Beats’ Powerbeats Pro are a sportier alternative to AirPods

At first glance, Beats’ new Powerbeats Pro look just like Powerbeats 3, but with the cord connecting the two earbuds together snipped off.

But take a closer look and you’ll see there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Yes, the new $249.95 Powerbeats Pro are cord-free at last (finally) and pricier than the $199.95 Powerbeats 3, but they also fit better, have improved sound, and faster connectivity thanks to the same Apple H1 chip it shares with AirPods 2.

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First things first: The Powerbeats Pro aren’t replacing the Powerbeats 3. Beats told me Powerbeats Pro will still be sold alongside the Powerbeats 3 when it’s available in May. So if you still like having wireless earbuds with a cable — maybe you like dangling them around your neck after a run — you’ll still be able to get the old model.

Second, Powerbeats will be available in three colors: black, ivory, moss, and navy. The case, however, only comes in black.

Okay, now that we have all that stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the improvements Beats made to Powerbeats Pro because there plenty to get through.

Although the new Powerbeats Pro look similar to the Powerbeats 3, they actually feel and fit differently — for the better.

Beats says the Powerbeats Pro is 23 percent smaller and 17 percent lighter than the Powerbeats 3. That may not seem like much, but for people with smaller ears like yours truly, the Powerbeats Pro certainly felt comfier. I could see active folks, like marathon runners, really appreciating the weight reduction.

Besides making them more compact, Beats also angled the acoustic housing so that the earbuds sit better in your ear’s concha bowl. The Powerbeats Pro also come with four sizes of ear tips.

Powered by Apple’s H1 chip — the same headphone silicon inside of the AirPods 2 — the Powerbeats Pro come with a handful of new features including hands-free “Hey Siri” voice commands, faster device switching between Apple devices, and reduced audio latency while gaming.

The Powerbeats Pro are also more convenient than before. Each earbud has a volume rocker (most wireless earbuds only have volume switch on one earbud or none at all) as well as music playback controls built inside of the Beats logo button. 

How do the Powerbeats Pro sound? Quite good, actually. Beats says it’s improved the bass and dynamic range for louder and clearer sound without sacrificing the company’s signature sound profile.

While I only had time to listen to a couple of songs on Apple Music, the bass does sound deeper and at higher volumes, tracks don’t have as much distortion as on AirPods. I’ll of course need to spend more time listening to music with the Powerbeats Pro before I can say if they really sound significantly better, but at the very least they don’t sound worse than Powerbeats 3.

Maybe my least favorite part about the Powerbeats 3 is its bulky plastic charging case — it’s huge compared to the AirPods charging case.

The Powerbeats’ ear hook design no doubt limited how small the case could be, but just like damn it’s like a palm-sized clam. Like AirPods, the two Powerbeats earbuds pop right into the case with the help of magnets and charge instantly.

Beats says each Powerbeats earbud gets up to 9 hours of battery life on a single charge, which is almost twice as long as the five hours AirPods lasts. Nine hours seems like a downgrade compared to the 12 hours for Powerbeats 3, but if you also count nearly two extra charges inside of the case, you’re getting up to 24 hours of battery life total. 

The Powerbeats also feature Fast Fuel charging: a five minute charge gets you 1.5 hours of listening time and 15 minutes of charging gives you 4.5 hours.

One thing you won’t find on the Powerbeats Pro is wireless charging. You’ll need to plug a Lightning cable into the case to recharge the case once it’s depleted.

I’m a big fan of AirPods. I think Apple nailed everything about the wireless earbuds. The case is super small, the battery life is long, the sound is good enough and the connectivity (with Apple devices) is seamless. They’re not perfect — there are wireless earbuds with better sound or better noise isolation — but they’re the most well-rounded wireless earbuds you can buy.

Beats’ Powerbeats Pro reap all of the benefits of Apple’s H1 chip and appear to be a great alternative to AirPods, especially if you’re a sporty person. But I’m worried about the case. It’ll fit in a jacket or a purse no problem, but definitely not in my skinny jeans.