Design and features:These headphones will not reproduce sound or provide electronic noise cancelation unless they are turned on. When powered they can be used wirelessly with Bluetooth devices or can be cord connected. When cord connected the headphones have medium sensitivity regardless of whether they are in noise cancelling or in ambient sound monitoring mode so they can provide satisfying volume levels when used with home audio equipment and all but the lowest-powered portable audio devices. They can also be connected via the USB charging/data cable to Apple iPads or Macs with USB-C ports to play audio files stored on or streamed to them. The Beats Studio Pro has controls for volume, music player transport, call connect/disconnect, toggling between noise cancellation and ambient sound monitoring, and digital voice assistant activation. They support Apple Siri and unspecified digital voice assistants when used with Bluetooth devices that have those capabilities. They also have a spatialized audio feature that works with some Apple mobile devices when using specific apps with movie, TV, video, and specific music content; this feature creates a virtual surround sound field and can keep the audio image stable even when the user's head moves. The ear cups of this model fold for ease of carrying and storage.
Sound quality:The Beats Studio Pro provides excellent active noise reduction and delivers sound quality that falls in the very good range - it reproduces music and voice very well although it does have some noticeable sonic quirks. The overall sound can be summarized as somewhat grainy and sizzly, and a bit bassy. With the noise cancelling mode engaged the bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep, but is a bit prominent and boomy. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is somewhat grainy, a bit hazy and congested (think sonic traffic jam), a touched etched (a bit more sharply outlined then it should be), and the upper midrange is a bit prominent. The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is extended but is a somewhat prominent, smeared and sizzly (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer have a sound reminiscent of bacon frying). The sound also has a good sense of liveliness and is open--sound-wise it seems like you don't have anything covering up your ears. It also does a good job of recovering the room ambience of recordings. These headphones produce excellent noise reduction across the entire frequency range with the low frequencies reduced the most. A very faint rushing noise is audible when there is no audio program present to mask it.
Comfort and Fit:We found that these headphones produce a sense of moderate pressure around the ears.
As typical of over-ear models the ear pads might feel hot and/or sticky after prolonged use.
Large
Users with larger heads might find that the headband does not have enough adjustment range to allow the ear cups to rest properly over the ears and/or that the headband presses uncomfortably on the top of the head.
Users with larger ears might find that the over-the-ear fit of the ear pads feel cramped, or that the ear pads sit on, rather than around their ears; in that case the less-than-ideal fit around the ears might interfere with the ear pad seal and reduce the bass response and/or noise reduction capabilities of the headphone.
Stability
Some users may find that when they lean far forward the headphones feel unstable and shift forward.
Other noise
When wearing this model while walking the muffled vibrations from each foot step can be heard slightly through the headphones regardless of whether or not the headphones are in noise cancelling mode.
When the audio cord is used the sound of it rubbing on clothing may be faintly heard through the headphones.
