(Bloomberg) — A lot has changed since Beats released the Powerbeats Pro. The Apple Inc. subsidiary unveiled its $250 workout headphones in 2019, at a time when truly wireless earbuds were a relatively recent invention — thanks to its AirPods cousin arriving three years earlier.
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Over the past six years, the selection has multiplied and prices have fallen so much that you can now buy a respectable pair from some brands for well under $100. Meanwhile, the higher-end options, including the AirPods, offer improved audio and have gotten comfortable enough to wear that you might even trust them to stay put through a run or cycling trip.
Beats’ new Powerbeats Pro 2 are a clear improvement over the original, with a lighter design, active noise cancelation, longer battery life, heart-rate monitoring and a more compact charging case. After testing it for weeks, including using it for our own workouts, we can confidently say it’s likely to be an easy sell for people in the market for exercise earbuds, including shoppers ready to upgrade from the original model.
For the wider market, though, Beats has to not only convince consumers it has the best exercise headphones, but persuade them that if they can only spend $250 on one pair for exercise, casual listening and work, it ought to be these. That’s a tougher ask.
The Business Case
The original Powerbeats Pro were followed by some major technological improvements in the space, on everything from power efficiency to connectivity to sound quality. The second-generation model is powered by the same Apple H2 chip as the AirPods Pro 2, which ups the overall audio quality compared with the prior model and allows for a slimmer design. However, they lack the hearing aid features of the AirPods Pro 2 despite having the same processor.
Besides the Powerbeats Pro 2, there are loads of good alternatives. Alphabet Inc.’s Google is currently selling the Pixel Buds Pro 2 for $179. Beats itself has the $170 Beats Studio Buds+ and the minimalist Beats Solo Buds for $80. Particularly as you approach the $200 price mark, these earbuds tend to have a strong overlap in features, including noise cancelation and basic sweat and water resistance.
Built-in pulse readings can potentially help the Powerbeats Pro 2 stand out, but Beats isn’t the first brand to put a heart-rate sensor in an ear-worn device. For Apple, Beats’ parent company, this could be a prelude to eventually adding the feature to the pricier AirPods line. The idea is that some consumers might prefer to have heart-rate monitoring inside an essential device like headphones, rather than buy a smartwatch. It also helps inch Android users toward the Apple health-tracking ecosystem. Plus, not everyone finds it comfortable to wear a smartwatch while working out.
What Works
The same thing that makes these earbuds a little unstylish — their conspicuous, ear-hook design — also makes them easy to use. (On the fashionability thing, the black or tan colors will blend in better than the purple or bright orange.) As with the original Powerbeats Pro, we like that these have easy-to-use physical buttons, including a volume rocker on each ear along with a button you can use to pause, skip and repeat audio tracks. (Press once to pause, twice to skip and three times to go back.)
That’s a better user experience than the AirPods, which use a combination of touch gestures and pinches (depending on the model) to adjust volume and move between tracks.
The battery life is a particular highlight. Beats claims the Powerbeats Pro 2 can last as long as 45 hours on a single charge, if you include the charging case. Without it, each bud is rated to last as long as 10 hours (almost doubling the performance of AirPods) before needing a top-up. As the company admits, battery life will take a hit if you enable noise cancelation, with the runtime dropping to eight hours per earbud.
Because the total battery life is so long, we never came close to draining the set after just one workout, or even several. While it’s easy enough to charge them in their case overnight, it’s OK if you forget now and again.
When it’s time for a recharge, the case conveniently works with Qi-compatible wireless chargers, in addition to standard USB-C cables.
Like other earbuds from Beats and Apple, the Powerbeats Pro 2 have a transparency mode, allowing you to let some background noise in, which is particularly helpful when you’re exercising outdoors and need to be aware of your surroundings.
Lastly, between the H2 chip and improvements to Bluetooth technology, the earbuds offer the same low latency as the AirPods Pro 2, and pair easily with other devices, including Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
What’s Missing
The earbuds’ signature ear hooks aren’t for everyone. They’re there to prevent them from falling out during an intense workout, but there’s no option to remove them when you’re done with your workout and going about your day. Despite being slimmed down, the new Powerbeats Pro are still large enough that you never forget you’re wearing them. Our team had mixed opinions about how comfortable they are; some of us felt a little sore in the ears after working out, while others had no complaints.
Your experience may differ, then, but we all agree the Powerbeats Pro 2 feel more secure during a workout than a pair of AirPods.
As cool as it sounds, the heart-rate monitoring isn’t as intuitive as you’d hope. If you also use an Apple Watch, that device’s readings will trump the headphones. So really, this feature is more for Android users or for iPhone owners who don’t have (or want to exercise with) a smartwatch.
If you’re on iOS, you’ll need to grant the Powerbeats Pro 2 access to Apple Health, which makes sense: Apple would likely face backlash if it just opted people in. Even then, Beats could better integrate the product with Apple’s own software. If the heart-rate sensor could send data straight to Apple’s Activity app, for instance, you could go for a run with your phone in your pocket and not need an Apple Watch to record key vitals.
Right now, the in-ear heart-rate feature works with just a handful of third-party health applications on iOS, including Peloton and Nike Run Club. Strava’s not on the list, nor is Fitbit or Garmin Connect. There’s no easy way for iOS developers to add support for it, meaning Beats has to onboard partners one by one. A Beats spokesperson confirmed the company plans to add more compatible apps.
On Android, where Apple and Beats have no control over the ecosystem, it’s a different story: You can send Powerbeats Pro 2 heart readings to any third-party fitness app, so long as it was designed to recognize heart-rate data. Android users must also have the Beats app installed.
With these third-party apps, you’ll need to make sure you go into the settings to enable syncing with the Powerbeats Pro 2. We tested the feature on iOS and Android with Runna, a subscription-based app, and found the data useful even without paying for the app’s full feature suite.
Still, the experience has some friction. On Android, you have to activate tracking in the Beats app first and then switch to the fitness app of your choice. We also had several instances where we thought the earbuds were engaged in heart-rate monitoring only to realize at the end of the workout that they weren’t recording.
As headphones, the Powerbeats Pro 2 offer good audio quality, at least compared to other fitness earphones in this price range. But the sound is less impressive than the AirPods Pro 2, including the bass notes and the effectiveness of the active noise cancellation.
Meanwhile, the charging case is still chunky, even after the 33% reduction, and the plastic feels a little flimsy for the price. Whereas the case for the Pixel Buds or Studio Buds could easily slip inside a jeans pocket, the one here is really meant to live in a purse or duffle, or perhaps on your desk or bedside table.
The Takeaways
Even Beats would say that the Powerbeats Pro line was not intended for always-on wearing, but mainly for workout sessions. And as exercise earbuds, they’re pretty good: They don’t fall out, the audio is easy to control, the battery life is long and the noise cancelation is appreciated, even if it feels mandatory at this price point. It would be nice if there was no pinching at all, the charging case was smaller and the heart-rate feature was more useful. But if you want workout headphones, this is one of the best pairs available — and we recommend them.
The problem is, plenty of earbuds priced around $200 offer even better audio quality, plus noise cancelation and sweat resistance. And they generally don’t fall out either, despite not having an ear hook. The ideal scenario, then, would be to buy two sets of headphones. But that only makes sense if you have a healthy gadget budget. And also really enjoy running.
— With assistance from Vlad Savov
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