Beats introducing the Solo Pro, a $299.95 set of wireless headphones that add noise cancellation to the on-ear form factor shared by the company’s long line of previous Solo headphones. These are, for all intents and purposes, the Solo 4 Wireless, but they’ve been rebranded to match the Powerbeats Pro. The new headphones, Beats’ first on-ears with active noise cancellation, will ship on October 30th.
Like the over-ear Studio3 Wireless, the Solo Pro uses Beats’ “Pure Adaptive Noise Cancelling” or Pure ANC tech that has been tuned for the on-ear headphones. If you’re unfamiliar, Pure ANC is an algorithm-based feature that’s “continuously” listening to your surroundings and adjusting based on noise levels. Pure ANC can also account for sound leakage due to hair, earrings, ear shapes and more issues that plague the sound quality and effectiveness of ANC with on-ear headphones. Like most noise-cancelling headphones these days, the Solo Pro has a transparency mode so you can quickly hear what’s going on around you. And it’s activated with a single button press.
Thanks to Apple’s H1 chip, the same component that’s found inside both the Powerbeats Pro and the latest AirPods, Siri is always ready for your commands. You don’t have to press a button to summon the assistant. The H1 chip also allows you to share audio with other Beats headphones that have it or the W1 chip. Even while you’re listening with someone else, you can still employ Pure ANC and transparency mode as needed. And like the W1 before it, the H1 chip offers quick pairing with iOS and Mac devices so you don’t have to tap around a Bluetooth menu to get connected.
Solo Pro doesn’t have a power button. You turn them on by unfolding them, and they turn off when you fold them up. On the right earcup, there are on-board controls to answer calls, play/pause music, skip tracks control volume and activate your voice assistant (if you’re not using Siri). There’s also a single button on the right that toggles between Pure ANC, transparency mode and turning both off entirely.
Beats promises up to 22 hours of listening time if you have ANC or transparency mode enabled. If you turn both of them off, that figure increases to 40 hours — the same amount of time as the non-ANC Solo3 Wireless. The Solo Pro charges via Lightning cable and thanks to a Fast Fuel quick-charging feature, you can get three hours of “full-featured playback” in 10 minutes.
The Beats Solo Pro goes on sale October 30th for $299.95. When it does, you’ll be able to choose from black, ivory, gray, dark blue, light blue and red color options. Pre-orders begin today at apple.com.
