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I’ve been eager to get my hands on the new Beats Solo Buds since they were announced back in April. With 18 hours of battery life and a $79 price tag, they’re one of Beats’ most intriguing new products in a long time.

The Beats Solo Buds officially hit store shelves today and I’ve been using them for the past few days. Let’s dive into some hands-on impressions.

Beats Solo Buds specifications

• Chip platform: Beats’ own platform
• Battery life: 18 hours
• Charging port: USB-C
• Native Apple features: One-touch setup, iCloud pairing, iPhone/Apple Watch handoff, Find My support, Audio Sharing
• Built-in Android features: One Touch Pairing, Ecosystem Pairing, Support for Find My Device, Audio Switch
• Colors: Matte Black, Storm Grey, Arctic Purple and Transparent Red
• Price: $79.99

Design

The Beats Solo Buds feature a handleless in-ear design similar to the Beats Studio Buds+. In the box you will find four different sizes of silicone ear tips so you can be sure you get a perfect fit. They’re just as comfortable as any other pair of earbuds on the market, so if you like that style, you’ll love the Beats Solo Buds.

Each bud has a button at the end that lets you control playback and activate Siri:

• Press once to play, pause or answer a phone call
• Double tap to skip forward
• Tap three times to jump back
• Press and hold to activate the voice assistant

What sets the Beats Solo buds apart, however, is their size. The Beats Solo Buds case is significantly smaller than any other pair of Beats headphones or AirPods on the market. This is mainly due to the fact that there is no battery in the case (more on that later) and the short and sturdy design of the headphones themselves without a handle.

I didn’t expect to notice or benefit from the ultra-small case design of the Beats Solo Buds, but I was wrong. There’s something to be said for having Beats Solo Buds in your pocket, but not actually realizing they’re there until you need them.

Oh, and how about this transparent red color for the Beats Solo Buds? It follows in the footsteps of the transparent Beats Studio Buds+ I reviewed last year and reinforces the fact that transparent technology is very cool and fun. AirPods, meanwhile, come in one color.

Battery life

Beats says the Beats Solo Buds offer up to 18 hours of battery life. When I first heard this number, I thought it was too good to be true and asked Beats to confirm, which they happily did.

And to be extremely clear: that’s 18 hours of battery life from the Beats Solo Buds themselves. No marketing gimmick here. In fact, the box included with the Beats Solo Buds does not have a built-in battery. Instead, when you want to charge the Solo Buds, you place them in the case, then connect the case to a USB-C cable. Beats says a 5-minute charge will give you an hour of battery life.

In my testing, the Beats Solo Buds came incredibly close to that 18-hour mark. In my testing, which consisted of listening to a lot of Taylor Swift, Chappelle Rohan, and Billie Eilish, the Beats Solo Buds consistently managed between 16 and 17 hours of battery life.

That’s an incredibly impressive number no matter how you slice it. You can leave the house in the morning knowing you won’t have to worry about charging your Beats Solo Buds.

And that’s 18 hours of continuous playback. While the AirPods Pro technically advertise longer battery life thanks to the included charging case, the earbuds themselves need to be recharged every 5-6 hours. There are many days, especially when I’m traveling, where I wish I could go 8+ hours without taking my headphones out. This is now possible thanks to the Beats Solo Buds.

Sound quality

With a price tag of $79 and 18 hours of battery life, Beats had to make trade-offs and compromises somewhere. You won’t find features like active noise cancellation, transparency mode, and automatic in-ear detection here.

The automatic in-ear detection is the feature I miss the most when using the Beats Solo Buds. This means they won’t automatically play and pause content when you take them out or put them in your ears.

Beats says each Beats Solo Buds features “dual-layer transducers designed to minimize micro-distortion along the frequency curve, delivering high-quality sound with uncompromised clarity and detail.”

As I always say when I review headphones, I’m not an audiophile and I won’t be able to give you a perfect explanation of sound quality in writing. What I will say about the Beats Solo Buds though is that they sound a fine. They lack that signature bass-heavy Beats sound profile, but they sound relatively well-balanced and consistent.

When you consider the 18 hours of battery life and the $79 price tag, they sound good really good. They won’t win any awards for their sound quality, but the Beats Solo Buds are more than good enough for most people. They’re the best true wireless headphones under $100 I’ve tested.

Wrap it up

Beats is firing on all cylinders right now (and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon). The past 13 months have seen the release of the Beats Studio Buds+, Beats Studio Pro, Beats Solo 4, and now the Beats Solo Buds.

While the Studio Buds+, Studio Pro and Solo 4 were revisions of existing products, the Beats Solo Buds are a completely new product category for Beats – and they knocked it out of the park.

Cheap wireless headphones are a dime a dozen on Amazon, but the Beats Solo Buds set the new standard for the category. For $79, you get Beats’ iconic design language, nearly 18 hours of battery life, deep iOS and Android integration, and an incredibly compact and pocketable design.

What do you think of Beats’ current product lineup? How does it compare to AirPods? Let us know in the comments.

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