We covered the Beats Pill just a while back that come out shining for Beats’ India launch, but they also launched two other products alongside, with the Beats Solo Buds being one of those. These true wireless earbuds are officially priced at Rs 6,900; so, let’s try and see what they really offer.
The first thing you might noticed about the Beats Solo Buds out of the box is how much lighter plus smaller the whole case is. The pill-shaped slim case is so because it doesn’t have any battery on its own, meaning the buds don’t automatically charge when placed inside the case unless you plug it. On the top of the carrying case, you have the Beats logo; while the back side has the USB type C, and that’s about it.
The buds latch on to the case inside snugly with some ample use of the magnets inside meaning no wobbling or anything. Each bud has the same Beats logo on its top with the inside left or right. The whole package together weighs about 35 grams. These are available in Matte Black (the ones I tried), Article Purple, Storm grey and Transparent Red colour options.
The small nozzle design of the bud is comfortable to wear. You get three extra pairs of eartips of different sizes in the box (plus one pre-attached) but no charging cable. I didn’t find the buds to be irritating to wear along when worn for extended periods of time. The Beats logos on these earbuds are also the control buttons. These require to be pressed a little too hard to be called as suitable for a pair of TWS that you’re wearing in-ears.
The buds support Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and SBC and AAC audio codecs. You can have audio sharing when using iPhones to listen to the same music at the same time. Just like the Beats Pill, there’s no way to adjust EQ or sound output in any way, including with the Beats app. The sound quality on the Beats Solo Buds is decent at best. There’s good amount of bass and mid-bass with clear vocals to go with it. But noticeably, the background instruments and overall sound stage can be a little underwhelming from these buds. You wouldn’t have much problem with using these calls even outdoors. Having said that, there’s no active noise cancellation present here if you want to use these for flights, commutes or otherwise for cutting out on noise while tuning in to something. This ANC absence again seems like a bid of a miss for the price tag.
Coming to the battery life, the buds lasted me about 16 to 17 hours on one charge, which is not bad at all. Remember, there’s no battery inside the carrying case. The buds can be charged over USB type C and they go from 1 per cent to full in about two hours with support for fast charging.
All in all, the Beats Solo Buds don’t quite come across as a clear winner in any way, to put it briefly. They are compact, comfortable to wear and have good battery life. You don’t necessarily get a great sound quality for the price tag, nor you get ANC with it that some people feel is a deal breaker for them.
