Available in four fun colors, there’s certainly plenty to love here—especially at this price point. One of the best things about neckbuds is that the actual buds are quite light, which makes for a pretty comfortable fit. True wireless buds have a lot going on under the hood, so they’re often weightier than non-TW earbuds, which leads to more ear fatigue and discomfort. It’s still very much present, though you may be underwhelmed if you’re the “give me all the bass you can stuff into my brain” type of listener. I find the balance to be very good for most listening purposes, but I personally prefer a bit more low end in music than what the Flex offers. That said, it’s not something I’ve noticed myself missing after just a few minutes of listening to the Flex.
The multi-purpose button is located on a different face of the left remote to the volume controls, meaning you never inadvertently press one instead of the other. And this multi-purpose button only very subtly protrudes, so it’s unlikely you’ll knock it by accident. At either end of the beats solo pro wireless U are elongated plastic housings that contain the battery, electronics (including the Apple-designed W1 Bluetooth chip), as well as the USB-C charging port and the power/pairing button. These plastic housings are where Apple has focused most of its redesign (cost-cutting?) efforts.
Their devices take some of the top spots across all types of headphones from the best true wireless earbuds to the best noise-cancelling headphones. In the past, products like the Beats beats studio3 Powerbeats Pro and Beats Studio3 Wireless have impressed us here at T3, but you’re looking at spending upwards of $150 on those. With the Flex, Beats accomplished what it set out to do.
That control handles play/pause , skipping tracks forward , returning to the previous song and summoning your virtual assistant . Because these are all physical buttons, they’re reliable and easy to use. Even when you have to double- or triple-press, the Flex receives each command without issue. Also on the left side is the microphone for calls, just above the multi-function button. The Beats Flex looks a lot like its pricier predecessor, the $150 BeatsX. They’re still behind-the neck wireless earbuds — or as I like to call them, neckbuds.
The advanced digital processors finetune the audio for a perfect and heartwarming listening experience. Moreover, they come up with four different sizes of eartips to help you get the best comfortable fit. Built-in microphone with wind reduction for elevated voice clarity. That’s not to say your entire high-end is missing, but simply that the Flex lack some of the sparkle you’ll get from slightly more generous drivers.
They’re feature-rich, pack generous battery life, and paired with the right device and right selection of music feel like a steal for fifty sheets. If there’s one thing you expected to remain intact when Apple bought Beats in it was the asking price of its products, but actually that’s not how it’s played out. If anything the brand has become more competitive, with a newly refined sound, cultivated in Cupertino. When you remove the headphones from your ears, a magnetic system “sticks” them together, back to back, and automatically pauses music playback, which is very convenient. You have to fumble a bit at first to find the playback and volume controls on the case, but you get used to it quickly.
You will get this headphone straight to your Doorsteps without any delay. Speaking about Audio Sharing, the option lets you share your audio wirelessly with another pair of Apple AirPods or Beats headphones. The built-in microphone is available to pick up your voice by reducing wind noise for high voice clarity and call performance. The microphone clarity is also great, but it lacks the noise-reducing and voice isolating qualities of the more expensive PowerBeats. In a relatively quiet environment, your phone calls will sound great.
Even though I’m a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear. Get accurate bass and ultra-low distortion with an advanced acoustic platform featuring custom layered drivers, and then use one-tap Audio Sharing to sync with other Beats headphones or AirPods2. We gathered all the best Beats headphones currently available in one place so that you don’t have to.