Beats Powerbeats Pro Wireless Earbuds - Apple H1 Headphone Chip, Class 1 Bluetooth Headphones, 9 Hours of Listening Time, Sweat Resistant, Built-in Microphone - Black

I have had my Powerbeats Pro for about a week now and after a bit of a rocky start and an adjustment period, I find them to be almost perfect headphones. When I first put them on, I was wildly disappointed. They were uncomfortable and sounded tinny with no bass at all. I genuinely believed I would be returning them and getting second gen Air Pods instead. But, given how excited I was for the Powerebeats Pro to come out and the cost, I decided to put in a little effort and give them a chance. It wasn't until about 3 or 4 days in that I decided to keep them.So, if you are like me and think your new Powerbeats Pro sound like garbage when you first put them on and you wonder if all the positive reviewers are high, experiment with all the tips before dismissing the headphones as crap. In-ear buds need a good seal to sound good. I have freakishly small ears so I always start with the smallest tip available when trying out new headphones which usually works for me. Not this time. It sounded awful and I was briefly outraged that I had paid $250 for garbage. It was counter-intuitive, but I finally tried the biggest tips instead which gave me a good seal and let me wear the headphones without having to go as deep into my ears which made them more comfortable too. Once I found the right fit with a good seal, I discovered that yes, in fact, these things do actually have some nice ear-thumping bass. I think the bass is better than original Air Pods but also not overwhelming as Beats products have a reputation for being. It's satisfyingly skull shaking without being distorted and is balanced out nicely by clear highs. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but I won't listen to any old crap either. I like a little bass and good clarity and the Powerbeats Pro deliver.My biggest issue with these is comfort. As I mentioned, I have freakishly small ears and while I have been using Air Pods for a couple years, I was doing so with discomfort. I put up with a little paind because of the convenience of function. I love the automatic connection, the ability to use one bud at a time and charging on the go in the case. So, when I first read about the Powerbeats Pro, I was expecting something that would have the convenience of Air Pods with better comfort and something that wouldn't fall out of my ears all the time. Generally, I do okay with headphones that have different sizes of silicone tips so I was expecting the Powerbeats Pro to be a comfort upgrade. Initially, they actually hurt my ears more than Air Pods, especially my right ear. I fully blame this on my freakishly small ears. I'm one of those people who often finds "one size fits all" to be laughably ridiculous. Again, I was determined to love these things so I tinkered a bit to find an acceptable level of discomfort. The largest tip allows me to get a good seal without having to put them in so deep, relieving some pressure and cutting down on pain. When I first tried them, I could only last about 20 minutes before the pain forced me to take them out. After adjusting to find a good angle and replacing the silicone tips with Comply Sport tips, I'm a lot more comfortable and can last 2 or 3 hours before I feel discomfort. Even then, I would call it discomfort and not outright pain. It's discomfort I can live with and not any worse than what I experience with Air Pods. Also, my discomfort is only in my right ear instead of both like I get with Air Pods. Since I go with one bud a lot of the time, I'll just use the left one. No biggie. I can't blame the manufacturer for my tiny ears which is why I'm not taking away a star.On the plus side, the fit is very secure. I have worked out in them several times and they don't budge. I never could work out in Air Pods because they fell out all the time. I can also wear these while laying down which I couldn't do in Air Pods without them falling out periodically. Also, the connection is great. Original Air Pods used to randomly lose connection or not connect when they were supposed to. The chip upgrade in the Powerbeats Pro seems to have resolved this little annoyance. They connect faster and after a week, I haven't experienced a drop or glitch once.The Powerbeats Pro do come with a tradeoff when it comes to the size of the case. If you are used to carrying around Air Pods in your pocket in their tiny case, forget about it with Powerbeats Pro. The case is significantly larger. It goes in a bag or purse without taking up a ton of room but it's too big to fit comfortably in a pocket. The extra battery life for Powerbeats is nice though. I frequently use one bud at a time and used to drain an Air Pod and have to switch ears regularly. I'm using the Powerbeats Pro the same way and haven't drained a bud yet. I'm okay with the bigger case since the better battery life makes me feel secure about leaving the case at home when I need to go bagless.So in summary, these are the best sounding buds I have used. They are super convenient, easy to connect and won't fall out of your ears. If you have normal human sized ears, they will probably be comfortable and the battery life is great. You have to deal with a bigger case but the positive improvements over Air Pods make the size trade-off worth it. If you don't hear the bass, try different tips and twist them around a bit before you give up. Hopefully you won't have to work as hard at it as I did to find your happy place with Powerbeats Pro but the effort has been worth it. These are really great headphones and worth the price.

I want to preface this before I say anything about these headphones: I primarily use headphones for music and podcasts while I am cycling, running, or sitting at my desk at work. I use Spotify for music, and I am not an audiophile. I am not comparing these to a pair of Sennheisers with a lossless audio format as my source. I also am using an iPhone 7+ and iPad Air 2 for my devices in this review.I have been waiting on a getting a pair of truly wireless headphones because none seemed to be worth it to me. The battery life is usually dismal for obvious reasons, and most had complaints of cutouts between the earbuds. Some friends of mine have Air Pods and they all said they didn’t have cutout issues and battery life was pretty good. But, I just didn’t like the design of the Air Pods and they sounded “hollow” to me. But I get their appeal.I am so glad I waited for the Powerbeats Pro (PBP)! I was using the Jaybird X3 before I got these, and I think the sound is on par with them. One of my main annoyances with the X3’s was that the cord would tug once sweat built up on my neck while exercising, and I couldn’t use the cable shortener they provide because of the way my helmet is. I went for a bike ride yesterday with the PBP’s, and they were fantastic! It was a little windy, so I did get a little wind noise. I am hoping Comply makes some tips for these because I think that would make the noise isolation much better. My ride was around 2 hours and I still had 80% left on the PBP battery.Cons:1. The case: it’s actually smaller than I thought, but would still be uncomfortable in a pocket. I think the 9 hour battery life on the actual headphones make this acceptable, but this may be deal breaker for some.2. Ear fatigue: I didn’t have any fatigue during my ride, but my ears were definitely a little sensitive where the hook was resting after I took the headphones off. I’m hoping this gets better as I wear them.3. Like the Air Pods, the PBP’s can only be connected to one device at a time. They will pair to all Apple devices on your iCloud account, but if you want to switch between devices, you have to go into your Bluetooth settings and select them. On Android you will need to pair each device separately.4. I usually listen to a podcast when I go to sleep. These are not comfortable to lay on if you are side sleeper like I am. Also, the button the headphones will get pushed by the pillow. The button doesn’t require much force, which is great because your not shoving the headphones into your ear. Not a huge deal, but just thought I would mention it.Pros:1. Great sound for Truly wireless, I think.2. Great fit for exercise.3. Pretty good sound isolation, but like I said, I am hoping Comply makes some tips for these.4. Actual headphones are smaller than I thought they would be, and they don’t look weird on you when you are just walking down the street.Bottom line, if you use an iOS device and use headphones while exercising, I can’t recommend these enough! In my opinion, the $250 price tag is worth it given where other truly wireless headphones are priced.