The AirPods Pro are fantastic earbuds for diehard Apple fans, the Beats Studio Buds are an excellent alternative that deliver many of the same features for $100 less.
When talking about Apple-centric earbuds, AirPods are what immediately come to mind. They're made by Apple itself, work seamlessly with the company's other products, and have high price tags to match. However, they aren't the only Apple-owned earbuds on the market. Apple purchased Beats By Dre in 2014, and since then, the Beats brand has been creating high-quality audio gear with similar features to AirPods — often for less money. This is seen immediately when comparing AirPods Pro and Beats Studio Buds — a comparison that'll likely make many shoppers think twice before spending $250 for AirPods Pro.
Taking a look at both pairs of earbuds, there's a lot that they have in common. Both come equipped with great audio quality, active noise cancellation, and a transparency mode to hear the surrounding world more easily. AirPods Pro are a bit more effective with its ANC and transparency performance, but the Beats Studio Buds manage to offer a pretty similar experience here. They aren't quite as good, but they're good enough given the substantial price difference. Also noteworthy is the longer battery life of Beats Studio Buds. The Beats Studio Buds case lacks wireless charging , though it offers USB-C for more convenient wired charging.
AirPods Pro Offer More Apple Integrations (But At A Cost)
While the hardware and listening experience is pretty similar between AirPods Pro and Beats Studio Buds, things quickly change when it comes to the software. As it's been established for years at this point, AirPods Pro are some of the best earbuds available for the iPhone. They instantly pair as soon as the case is opened, seamlessly switch between any Apple devices linked with the same iCloud , and have an Audio Sharing feature to share an audio stream to another pair of AirPods (useful for listening to music or watching a movie with a friend). Those sound like a lot of small things on their own, but they all come together to make AirPods Pro the go-to choice for anyone that's heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem.
Beats Studio Buds offer some of these same features, but because they don't have a custom W1 or H1 chip inside of them, the experience isn't exactly the same. Beats Studio Buds offer an easy pairing process, work with the 'Hey Siri' voice command on iPhone, have a Control Center shortcut to quickly toggle between noise cancellation or transparency mode, and work with Dolby Atmos spatial audio tracks in Apple Music — exactly like AirPods Pro. That said, Beats Studio Buds do not instant switching to other Apple devices or Audio Sharing. That could be a deal-breaker for some people, but that lesser Apple integration also comes with a big perk: Beats Studio Buds work much better on Android than AirPods Pro do. Where AirPods Pro lose almost all of their compelling features when used on Android, Beats Studio Buds offer a nearly identical experience. They Android Fast Fair for instant setup, have a Quick Settings widget to easily access device controls and see battery life, and work with Google Find My Device to track the earbuds down if they become lost. s can also the Beats Android app to enable/disable ANC and transparency mode and customize the playback button (including the option to trigger Google Assistant with a long press).
For folks that only use Apple devices and are OK spending $250, AirPods Pro are still an easy pair of earbuds to recommend. Their integration with other Apple devices remains unmatched, and for someone that can take advantage of that, it's worth spending the extra cash. For everyone else, however, Beats Studio Buds are an excellent deal at $150. They sound just as good as AirPods Pro, offer good active noise cancellation, and deliver a great experience regardless if someone is using Android or iOS — something that's absolutely not true of AirPods. That's not to say one is ultimately superior over the other, but it's clear each earbud caters better to a certain audience than the other.
Source: Apple