Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless Headphones Review

The Beats Solo 3 are on-ear headphones that look identical to the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless. They have a sleek and curved look with no sharp edges. 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 decently 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 their physical controls are on the left ear cup, and are really clicky. However, the headphones lack a visual cue to tell you which ear cup is the left one, which can be frustrating.

The inner 'b' button:

• Single press: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers and ends calls.
• Double press: Skips the track forward.
• Triple press: Skips the track backward.
• Press and hold: Activates voice assistant.

On the outer circle button:

• Single press on the top side: Raises the volume.
• Single press on the bottom side: Lowers the volume.

Power button on the right ear cup:

• Single press: Turns the headphones on and off.
• Press and hold: Puts them into pairing mode.

The Beats Solo 3 have okay portability. They fold up to take up less space, making it easier to slide them into your bag. However, they're still 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. It's also pretty bulky, which can make it hard to take with you on the go.

The Beats Solo 3 have a good build quality. They're mostly made from plastic but feel sturdy and high-end. The faux leather padding also feels plush. However, they have a plastic coating that feels rigid and could 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 to 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.

• Beats Solo 3 wireless headphones
• Carrying case
• Carabiner clip
• Micro-USB to USB-A cable
• Manual

The Beats Solo 3 have a bass-heavy sound profile that delivers intense 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. Bass delivery is fairly consistent, although if you have thick hair or wear 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. However, once you get a good fit, you should achieve a more consistent sound.

These headphones have passable bass accuracy. It's overemphasized across the range, resulting in intense thump, rumble, and boom. While fans of EDM and hip-hop can enjoy this sound, some users may find this sound overly muddy and cluttered.

The Beats Solo 3 have good mid accuracy. There's a bit of overemphasis continuing from the bass range into the low-mids, making your mixes sound muddy and cluttered. A dip in the mid-mids nudges also 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.

Note: Treble delivery can vary noticeably across users. The results here represent the average treble response, and your experience may differ.

These headphones have satisfactory peaks and dip performance. The left and right drivers are mismatched in the low-bass, which means that the left driver produces more thump and rumble than the right driver. There's a big peak between the high-bass to the low-mid, resulting 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, resulting in a tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our 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. As a result, sound seems like it's coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed in the room around you. These headphones also have a closed-back design, so their soundstage is perceived as less open and spacious than open-back headphones.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. All frequencies fall within good limits, resulting 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 Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless' noise isolation performance is poor. These headphones block out almost no bass-range noise like bus engines, which could be frustrating if you commute to work. 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. Like the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless, a significant portion of their leakage is concentrated in the treble range, and escaping audio sounds thin. If you like to listen to your audio at a high volume, people around you are likely to hear it.

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 sub-par. It struggles to separate your voice from ambient noise, even in moderately loud environments. If you take a call from a busy street, your voice is drowned out.

These headphones have impressive battery life. They're advertised to have 40 hours of continuous playback, and we measured just under 39 hours, so they should last through a few shifts at work without needing to be recharged. However, battery life can vary depending on use, and your experience may vary. That said, they have a 'Fast Fuel' quick-charge feature, which is advertised to deliver three hours of continuous battery life after being charged for five minutes. On the downside, although they have an AUX port like the Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless and support passive playback, a 1/8" TRS cable isn't included in the box, which is disappointing.

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 offer much more. You can also download this app for Android, but it offers the same functionality.

Update 10/29/2021: These headphones were updated to Test Bench 1.5 and their latency values have changed. Our previous Test Bench 1.4 measurements reported 'PC Latency' at 175 ms, 'iOS Latency' at 36 ms, and 'Android Latency' at 86 ms. However, our new test bench uses an average of three measurements instead of one, resulting in 173 ms of latency on PC, 81 ms on iOS, and 120 ms on Android. As a result, we have updated our text to better reflect test bench 1.5 measurements.

These headphones have satisfactory Bluetooth connectivity. While they don't have multi-device or NFC pairing, they have a W1 chip, making it easy to seamlessly pair with other Apple products. Their latency is somewhat high on PC, so they may not be ideal for streaming video. While their latency on iOS and Android is lower, some devices and apps seem to compensate for latency differently, so your mileage may vary.

These headphones only come with a USB-A to micro-USB charging cable. However, while they have an AUX port, they don't come with a 1/8" TRS cable.

The Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless are fully compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. You can also use a 1/8" TRS cable to connect them via analog, but this cable isn't included in the box, and you can only receive audio.

You can connect the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless to PS4 and PS5 consoles via an analog connection. However, you can only receive audio, and you need to purchase this cable separately.

You can only use these headphones wired with Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles. You can only receive audio, and the cable itself isn't included in the box.