The Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones have been a popular headphone option and fashion icon over the last few years. Since being bought by Apple in 2014, the Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones now offer a W1 Chip to facilitate seamless and automatic connection to Apple products, along with a slightly more durable construction (compared to the original Beats models).
In this review, we assessed the popular Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones in multiple tests and truly gave their performance in the gym a run for their money. While these headphones are not exactly designed for working out, their performance surprised us and they have been one of our go-to’s since originally picking up a pair 6-months ago.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones are great for blasting high-quality, bass driven music when heading into heavy lifts.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones offer great sound quality, a W1 Chip for seamless connectivity to Apple products, and 40 hours of battery life.
Design
Branding and Overall Appearance
The Beat Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones are pretty simple in design. They have a decently strong plastic and metal headband that connects the left and right headphones. The headband has a metal exterior with “beats” branding at the top and the interior features a foam padding that provides a decent amount grip and padding on the head.
The left and right earphones both have a plastic exterior with “b” branding, and the left side serves as a button for pausing, skipping, playbacks, and answering phone calls. The earphone cushions have what feels like a very soft synthetic-leather with about 1″ of foam pudding underneath for additional support, comfort, and cushion. There is a micro-USB port on the right side of the headphones where the battery lights are, and a headphone jack on the right.
Performance
To assess these headphones’ performance in the gym, we put them through multiple workout tests. We performed powerlifting-focused workouts, dynamic workouts with multiple jumps, and running sessions.
Note, I’m not a true blue audio buff, but I have a fair understanding of sound quality with headphones since buying multiple low-end and high-end pairs, and the Beats Solo3 sound quality was pretty great. The bass hits pretty hard, and the music gets super loud. However, there are times when the bass drowns out other parts of songs.
Lifting In the Gym
When it comes to lifting in the gym, these headphones were pretty great. They remained stable on my head throughout various powerlifting and bodybuilding style workouts and have speakers to blast loud music when going into heavy sets or in-between lifts at meets (be careful with blasting loud music all the time!). On top of their stability, these headphones’ connectivity is pretty great and never really gets interrupted even when the gym is packed.
One potential downfall that comes with these headphones and their support for working out is the that they’re not really specifically designed for lifting and the gym. I’m curious to see how the headphone paddings are hold up after a year of continual use and sweating in them.
Running and Jumping
There’s no denying that on-ear headphones are not always the best for running and jumping-focused workouts, and the Beat Solo3 Wireless Headphones are no exception to this. These headphones work decently well for lighter jogs, however, I would not advise using them for HIIT workouts, sprints, or any other form of fast paced run. They remain on the ear decently well, but not well enough for sprinting and other forms of movement that could result in quick head jerks.
Similar to sprints and HIIT workouts, these headphones are not really ideal for jumping. If you’re doing lower box jumps in the gym, then they work decently well, but again, on-ear headphones are not the best for dynamic and power-based movements.
Features
Apple’s W1 Chip
The Apple W1 Chip in these headphones is one the biggest pros that come along with the Beats Solo3. The W1 Chip allows the headphones to automatically connect and sync up with Apple products that all fall within your cloud. If you’re an iPhone, Macbook, and Apple Watch user, the you’ll love the W1 Chip.
Another potential pro of the W1 Chip is the possibility of it receiving updates in the future, which could increase the quality of sound and connection in the headphones after purchase.
Fast Charge Feature
Personally, my favorite feature of these headphones is how fast they charge. For around 5-10 minutes of charging time, you can expect to get about 2-4 hours of playback depending on how loud you play your music. If you’re like me and constantly forget to charge things, then this is a great feature that can save you on long commutes.
Connectivity
All-Around Pretty Good
In every setting that I tested these headphones, the Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones excelled with their connectivity to my phone’s Bluetooth. When commuting in the bustling rush ours before and after work in New York City, the headphones stayed connected and true, which was impressive especially in the very populated and dense areas. I’ve had other headphones disconnect or have periods of spottiness on the subway and busy streets.
At work, the headphones have never disconnected from my computer even when getting up and walking about 30-40 feet to the kitchen. However, this is expected and a standard with most better quality Bluetooth headphones we’ve tried.
My favorite part of these headphones’ connectivity is at the gym. I’ve had workouts where I’ve forgotten my phone, went to the restroom, and came back to the squat rack with no disconnection of the headphones (the distance was around 50-feet). In respect to the half-year I’ve used them in the gym for powerlifting and light runs, connectivity has never truly been an issue.
Battery Life
40 Hours
The Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones boast a solid 40 hours of battery life. In terms of other headphones on the market this clocks in as a pretty great battery life, as most wireless headphones come with around 25-30 hours of battery life. Granted, this number could vary depending on how you use the headphones and how loud you place music.
Another perk to the 40 hours of battery life that comes with Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones is the fast charge feature that comes with these headphones. For a 5-minute charge, you can get up to about 2-3 hours of playback time, and that’s pretty phenomenal.
Price
There is no beating around the bush on this one, but the Beat Solo3 Wireless Headphones are not the cheapest headphones on the market. At a regular retail price of $300.00, these headphones are on the pricier end for on-ear headphones. Granted, you can often find these headphones on sale for about $225.00, which makes them a little more comparable to high-quality on-ear headphones.
Are they worth it? They could be, and that depends on how you want to use them. The W1 Chip that comes within these headphones that allows seamless and automatic connection to Apple products is pretty awesome and makes them slightly more unique compared to other standard Bluetooth pairs. My advice, find pairs on sale or that have been slightly used.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones offer great sound quality, a W1 Chip for seamless connectivity to Apple products, and 40 hours of battery life.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, I’m personally a fan of the Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones. They performed consistently well across the board and were surprisingly great in the gym. Additionally, the sound quality is pretty great, the W1 Chip is unique, and the fast charging feature comes in clutch when in sticky situations.
My only complaint — like many others — with these headphones is the $300.00 price tag, however, if you can them on sale, then I think these headphones could fit the bill if you’re a fan of the Beats brand.
Beats Solo3
300.00
Pros
- Good Connectivity
- Decently Durable
- Great Sound Quality
Cons
- Expensive
