Engine drone on a long flight and the train announcements on a Monday commute are the kind of noise that makes over-ear headphones worth owning, and the Beats Studio Pro in black drops from $299.99 to $119 on Amazon, a 60% discount. Amazon also flags it as the lowest price in the last 30 days.
Forty Hours of Battery and a Cable as Backup
The battery is rated at up to 40 hours, a figure that will vary with how loud you listen and whether noise cancelling is on, and Fast Fuel gives up to four hours of playback from a 10-minute charge. That second number is the one I would actually use, since forgetting to charge before a trip is easier than it sounds, and a short top-up at the gate can save a flight. Over a week of commuting, 40 hours would mean charging once and then not thinking about it, which is closer to how people actually use headphones than any lab figure suggests.
Active noise cancelling is there for work, flights and commutes, with a Transparency mode that lets outside sound mix in with the music when you need to hear an announcement. For calls, voice-targeting microphones are meant to reduce background noise, and Class 1 Bluetooth is supposed to keep the connection stable with fewer dropouts as you move around a building. I’d say the Transparency mode matters as much as the cancelling itself, because nobody wants to take headphones off every time a barista calls a name or a gate agent changes the boarding group.
Beats describes the sound as coming from a custom acoustic platform with balanced audio for music and calls. You can listen wirelessly, use USB-C for lossless audio and sound profiles, or plug in the 3.5 mm cable that comes in the box for a standard analog connection, and the spec table lists an impedance of 32 ohms, which phones and laptops can generally drive without trouble. Spatial audio with personalized dynamic head tracking adds 360-degree sound for movies and music. The cable is the quiet selling point for travelers, since it keeps the headphones usable with an in-flight entertainment jack or after the battery runs out, which wireless-only pairs can’t do.
The ear cushions are called UltraPlush, and Beats pitches them at long listening sessions at home, at work or while traveling, so it would be worth reading a few reviews that mention an hour or two of wear before deciding on fit. The box also includes a woven travel case, a USB-C charging cable and a Quick Start Guide, and one-touch pairing works with both Apple and Android devices.
Black is the version at the lowest price. Deep Brown, Khaki, Light Blue and Sandstone are listed at $149.95, and Navy is at $215.73, so choosing another color costs more. Two other styles, With Power Adapter and With AppleCare+, are listed separately, and the listing doesn’t show their prices.
The rating is 4.5 out of 5 across 28,630 ratings, and the headphones are marked as the number one best seller in over-ear headphones on Amazon. Amazon also notes that some other sellers have a lower price without free Prime shipping, and buyers who prefer to split the cost can pay $29.75 every two weeks over four payments.
For a pair of headphones that works with iPhone and Android alike, the black Beats Studio Pro at $119 instead of $299.99 on Amazon.
