Overview
Beats, you know the name, you know the craze. Now it’s Apple’s company, so what does that mean for you? Now it means the amazing W1 chip, and yes I mean amazing. Pairing BeatsX with your iPhone is ridiculously simple and easy. Turn on BeatsX, click connect, now all devices associated with your iCloud account are connected to your BeatsX. It’s that simple, that quick. I also usually avoid anything and everything Beats, ever since the original was released, but I’ll get to that soon.
Design
I mostly like the design of the BeatsX though I do have a few gripes. First off, I’m coming from some Jaybird Freedom’s and the BeatsX fixes one of my major issues with the Jaybird’s. The Jaybird’s have an ill-weighted cable, it’s all weighted on one side by the in-line controls. BeatsX fixes that with the weighted neck band, so you don’t even really notice the in-line controls much. I just wish the cable length was a little bit shorter so the earbud cables didn’t curl up away from shoulders and back to my ears. Again, just a minor annoyance, nothing I can’t live with.
Now with in-ear earphones like BeatsX, I would be shocked and appalled if they didn’t come with an assortment of ear tips. They come with small, medium, and large ear tips. What I did not expect to see, though, was that BeatsX also comes with my favorite ear tip of all, the bi-flange ear tip. A lot of people will look at these like they’re just some weird ear tip, but let me tell how amazing they are. Everyone’s ears are different, my ears, in particular, are somewhere between your standard small and medium size ear tips, so for most earphones I use, I need to use foam ear tips to get a good seal. This is not the case with bi- flanges. The small ear tip goes into my ear and the medium ear tip gets just far enough in just to create a perfect seal. The BeatsX also comes with ear wings that you can attach to help secure the fit in your ears. I have put these on and my BeatsX will never ever fall out of my ears. My only gripe and concern with the BeatsX ear wings is that they are made of plastic inserts with a silicone grip. My only problem is that in my right ear currently, even the small irritates my ear and causes a good deal of discomfort. If you experience this, take the wing tips off and give your ears a few days to recuperate and try again to see if your ears just aren’t used to it or if the size of the ear wing actually is a problem.
That’s about all that comes with the BeatsX and how they fit. You, of course, get all your standard paperwork in the box, including a Beats sticker. Outside of that, you’ll also get a super soft silicone pouch to stuff your BeatsX into for travel. If you’re out and about and need to listen around you can even just pull the earbuds out of your ear and stick them to each other with the magnets on the back and you have yourself a fancy Beats necklace until you listen to music again. Did you read this just to find out what you already knew or did you want to know how they sound?
Sound Quality
Okay everyone, here’s where things take a turn. First off I’m an audiophile, this means I really care about how my music sounds and notice some finer details that the average listener doesn’t hear or doesn’t care about. Secondly, I have always despised Beats for the omnipresent bloated bass that hums over everything, including silence. The BeatsX actually surprised me. To be fair, in this case, the BeatsX main limitation sound-wise is the iPhone. For as much as Apple claims to be about music, they sure don’t care about how it sounds, at all. I would be happy with even just a 5-band equalizer instead of the horrendous built in presets. These presets really kill what could be great in the BeatsX. BeatsX are overpriced for what they are, and if you compare them with other earphones in what should be their price point, they aren’t terrible. You get a decent amount of speed. Speed is really what it sounds like, how fast the sound is processed basically. Listening to fast music you can hear more of the notes in fast guitars or fast drumming.
I’m not going to go into extreme detail here, I don’t have the knowledge for it and most people don’t care that much. What it boils down to is that the BeatsX have some decent sound production. There is a noticeable separation of instruments and accurate playback. The BeatsX would be a solid contender in the sub $100 price range. At $150 though, you can buy so many other earphones that will blow them away. That being said, you aren’t going to be disappointed in them if you are coming from EarPods or something similar, and if you’re debating between BeatsX and AirPods and that’s all you’re going to get, get the BeatsX. They sound much better than AirPods. What about the bass I spoke of earlier? Yes, it’s still there, though it is much more subdued, enough that it doesn’t irritate me and previous Beats owners complain about the lack of it. If you’re curious about which Apple preset EQ I use with the BeatsX, Late Night. It’s usually the closest to what I run on my Fiio X5. As I stated earlier, it’s more irritating that I’m limited by Apple’s preset EQ’s rather than being able to tweak the bands manually and really see what the BeatsX have to offer because I feel like they are better than what you get when using them with Apple products. What you will still get, though, is an earphone that will make music fun and enjoyable to listen to.
Comfortability/Battery Life
I was finally able to spend a good amount of time in a single stretch to really gauge the battery life and comfortability of the BeatsX. They pass on both accounts. Apple claims an eight-hour battery life for the BeatsX and that’s about what I got. Somewhere in that neighborhood, I started my day with 84% battery life and after about three and a half to four hours I was down to 30%. That would put it right on the mark for about eight hours of battery life so I’m fairly convinced and happy with the battery life. My testing was done traveling through airports and while flying. For an eight hour day of travel, not starting out at 100% battery, I did have to charge on my layover and I used my iPad charger for charging and I charged the BeatsX from 30% to 100% in roughly half an hour. What I’ve found is that the BeatsX will charge quickly even using the included charger, which is very nice. As far as comfortability, again all day traveling, I had no issues at all. I didn’t run into any ear fatigue of any kind, my ears never hurt and it never bothered me to be listening to music for such an extended period of time. I only wish I could use the included ear wings for added stability, not that they were falling out of my ears at all. I also wish the BeatsX were a little bit louder, which I like for using on a plane. Sound isolation was fantastic and I could hear my music no problem, I’m just one of those people that likes to listen to music loudly. So are you going to have any issues if you decide to listen to music for eight consecutive hours? Maybe the battery life of your phone. I did notice my battery drains much quicker while using the BeatsX compared to any of my other Bluetooth devices, the BeatsX though, are comfortable for the duration and the battery will last a good long while.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
I really don’t think BeatsX are worth $150, sub $100 is fine. That’s what I paid. Turns out I had a lot of discounts saved up at Best Buy and had $75 taken off the cost. For the $75 I paid at Best Buy from shopping there too much, I’m fine with them. They are a solid contender at that range. Again, if you’re debating between AirPods or BeatsX, do yourself the favor and gets BeatsX. Sure you have a cable on your neck, you also get more battery life, in line controls, and better sound quality, for the same price; you even get the same W1 chip.
As an aside, if you plan on using BeatsX with an Android phone, pairing with that is almost as quick and easy as pairing with an Apple device. With Android, you should also be able to download a music app that will allow better EQ adjustments than iOS allows.
You can purchase BeatsX directly from Apple for $150.
Beats, you know the name, you know the craze. Now it’s Apple’s company, so what does that mean for you? Now it means the amazing W1 chip, and yes I mean amazing. Pairing BeatsX with your iPhone is ridiculously simple and easy. Turn on BeatsX, click connect, now all devices associated with your iCloud account are connected to your BeatsX. It’s that simple, that quick. I also usually avoid anything and everything Beats, ever since the original was released, but I’ll get to that soon.
Design
I mostly like the design of the BeatsX though I do have a few gripes. First off, I’m coming from some Jaybird Freedom’s and the BeatsX fixes one of my major issues with the Jaybird’s. The Jaybird’s have an ill-weighted cable, it’s all weighted on one side by the in-line controls. BeatsX fixes that with the weighted neck band, so you don’t even really notice the in-line controls much. I just wish the cable length was a little bit shorter so the earbud cables didn’t curl up away from shoulders and back to my ears. Again, just a minor annoyance, nothing I can’t live with.
Now with in-ear earphones like BeatsX, I would be shocked and appalled if they didn’t come with an assortment of ear tips. They come with small, medium, and large ear tips. What I did not expect to see, though, was that BeatsX also comes with my favorite ear tip of all, the bi-flange ear tip. A lot of people will look at these like they’re just some weird ear tip, but let me tell how amazing they are. Everyone’s ears are different, my ears, in particular, are somewhere between your standard small and medium size ear tips, so for most earphones I use, I need to use foam ear tips to get a good seal. This is not the case with bi- flanges. The small ear tip goes into my ear and the medium ear tip gets just far enough in just to create a perfect seal. The BeatsX also comes with ear wings that you can attach to help secure the fit in your ears. I have put these on and my BeatsX will never ever fall out of my ears. My only gripe and concern with the BeatsX ear wings is that they are made of plastic inserts with a silicone grip. My only problem is that in my right ear currently, even the small irritates my ear and causes a good deal of discomfort. If you experience this, take the wing tips off and give your ears a few days to recuperate and try again to see if your ears just aren’t used to it or if the size of the ear wing actually is a problem.
That’s about all that comes with the BeatsX and how they fit. You, of course, get all your standard paperwork in the box, including a Beats sticker. Outside of that, you’ll also get a super soft silicone pouch to stuff your BeatsX into for travel. If you’re out and about and need to listen around you can even just pull the earbuds out of your ear and stick them to each other with the magnets on the back and you have yourself a fancy Beats necklace until you listen to music again. Did you read this just to find out what you already knew or did you want to know how they sound?
Sound Quality
Okay everyone, here’s where things take a turn. First off I’m an audiophile, this means I really care about how my music sounds and notice some finer details that the average listener doesn’t hear or doesn’t care about. Secondly, I have always despised Beats for the omnipresent bloated bass that hums over everything, including silence. The BeatsX actually surprised me. To be fair, in this case, the BeatsX main limitation sound-wise is the iPhone. For as much as Apple claims to be about music, they sure don’t care about how it sounds, at all. I would be happy with even just a 5-band equalizer instead of the horrendous built in presets. These presets really kill what could be great in the BeatsX. BeatsX are overpriced for what they are, and if you compare them with other earphones in what should be their price point, they aren’t terrible. You get a decent amount of speed. Speed is really what it sounds like, how fast the sound is processed basically. Listening to fast music you can hear more of the notes in fast guitars or fast drumming.
I’m not going to go into extreme detail here, I don’t have the knowledge for it and most people don’t care that much. What it boils down to is that the BeatsX have some decent sound production. There is a noticeable separation of instruments and accurate playback. The BeatsX would be a solid contender in the sub $100 price range. At $150 though, you can buy so many other earphones that will blow them away. That being said, you aren’t going to be disappointed in them if you are coming from EarPods or something similar, and if you’re debating between BeatsX and AirPods and that’s all you’re going to get, get the BeatsX. They sound much better than AirPods. What about the bass I spoke of earlier? Yes, it’s still there, though it is much more subdued, enough that it doesn’t irritate me and previous Beats owners complain about the lack of it. If you’re curious about which Apple preset EQ I use with the BeatsX, Late Night. It’s usually the closest to what I run on my Fiio X5. As I stated earlier, it’s more irritating that I’m limited by Apple’s preset EQ’s rather than being able to tweak the bands manually and really see what the BeatsX have to offer because I feel like they are better than what you get when using them with Apple products. What you will still get, though, is an earphone that will make music fun and enjoyable to listen to.
Comfortability/Battery Life
I was finally able to spend a good amount of time in a single stretch to really gauge the battery life and comfortability of the BeatsX. They pass on both accounts. Apple claims an eight-hour battery life for the BeatsX and that’s about what I got. Somewhere in that neighborhood, I started my day with 84% battery life and after about three and a half to four hours I was down to 30%. That would put it right on the mark for about eight hours of battery life so I’m fairly convinced and happy with the battery life. My testing was done traveling through airports and while flying. For an eight hour day of travel, not starting out at 100% battery, I did have to charge on my layover and I used my iPad charger for charging and I charged the BeatsX from 30% to 100% in roughly half an hour. What I’ve found is that the BeatsX will charge quickly even using the included charger, which is very nice. As far as comfortability, again all day traveling, I had no issues at all. I didn’t run into any ear fatigue of any kind, my ears never hurt and it never bothered me to be listening to music for such an extended period of time. I only wish I could use the included ear wings for added stability, not that they were falling out of my ears at all. I also wish the BeatsX were a little bit louder, which I like for using on a plane. Sound isolation was fantastic and I could hear my music no problem, I’m just one of those people that likes to listen to music loudly. So are you going to have any issues if you decide to listen to music for eight consecutive hours? Maybe the battery life of your phone. I did notice my battery drains much quicker while using the BeatsX compared to any of my other Bluetooth devices, the BeatsX though, are comfortable for the duration and the battery will last a good long while.
The Good
- Comfortable
- Passable sound quality
- Great battery life for size
The Bad
- Overpriced
- Sound quality could be better
- A little longer cable than necessary
Conclusion
I really don’t think BeatsX are worth $150, sub $100 is fine. That’s what I paid. Turns out I had a lot of discounts saved up at Best Buy and had $75 taken off the cost. For the $75 I paid at Best Buy from shopping there too much, I’m fine with them. They are a solid contender at that range. Again, if you’re debating between AirPods or BeatsX, do yourself the favor and gets BeatsX. Sure you have a cable on your neck, you also get more battery life, in line controls, and better sound quality, for the same price; you even get the same W1 chip.
As an aside, if you plan on using BeatsX with an Android phone, pairing with that is almost as quick and easy as pairing with an Apple device. With Android, you should also be able to download a music app that will allow better EQ adjustments than iOS allows.
You can purchase BeatsX directly from Apple for $150.
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