The first Beats x Kim collab launched a few years ago with the Beats Fit Pro and literally flew off the shelves due to the neutral tones that were designed to go with different skin tones. The collab is back and this time it’s with the new Beats Studio Pro that launched later this year.
The collab comes in the same three colour ways, Moon (pictured in this review), Dune and Earth which consists of three different shades ranging from light to middle toned to dark, and whilst they might not be a perfect skin match for a lot of people, they’re all absolutely stunning in their design.
I’ve been using the headset for a few days now and much like other Beats products such as the Solo Buds and Pill that I’ve reviewed recently, there’s a lot to like about them in terms of how premium the entire package is and how easy they are to use.
The Beats team has gone all out in ensuring that everything from the case that you get to the USB-C and 3.5mm cable included in the box are all colour coded depending on which headset you buy, making it feel like you’re getting your money’s worth for $529.95.
In terms of the design, they follow the iconic Beats over-ear design with a foldable design that is premium but also super lightweight. The headband isn’t overly cushy but the cups themselves are fairly plush and comfortable to use. As far as controls go it’s extremely streamlined with a power button on one side, volume buttons on the other side as well as a single action button.
As far as pairing goes, it’s super easy with both iPhone and Android with the headset instantly showing up on my iPhone the second it turned on, with clear controls for everything as well as Find My support within the app as well. It’s very clear from the moment that you turn these on that Beats is an Apple owned property as they just work, and work really well with the only glaring thing missing is head detection.
Just like other high-end headphones, they have active noise cancelling which does a great job of blocking out the outside world, and you’ve also got a transparency mode which can be activated by double pressing on the main button on the headset.
The Beats Studio Pro have been totally upgraded from the last model with 25% stronger magnets that provide more balanced sound and an improvement of up to 80% reduced distortion. It’s been a little while since I’ve used a pair of over-eats Beats headphones, but the mix of clearness and bass on offer here was a lot better than I remember previously.
You can also take advantage of spatial audio whether that be static or head tracked, and obviously this will come down to personal preference on whether you like it or not, but the directional audio seemed really decent in terms of you could tell where it was coming from.
As far as battery life goes, you can expect to get about 40 hours, but you can also connect over USB-C for lossless audio. This allows you to go between three sound profiles: Beats Signature for music, Entertainment for music/games and Conversation which is good for phone calls and podcasts. This is done by pressing the system button twice and shows which profile by the dots on the battery indicator.