Beats has been on a roll over the last 12 months, with it releasing the Beats Solo Buds that I recommend to absolutely everybody as well as the new and improved Bill that is absolutely fantastic, but the last line that people wanted update is the Powerbeats Pro. After being teased quite a bit last year, the Powerbeats Pro 2 have been revealed and they’re hugely improved from the original model.
The Powerbeats 2 Pro have the same core concept, but have just been improved in everything from design to sound. Speaking about the buds themselves, the are now 20% lighter which is a big deal given these are meant to stay on during the most rigorous of exercises. The hook that goes around your ear has totally been redesigned as well, to stay on your ears better whilst being 50% smaller. They obviously still look quite big on your ear compared to newer buds on the market, but as long as they stay on, that’s going to be the main thing for those wearing them.
The comfort in the ears is fairly good, and there’s now five tips included in the box so that you can hopefully find your perfect fit. As far as on-device controls g, the B on each bud is a physical action button that can play/pause audio or switch between noise cancellation modes, and there’s also physical volume buttons on the top of the bud as well, both of which are fairly easy to control.
@shannongrixti The new $400 Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 have built-in heart rate monitoring and are a huge improvement #Beats #BeatsPowerBeatsPro2 #PowerBeatsPro2 #Headphones #Audio #Tech #Apple #AirPods
The actual case itself whilst still larger than most these days due to the design of the earbuds is 33% smaller and can now be charged wirelessly which is a great addition. The battery life is hugely improved with 10 hours of battery in the buds themselves (with ANC off) and 45 hours total if you’re charging from the case as well, meaning you’ll absolutely be able to get multiple sessions without needing to charge them. You’ll also get 90 minutes of battery life from just 5 minutes of charging time as well.
The buds themselves are closer to the AirPods Pro than ever before with Active Noise Cancellation (that’s almost as good as the Pros), transparency mode capability, adaptive EQ as well as personalised spatial audio when you’re pairing them with an iPhone. Features that are normally reserved for the AirPods such as quick device switching, battery life popping up when you open the case as well as other Apple specific features also here as well. You’ve also got full in-ear detection as well, so the buds can start playing as soon as they’re placed in your ears and stop if you take them out.
There’s also 6 microphones total in the earbuds, so you’ll get fantastic clarity when talking on the phone, or dictating over messages, which is important as if you’re walking or exercising, you don’t want to have to take the buds out to take a call.
Something that has been rumoured for the AirPods for the longest time is heart rate monitoring and they come to the Powerbeats Pro 2. This means that you can measure your heart rate without wearing your Apple Watch. Just like how your Apple Watch detects your heart rate, each earbud has a green LED light that goes through the skin and hits your red blood cells to measure your heart rate whilst exercising. This happens automatically when you’re wearing both earbuds at the same time and use one of the compatible exercise apps (Nike Run, Peloton, Runna, Open to name a few). As far as I can tell if you are wearing an Apple Watch, both will track individually, and they seemed to be quite similar, so it’ll be interesting to see how Apple uses both of this data to maybe provide a more accurate reading.
When it comes to audio quality H2 chip that is in the AirPods Pro as well which gives you lossless audio as well as ultra-low latency with the Apple Vision Pro. The experience is fairly similar to the of the AirPods Pro Gen 2. There’s a good amount of bass, the audio is crystal clear and even when listening to podcasts or YouTube videos, the clarity was fantastic. It was maybe just a tad less refined than the AirPods Pro Gen 2, but they’ve also been out for years with a number of software updates at this point. Beats says that they’ve designed a new venting design that pairs with a next-gen acoustic mesh and a high-output amplifier or better sound than before.
Given the Powerbeats Pro 2 come in at the same $399 AUD price tag as the originals, there’s some pretty big improvements across the board, and for those that excercises daily and want the security and sweat resistance of a bud that’s geared towards exercising, these will be incredibly hard to top.
