Beats Fit Pro Vs AirPod's Pro - Which one is better?
/So ever since Apple dropped 3 billion dollars on Dr Dre's doorstep for the beats brand in 2014. Dre, by the way still one of the greatest hip hop producers that's ever lived. Anyway, ever since Apple bought beats from Dre.
It does seem like beats headphones are fast becoming Apple's sports audio brand. And they've probably taken this path because they don't want to cannibalise sales of what is still the most popular earbuds on the planet.
If you didn't know, AirPods hold around 30% global market share in the TWS earbud game. But despite this, Apple is still taking their time to perfect the beats. So much so that now these ones, the Beats fit pro, might be a legitimate rival to the AirPods Pro, and for some people, I think they might actually be the better option.
Allow me to explain. And stick around til the end for the mic test with simulated wind and noise tests.
Design-wise, as you probably guessed by the cleverly selected name. These Beats fit pro are designed for people with fitness in mind…But also, they're designed to fit better than… dare I say, the Apple AirPods Pro. And honestly, having used these for a while now, I believe they do fit better.
The look and feel are entirely different. Instead of the classic stem style that's has been cloned more times than Jango Fett…star wars, the beats fit pros have a bud style.
If you happen to have a chronic problem with your AirPods falling out of your ears. You're really going to appreciate the addition of the carefully designed wing tip that kind of twist locks into your ear.
During a briefing with the beats team, I was told that a considerable amount of R&D money shaped this hook because it is non-removable. They wanted To make sure that the one size wingtip fits all & I think they've done an excellent job.
There are, of course, the usual interchangeable silicon tips in the box. Which are all important when it comes to noise cancellation & sound quality. Beats have added a find my fit feature that will allow you to test the silicon tip seal in your ear to see if it's correct.
And something that I really like is the fact that there is a dedicated android app that supports pop up pairing & most of the features that the H1 chip brings to apple devices. Within the android app, you can modify the controls, select the mic pic up to be on either side or automatic, and switch between anc, transparency modes.
Of course, some advantages you'll get with iOS is are things like the find my earbuds feature the seamless switching between all your iOS devices by just pairing once to one of them. Also, the spatial mapping options.
There is a nice UI difference between these and the AirPods Pro. The fit pro buds have physical clicky buttons instead of capacitive touch sensors. This is an advantage if your fingers have any kind of perspiration on them or if it's raining or the weather is freezing, and you're wearing gloves.
Touch sensors can be a little temperamental in these scenarios.
I will say at first you might find yourself hitting the buttons by accident, but after you get used to them, I think you'll find the beats fit pro's UI a little bit easier to operate than AirPods pro.
Also, some thought has gone into prolonged usage. Beats have added an airflow system to prevent the air pressure feeling you can get with cheaper earbuds. Especially when it is on.
They're also lightweight 5.6grams and significantly smaller than the flagship power beats. Which are beats premium earbuds at the moment. The thing about power is in most peoples eyes, they're pretty large...Lobot from Star Wars would undoubtedly approve.
Apologies, I've been watching too much Disney plus lately.
Despite the size, I actually like the power beats. But the size of the case was something many people complained about. So it's really nice to see that they've managed to shrink the size of the case down, and you'll notice they charge via type C & not apples proprietary lightning cable.
And while we are talking about power. They can go from nought to 100 in an hour and a half. Giving you 6hrs playback with anc on & and additional 18hrs in the case. And just a five-minute quick charge in the case provides the fit pro's an hour playback…
And I'm told theoretically you could even get up to 48hrs hands-free talk time on these if you used them one at a time.
And check this out they do have a transparency mode allowing you to be more aware of your surroundings. But if you turn if transparency & and off. The beats fit pro have another trick up their sleeve. An automatic adaptive equaliser. So it will fine-tune the sound signature on the fly depending on what you're listening to.
And there are also gyroscopes and accelerometers built-in for head tracking. These sensors come into play when listening to spatial Audio. For example, if you're doing workouts where your head is
Kind of off the centre line. Or let's say you're sleeping on a plane. It can re-balance the Audio using spatial mapping. And an important side note here. Spatial Audio is off as standard out of the box. To enable this on iPhone, you can bring down your control panel.
Hold your finger on the volume, toggle it on & lock it to a fixed setting or set it head-tracked. The other way to access this is to go to Bluetooth settings, hit the little i next to the beats fit pros, and here you can customise all the controls. Honestly, I like these unique features.
There is just a couple of things that I wish they had added. The wireless charge would have been excellent & voice cues when switching between modes. And maybe the option to map button pushes for volume control. Perhaps we'll see that in the future.
Anyway, let's talk about sound quality. I'll give you my real-time reaction to 4 different genres and my opinion on which ones are best suited for.
Hip Hop - Still Dre
So This actually surprised me. The over-ear beats I've used in the past kind leaned towards being bass-heavy. It definitely feels like this has been dialled back a bit. But the bass is still impressive. It does sound really well balanced for the hip. Vocals aren't lost, and the snares and hi-hats aren't ear piercing.
Rock - Back in black
Wow, the details are excellent. The vocals on this particular track can sometimes be quite sharp, but not here. The instrumental details sand out really clearly. I think that adaptive eq really works.
Dance - The Motto
Oh ok. The bass just went up a level. Wow, ok, so far, this is sounding the best. Definitely, deep bass, clear vocals, crispy hi frequencies by still comfortable at high volumes.
Orchestral - No time to die
So first of all. I am aware that is not the style of music you'd probably listen to at the gym. But it is a great way to test soundstage and details that can only be produced by an orchestra.
I will say the soundstage is nice. When you close your eyes, you get the sense of open space, and the details are good, and the vocals are good.
You know what. The best genre for me and the beats fit pro. Absolutely positively got to be dance tracks. Pop, hip hop, trance, drum and bass.
When it comes to anc, these are very good. I tested the ANC with the same background noise against the Sony XM4's and the Ear 1's, and they hold their own. I would say in terms of ANC, they're pretty much going to be identical to AirPods Pro in the noise-cancelling abilities.
