The Beats Solo 4 headphones are enough to confuse reviewers. Fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem, it is remarkable for its portability, its 50-hour battery life and the precision of its sound. But this precision borders on dryness, it is not recommended in noisy environments and its configuration is minimal.
Published at 10:00 a.m.
WE love
It has been four years since Dr Dre, the manufacturer of the popular Beats headphones purchased by Apple in 2014, had not delivered a new version of its Beats Solo headphones, which have sold more than 40 million units. This silence will end on May 2 with the arrival on the market of the Beats Solo 4.
This headset is very small, with its two earpieces with 40 mm drivers, 6.8 cm in diameter, weighing a total of 217 grams. The whole thing folds and slips into the most compact case we’ve seen for headphones, a cushioned box the size of a 6 x 4” photo.
It is discreet when worn and its design keeps the headphones snug on the ears. This allows the Beats Solo 4 to attenuate ambient noise quite honestly, in minimally noisy environments, and passively. This headset does not have an active software function, “ANC” from its English acronym. We’ll come back to that.
For the sound, which is obviously the supreme argument of any listening device, we grant the Beats Solo 4 great precision, which allows each element of the music to stand out clearly. Its bass is surgical, without much emphasis, but rendered very faithfully. Classical music and jazz are well served, but we are far from the sound immersion of more high-end models when we test them with popular music or big rock. Same observation for films and video games: good precision, clearly audible dialogues but little sonic generosity.
More than the sound, it is the total integration into the Apple ecosystem which is an argument here. As soon as it is turned on, the Beats Solo 4 is detected by our iPhone and it subsequently appears automatically in all iOS devices. It is compatible with the “Hey Siri” function which allows, using just these two words, to activate the voice assistant to ask it to raise or lower the volume, move forward a song or give the time and temperature. You probably won’t want to stand out in a crowd by speaking out loud alone, but the function is particularly useful during physical activity and, we imagine, in winter when your hands are stuffed into gloves.
The Beats Solo 4 is Android compatible, with an app on the Google Play Store. This does not offer any additional functions, only the possibility of deciding whether to press once or twice to mute the microphone and hang up after a call. These functions are integrated into a separate menu on an iOS device, in the settings.
The main control of this headset is on the left, where a large clickable button allows you to take calls, stop or start music and control the volume. The result is effective, much more so than with touch buttons.
The battery life of this headset is impressive, more than 50 hours. It has a 3.5 mm jack and you can play lossless high definition music directly with its USB-C port without using the battery.
The microphones – their number is not specified – are configured with “7,000 hours of training” to filter out external noise when you speak on the phone or during a video conference. The technology works quite well, your voice is clear as long as the ambient sound is not too loud.
We like less
Without ANC, forget the Beats Solo 4 on a subway, in the city center at busy times or in a noisy office: passive noise cancellation has its limits and the headphones simply cannot filter out outside sound In an acceptable way.
We were very skimpy on the settings: no equalizer, few changes to the configuration of the main button, obviously no control of the noise cancellation level.
The power button has a flaw: it takes time to activate the headset. If you hold it for too long, your headset goes into Bluetooth pairing mode, which happened to us several times.
One buys ?
Before trying it while jogging, we were rather dissatisfied with the Beats Solo 4. The sound is dry, probably suitable for a sound engineer who wants it stripped down but not for ordinary mortals, and the configurations are minimal.
The big advantages of this headset are portability and autonomy, while having privileged access to the Apple ecosystem. The first two arguments also concern Android users. If they fit your needs, the Beats Solo 4 is a good buy. Otherwise, you will be left hungry.
