The earbuds themselves are magnetic, attaching to each other back to back when not in use. The neckband is also flat and designed to prevent your Beats Flex headphones getting tangled up when they’re in your pocket, and let us just say thank the lord for that. Beats Flex are actually a replacement for the old BeatsX earbuds, which were also rocking the neckband design.
Read on to find out more about the Beats Flex budget wireless earbuds. The left-side housing includes a pair of buttons, but they’re easy to distinguish between by feel. Along the edge is an elongated volume rocker, while a raised, round button on the face of the housing offers playback control.
Magnetic earbuds automatically play music when they’re in your ears and pause when they’re attached around your neck. Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET’s Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, beats studio3 including headphones and speakers. He’s also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks. If you tried the BeatsX before, then you know what to expect here.
Everything just sounds the same and while that’s nothing new at this price, it’s still a disappointment as Beats once had a distinctive sound. It is therefore necessary to carefully choose the size of the end caps to obtain good comfort, but above all good passive insulation. You shouldn’t have a problem, because Beats delivers beats solo pro wireless four pairs of eartips in different sizes. The headphones fit well in the ears and deliver a satisfactory sound, but lacks a bit of depth. The measurement of the bandwidth reveals that the Beats Flex give pride of place to the mediums, but cannot correctly reproduce the highs from 4000 Hz, nor the bass below 200 Hz.
There’s a volume rocker on one side, a play/pause/multi-function on the inside of the same side, and a power/pair button on the other side. The design is comfortable enough and easy to wear, but I found the neckband to be less convenient and get in the way. My preference would just be a cable that hangs under my neck or around the back of my neck. The neckband got in the way during activities with a lot of movement (especially crunches!). The linguini cord goes where it wants to and ends up rubbing against our chin. If you own an Apple phone or tablet, you’ll be able to make the most of everything these wireless earbuds have to offer because they use the Apple W1 chip.
For daily chores and errands, the Beats Flex is perfectly fine, but it doesn’t have an official IP rating to protect against water damage. While these wireless neckbuds work well with Android, you’ll really get the best value if you pair them with an iOS device. This said, it is unlikely you’re playing tracks like this often, and I’ve seen audio systems costing £15,000 struggle so it shouldn’t be taken as too much of a negative. The overall look and design has been tweaked in minor ways in most respects. Instead controls are now integrated into the battery “things” .
At either end of the U are elongated plastic housings that contain the battery and 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. Instead of placing the microphone and controls in an inline pod on the left earbud’s wire, these are now contained in the left housing.
An advanced built-in microphone helps reduce wind noise for elevated voice clarity and call performance. On-device controls allow you to adjust volume as well as manage music, take calls, or activate voice assistant. Yes, these are “budget” headphones, but Apple didn’t skimp on the audio quality. They come with 4 silicone ear tips for an air-tight seal in your ear, so most will find the audio quality much better than Apple’s standard AirPods. We wouldn’t be surprised if some find the audio quality to be as good or better than AirPods too, just because of this tight seal. The more expensive PowerBeats would be the closest comparison, but those have a little extra detail and oomph.
These earbuds come with wingtips that can be attached for a more secure fit. Wingtips come in handy for sports and other physical activities. When used correctly, they prevent the earbuds from falling off.