Fortunately, there’s an impressive 12-hour battery packed into these headphones, and even more impressive is the Fast Fuel feature that gives you 1.5-hour of battery life from a 10-minute charge. In our time with these affordable wireless earphones, we struggled with them feeling tight in our ears and there are definitely better earphones if your music is all about the bass. There are a dozens options for wireless earbuds at the sub-$50 price point, though none of them come with Apple’s W1 chip. And once you get a taste of the seamless pairing and switching between Apple devices it enables, it’s hard to use wireless earbuds without the chip.
The multifunction button is play/pause with a single press, track forward with a double press, track back with a triple press, and calls up your device’s digital assistant with a long press. As you’d expect, they come with a range of different earbud sizes in the box – four to be precise – to help ensure a snug fit. Rather surprisingly, they charge via USB-C, not Lightning, as has been the norm with recent beats solo pro wireless Beats products and battery life is impressive. When fully charged, Beats claims the Flex will deliver up to 12 hours of playback and you can also get 90 minutes of usage from a mere 10-minute charge when the battery gets low. With only eight hours of battery life, the BeatsX were not only getting crushed by other wire-connected wireless earbuds, but also by some of the new true wireless earbuds.
The vocals are delivered cleanly and clearly, though some sibilance is added to the mix. The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and support AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, but not AptX. A Class 1 Bluetooth rating means they support connections up to 300 feet, which is well beyond the typical 30-foot range you get with most Class 2 Bluetooth devices.
They are significantly cheaper than their predecessors and Apple’s AirPods, but little has been sacrificed in sound or function. The headphones have simple pairing, seamless switching and a strong Bluetooth connection. They work just as well with Android devices, thanks to the Beats app, as they do Apple ones. The Beats app on Android offers many of the same features as available on an iPhone, including assistance with pairing and battery status popups, as well as handling updates and various settings. In the world of true wireless Bluetooth earbuds, the older-style neckband models typically occupy the cheaper end of the market.
For just $50 you get all of the conveniences of Apple brand headphones without paying the higher price. With all of that balance and clarity, however, comes a flat sound. Whether you’re listing to Tom Petty or DaBaby, it all sounds the same, and I mean that in a bad way.
Other issues can cause this symptom, too but it is infrequent. Moreover, their carrying case offers an additional charge. They also got a standby mode to conserve power beats solo pro wireless when not in use. The Flex earbuds are superior in terms of build quality and comfortability too. Audio latency is also lower than the Beats X on iOS and Android.