These balanced Beats headphones remain among my favorites - and they're $50 off

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Beats Solo 4 headphones retail for $200 successful Matte Black, Slate Blue, and Cloud Pink
• Beats' best-selling headphones instrumentality with up-to-date features, signaling that the institution utilized the product's agelong hiatus wisely
• A choky acceptable and tiny receptor cups whitethorn chopped your listening acquisition shorter than you'd like.

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I've spent a batch of clip investigating headphones, and I ever find a caller favourite with each caller release. But 1 brace of headphones volition ever clasp a peculiar spot successful my heart, years aft their launch: the Beats Solo 3 on-ear headphones.

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The Solo 3 awakened my passionateness for headphones; they were the archetypal brace I spent much than $50 on. I bought a Rose Gold brace successful precocious schoolhouse with the wealth from my archetypal job, and they stuck with maine passim college. I inactive person them, but years of usage person burnt retired the audio components and worn down the receptor pads. So, erstwhile Beats offered maine a brace of the Solo 4 headphones to test, I was much than blessed to spot however the institution utilized the 8 years since the Solo 3's merchandise to amended the Solo 4.

Before I get into the details, I privation to notation that these headphones are connected merchantability for $150 astatine Walmart. The retailer is besides giving distant 5 escaped offers, including up to 4 months of Apple Music.

The Solo 4 plan shows Beats' displacement distant from flashy, chrome accents adorned with dense branding, toward a muted matte decorativeness with simpler elements. I deliberation Apple whitethorn person influenced these plan choices. The Solo 4 ditches the mini USB larboard and alternatively has a USB-C larboard for charging and lossless audio. You tin besides present plug the headphones into a instrumentality to perceive and complaint them simultaneously.

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I tried the Solo 4 cans successful Cloud Pink to trigger nostalgia for my Rose Gold Solo 3. The Cloud Pink Solo 4 is stunning and aesthetically pleasing, making it suitable for radical who similar stylish devices. In presumption of audio, Beats has fixed the Solo 4 headphones a much-needed tune-up. If you antecedently strayed distant from Beats due to the fact that of their incredibly bass-forward sound, you'll similar the Solo 4 dependable overmuch better.

Beats Solo3 (left) and Beats Solo4 (right).

Jada Jones/ZDNET

One of Beats' taglines for the Solo 4 is "Amazing sound. Simplified", and I couldn't hold more. Instead of offering an artificially pumped-up, bass-heavy dependable profile, the headphones person the astir neutral dependable I've ever heard from Beats. It's inactive not wholly neutral, but undoubtedly neutral to Beats' standards.

I listened to Kendrick Lamar's A.D.H.D. and instantly noticed the Solo 4's humble bass response. Because the bass didn't overpower the midrange, I could admit insignificant details successful the song, similar Lamar's layered vocals and the psychedelic synth sounds successful the precocious midrange. Beats says upgraded transducers amended high-frequency responses, and passive tuning helps support dependable prime implicit wired and wireless connections. I concur.

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Like each different brace successful the Solo lineup, the Solo 4s are on-ear, truthful the cups beryllium connected your receptor alternatively of enveloping it like over-ear headphones. The Solo 3's cups are ever truthful somewhat larger, but the Solo 4's caller UltraPlush ear-cup padding is much comfortable.

Despite the caller padding, I couldn't deterioration these cans for long. On-ear headphones person ne'er been comfy for maine due to the fact that I deterioration 4 earrings successful each ear. After astir 30 minutes of wear, the earcups enactment excessively overmuch unit connected my earrings, prompting maine to instrumentality a break. The Solo 4's on-ear acceptable shouldn't fuss listeners with glasses, but I'd debar them if you person aggregate receptor piercings. 

Jada Jones/ZDNET

The headphones don't person noise-canceling oregon transparency modes, but their passive sound isolation is impressive. If you deliberation the transparency mode connected different headphones lets successful excessively overmuch sound and noise-canceling blocks excessively overmuch noise, the Solo 4's earthy sound isolation is the cleanable mediate ground.

The Solo 4 are the archetypal brace successful the Solo enactment to person Personalized Spatial Audio, and I don't person overmuch to accidental astir it. I'm not a instrumentality of spatial audio, and it drains your headphones' battery. The spatial audio diagnostic works -- and it works good -- but I similar regular audio. Speaking of artillery life, the Solo4 headphones connection up to 50 hours of continuous playback, 10 much hours than the Solo 3.

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Like the Beats Studio Pro, the Solo 4 has accrued interoperability with iOS and Android devices. For iOS fans, the headphones connection iCloud pairing, afloat entree to Siri, Find My, over-the-air bundle updates, and Handoff. Android users tin usage Google Fast Pair, Bluetooth Multipoint, Google Find My Device, and the Beats companion app.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Beats Solo 4 headphones present benignant and functionality for euphony lovers. If you weren't a instrumentality of Beats' signature dependable successful the past, I situation you to springiness the Solo 4 a effort -- they mightiness alteration your mind. A enactment astir their fit: if on-ear headphones are your preferred style, you can't spell incorrect with the Solo 4. But if you similar over-ear headphones, you whitethorn find the Solo 4 uncomfortable. 

If you're a loyal Beats instrumentality but privation Beats headphones with much premium features, effort the Studio Pro; you tin regularly find them for $250 oregon less. If you privation over-ear headphones successful a akin terms scope with the aforesaid absorption connected dependable quality, see the Sennheiser Accentum Plus oregon the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2.