Today we’re going to be comparing the new Powerbeats to the Powerbeats pro.
In general both of the earbuds are great workout earbuds and they have basically the same features.
Except for one is completely wireless while the other one aren't.
And there’s also a $100 price difference between these two.
So let's see if its worth upgrading to the Powerbeats pro or if you’ll be just fine
with the wired Powerbeats.
So like I just mentioned there’s a $100 price difference between these two earbuds.
The wired Powerbeats retail for $150, which is reasonable in my opinion… where as the
Powerbeats Pro retail for $250.
And like ive said in the past, I think that paying upwards of $200 for any pair of truly
wireless earbuds is a lot… and thats definitely the case with the Powerbeats pro.
But non the less if you want to pick either of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down
below.
Now first off lets address the carrying cases here cause I think this is the thing that
I dislike most about the new Powerbeats.
The Powerbeats come included with this cheap carrying pouch which is going to do absolutely
nothing to protect you’re earbuds when you’ve got them in you gym bag.
Where as the Powerbeats pro comes included with this fairly durable charging case.
Ive been using the Powerbeats pro as my main workout earbuds for the past year and this
carrying case has been able to stand up to constant wear and tear.
My only critique is that I wish this carrying case wasn’t so slippery.
I wish this carrying case either had some gnarling or have a soft touch feel to it so
it would be easier to handle this fairly large case.
But obviously the Powerbeats pro case charges the earbuds themselves, so this now leads
us to battery lives.
The Powerbeats pro have an advertised battery life of 24 hours just like AirPods and AirPods
Pro, where as the wired Powerbeats have an advertised battery life of 15 hours.
And personally for me im able to go 5 to 6 workouts in between charges with the Powerbeats
where as with the Powerbeats pro I can usually go 2 weeks in between charges for them which
is about 10 workouts for me.
Now thankfully both of these earbuds charge via a lightning port so you can charge your
earbuds and iPhone with the same cable… and they both have decent fast charging numbers.
If you plug the wired Powerbeats in for 5 minutes from a dead battery they’ll get
and hour of playback time but the Powerbeats pro will get you an hour and a half from the
same 5 minute charge.
But one major pet peeve of mine about the Powerbeats Pro, and this also applies to AirPods
2 and AirPods Pro… is that iOS doesn’t explicitly tell you when your charging case
needs to be charged.
Now yeah the charging case has an indicator light but I rarely pay it any attention.
So
this has lead to me multiple times going to gym and realizing that my Powerbeats pro are
dead cause I didn’t realize that I had to charge the case.
So what iOS should do is that it should give you a notification right on your phone that
you need to charge your case.
Maybe when you plug your iPhone in to charge there should be a notification that pops up
and says hey your AirPods or Powerbeats pro case needs charging too.
So yeah, even though on paper the Powerbeats pro have way more battery life than the wired
Powerbeats, im telling you from my experience thats its very easy to forget to charge your
Powerbeats pro and end up with dead ear buds at the gym.
Where as with the wired Powerbeats or Powerbeats 3 since when you hear that notification that
your battery is low, you’re more likely to charge your Powerbeats right after you’re
done with your workout.
Now when it comes to the earbuds themselves, obviously the biggest difference between them
is that the Pro’s are completely wireless while the other ones aren’t.
And yeah, over all the Powerbeats Pro are more comfortable than the wired ones cause
you don’t have this wire snagging or resting on the back of your neck.
But the Powerbeats pro aren’t just more comfortable than these other earbuds cause
they’re completely wireless.
They’re also a little more comfortable cause the ear hooks on the Pro are a little more
malleable.
I’ve found that its easier to get a better fit with the Pro’s than with the wired version.
The ear hooks on the wired Powerbeats just aren’t as bendable.
So ive noticed that the ear hooks might rest a little awkwardly compared to the pros.
But also a the powerbeats pro are a little lighter… so over all its a lot easier to
forget that the powerbeats pro are even there.
But non the less you do get used to the wired Powerbeats and both of these Powerbeats are
going to stay in place no matter how hard you’re working out.
Both of these earbuds fit fine, but the Powerbeats Pro are a little more comfortable.
Regarding bluetooth connectivity, both of these earbuds are using apple’s H1 chip…
which means a few things.
First off you can easily hot swap between any of your apple devices associated to your
iCloud account which is great for power users.
But don’t worry both of these earbuds can also just as easily pair to any android device
you’ll might have.
Both of these earbuds are also using AAC and they both have zero latency across the board
when ever you’re watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone
or android device.
But when it comes to reliability…
I do have a bone to pick with apple.
Like I mentioned earlier, ive been using the Powerbeats pro as my main workout earbuds.
But back in December I started to suffer connectivity issues with my Powerbeats pro where one earbud
wouldn’t connect to my phone.
So what I had do is that I would have to put the earbuds back in and take them out a few
times until both finally connected to my iPhone.
Now I noticed that this issue started happening when I updated my iPhone to iOS 13 but now
that ive updated to iOS 13.4 ive noticed that that problem has gone way.
So what im getting at here is that even though apple is great and all, having connectivity
issues with your $250 powerbeats pro isn’t entirely out of the question from my experience.
So im just saying if you want something that just works all the time you’ll might be
better off with the wired powerbeats, cause its near imposable to get apple to admit that
there’s something wrong with their products.
Cause I wasted multiple hours on the phone with tech support at the genius bar and I
even sent my powerbeats pro out for repair and apple just sent them back
and went.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds.
For the most part both of these earbuds perform relatively the same.
They both have the same amount of hard hitting bass, they both get just a loud, and they
both have the same soundstage and instrument separation.
Please don’t fall into the placebo affect where just cause the powerbeats pro cost more
than the wired powerbeats they’re going to automatically sound better.
But the thing about the wired powerbeats is that I feel their treble is just a little
too high, making them ear piercing at times.
Where as the treble on the Powerbeats pro is where its supposed to be.
So I expect apple will reduce the treble on the wired powerbeats in a future software
update and ultimately make them sound identical to the powerbeats pro.
But in the mean time what you can do with the wired powerbeats is that you can go into
your EQ settings and select the bass boosted or the treble reduce EQ.
Ive found that both help make the wired powerbeats sound a lot better.
Now when it comes to actually controlling your music playback both of these earbuds
have their media control buttons built right into their earbud.
You’ve got a volume rocker up to and the beats logo serves are a multipurpose button.
And over all these controls are very easy to use and they just work when you need them
too.
But just keep in mind only the right earbud on the wired powerbeats have these control
buttons where as both of the earbuds on the Powerbeats pro have these control buttons.
So you can use either hand to control your music, or if you just want to use one earbud,
you till have full control over your music.
Which I think is an underrated feature on the powerbeats pro.
But also keep in mind thanks to the H1 chip on both of these earbuds, both of these earbuds
have always listening Siri.
So if you’ve got your hands full or if you’re in the middle of your set you can use be like
hey Siri, skip a track or raise the volume… and Siri will just do it.
But another thing to keep in mind is that only the powerbeats pro have proximity sensors
where as the wired ones don’t.
So if you take an earbud out they’ll automatically stop playing music.
Now even though this is great and all, proximity sensors definitely shouldn’t be a deciding
factor between getting either of these earbuds.
But I do wish the new powerbeats had proximity sensors cause I think it would have been a
cool upgrade from the powerbeats 3.
But one upgrade the new powerbeats have over the powerbeats 3 is that their microphone
does sound a little better.
And I think the microphone on the wired powerbeats sounds the same as the Powerbeats pro.
So they’re both definitely usable for phone calls.
But for comparison sake, the microphone on the AirPods and AirPods Pro sound better than
the microphone found on powerbeats.
But ultimately, both the powerbeats and powerbeats pro are great pairs of workout earbuds.
But when it comes to choosing between these two I think it all comes to comfort and connivance.
The powerbeats pro are more comfortable than their wired counterparts cause their ear hooks
are more malleable so its easier to get a better fit, they’re lighter, and they also
don’t have a wire connecting the two, overall just making it easier to forget that you’re
even wearing the powerbeats pro.
But like I mentioned earlier, not having connection issues with your powerbeats pro isn’t entirely
out of the question.
And even though these earbuds do have a combined battery life of 24 hours… it can be easy
to forget to charge your case and end up with dead earbuds at the gym.
But in theory the powerbeats pro are over all better then the wired ones on paper.
But personally I think most people will be better off with the wired powerbeats.
I just think the Powerbeats Pro are hard to justify at $250.
I use them cause I have them but I recommend you save yourself some money and just go with
the wired powerbeats.
You’re still getting a great battery life, you have always listening Siri, and these
earbuds sound the same.
But for me to justify the Powerbeats Pro I think that they would need to have active
noise cancellation to help block out people at the gym, and they also need to have transparency
mode for people who like to run or bike outdoors.
But
for now all I want for iOS 13 or iOS 14 is to give you a notification on your phone to
remind you to charge your case.