Beats Solo Pro with ANC
by Volker Weber
Beats introduces new Solo Pro on-ear headphones with PureANC. The left earcup offers a button to swith ANC off, on and transparency mode on. Call and music control are on the right earcup. Folding the headset turns it off, unfolding turns it on. Like more recent Beats headphones, the sound should be very neutral. I hope I get the opportunity to try there. I am a huge fan of the Studio³ over-ear headphones and the new headphones might offer a similar performance in a smaller package.
A welcome change is that Solo Pro charges over Lightning, like most iPads, the AirPods and all iPhones. I prefer this plug to USB C by quite a margin. Unpopular opinion: Apple will not be giving up on Lightning any time soon. Solo Pro uses the same Apple H1 chip for connectivity and should work as seamless as the AirPods with devices tied into the same Apple account.
Solo Pro can now be ordered from Apple.com via BeatsByDre.com and ships Oct 29.
Comments
While I prefer the lightning connector over the usb-c connector as well, I would love to see usb-c everywhere. Just because one connector for all is so convenient.
And lightning for all devices (pc/android) is just not going to happen.
As I said, unpopular opinion. I want Lightning to live as long as possible.
>> Solo Pro uses the same Apple H1 chip for connectivity
>>and should work as seamless as the AirPods
Which means that the Solo Pro can not hold the BlueTooth Connection to two devices at the same time - which I find quite annoying.
My many years old Plantronics headset can hold the connection to my computer and at the same time to my iPhone. I can accept and make calls on either device seamlessly without muddling with the BlueTooth settings, excellent.
My AirPods are set up to work with the my MacBook, iPad, iPhone and Surface. Changing from on to the other always takes time. Sometime I even have to disconnect first to be able to connect to the other. I hope Apple will fix this in the future.
Which generation of AirPods are you using? I’m still running the first generation and was hoping that this connection problems would get better with newer chips.
Still unsure if I should get the new solo model or stick with the studio3. Use case would be only for flying or traceling with deutsche Bahn.
I am using both generations.
Same problems with switching between Apple devices as mentioned by Felix?
Nope. Not with AirPods and not with Beats. The new H1 chip in the second gen AirPods makes switching faster but it works the same way. Just select AirPlay from Command Center and switch audio there.
Also not interested in multi-device connectivity. I can take calls on all my Apple devices without it. If I am listening on my iPad and a call comes in on my iPhone, I can take that call on the iPad.
@Adrian, I have got AirPods 1 and 2, switching is faster on AirPods 2, switching is however still required most of the times. Sometimes it is faster, sometimes slower. When I have AirPods connected to iPhone and want to see a movie on iPad I always have to go into iPad BlueTooth settings and connect AirPods first.
No USB-C? No thanks.
Lightning is more robust than USB-C.