an admission up front: I am a Bose fan. Headphones... earbuds... portable speakers... mine usually has a Bose nameplate on it. I have avoided buying Beats products for years because of the Beats snobbery that I developed in the early days of Beats headphones. They had a reputation for boomy overdone bass and a popularity with listeners who are young enough to be my grandchildren. Then I tried the Beats Solo 3. These have a much more grown up sound than I ever expected from a Beats product. They sound great... maybe not for a "critical" listener, but I think that's overblown anyway. I love clear crisp sound, but I'm not going to be ridiculously demanding. But that W1 wireless chip! OMG is that thing going to change the Bluetooth market! I can almost guarantee that it will change the way that you listen to your music. The low power consumption, range, and connection stability are so far above anything else on the market that I'd bet the competition is scrambling to catch up. I routinely leave my iPhone plugged into the charger in my house while I roam around doing things inside. I have gotten accustomed to positioning myself so that the Bluetooth radio faces the phone, otherwise the music drops out or stutters when I get very far away. But the Solo 3's never falter until you get far far away from them. In fact, I forgot that I was wearing them and walked outside to get the mail... and got sidetracked with something in my yard. I had walked to the far end of the yard before I realized that I was still listening to music streaming from my phone inside the house... easily 150-200 feet away! And I was skeptical about the claim of 40 hours on a battery charge. I haven't run them dry yet, but I did listen all day at work and after 6 solid hours of listening the battery meter on my iPhone reported that they'd gone from 100% down to 91% charged. My doubts are lessening. I haven't used the Fast Fuel feature yet, but the claim is that a 5 minute charge will give you 3 hours of listening time. If that's true, that's a huge benefit. So with the grown up sound and great W1 wireless chipset features... maybe I'm not such a Bose fanboy any more.

I wanted Beats since they came out, but they've always been pricey. I got an Apple Watch to run with and I hate in ear because they always lose the seal, which loses the bass (I tried a lot). I loved my old Sol Tracks, which were in line with the old Beats Solo, but cheaper. I wanted the Sol Tracks Air, but the Air model was discontinued after Sol was bought out. Then I found the Beats Solo3 Wireless on sale! I bought them and was immediately disappointed. It seems Beats has finally caved to the constant self absorbed professional whiners that Bose is better, so they dropped the bass and made everything super crisp and clear - too much so, I'm afraid - rap, hip hop and dance don't sound right to me, and the "equalizer" is almost flat with a slight lean toward treble. It was hard to hear the once famous bass from this brand on a lot of songs I loved, especially at lower volumes. The wireless pairing was awesome, but I had a lot of trouble turning them off. I had to look up how to turn them off to be sure I was trying to do it right (I was), and then I had to look up how to reset them to turn them off! This happened a lot. They bounced a little when I ran. The band is heavy, so when I did anything at the gym that wasn't vertical, they were sliding back and forth. When I was mowing the lawn, they fell off! These would definitely be worth a shot for the self proclaimed audiophiles who never made their own music of any kind, but they aren't for active listeners. Also note, they took a light drop and not only did the finish scratch, but the housing lost a large chip, much like an unprotected iPhone, but these do not have a case option for wearing around like the iPhone. For $300 ($220 on sale when I tried them) I expect a headphone I can do anything with for years, not just wear at a desk! Why else would you buy a wireless headset? After trying a few more brands, I bought a discontinued pair of Sol Tracks Air online and I like the full sound with constant tones at any volume with any genre.

Just to be clear I am over 40 and close to 50 and I am not a regular listener of Rap/ Hip hop. I do listen to EDM regularly though. I had originally thought to upgrade my Bose QC 15 Headphones to the Bose QC 35. I ordered them and picked them up. On my way to pick them up I figured I would go to the sample area and give them a listen after all no commitment until I pick them up. They essentially sounded the same as my QC15 headphones, maybe a little more depth to the sound which is a good thing. After I picked up my QC35 headphones I wandered over the Beats Area smirked and put on the Solo 3 Wireless. I was surprised how great they really sounded. They had a bass punch that the Bose lacked. I am far from a bass head but I do enjoy the punch. I will say that some of the mids do get muddy but just a bit, but not terrible. Plus, on sale they were $100 cheaper, so I took a chance and exchanged them, I figured I can bring them back if I don't like them. Pairing was super easy with iOS, the phone asks if you want to pair then pairs then transfers that pairing to all iOS and Mac devices. The range on these things is also unreal, as is I am told the battery life (just got them so I don't know yet). I am not sure if the QC 35 is better than the Solo 3 wireless, but I know it isn't $100 better.

I was not a big fan of Beats back when they first came on the scene, because they just have an overwhelming amount of bass - so I believed everyone else on the internet when they said they hadn't really changed - until I saw the 90th anniversary Mickey Mouse edition released. We are HUGE Disney fans, so I naturally kicked around having to try them. I went to the store and tried on the Beats Solo3 Wireless so many times and decided that they actually sound pretty good, but I was still torn - until my Fiancé surprised me with them for an early Valentines' day gift because she knew I'd been kicking them around. They haven't left my ears since - seriously. I've worn them all week at my desk. I've used them for meetings, music, phone calls, you name it. 4 days in and we're still on 50% battery life. They are extremely FUN to listen to. I know they're not reference quality, but I really enjoy the sound signature on these for almost everything I listen to. My only complaint is that they make my ears a bit sore and I have to give them a rest every few hours, but I"m slowly getting used to them - I've never had on-ear headphones before. I used to use Bose QC35, exclusively, and those haven't left my bag since I got these - they might come out for travel, but after the fun sound of these, it's hard to use anything else. Nice work on these, Apple. Impressive battery life, decent, fun sound, and an awesome Mickey Mouse design. Really enjoying them!

My daughters have to have the "cool" Beats. Personally I would rather have a better set of Bose for about the same price or even a bit less or a comparable set of Sony for half the cost. However, I was a teenager once and wanted certain brands...While they have a great design and sound great, they are not worth the price, even on sale. In addition, the wireless is problematic at best. The first set my daughter had just stopped working wirelessly. Thanks to Apple's great customer service, we had a replacement in a few days. However, the same issue happened again. Upon a bit or online research, sounds like not an uncommon issue. Ultimately, was not a huge deal as she uses them wired mostly anyway (so am glad I got Solo instead of Studio, as when I was shopping, I heard that if the battery dies on them, they do not even work wired, so I chose Solo), but they are about $100 higher than Solo2 and I assume most of which is because of them being wireless. Bottom line, both my nephews want Beats for Christmas as well so found myself looking for people who still had Solo2 so I do not have to pay the extra $100 for wireless since it seems to be an issue.

I love my beats solo 3 headphones for a few reasons. Some are important, like how insanely easy it is to sync these to my other apple products. It's sort of like magic, only real. Another important feature is the insane battery life! I can listen to my headphones all day and not have to think about charging. However, if I did for some reason need to charge them in the middle of a dance party (aka the laundry) I can plug them in for 5 minutes (basically a potty break) and start partying again (cleaning the house). You may be thinking that I am just rehashing the information you got from the description, you are partly right. I did just look at the description because I forgot how long the battery lasts and the the exact stats of the quick charge because I never have to think about it. Why? Because this battery last so freaking long I forget that they even require a charge. Ok, that is not entirely true but I think you get the point I am trying to make. Another important thing to know is how comfortable they are. Here is why I was one less on the star rating. In the Beats headphones defense I have always had issues with ANY on-the-ear headphones. These Beats are probably the most comfortable on-the-ear headphones I have owned. And I have owned quite a few over the years. However, I do still find myself needing to give my ears a break from time to time. Moving on to the not so important thing I love about my headphones. Well, actually, to me, this is very important because I love to have my devices look amazing and it is a HUGE bonus when I can get them all in the same color. And by same color I mean a legit same color, not a sort-of-close-enough same color. I currently have a MacBook, iPhone 7+, and my Beats Solo3 in the color of rose gold (my apple watch would be rose gold but they were sold out at the time...thanks for that Best Buy. Goodness) It's the small details that make me happy. :) So, in short conclusion to this somewhat long review...I love my Beats Solo3 headphones. They are essential to helping me rock out during chores or cranking through some serious research papers for college (Except for this literature class I am currently in, not even the Pirate of the Caribbean soundtrack can get me through this one. Oi).