Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones Review

The Beats Studio3 Wireless, like many other headphones from Beats' lineup such as the Beats Solo3 2019 Wireless, have a sleek look that's available in several understated or flashy colors to suit your preferences.

The Beats Studio3 are very comfortable. The ear cups are well-padded, and the pressure is distributed well around your ears. While the headband isn't as cushioned as the ear cups and can feel rigid, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. You should be able to wear them for long listening sessions without feeling too much fatigue.

The Beats Studio3 have decent controls, which are a bit better than their predecessor, the Beats Studio Wireless. The controls are efficient and easy to use. The buttons also provide good tactile feedback, but they're completely flat, so it may be a bit tricky to distinguish when you're first using them.

The 'b button':

• One press: Pauses and plays audio. Also answers and ends calls. When you're on a call, you can answer a second incoming call. This command also lets you switch between calls.
• One press and hold: Activates voice assistant. Rejects an incoming call.
• Double press: Skips to the next track.
• Double press and hold on the second press: Scan forward through your track.
• Triple press: Skips to the previous track.
• Triple press and hold on the third press: Scan backward through your track.

The ring surrounding the 'b button':

• One press above the 'b button': Raises the volume.
• One press below the 'b button': Lowers the volume.

The power button:

• Press and hold for one second: Turns the headphones on and off.
• Double press (while connected to a device): Turns the ANC on and off.

The Beats Studio3 have mediocre breathability. They're closed-back over-ears with a decent seal, so they trap a lot of heat which can make you sweat during moderate physical activity. They should be okay if you're just using them casually to listen to music, though. They won't be ideal for more intense workout routines, although if you want over-ear headphones for the gym, they're a decent option.

These headphones have mediocre portability. They fold into a more compact format that's easier to transport with the provided hard case. While they won't fit in a pocket, they can be placed in most small bags, but they're still quite bulky.

These headphones come with a sturdy and compact hard case that can protect the headphones against scratches, mild water damage, and falls.

The Beats Studio3 Wireless are well-built and sturdy-looking headphones. Their ear cups are made from dense plastic that feels sturdy while their headband has a tough yet flexible metal frame. They're a bit thinner and less robust than the Beats Executive, and the plastic coating on the headband is prone to scratches and scuffs, but their overall build quality feels high-end and well-made.

These headphones have good stability. They don't move much when running, and since they're wireless, they won't accidentally fall off your head because the audio cable got hooked on something. However, they're still somewhat big over-ears and can slide a bit depending on the intensity of your workout routine.

• Beats Studio3 Wireless headphones
• Carrying case
• 1/8" TRRS cable
• USB-A to Micro-USB cable
• Carabiner
• Manual

The Beats Studio3 have a warm sound profile. While they auto-calibrate to the user and their environment, their sound isn't always consistent. The bass is slightly boomy while treble is weak, resulting in some mixes sounding muddy or lacking in detail. They can also perform inconsistently across users due to fit. However, they're still suitable for most audio genres, especially if you like more bass-driven music. Unfortunately, they lack an EQ or presets to help you customize their sound to your liking.

The Beats Studio3 have a mediocre frequency response consistency. Despite their noise cancelling and self-calibrating systems, they perform less consistently than other noise cancelling headphones such as the Sony MDR-1000X Wireless and the Sony WH-1000XM2 Wireless. Their bass and treble delivery can vary based on fit, seal, and positioning. It can also be a bit difficult to achieve a consistent listening experience, especially if you have thick hair or wear glasses.

The Beats Studio3's bass accuracy is great. Although they lack a thumpy low-bass, the rest of the response is over-emphasized, which adds extra kick, warmth, and boom to your mixes. However, some users may find that audio sounds a bit muddy.

Unfortunately, their bass delivery can vary noticeably across users: the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses all affect how the bass sounds to you. Our response represents the average bass response and your experience may vary.

The Beats Studio3 Wireless have very good mid accuracy. The low-mid is overemphasized, which can muddy and clutter your mixes. However, the rest of the range is well-balanced. The mid-mid is fairly neutral, so vocals and lead instruments are present but a small dip in the high-mid slightly weakens their detail and clarity.

The Beats Studio3 Wireless' treble accuracy is okay. For the most part, the response is underemphasized, resulting in veiled vocals and lead instruments. Sibilants like cymbals are also dull and lispy.

These headphones are very prone to inconsistencies in treble delivery and are sensitive to fit and positioning. Our results represent the average response, and your experience may vary.

The Beats Studio3 have a good peak and dips performance. The peaks in the low to mid-bass and high bass to low-mid gives a bit more kick and boom to your audio, but a dip in the mid-mid nudges vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. The low-treble is also uneven, so the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments are alternatingly harsh and veiled. Sibilants like S and T sounds also sound a bit piercing.

The Beats Studio3's stereo imaging is disappointing. There are a few spikes above the audibility threshold in the bass range, which indicates a loose bass. However, the rest of the response falls below this threshold, so treble reproduction is transparent. Unfortunately, the headphones are also mismatched in phase and frequency response. There's a large peak in the phase response's bass range, so the right driver sounds louder than the left. This can be audible if you're listening to a bass-heavy song. On the upside, the L/R drivers are well-matched in amplitude, which helps ensure a stable stereo image. Our results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Beats Studio3 Wireless' passive soundstage is poor. Even though they're over-ear headphones, they don't really activate the outer ear with resonances, which results in a small soundstage that seems like it's coming from inside your head. Their closed-back design also makes their soundstage seem less spacious, especially when compared to open-back models.

The Beats Studio3's weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. At average listening volumes, they generally fall within good limits, although a spike between the low and mid-treble may produce minor distortion. At higher volumes, this frequency is within acceptable limits, which should result in a clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Beats Studio3 Wireless. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Beats Studio3 Wireless have a decent noise isolation performance. However, they don't perform as well as competing models like the Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless, Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018, or the Microsoft Surface Wireless Headphones. While they barely reduce bass-range noise like bus or plane engines in the bass range, they do a better job of cutting down mid-range sounds like ambient chatter. They also do an outstanding job at blocking high-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit. However, they produce a lot of self-noise with the ANC on, which can be distracting if there's no audio playing.

There have been a few user reports that after updating the headphones to firmware update 2.4.4, the headphones make a clicking noise in the left ear cup while in idle mode (power on and ANC on, but no audio playing). After updating our headphones to this firmware, we didn't hear any clicking sounds, regardless of whether was audio playing or not. However, if you've experienced this issue, please let us know in the discussion section below.

The Beats Studio3's leakage performance is great. Most of the leakage is found in the high-mid to mid-treble range, which results in a thin sound. In a noisy environment, people shouldn't hear it if you have your audio turned to a high volume.

The Beats Studio3 have an integrated microphone. If you prefer to use these headphones wired, the cable also has an in-line microphone.

The integrated mic has a just okay recording quality. Your voice sounds slightly thin and lacking in detail and presence. There's also a bit of distortion present.

Update 10/21/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test noise handling. We now use a subjective evaluation of our audio clips. This new method has resulted in different results than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed, and we have updated our results.

The microphone has disappointing noise handling. It struggles to separate your voice from ambient noise, even in moderately loud environments.

The Beats Studio3's battery performance is good, and it's much better than that of the Beats Studio Wireless. They have almost twice the battery life at 23 hours of continuous playback on a single charge. They also only take about 30 minutes more than the previous model to fully charge. They're advertised to have a quick charge feature which gives you about 2.5 hours of playback from 10 minutes of charging. That said, battery life can vary depending on usage, and your experience may vary. Unfortunately, they don't have passive playback, so if the battery is completely dead, you won't be able to use the headphones.

The Beats companion app is disappointing. Like the Beats Solo3 Wireless and the Apple AirPods (1st generation) Truly Wireless, the Beats Studio3 have a few features available on iOS that aren't as well-implemented on Android. On iOS, they connect with a pop-up that displays basic battery information. You can also disable the ANC in the Bluetooth settings. However, this setting isn't available on Android, which is a little disappointing. However, you can always manually switch off noise cancelling by pressing the power button twice.

Update 10/21/2021: 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 200 ms, 'iOS latency' at 159 ms, and 'Android Latency' at 167 ms. However, our new test bench uses an average of three measurements instead of one, resulting in different values. As a result, we have updated our text to better reflect test bench 1.5 measurements.

The Beats Studio3 have decent Bluetooth compatibility. Unfortunately, they don't support multi-device or NFC pairing. However, they're easier to pair than the original Beats Studio Wireless. They also have low latency on iOS and Android devices, which is nice if you stream video. However, their latency on PCs is much higher, which may cause issues with audio and video syncing. That said, some apps and devices tend to compensate for latency differently, and your mileage may vary.

These headphones come with a detachable 1/8" TRRS cable that has an in-line remote microphone. They also come with a micro-USB to USB-A cable for recharging the headphones.

The Beats Studio 3 are fully compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs when used wirelessly. You can also use their 1/8" TRRS cable to connect to PCs via their AUX port with full mic and audio compatibility.

These headphones have full mic and audio compatibility on PlayStation consoles when connected via analog to the controller's AUX port.

These Bluetooth-only headphones aren't compatible with the Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S. However, if you use the provided audio cable, you can plug them into your controller for audio. However, the microphone won't work on these consoles.

They don't have a base/dock. If you want a versatile headset with a base that you can also use wired, check out the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017.