Our Verdict
The Powerbeats 2 Wireless are decent mixed usage headphones. They're more geared towards sports with a good, compact and stable design but struggle under other test cases due to poor isolation and sound quality.
- Comfortable and stable fit.
- Minimal leakage.
- Poor noise isolation.
- Uneven bass-heavy sound.
Not made for critical listening. They have a poor unbalanced audio reproduction and an in-ear design that limits soundstage.
Below-average for commuting. They poorly isolate listeners from ambient noise because of their partially open fit. They won't fare well in loud environments
The Powerbeats 2 are good sports headphones. They have an incredibly stable hook design. They're also wireless and compact enough to carry on your person everywhere you go. Also, their in-ear fit allows you t o monitor your surroundings while running.
Average for office use. Minimal leakage but they won't block the chatter of a busty office.
Subpar for home theater use. They have too much latency for watching videos and movies.
Changelog
- Updated Aug 10, 2017: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Jul 18, 2016: Review published.
- Updated Jul 16, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jun 27, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
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Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless are a good upgrade over the previous Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless model. While the design is fairly the same, a few performance adjustments were done. The in-line remote now offers decent feedback and buttons are now easy to push. They also have a more neutral-sounding sound with a small bass overemphasis, instead of having a really boomy and cluttered sound profile. The Powerbeats3 also have more than double the Powerbeats 2’s battery life, and take less time to charge fully.
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