Beats Solo Buds Review

The Beats Solo Buds offer stripped back features, less premium materials and low price tag, something you wouldn’t ever expect to hear from a company owned by Apple. But can a £79 pair of earbuds compete in a very noisy market?   

All about the Beats Solo Buds

The case and earbuds are substantially smaller and lighter than anything else on the market, and the whole product including the earbuds is just 32 grams (and the case is around 20g of that), so if you are out for a run and carrying them in your pack or shorts you are barely going to notice them – the case is half the size of Apple Airpods, and one-third that of the Beats Powerbeats Pro case, but they have something that the Solo Buds don’t have: case charging capabilities. 

However, the 18-hour battery life in the headphones themselves is excellent for its price tag. I also found in testing that the battery claim was underestimated as I regularly got 19 to even 20 hours of charge. 

The Beats Solo Buds are also, pardon the pun, riding solo with no charging cable, and they can be charged via USB-C from your phone or other devices. This is all done in the effort to try and take a market that is very un-Apple. 

One good feature of that case is something I didn’t know I needed in a pair of earbuds until I started testing them: a magnetic connection. Their magnets are incredibly strong, keeping the earbuds locked into the charging dock, so no matter how hard you shake it the charge continues. This also means that the earbuds are magnets and stick together. I have so often lost an earbud in the past, so having them locked together makes them easier to find and easier to not lose.

They have real buttons, but they need a fair amount of force to use. I found this a bit uncomfortable when wearing them on a run as you feel as if you are pressing hard on the earbud, lodging it further into your ear than you really should be. So while I always prefer a real button over a touch interface, the usability may be an issue for some people. But this quality issue is perhaps expected for the low price tag.

As for features, let’s talk about what the Solo Buds have: none. There is no immersive audio, noise cancelling, or any EQ setting at all, which feels unnatural to say in a Beats or Apple product. However, they do have a Find My feature, which is definitely helpful, and as they’re an Apple product, connecting them is incredibly easy, just open the case and they are automatically found by your iPhone. For Android users you will need to download the app and connect manually via Bluetooth.

These lack of features are an issue when you stack it up against other products for a similar price, but with the price inflation that comes with any premium brand’s “budget” offering, I am still pretty blown away by what the Solo Buds are capable of.

So how do they sound?

Well they don’t sound like any pair of Beats headphones I have ever tested. You expect to have your ears blown away by the base favouritism that comes from Beats products, but that isn’t the case with these. They sound a bit flatter than previous Beats offerings, and less well rounded than Apple headphones, which is again no real surprise given the price. But, for £79 the sound quality definitely stands up to the competition. 

Do we recommend them for running?

The Beats Solo Buds do not have an official IP rating, which is used to tell you how protected they are against liquid and debris. Knowing a headphone has a good rating gives you more confidence to wear them while running in the rain, or if you are as sweaty as I am. 

IPX4 is what you should look for in a pair of running headphones, so to not have it in the Solo Buds is a huge disadvantage, but I have run in the heat of the UK summer and they have coped with the river of sweat I created along the run. Cheaper earbuds in the market have IPX4 ratings so I was surprised to not see it on the Solo Buds.

As for the fit, it’s great and I never felt them slipping during all the runs, and they got a 5 out of 5 in our head shake test, with no movement. 

How do the Beats Solo Buds compare to others?

So up against something in a similar price band how does it compete? Well we have tested the Jabra Elite 4 which is £99 (£75 currently on sale) and they come with Active Noise Cancelling with different modes, 12 hours of battery life (plus an additional 10 hours with the case), and a waterproof rating, though the fit isn’t as good as the Solo Buds.

How about a similar premium brand’s “budget” product? Let’s compare it to the Sony WF-C700N and it has a pretty level playing field with 15 hours of battery life but the Sony does have IPX4 rating. The Jabra, Sony and the Beats all have similar sound quality to

Our verdict on the Beats Solo Buds

What it ultimately comes down to is the price tag (and how sweaty you are). When you compare these to other Beats headphones, or any of the premium headphones we could recommend, then of course the build and sound quality isn’t going to match up to those costing twice the price. But for just under £80/$80, you get a great pair of earbuds which compare well to others in their price range. And if they are on sale and you find a pair for even cheaper then they are going to be hard to beat.

The biggest issue for runners is the lack of waterproof rating, making it difficult to recommend if you are wanting one pair of headphones to do all from your commute, travelling and running.