The Beats Fit Pro is another step in the right direction for Beats and Apple: They fit well, sound nice with bass, and most importantly, work just as well on Android as they do on iOS (spatial audio aside). The auto-play/pause that works so well is pretty impressive, and the quick charge is handy for forgetful exercisers. If you want a pair of stylish, relatively compact, and well-fitting in-ear headphones, you’ll be perfectly satisfied with this pair of Beats.
When it comes to workouts with music, the Beats Powerbeats Pro is still one of the best true wireless earphone options with its uncompromising ear hook design and powerful sound. But with the Beats Fit Pro, there’s a new alternative even to Apple’s AirPods Pro.
These compact true wireless earbuds aim to rival the Jaybird Vista 2 and Jabra Elite 7 Active in sports.
The Beats Fit Pro ditches the ear hook design. Instead, they feature a wingtip and gels combo. Beats says this digitally crafted design offers the most secure fit and best comfort.
Throw in competitive 30-hour battery life, active noise cancellation (ANC), transparency modes, and spatial music, all powered by the same H1 headphone chip found in Apple AirPods Pro, and you’ve got a new and a compelling contender for the crown of best workout headphones.
First Impressions
For Android users, the Beats app comes with some features found natively in iOS, such as ear fit testing, listening mode controls, and firmware updates. What’s missing from Android is support for Spatial Audio with head tracking, hands-free Siri, Find My support, audio sharing, and automatic switching between paired sound sources.
The IPX4 rating here is a bit disappointing for a pair so focused on fit, as one might naturally think that a good fit equates to being built for exercise.
Although IPX4 means the headphones can withstand sweat, light rain, or splashes from any direction, they’re not built to be submerged or placed under a faucet. The most reliable earphones for exercise tend to have an IPX7 rating, which makes the earphone fully waterproof. In this case, the headphones can withstand some moisture, but that’s about it.
Also, the case is not waterproof, so the earbuds should be dried thoroughly before plugging in for charging. The case’s flip-top lid opens like a jewelry box, revealing the charging cradles and pairing button.
The front panel of the case has a small status LED, and the back panel houses a recessed USB-C port for the included short USB-C charging cable. No adapter is included for the USB-A ports, and unlike the AirPods Pro, wireless charging isn’t supported.
Available in black, gray, lavender, or white, the Fit Pro’s chunky earbuds are housed in a round color-matched charging case, with the Beats logo prominently displayed on both the case and the earbuds. It’s a bit curious that there are only three pairs of ear tips (small, medium, and large), which is more or less standard, but many pairs ship with more adjustment options. That said, the fit is exceptionally secure.
The fins do an excellent job of stabilizing the earcup seal, despite being built into the earcups themselves (most fins are removable and replaceable, and are often offered in different sizes).
Hermetic Closure Crucial
Of course, how good noise-isolating headphones sound depends on how well they fit. And I’ll just point out that I got a decent seal with the larger size of the included tips (as with the AirPods Pro, these have an ear tip test that tells you if you have a good seal). But I ended up switching to Sennheiser tips, which tend to fit my ears better with many headphones, including Sony ones.
This is a little weird, but some companies include tips with a slightly recessed tube, which is the part that attaches to the headphone post. However, the tube on the Sennheisers is flush with the outer edge of the pad, so once you put it on the post, the pad protrudes from the bud a few more millimeters. Those few millimeters and the shape of the Sennheiser tips created a perfect seal in my ears.
Controls and Digital Assistant
The controls on the headphones are simple buttons that are easy to operate without affecting the adjustment of the headphones. A single tap on the Beats logo on the outer panels of either ear controls playback and call handling, while a double-tap moves a track forward, three taps move a trackback, and a long press activates or turns off ANC.
In the Bluetooth settings menu, you can assign the volume to be controlled by a long press, where the left ear turns the volume down and the right ear turns it up.
Also in the Bluetooth settings menu – the de facto app for the Fit Pro – you can use the ear tip fit test to make sure you have an ideal seal. Here you can also adjust the microphone settings (for example, automatically switch to the headset that is worn, or use only the left or right ear) and activate/deactivate automatic ear detection.
In the music menu, you can switch between various EQ presets (as well as lossless audio playback and Dolby Atmos autoplay), and in the Siri menu, you can turn “Hey Siri” on or off for Siri commands. hands-free voice You can also use Apple’s Find My feature to locate lost headphones. Since they use the H1 chip, the headphones also support one-touch pairing with iOS devices.
But like all Apple audio products, it’s all about hands-free voice controls, headlined by the “Hey Siri” feature, which automatically activates Apple’s AI bot when the word “wake” is spoken. The Fit Pro takes advantage of six microphones (three each) and a voice accelerometer that captures each syllable spoken so that Siri correctly interprets verbal commands and returns results quickly.
Google Assistant and Bixby are also compatible with these headphones. It is necessary to manually activate the function when pairing with an Android device. This can be done by assigning the function to the long-press gesture in the Beats app. Fortunately, both assistants are very functional, although nothing beats the iOS experience. It is not a play on words.
Call Quality and Connectivity
Apple and Beats have a knack for creating some of the best headphones with a microphone for voice and video calls. Arguably the Fit Pros are included. According to Beats, five of the six microphones are used during calls, along with the voice accelerometer to minimize background noise for loud, clear calls.
Talking to a colleague outside, she didn’t hear the birds chirping or the gardening going on next door, but she did notice the wind and passing cars, which didn’t spoil the clarity. He also found my voice off on a few occasions. Indoors, call quality was better, especially during FaceTime calls, where most of my customers praised the clarity of my sound.
The H1 chip simplifies connectivity with instant pairing with iOS/macOS devices. In addition, the Fit Pro demonstrates a great ability to auto-connect with Android devices. The range is solid too, generating up to 12 meters of wireless listening in open spaces.
For a second I thought the Fit Pro came with multipoint technology, but really it just favors the strongest connection.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
The Beats Fit Pro’s noise cancellation mutes some frequencies in the upper bass and general mids, but not to the same degree as Bose headphones. Beats uses adaptive ANC, so it calibrates loudness in real-time.
To get the best possible performance from active noise cancellation, you need to get a good fit. Noise cancellation is surprisingly great. Like the one in the AirPods Pro. You’d swear Apple stuffed its noise-canceling circuitry into the Fit Pro. The feature mutes background noise to a high level, allowing you to work out in different scenarios or recover at home with peace of mind.
Using the headphones mostly indoors, I was pleased with the noise cancellation they provided. The buzzing and background noises were silenced, along with the chatter and loud TVs.
Other common distractions that didn’t catch my eye were doorbells, kitchen appliances, and my mother-in-law’s iPhone ringing. High frequencies were also handled well, although most of them still cut through the soundscape; the whistles of the street and the cries of a baby were perceptible.
Transparency Mode
Transparency mode is just as good. There’s no way to adjust how much noise you want to hear, but the mics open wide to let in plenty of clear, distinctive sound from outside. You can even stay focused on a conversation without having to pause or remove your headset to chat.
Bluetooth Codecs
With the Beats Fit Pro, you can choose between two Bluetooth codecs: SBC and AAC. Coincidentally, these are the only two codecs that iPhones support. This is where Beats’ equal approach to Android and iOS falters a bit, as AAC performance varies by Android hardware. Offering aptX would have made it a truly OS-agnostic pair of headphones, but we can cross our fingers that that happens down the line.
The Beats Fit Pro uses Bluetooth 5.0, so they don’t support LE Audio or the LC3 codec when available. Yet the Fit Pro stays faithfully connected to iOS and Android devices whether I’m working indoors or out on my bike.
Sound
Gone are the days when Beats headphones sounded like busted car speakers with enough bass to shake your skull. The new Beats sound profile keeps things exciting with soaring highs and lows and good overall clarity.
On tracks available with Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, you hear the bass line from the beginning, followed by a vocal track that moves depending on the direction you’re looking. If you look to the left, the vocal track moves to the right earphone. If you look to the right, the opposite happens.
The ability to dynamically change the audio mix as you move your head is electrifying, allowing you to enjoy a concert-like experience anywhere.
Much of this is down to the way the Beats are tuned and Apple’s H1 wireless chip, but the new driver design inside the earphones helps give them a slightly larger soundstage than previous Beats earphones.
Apple Music has thousands of songs mixed with Dolby Atmos that deliver a spatial audio experience on true wireless headphones that sound really good.
The caveat here is that despite its impressive performance for its size, the Fit Pro’s spatial audio is no substitute for the surround sound you get from a true Dolby Atmos speaker system. However, it is a big step up from traditional wireless headphones.
Competence
Are the Beats Fit Pro better than the AirPods Pro? To exercise, without a doubt. Are the best truly wireless earphones? Things are very tight. I’d recommend them over the Jabra Elite 7 Active for their fit, but they fall short of the Jaybird Vista 2 in some ways.
For starters, they lack customization. Unlike the Jaybird Vista 2 and Jabra Elite Active 7, there is no custom equalizer, no custom sound test to adjust the audio profile, and no option to create and store different sound profiles for different situations. for example, calls at the gym or at work. They rely heavily on that auto-adaptive EQ to get the job done, which it does pretty well, but we’d like more control.
The same goes for controls. There’s some customization in iPhone settings and the Beats app on Android, but the Vista and Elite 7 offer a lot more control over what taps and taps do. It’s frustrating that Beats forces you to choose between volume control and ANC/Transparency mode on the headphones.
The case is also disappointing. Essentially a miniaturized version of the Powerbeats Pro case, it’s still much bulkier and much less manageable than the AirPods Pro, Vista 2, and cases from Jabra’s true wireless line.
Unlike the case on the Vista 2s, the Fit Pro case is not weather-protected. Again, this isn’t so great if you’re planning on slipping it into a pocket during a run, walk, or any other outdoor workout. Also, the Find My feature is limited to the Beats Fit Pro headphones and not the case, that the Vista 2 does offer. Some people might also resent the lack of wireless charging.
Battery
Officially, the Beats Fit Pro can last up to 6 hours with ANC on, and you get an additional 3-4 charge cycles (~18-21 hours) with the case for combined 24-hour battery life. When you put the earbuds in the case for just 5 minutes, you’re rewarded with 60 minutes of playback, a feature that’s often appreciated.
There’s only one way to recharge the case, and that’s with a USB-C cable. Beats provide a comically short USB-C to USB-C cable, so you may want to opt for another one if you have it lying around the house. On the other hand, there’s no wireless charging and you won’t get battery optimization on iOS either.
Should you buy the Beats Fit Pro?
The AirPods Pro has wireless charging, but the Beats Fit Pro fits better, sounds better, last longer on a single charge, comes at a lower price, and comes in multiple colors. Oh, and the awkward “pinch-rod” controls are replaced with true physical buttons that are easier to use…so the win goes to the Beats.
The benefits of the AirPods Pro — wireless charging, a slightly more compact and sturdy case, slightly better voice quality — don’t outweigh the many ways the Fit Pro is better, and they definitely aren’t enough to justify the extra price.
Most people who want AirPods Pro will probably like these better, even if they weren’t cheaper. In fact, with 3rd-gen AirPods at current prices, we think you should splurge and pay more for these: You’ll get much better fit, sound, and active noise cancellation, and you won’t have to buy them in white.
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