Solo 3 Wireless
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Solo 3 Wireless
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By
xAndrew Wiliams
November 20, 2019
Smart wireless headphones that make some real techy improvements, but the sound unfortunately lags behind.
These Beats headphones were the first fruits of Apple's deal to buy the Beats brand – in terms of actual products at least – and the review below represents our initial thoughts when the headphones first appeared in 2016.
When Apple bought the Beats brand, it was only a matter of time before that Cupertino mobile know-how would be baked into Dr Dre's personal audio line. The Solo 3 wireless are the first obvious fruits of that partnership in terms of products, taking an existing Beat Audio line and giving them a sprinkle of Apple's magic dust.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless were the first fruits of Apple's deal to buy the Beats brand – in terms of actual products at least – and the review below represents our initial thoughts when the headphones first appeared in 2016.
At first glance, the Solo 3 Wireless don't look all that different to their predecessors the Solo 2, Apple takeover or not. It's only under further inspection to the internal specs that the improvements become more obvious – Apple's expertise in mobile engineering sees connectivity stabilized and battery life improve.
However, the traditional issues with audio quality are back with the Beats Solo 3 Wireless. If you're not a total Beats brand loyalist, you'll likely find that for a few more notes the Bose QuietComfort 35 , with their noise cancelling smarts, added comfort and superior sound performance, could be a better fit for your needs.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless don't usher in a dramatic design refresh from the outside, which to be fair is a sensible move on Apple's part.
Beats headphones remain among the most recognizable in the world, and these days it's the Beats Solo we see out and about the most. In 2014 Beats smoothed-out the lines of the set with the Solo 2 for a less aggressive appearance, and while the glossy finish of our pair has a loud and adolescent edge to it, reports you need to be under 25 to pull these off are exaggerated.
You just have to make sure you buy the right color. Apple sent us the glossy black version, but there are also matte black, glossy white, silver, gold, rose gold, violet and red to choose from... so quite the color palette.
All Beats headphones used to feature brash bright red “B” logos on them, but they now come color-matched to whatever shade you pick. The Sennheiser Momentum On-ear and Bose pairs look more grown-up, but the last couple of generations have tried to make the Beats Solo style more palatable for a wider audience.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless build is much the same as ever, though, and it may make some of you look at the price a little suspiciously. Most of the frame is plastic, with only the fold-up hinge and the skeleton of the headband made of metal for, extra strength.
The pads are synthetic leather-topped foam, and the fake leather really isn't all that convincing either. Synthetic stuff can look almost indistinguishable from the real thing these days, but this is very clearly plastic-based.
Beats headband padding on the Beats Solo 3 Wireless doesn’t seem luxurious either, but this time it has a definite purpose.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless use squidgy rubber for the part that sits on your head, spreading the pressure well and creating a much higher-friction hold than conventional headband padding. The idea is you'll be able to wear these headphones while out jogging without them gradually working their way off your head.
It’s not just the headband that makes this possible, though. The Beats Solo 3 Wireless also have a fairly firm grip on your cranium, which initially doesn’t feel that comfortable compared to a set of over-ear headphones.
If you wear glasses with chunky stems, you’ll likely find that after a few hours you start to feel a bit of gnawing discomfort in your ear cartilage. However, this is a problem of runner-ready on-ear headphones in general, rather than specific to the Beats Solo 3 Wireless. In this specific class, the headphones are actually fairly comfy too, thanks to ear cups that shift to fit your head’s contours in order to spread out the pressure as evenly as possible.
Wear chunky glasses and want a wireless pair you can wear for six hours at a time without any discomfort? Check out the Bose QuietComfort 35 before buying these is our recommendation.
Other external bits of the Beats Solo 3 Wireless worth checking out include the 3.5mm input on the left cup, for use when the battery is dead, and the fold-up design. You get a carry pouch in the box, and it's a good idea to use it if you pick a glossy version – that finish will show off scratches like they're newly-caught Pokémon.
There are also some hidden controls on the right ear cup: the Beats logo acts as a play/pause button and the ring above/below alters volume. A mic hidden in the ear cup lets you take calls too, but the Beats Solo 3 Wireless don't have active noise cancellation, a feature now fairly common in higher-end wireless headphones .
Whereas active noise cancelation monitors ambient noise and adds inverse frequencies of that noise to the drivers' output to cancel it out, the Solo 3 Wireless instead use pure passive isolation, where the pads simply block out sound. While not as effective at cutting out the low-end hum of a city, it works well enough here for use on noisy public transport.
The external hardware of these headphones is pretty solid, but there are two sides to the meaty insides of the Beats Solo 3 Wireless. One is excellent, the other just passable.
The Beats Solo 3's strong point is the tech that goes into its wireless capabilities. Apple credits its W1 wireless chip for the headphones' excellent up-to 40 hours battery, but the exact specs are – as usual for Apple – rather opaque.
We're very happy for wireless sets like this to last around 20 hours, and the former Beats Solo 2 last 12 hours between charges, so this is a huge improvement. It means most people should be able to get two weeks' use before charging rather than just one. Wireless charging is super-quick too: Apple claims you get 3 hours of playback from a 5 minute charge.
You can check the charge level using the 5-pip LED indicator on the right cup.
They use a micro USB cable, although there's no way to directly connect this to, and charge the headphones from, an iPhone Lightning port. Apple wants to sell us the Solo 3 Wireless as a Bluetooth headphone revelation, but when used wired they actually feel more at home with an Android phone.
What's actually even more useful than ultra-long battery life is the reliability of the wireless signal. We didn't hear a single burble, blip or cut-out once during testing, and we've mostly been using Android phones rather than the iPhones that are "officially supported" by this pair.
The slightly cheaper, larger Sony MDR-100ABN also have excellent wireless stability though, so Apple doesn’t exactly have a trademark on these wireless chops.
Their interaction with iOS devices is – for now – unique. Where the Beats Solo 2 Wireless are really just like any other pair of Bluetooth headphones, the Solo 3 Wireless pop-ups in iOS more like a Wi-Fi speaker. It appears as specific source, so doesn't have to be treated like just another wireless accessory.
There's clearly something clever going on in the Apple W1 chip. And if you use an Android, you can use the Solo Wireless 3 like any Bluetooth pair, although as there's no NFC or aptX, they make quite a basic setup.
The sound of the Beats Solo 3 Wireless is less impressive than the tech, and roundly similar to that of the Beats Solo 2. Before we get into any criticism, it's worth noting that these last two generations of Beats Solo headphones are still far better than those of the early years of Beats.
An approach of just making the bass sound big and fat, which tends to cloud the sound, has been altered. Now the aim seems to be to make the Beats Solo 3 Wireless sound like a hi-fi system with a subwoofer attached.
There's bonus bass here, but for the most part it's centered around fairly low frequencies. This results in aggressive and punchy-sounding kick drum beats without the resonant boom that so often turns big bass into bad bass.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless sound is lively and energetic, fitting the Beats brand image well. The pounding bass beat of Simian Mobile Disco's Sleep Deprivation sounds suitably juggernaut-like through this pair, with much less unwanted boom than the earliest Solo headphones.
However, for a pair this pricey, the mid-range sound quite flat, lacking dynamics. A slight lack of finesse in the sort of frequencies where mids and treble meet can also cause some hard edges to certain vocals, depending on the singer's register (for example, Randy's Newman’s gravelly croon can sound a bit hard). It's not enough to make you wince, or to tire out your ears in an hour, but at this price we have a right to be picky.
Listening to the Solo 3 Wireless next to the Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 and Sennheiser Momentum 2.0, the Beats pair lacks a certain sort of detail that separates decent headphones from great ones. It's not classic audio bore treble detail that's missing, but spatial detail.
Where the ATH-MSR7 can deliver a very 3D-like take on fairly complicated arrangements, the Solo 3 Wireless approach is much more crude and rudimentary, almost pudding-like. In Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill, say, the rolling bass tom bed becomes a muddling influence that makes the track sound messy.
If you're not listening closely, the powerful bass is enough to divert your attention from these sorts of effects, but it also actually compounds the problem, upsetting arrangements and at times even making lead vocals sound almost like incidental parts of a mix when left to compete with a strong bass line.
It's a classic example of a headphone you might hear described as "good for dance music", but all that really means is that it's one of the few genres that tends not to expose the pair's significant audio flaws.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless ace their wireless tech, with very solid Bluetooth, good range and class-leading battery life – there's a huge difference here compared with often-flaky cheap Bluetooth sets. The new way they interact with iPhones should also make Google think about how Android talks to Bluetooth accessories in the future.
Their bass response is sure to be a crowd-pleaser too. It's not meant to be neutral or accurate, but by providing meaty thuds without major boominess, the Solo 3 Wireless do what a Beats headphone should.
The range of colors available also good, going from bolder shades that skew younger to plain matte finishes that won't look out of place on anyone's head.
We hear no major sound quality improvements over the Beats Solo 2. Limited dynamics and a lack of spatial detail may leave you unimpressed if you're not blown away by the stomach-punching low-end.
There's also a strange dichotomy going on here. The Solo 3 Wireless are meant to be next-gen wireless headphones for iPhones, but their wired connection won’t plug in directly to an iPhone without using the 3.5mm adapter, and they charge using microUSB rather than Lightning. This is good for Android owners, but not so good for those who have gone all-in with Apple.
Not everyone will get on with the Beats Solo 3 Wireless fit either. While they are comfortable for a pair of fairly firm on-ear headphones, glasses-wearers in particular should know what they're in for: potential discomfort after a while.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless make huge improvements in some areas, and change little in others. Top on its list of achievements are class-leading battery life and wireless stability on-par with the very best, regardless of whether you use an Android or an iPhone.
They also interact a little differently with iOS devices than older Bluetooth headphones, which is a neat change, particularly when iPhones don’t allow pairing using NFC.
Other elements are less impressive, though. Some issues are very minor, like the use of unconvincing leatherette in a headphone set this pricey.
It's the sound that matters most though, and it's not at the level of the best at the price. While the bass is punchy and the Solo 3 Wireless have plenty of energy, the flat mid-range leaves them less sophisticated and involving than some cheaper sets, particularly if you actually listen to music rather than treating it as an incidental soundtrack to your life.
By Mackenzie Frazier March 02, 2021
By Mackenzie Frazier March 02, 2021
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Beats Solo 3 Wireless Headphones - Black - Apple
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Solo3 2019 Wireless
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The Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless are the updated model of the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless . These colorful headphones have kept the well-built and sleek design as well as the bass-heavy sound profile of their predecessor. However, this generation comes in more colors and its companion app is now compatible with Android devices, although it still doesn't offer much functionality. Unfortunately, while they have an audio port, they don't come with a cable. Still, these on-ears are a suitable option if you prefer a stylish and simple-to-use design.
The Beats Solo 3 are alright for mixed use. These on-ears are comfortable and have a stable fit. They also have a bass-heavy sound profile that can keep you pumped up at the gym. However, they have poor noise isolation and they won't block out much bass-range noise like bus or train engines. While they do a better job with ambient chatter, they also leak audio at higher volumes, which may disturb others in an office setting. They have high latency on PC, and may not be ideal for wireless gaming.
The Beats Solo 3 are satisfactory for neutral sound. They have a bass-heavy sound profile, which can muddy vocals and lead instruments. Their companion app also doesn't allow you to customize their sound profile to better suit your needs. That said, their treble range is better-balanced than their predecessor. They're also consistent in their audio delivery.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless are okay for commute and travel. While they're comfortable, some may find they have a tight fit, and it can be fatiguing when worn for several hours at a time. They barely block out bass-range noise like bus or plane engines, and their bulky design can be a bit difficult to take with you on-the-go. On the upside, they offer over 38 hours of continuous playback time, which should last through long-distance plane trips.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless are decent for sports and fitness. They have a stable fit and their wireless design makes it more difficult for something to snag them and pull them off your head. However, they're a bit bulky and some users may find the on-ear fit to be uncomfortable for long runs in the park.
The Beats Solo 3 are mediocre for office use. They're comfortable but some users may not like their tight on-ear fit. They also leak some audio, which could annoy your coworkers if you're listening to audio at a high volume. That said, they have a continuous battery life of over 38 hours, so you don't need to worry about charging them so often.
The Beats Solo 3 aren't recommended for wireless gaming. While you can connect them to a Bluetooth-enabled PC, the latency is likely to be too high for gaming. They also aren't compatible with Xbox One or PS4 consoles.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless are Bluetooth-only headphones. While they can be used with a wired connection, Beats doesn't include a TRS cable in the box.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless are acceptable for phone calls. Their integrated mic has an alright recording quality and your voice sounds natural, although slightly thin and muffled. However, it struggles to separate your voice from even moderately noisy environments, so you may need to take calls in quieter spaces. These headphones also struggle to reduce noise around you, which can make it hard for you to hear whoever's on the other line.
The Beats Solo 3 are on-ear headphones that look identical to the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless . They have a sleek and round look. While they offer quite a few single-color variants such as 'Rose Gold' and 'Matte Black', Beats also offers the 'Club Collection', which are four headphones that have different accent color detailing: 'Club Navy', 'Club White', 'Club Yellow', and 'Club Red'.
The Beats Solo 3 are satisfactorily comfortable headphones. The ear cups are well-padded, but their clamping force could be fatiguing over time. Their headband also doesn't feel very comfortable for long listening sessions.
These headphones have reasonable controls. Most of the controls are located on the left cup's 'b' button, which is very clicky. You can press it once to play/pause or answer/end a call. Double-tapping skips the track forward while triple-tapping skips the track backward. If you press and hold this button, you can also activate your voice assistant. Changing the volume is relatively simple, as you press the top or the bottom of the circle to raise or lower the volume, respectively. Unfortunately, there's no visual sign to tell you which ear cup is the left cup, so it can be a little frustrating if you put them on backward.
The Beats Solo 3 have just alright portability. They fold up to take up less space, which makes it easier to slide them into your bag. However, they're still quite bulky, especially if you put them in their case.
The Beats Solo 3 have a good soft case. It has a zipper to keep your headphones fully enclosed and the material feels thick. It should protect your headphones from dust, scratches, and the occasional drop but it won't shield them from water damage.
The Beats Solo 3 have a good build quality. They feel sturdy and are made from high-end materials. The faux leather padding feels good too. However, their plastic coating feels a bit rigid and may crack if bent.
These headphones have a stable fit. They clamp well on your ears so they don't move too much while on your head. They also don't have any cables that can catch on something and pull them off your head. However, they're not the best choice for high-intensity workouts as they may fall off with large head movements.
The Beats Solo 3 have a bass-heavy sound profile that delivers thump and boom, which is well-suited for genres like EDM and hip-hop. However, some users may find it muddies and clutters vocals and lead instruments. Unfortunately, their companion app doesn't offer any way to customize their sound.
These headphones have a good frequency response consistency. If you have thick hair or glasses, you may experience a drop in bass. Treble delivery is also a bit inconsistent, and it depends on the fit and positioning of these headphones. You may need to readjust them on your head each time you wear them to get the same listening experience.
The bass accuracy of these headphones is disappointing. It's overemphasized across the range, resulting in prominent thump, punch, and boom, which users may like. However, others may find it sounds muddy.
The Beats Solo 3 have good mid accuracy. There's a bit of overemphasis continuing from the bass range and into the low-mids, which makes your mixes sound muddy and cluttered. However, there's a dip in the mid-mids, nudging vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. However, the high-mid is very neutral, resulting in clear and present vocals and instruments.
The treble accuracy of the Beats Solo 3 is excellent. Although a little uneven, vocals and lead instruments sound detailed and present while sibilants are slightly dull. However, treble varies noticeably across users, so your experience may differ.
These headphones have decent peaks and dips performance. There's a big peak between the high-bass to the low-mid, which results in a boomy, muddy sound. The dip in the mid-mids pushes vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix, while a couple of peaks in the low-treble add a bit of harshness. Another peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants piercing.
The Beats Solo 3 have great imaging. Their weighted group delay is below the audibility threshold, which should result in a tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were exceptionally matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response. This ensures an accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, footsteps) in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our unit and yours may perform differently.
The passive soundstage is poor. Due to their on-ear design, they have limited interaction with your outer ear, which is one of the factors in creating a large and out-of-head soundstage. They also have a closed-back design, and as a result, their soundstage sounds less open and spacious than open-back headphones.
These headphones don't have any virtual soundstage features.
The weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. All frequencies fall within good limits, which should result in a clear and pure audio reproduction.
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid for these test settings.
The noise isolation performance of the Beats Solo3 Wireless is poor. These headphones don't block out almost any bass-range noise like bus or plane engines. They also struggle to cut down ambient chatter, which sits in the mid-range. They do a bit better with higher-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit, though.
These headphones have a mediocre leakage performance. Just like the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless , a significant portion of their leakage is concentrated in the treble range. If you like to listen to your audio at a high volume, people around you are likely to hear it.
The Beats Solo 3 Wireless have an integrated microphone.
The integrated mic's recording quality is alright. Your voice should sound natural, although a bit thin and muffled.
The mic's noise handling is just mediocre. It struggles to separate your voice from ambient noise, even in moderately loud environments.
These headphones have impressive battery life. They offer over 38 hours of continuous playback time and fully charge in roughly an hour and a half. They also have a 'Fast Fuel' quick-charge feature, which is advertised to give you three hours of playback time when you charge them for five minutes. However, we don't currently test this feature. While they have an audio cable port just like the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless and support passive playback, they don't come with a 1/8" TRS cable.
These headphones have a disappointing companion app. The Beats app is a pop-up on iOS devices that displays basic battery information when you first connect with your device, but it doesn't really offer much more. You can also download this app for Android, but it offers the same functionality.
These headphones have decent Bluetooth connectivity. While they don't have multi-device or NFC pairing, they have a W1 chip, which makes it easy to seamlessly pair with other Apple products. Their latency is quite high on PC, so they may not be ideal for streaming video. While their latency on iOS and Android is much lower, some devices and apps seem to compensate for latency differently, so your mileage may vary.
The Beats Solo 3 are Bluetooth-only headphones.
These headphones only come with a micro-USB charging cable. However, while they have an analog cable port, they don't come with a 1/8" TRS cable.
These headphones can be used with Bluetooth-enabled PCs for full audio and microphone compatibility. You can also use an audio cable for an analog connection with PC and PS4. However, you can only receive audio with this connection and this cable isn't included with the headphones.
These headphones can only be used wired with the Xbox One. You can only receive audio and the cable itself isn't included in the box.
The Beats Solo 3 don't have a base or dock.
The Beats Solo 3 come in several color variants: 'Matte Black', '(PRODUCT)RED Citrus Red', 'Rose Gold', 'Satin Gold' and 'Satin Silver'. There are a few Club Collection variants as well that have a multi-colored design: 'Club Navy', 'Club Red', 'Club White', 'Club Yellow'. We tested the 'Club Red' variant. These headphones are also the 2019 generation of the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless , which we tested. While they look and perform similarly to their predecessor, they don't come with a 1/8" TRS cable in the box.
If you come across another variant, please let us know in the discussions and we'll update our review.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless are the 2019 updated version of the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless . While not much has changed in this generation as they perform very similarly to their predecessor in terms of battery life, design, and sound profile, they now come in a variety of new colors that style-savvy users may enjoy. Just like the 2018 model, they also have a W1 chip, which makes it easy to seamlessly pair with Apple devices. However, Beats doesn't include a TRS audio cable in the box anymore, so if you want to listen to audio passively, you need to supply the cable yourself. Check out our recommendations for the best Beats headphones , the best wireless Bluetooth headphones , and the best bass headphones .
The Beats Solo Pro Wireless and the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless are headphones with different strengths and depending on your usages, you may prefer one over the other. The Solo Pro are suitable for mixed use and office use. They feel better-built, their sound profile is more neutral, and they have a great ANC to help cut down ambient noise around you. However, the Solo3 2019 have a better battery performance and a bass-heavy sound profile, which some users may like. They're better-suited for sports too as their fit is more stable.
The Beats Studio3 Wireless are better headphones than the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless. The Studio3 are over-ear headphones that are more comfortable and have a good-performing ANC feature. However, the Solo3 2019 deliver audio more consistently and have a better battery performance. Some users may also prefer their more bass-heavy sound profile.
The JBL Live 400BT Wireless are better on-ear headphones than the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless. The JBL have a better-balanced sound profile and can passively isolate more sound. Their leakage performance is significantly better too and while their battery doesn't last as long as the Beats, there's an auto-off timer to help conserve battery life. They also come with a companion app that has a parametric EQ plus presets so you can tweak its sound to your liking. However, the Beats are more comfortable, feel better-built, and come with a carrying case.
The Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless are the next generation of the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless . They're almost identical in design and are very similarly performing. However, the 2019 comes in more color variants. This model also has a companion app that can be used on Android in addition to iOS. That said, the 2018 model includes an audio cable so that you can listen to audio passively. You need to buy this cable separately if you want to use your 2019 model wired.
The Jabra Evolve2 85 Wireless are better on-ear headphones for most uses than the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless. The Jabra are more comfortable and have a more neutral sound profile as well as an ANC feature that helps reduce ambient noise. Their mic performs better, and their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets so that you can customize their sound profile. However, the Beats have a more stable fit and a longer continuous battery life.
The Astro A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro 2017 are better for wired gaming and neutral sound than the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless. The Astro are more comfortable, better-built, and have a better-performing boom microphone. They have a wired design and can be used with Astro companion software, which offers a graphic EQ plus presets. However, the Beats are better for casual use as they have a wireless design, a more stable fit, and their sound profile is more neutral out-of-the-box.
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