The Beats Studio Buds True Wireless are the Beats Fit Pro True Wireless' mid-range sibling. Like most Beats products, they come in a couple of sleek colorways to match your style but lack an H1 chip, which is unusual for this manufacturer. This means you can't seamlessly pair them with your Apple devices. Instead, they feature a 'one-touch pairing' system that works for iOS and Android. On the upside, they support Apple's Spatial Audio feature for a more immersive experience, which is only supported on compatible apps like Apple Music.
Our Verdict
The Beats Studio Buds are okay for neutral sound. While they have a fairly neutral sound profile, the underemphasized bass means mixes lack thump, rumble, and boom. A dip in the treble range also hurts the clarity of vocals and lead instruments. Unfortunately, they don't have an EQ or presets to help you customize their sound.
- Comfortable, well-built design.
- Very consistent audio delivery.
- No sound customization features.
- Bad passive soundstage performance.
The Beats Studio Buds are decent for commute and travel. Thanks to their small and lightweight design, you can easily throw them into your pockets or bag when you're on the go. However, their ANC struggles to block out the low rumbles of bus or plane engines. They also provide roughly five hours of continuous playback time, which may not last through a long flight or road trip without recharging them.
- Comfortable, well-built design.
- Don't leak a lot of audio at high volumes.
- Disappointing ANC.
- Bad passive soundstage performance.
The Beats Studio Buds are great for sports and fitness. They're comfortable, well-built, and are rated IPX4 for water resistance. They're also lightweight and portable but don't have stability fins, meaning they could fall out of your ears with more intense head movements.
- IPX4 rating.
- Comfortable, well-built design.
- Very consistent audio delivery.
- Bad passive soundstage performance.
The Beats Studio Buds are fair for office use. They're comfortable and don't leak much audio at high volumes, so you won't bother people around you if you want to crank up your favorite tunes. The ANC performance is adequate at cutting down office noise like ambient chatter. Still, their roughly five-hour continuous battery life may not last you throughout your entire day without pausing to recharge them.
- Comfortable, well-built design.
- Don't leak a lot of audio at high volumes.
- Disappointing ANC.
- Bad passive soundstage performance.
The Beats Studio Buds aren't suitable for wireless gaming. You can use them with a Bluetooth-enabled PC, but their latency is too high for gaming, so your audio and visuals won't be in sync. They aren't compatible with PS4, PS5, or Xbox consoles.
The Beats Studio Buds are truly wireless headphones, and you can't use them wired.
The Beats Studio Buds are sub-par for phone calls. Their integrated mic has sub-par recording quality, so your voice sounds distorted, thin, and lacking depth. It also struggles to separate speech from ambient noise, so your voice can be drowned out on a busy street or in a subway station. Their ANC struggles to block background noise, so you may have trouble hearing your conversation clearly.
- Comfortable, well-built design.
- Disappointing ANC.
- Sub-par overall mic performance.
Changelog
- Updated Jan 17, 2024: The following test groups have been updated following TB 1.6: Bluetooth Connection. There have also been text changes made throughout the review, including to the usages to match these results.
- Updated Jan 17, 2024: We've converted this review to Test Bench 1.6 , which updates how we measure latency. We've updated and renamed the following test groups: Wired Connection, Bluetooth Connection, and Wireless Connection (Dongle). We've also added new codec latency measurements and provided an audio sample of recorded latency.
- Updated Dec 20, 2023: We've added a comparison between these headphones and the JBL Tune Buds True Wireless in Battery life.
- Updated Sep 25, 2023: Added a note that the JBL Tune Flex True Wireless have better app support.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Beats Studio Buds come in a few color variants: 'Black', 'White', 'Ocean Blue', 'Moon Gray', 'Sunset Pink', and 'Beats Red'. We tested the 'Black' variant; you can see our model's label here. If you encounter another variant, let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Beats Studio Buds are sleek noise cancelling, truly wireless headphones. These in-ears stand out from other Beats products as they have a more neutral sound profile rather than one that's thumpy and bass-heavy, making them more versatile for different kinds of audio genres. However, their ANC's performance falls short of Beats' over and on-ear models, like the Beats Solo Pro Wireless, and they struggle to cut down the low rumble of bus and plane engines. They don't do much better at eliminating office chatter, either. They also lack an H1 chip, meaning you can't seamlessly pair them with your Apple devices, unlike the Beats Fit Pro True Wireless and Beats Flex Wireless.
If you're looking for more earbuds, check out our recommendations for the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds, the best wireless earbuds for running and working out, and the best noise cancelling earbuds and in-ear headphones.
The Beats Studio Buds + True Wireless are the next generation of the Beats Studio Buds True Wireless. The Plus model offer a couple of upgrades over their predecessor, including a significantly better noise isolation performance and a longer-lasting continuous battery life.
The Beats Fit Pro True Wireless offer better overall performance than the Beats Studio Buds True Wireless. Being the sportier sibling of the Studio Buds, the Fit Pro have a significantly more stable in-ear fit, thanks to their stability fins. Their mic also does a better overall job, and they have an additional charge in their carrying case. Unlike the Studio Buds, they also have an H1 chip for seamless pairing with your Apple devices and can block out significantly more ambient noise.
The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are better than the Beats Studio Buds True Wireless. The Powerbeats Pro 2 outperform the Studio Buds across almost all metrics: the ANC is far better, and the battery life is much longer. Other features are the same, like an IPX4 rating on both and a simple app. The Studio Buds are usually cheaper and marketed as a lower-tier option. Unless you can't stand over-ear hooks or your budget is tight, there aren't obvious benefits to choosing the Studio Buds.
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 are better than the Beats Studio Buds True Wireless, but the Apple also belong to a higher tier of Bluetooth earbuds, so that makes sense. The Apple have drastically more effective noise isolation, nine hours (versus 5.1 hours) of continuous battery life, and more advanced adaptive features. The Beats feel comfortable, but they're more sparse on features lacking adaptive EQ, live translation, and spatial audio. While the Beats app doesn't offer much functionality, unlike the Apple, there's an Android-compatible version, so you can make changes and receive updates, which you can't do with the Apple when paired to an Android device.
Our How We Test Headphones article takes you behind the scenes in our lab. You'll learn how we choose and purchase products and dive into the details of our review philosophy, from testing and scoring to writing and editing.
You can also discover how we produce recommendations like this one so that you can find the best headphones (or earbuds!) for your needs.
Test Results
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