30 Aug
Blog

Beats Studio 3 Wireless Review: Who Let The Bass Drop?

Beats Studio 3 Wireless

"A great design suffers from mediocre ANC and a lack of low-end oomph."

  • Excellent design and controls

  • Very convenient

  • Excellent battery life without ANC

  • Easy pairing with Apple products

  • Expensive

  • Overwhelming bass

  • Bad quality wireless calls

When the $ 350 Beats Studio 3 Wireless debuted in 2017, we didn't get a chance to review. If we had done that, we might have come to the same conclusion as other reviewers: These are really decent Active Noise Canceling (ANC) headphones.

In the personal audio world – especially in the world of wireless headphones – three years is an eternity. During that time, Sony, Bose, and pretty much every other major brand have launched new top-of-the-line wireless ANC headphones – two new top-of-the-line models in Sony's case – while Beats was content to keep everything running on the Beats Studio to let 3 wireless.

Given the activity of the competition, can Beats justify the Studio 3's high price tag? Or were these beats struck?

Let's take a look.

What's in the box?

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Beats Studio 3 Wireless "class =" m-Karussell - Bild dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn3.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/beats-studio-3-wireless-2-640x640.jpg " srcset = "https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Beats Studio 3 Wireless are large headphones and come in a large box. Fortunately, it's 100% cardboard and you won't find any hard-to-recycle materials like foam or plastic inside.

In addition to the Studio 3 headphones, you get a zippered hard case, a micro USB charging cable, and a 3.5mm analog audio cable with an in-line set of remote control buttons and a microphone.

Beats also throws in a small snap hook in case you want to attach the tote to a backpack or purse.

design

I'll be honest: I've never been a huge fan of the earliest designs from Beats, with their shiny white, red, or black headbands. It always seemed to me that they should draw attention to those who wore them – not something I'm looking for.

However, the Studio 3 comes in a variety of colors, including the blue of my review unit – a shade that is only slightly lighter than the navy and has a satin finish. It's tasteful and muted, with little chrome accents on the hinges and earcups to remind you that these aren't $ 80 headphones.

The best thing about the Studio 3 Wireless, however, is the fully integrated headband and earcups. This design is unique to Beats and gives these headphones a sleek and minimalist look. It also creates a very slim profile, reducing the “Princess Leia effect” to a minimum.

This theme of visual simplicity continues into the controls, which are virtually invisible. In the left auricle there is play / pause, call acceptance / end, forward / backward jump and access to the voice assistant via the central "b" logo, while the volume is controlled via the plastic ring that circles the logo.

The only other control is the tiny power switch on the right auricle, which doubles as a power supply, bluetooth pairing and ANC on / off. Directly below this button is a five-LED light strip that serves as a quick reference for the remaining battery life.

Like many full-size headphones, the Studio 3 folds up for storage, but the ear cups don't rotate to lie flat. This makes them a bit bulky and explains why the snap hook is included – the hard travel case is bulbous and easy to slip into a backpack only if you have plenty of extra space. Despite the fact that the ear cups don't lie flat, the Studio 3 is more comfortable when worn around the neck than many over-ear models I've tried – here, too, their minimalist design helps.

The Studio 3 manages the balancing act with a fit that is both very secure and very comfortable.

My only minor criticism of the design of these cans is the padded underside of the headband. It's covered with a grippy silicone rubber surface that prevents the Studio 3 from moving. However, this material is a dust and dirt magnet that needs to be wiped off regularly with a damp cloth to keep it clean.

Convenience, control and connections

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Studio 3 Wireless aren't the lightest full-size headphones you can buy – that honor goes to the Sony's WH-1000XM4 – but they are certainly among the most comfortable.

The trick for headphone comfort is to manage the delicate balancing act between headband padding, clamping force, ear pads (size, shape and padding) and the materials used.

The Studio 3 manages this balancing act with a fit that is both very secure and very comfortable. You may have seen people exercise or even jog with these doses, and while that's not a choice I would make, the Studio 3 makes it possible – something I say about the majority of full size headphones that I have , can't say I checked.

You may notice some strange dents in the ear pads in the attached photos – ignore them. The headphones had been in her pocket for a long time before I removed them, and about an hour after I took these photos, they had bounced back.

The controls are also very well executed. I'm a fan of physical buttons. In my experience, they just work. Touch controls – even the best – can't respond quickly. Not only are the Studio 3's buttons large and easy to find and use (amazing as they are seamlessly embedded in the auricle pivot), they are also precise. There is no guesswork – press, click, done.

Yes, there's a pretty audible click when you're using them, but I make a quick click when I don't have to repeatedly tap a touch control.

Just two things are missing: a wear sensor that automatically pauses your music when you remove the headphones would be awesome (Apple's AirPods, AirPods Pro, and the WH-1000XM4 already have this), as well as a pass-through mode that allows you to They feed in outside noise for a while.

The Studio 3's wireless range is excellent – much better than most wireless headphones.

As with all Apple-made headphones that use the W1 or H1 wireless chips, Bluetooth is a delight on the Beats Studio 3 Wireless. To pair them, just turn them on a few inches away from an unlocked iOS device with iOS 10 or later and you will be instantly notified that your Studio 3 is ready to use. Just tap once and you're done.

There's no Bluetooth multipoint (which lets you connect to two devices at the same time), but Apple does this almost as well, allowing you to switch between Macs, iPhones, and iPads with just one click.

The Studio 3 is also compatible with Apple's audio sharing feature, which allows two W1 or H1 equipped headphones or earphones to listen to content from an iOS device at the same time. This function will be available for more devices with Bluetooth Audio LE. However, it is currently exclusive to Apple.

Unfortunately, audio sharing, simple pairing, and device switching are not supported on Android devices.

As a Class 1 Bluetooth device, the Studio 3 has excellent wireless range – more than 300 feet outdoors – much better than most wireless headphones. I was able to leave my iPhone in the house and still had a reliable signal when I stood two doors down from a house across the street.

Battery life

The battery life on the Studio 3 Wireless is either mediocre or excellent, depending on how you plan to use it.

With ANC enabled, you get 22 hours of playtime, which is just a bit better than the $ 400 Bose noise canceling headphones 700 after 20 hours, but not as impressive as Sony's $ 350 WH-1000XM4 after 30 hours.

However, if you don't use the ANC feature (which seems to gobble up the battery life), you get an excellent 40 hours, two hours more than the Sony's.

The quick charge function is average and with 10 minutes plug time you get 3 additional hours of playtime.

Speaking of plugs: The Studio 3 uses the Micro-USB format, not the newer and more common USB-C connection. This is hardly a deal breaker, but for most people it means another cord to remember when you hit the streets.

Noise cancellation

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Studio 3 Wireless has what Beats calls "real" ANC. The company claims to "continuously locate, isolate, and suppress outside noise in real time in order to reproduce the sound as it was intended". That sounds great, but in reality I'd say the ANC is average and certainly not as good as what you'll find with the Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 or the Sony WH-1000XM4.

When no music is playing, the ANC produces a noticeable hiss, preventing a convenient way to simply find some peace and quiet.

Background noise is definitely reduced when the ANC is on, and Beats is right on one point: there is no noticeable change in audio quality between on and off modes.

However, when there is no music playing, the ANC creates a noticeable hiss that prevents these cans from being a pleasant way to simply find some peace of mind. Why exchange the sound of an airplane's engines for a soft hissing sound?

I also noticed that the ANC mode was struggling to compensate for windy conditions and sometimes accidentally amplified the wind tone instead of erasing it.

The good news: the Studio 3 Wireless does an excellent job of passive noise isolation, which makes ANC a nice but not critical feature.

The bad news? This passive noise isolation is so good that I want a passthrough mode even more – especially when making calls.

Sound quality

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

I'd always viewed Beats as a bass-forward company, which definitely goes for other products like the Powerbeats Pro.

So it was a complete surprise that the Studio 3 Wireless doesn't fit this shape at all.

This is the same complaint we had with the Solo3. Not only is the bass not the main part of their sound signature, I'd even say it was forced to return to the mid and high ranges.

On the one hand, there will definitely be a group of people who like the idea of ​​a less booming beats set – maybe fans of the famous “neutral” or flat EQ that audiophiles praise.

But I don't count myself among them. I like tons of frequencies so when I listen to a deep, sad track like Hans Zimmer's Time, I get that hair-raising low-end bass that feels right in your stomach. The Studio 3 just lacks that kind of bass, and since you can't change the EQ, you can't compensate for it by adjusting other frequencies.

Before you take this as a sign that you should add the Studio 3 to your "other" column, you should note that although these cans disappoint the bass heads, they still produce an excellent, detailed sound in the mids and highs.

For music with a powerful voice, especially for music created by the greatest divas of our time such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga or Adele, Studio 3 provides energy and clarity.

And if you like it loud, these cans are happy to be ready, with no hint of distortion or pain-inducing volume bumps.

Despite Beats' roots as a brand adopted (and promoted) by legendary hip-hop and rap artists, these particular Beats headphones are better suited for genres that are a little less lowdown-thumped.

Call quality

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

I recently tested the BeatsX, a set of wired bluetooth earbuds, and praised them for their call quality. I believe that their in-line microphone – placed close to their mouth – is the secret of this success.

I'm even more convinced now after making a few calls to Studio 3 Wireless, which can't withhold a candle from the BeatsX.

The Studio 3 doesn't seem to have any gain issues as the voices were perfectly audible in terms of volume, but clarity is another matter.

Most of the time, it sounded like listening to my caller through a few layers of fabric. I could feel what they were saying, but it was very exhausting.

Granted, my chosen location was something of a torture test – a very busy street with lots of truck traffic – but even during the lull in vehicle activity, it was never a great experience.

I suppose the silver lining is that the included analog cable with inline microphone should make it so easy to plug in the cable and press the rotary dial when it comes to better call quality.

Our opinion

With its excellent design, controls, and no-ANC battery life, the Studio 3 Wireless is still a great choice for those who don't prioritize big bass, whisper-quiet ANC, or wireless calling. But at $ 350 you really have to guess what they have to choose over the competition.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes indeed. I mentioned the $ 400 Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 and the $ 350 Sony WH-1000XM4 in this review, and I think both are arguments for getting out of Beats Town. Choose the Sonys if you value customization, comfort, and sound quality. Choose the Bose if ANC and call quality are high on your list.

How long will they last?

The Beats Studio 3 Wireless comes with a one-year warranty from Apple, which can be extended with an optional AppleCare purchase. I think they will last for many years with normal use, although you can expect the battery capacity to decrease over time. Overall, they are very well built, with first class materials and durable metal parts for heavily used areas such as hinges and slides.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but I think you should wait to find them on sale for $ 250 or less. If you're an Apple believer, some of Apple's wireless features may be worth the Studio 3's high price tag. But make sure you understand the weak points and are in good working order – especially call quality and lack of low-end bass – before you put your money on it.

Editor's recommendations




23 Apr
Blog

Flo by Moen Review | Money You’ll Save Is No Drop In The Bucket

Flo from Moen's review

"Moen's intuitive Flo helps you save water and protect yourself from costly leaks."

  • Protects against catastrophic water damage

  • Learn your water usage habits

  • Provides valuable information on water consumption

  • Great information dashboard

  • Integrates with Amazon Alexa

  • Requires a subscription for important benefits

  • Leakage location cannot be recognized

  • Cannot be connected to other home security systems

My first product review was the Current Cost ENVI Home Energy Monitor. That was nine years ago, and I've been studying television reviews intensively since then – but I've never got over having data on energy and resource consumption at hand. I'm still excited about it. When the people behind the Flo by Moen smart home water monitor (and also the leak detector!) Offered to install the device for this test, I took the chance.

It's a few months later now and I often wonder how I've ever lived without this clever device. Sure, it will detect a water leak, tell you about it, and even shut down your water pipe, but its capabilities go far beyond these basic functions. It's not perfect, but between the practical daily use and the security it offers, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Mother Earth will surely appreciate this because there is not only an incentive to save money by using Flo by Moen, but also the more profound gesture to help the planet by saving water.

Why do i need that thing?

In the past two months, three of my homeowner friends have had installation problems that resulted in flooded land. Those who had good insurance were faced with a nasty deductible that didn't get a nasty bill, and in all cases the total cost of cleanup, repairs, and restoration exceeded $ 4,000.

Flo from Moen's review

In all three cases, Moen's $ 500 flo could have done practically none of these floods and damage. Reason enough to invest in Flo by Moen. It also monitors for leaks and, for a small monthly fee, identifies the water-consuming devices and fittings in your home. This way you get an insight – shower for shower, rinsing for rinsing and even washing machine load for washing machine load – into your home's water consumption. In any case, real money must be saved and not just a drop in the bucket. Over the course of his life, the Moen Flo could potentially save you thousands of dollars.

There is also the environmental good of water protection, which should not be underestimated.

installation

Flo by Moen is a small, weatherproof box with a valve button and incoming and outgoing connections that are connected to the main water pipe of your house. Practical people can install it themselves, but I would recommend hiring a plumber, especially if your water pipe is difficult to access. While contacting your plumber, you can also check if they are selling Flo by Moen as they may offer a discount on the purchase of the product and installation together.

There will come a time when you have to help the Flo to help you better.

Flo by Moen is not battery operated, so you need access to an electrical outlet. You should also make sure that your WiFi router's signal is strong enough to get to where the device is installed because there is no Ethernet port (not that an Ethernet cable is likely to be routed to the water pipe).

Once connected, Flo by Moen connects to Wi-Fi using the Flo by Moen app, available for iOS and Android. Once you're online, the app will ask you a number of questions to get you started. The app wants to know where your home is, how many people live in the house, the price per unit of water – all the data it can use to give you meaningful and informative dashboards.

From there, Flo by Moen will take water consumption at home into account and send this data to the cloud for processing via Flo by Moens Analytics.

What Flo does

In the first few days of operation, the Flo collects some basic data: how much water is consumed per day, when the consumption is highest and lowest, what the flow rate is for typical water consumption and how the water in the household is pressure and temperature measurement on average. The Flo also begins nightly tests for minor leaks by briefly turning off the water supply and monitoring for pressure changes. If the pressure drops, there is a leak somewhere. The Flo no longer recognizes where the leak is – it is intelligent, but does not have sensors in the entire sanitary system. So you have to go hunting yourself or call a plumber and have him sniff out.

Flo from Moen's review

With a feel for what is normal in your home, the Flo is equipped to understand what is not normal. If it sees that it is consuming too much water, a notification will be sent via SMS, email and / or phone call (you can choose one or all three notification options) to alert you. If notifications are not responded to, Flo will turn the water off, provided that it prevents potentially catastrophic damage or water loss. If you prefer, you can have Flo ignore the warning for two hours – something I had to do many, many times. More on that later.

The Moen Flo also looks for low pressure, indicating that there may be a problem with the water entering your home. water temperatures too low, which can be a warning that pipes can freeze; or too high pressure, which can be a sign of several problems (including already frozen pipes).

For those traveling on vacation or another long absence, an absence mode is available, which causes the Flo to react faster to warning signals.

But how does it really work?

Everything I've described so far is essentially automated, but there will come a time (probably actually many times) when you need to help the Flo do better to help you. Yes, as smart as the Flo is, it still needs an insight into what's actually happening in your home.

For example, watering my garden and / or lawn was a confusing event for the Flo. I have to admit that I was shocked that some drinking hoses let through up to 5 gallons of water per minute. But more importantly, Flo had never seen so much water in my home before – at least not for very long. While half of my vegetable garden was soaked with the much-needed hydration, Flo was busy letting me know that some nefarious things were coming down and warned of an impending water shutdown.

Flo not only protects my house from possible damage, but also prevents me from having to spend too much.

This scenario repeated itself several times, but I didn't know that every time I told the Flo app not to worry and keep pouring, Flo raised the ceiling for a shutdown event. This initially gave me cause for concern because what if the ceiling were raised so high that the Flo would be ineffective in the event of a real problem? It turned out that I didn't have to worry about it.

In addition to learning real-time usage habits, the Flo system allows users to assign usage events to certain types of usage, but only with a $ 5 FloProtect subscription. With the subscription it can be determined that the water consumption is at 1:10 p.m. On Thursday was the washing machine from which the Flo will likely learn to correctly allocate water consumption. This was practical for me as I was essentially able to tell the Flo device what applications were used for irrigation.

Today I have to blow up a good 57 gallons within 11 minutes before Flo warns me that I'm basically over-watering my garden. In this case, the Flo not only protects my house from possible damage, but also prevents me from over-watering and therefore paying too much when the water bill comes.

I have a huge bag of anecdotes praising the value of the Flo by Moen device, including stories of insanely long teenage showers that broke down after 25 minutes and overflowing bathtubs were barely averted, but I think you can imagine all kinds of cases In which a water monitor could be useful. Now we come to an even more convincing topic.

Get ready to save $$$

It may take a while to buy a used car with the money I saved with the Moen Flo, but I'm pretty sure this day could come. There are some real savings here.

Like any dashboard, the Flo by Moen app can be a real motivator. By setting water use goals and viewing reports of whether you have achieved or missed your goal, you tend to change your behavior (and that of others). In addition, it is instructive – and shocking in some cases – to see how much water is used to wash clothes or shower, for example, in a way that is difficult to describe.

"There's no way we're throwing so many gallons in our sinks," I cried in horror after checking my first monthly report. Unfortunately, our taps were our main consumers. They are still, but to a much lesser extent, since I installed water-saving aerators on every tap in the house. To be honest, I thought the existing aerators were highly efficient, and I wouldn't have known anything else without a detailed insight into my water consumption.

Flo from Moen's review

As convincing as saving may be, I think it may be more important to consider the positive effects of water conservation on our planet. Without realizing it, my kids had become a bit lazy turning off the faucet when brushing their teeth, and frankly it turned out that I was wasting a terrible amount of water washing up.

Treat the Flo by Moen app as a game, and conservation becomes a competition to find out who can save the most water. Given the high potential to save a valuable and sometimes scarce resource, I decided to give the Flo by Moen the Tech for Change Award from Digital Trends.

What's the catch?

The downside to many advantages of the Flo is that they live behind a FloProtect subscription paywall that costs $ 5 a month or $ 60 a year. With the subscription, you will also receive an insurance refund of up to $ 2,500 if water damage occurs under Flo's watch. This seems like a nice addition, but I'd rather see Moen bring that kind of support into the device for the $ 500 purchase price.

As long as I'm groaning, it would be great to see how Moen's Flo integrates with larger security systems to add an extra layer of protection. I personally have a Vivint home security system in operation that has flood sensors that can possibly detect water accumulations that the Flo cannot detect itself based on usage data. As it looks, the Flo is alone in its operation.

Our opinion

I love having the Moen Flo as part of my increasingly intelligent home. Not only do I feel like I have an extra layer of protection, I'm still moved by all the data I can get through well-designed dashboards. A little bit of manual work is required at the beginning, but the end result is an intuitive intelligent water monitoring system that more or less takes care of itself.

Is there a better alternative?

There are cheaper options, like Stream Labs' Smart Home Water Monitor for $ 200, which doesn't require pipe cutting like Flo by Moen, but we can't guarantee the accuracy of that. There are also more expensive options, like the Phyn Plus for $ 700, but it's unclear what valuable benefits the higher sticker price will bring. We also prefer the appearance of the Flo by Moen user interface.

How long it will take?

The Flo from Moen seems to be very robust and weatherproof, so the signs of a long life are good. However, since this is a new product category, it remains to be seen how realistic life expectancy will be. Given that most of the data processing and analysis is done in the cloud, there is a good chance that the technology will not be out of date in the short term.

Should you buy it

Yes. It performs well and offers a wealth of accurate data and solid protection.

Editor's recommendations