I know Beats headphones allegedly don’t provide the best sound quality according to people who supposedly know these things. But as someone who’s had a few different pairs for a few different purposes, I don’t really care. I like they way they look, sound, and fit my lifestyle. They work for me – an average user without audiophile hearing – and that’s all that really matters.

Over the past few years, I’ve owned 4 or 5 different pairs of Beats, and bought more for various family members. Everyone so far has been greatly received. I started with some wired versions and then a year or so ago moved to bluetooth versions of the Solo 2. I loved everything about them, except bluetooth itself. As someone who’s fully into the Apple ecosystem, I often switch between my Mac, iPhone and iPad depending on what I’m doing, and ultimately resorted to having multiple pairs of headphones because pairing and unpairing was such a pain in the ass.

Clearly it was ridiculous to have a pair just for my iPhone and a separate pair for my iPad, but that’s what I did because I found the bluetooth pairing dance to be that annoying.

That’s why when Apple announced the Air Pods at the iPhone event in September, I was very intrigued by the W1 chip, and especially it’s inclusion in a new line of Beats products. Conveniently (not really) and coincidentally I also accidentally put a pair of Powerbeats through the wash the same day, and the earpiece busted. So – after selling my Solo 2s – I ordered some Solo 3 Wireless headphones. Here are my thoughts so far.

Unboxing
Nothing too exciting here. Inside the box are the headphones, a carry case, charging cables and a control talk cable for those times when you need a wired connection. I was surprised to see that these headphones still charge via USB and not lightning, and that the control talk cable still uses the old headphone jack instead of lightning. You’d think Apple would go all-in on lightning after dropping the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 – especially on a new product.

Interestingly, the upcoming Beats X Sport headphones DO use lightning, so it seems Apple is currently in a transition of the product line. The Beats X will be out later this year, so maybe Apple just didn’t want to delay the release of the Solo 3s. I imagine the next generation of the Solos will drop USB. However, since I haven’t even taken the control talk cable out of the box, and have a USB charger already available for other devices in the house, this really isn’t an issue at this point. For travel, it would be nice to not have to bring another cable along, but again, it’s what I’m used to anyway, so it’s nothing new.

Pairing

This is the part I was most interested in – and thankfully – everything worked as advertised. I took the headphones out of the box, turned them on (the battery was over 80% out of the box), and brought the headphones next to my iPhone 7 Plus. Instantly, a ‘connection’ popup shot up from the bottom of my phone and after one tap, the headphones were paired. No pairing code, no going to settings, nothing. I immediately went to Apple Music and was listening to some Public Enemy within seconds.

Next – to see if things truly worked as advertised, I grabbed my iPad Pro, swiped up to reveal Control Centre, and sure enough, my new Beats Solo 3 were listed as an option for audio output. Magic. Since that initial pairing, I have switched back and forth between iPad and iPhone and even my Apple Watch (all devices, obviously, are connected to my iCloud account), without issue. Apple truly has conquered by biggest annoyance with bluetooth headphones.

Battery & Range
I’ve had the headphones for over a week, and have used them a couple hours a night since I got them. Currently, they still are at 59% battery remaining. Don’t forget, they were only at about 80% out of the box, so I’d say that’s not too shabby.

Range on these is also impressive. We have a two story house, and several times, I’ve been in my office upstairs listening to a podcast, came downstairs without my phone, and have had no problem maintaining a connection, changing the volume, or pausing playback. I was generally able to do the same with my older Solos, but depending where on the lower level I went, I would start to get some interference. So far with the Solo 3s, I have experienced no audio quality issues.

General Use / Final Thoughts
As I’m invested in the Apple Ecosystem and generally love my Beats products, I don’t care one bit that the W1 is unique to Apple/Beats, and even if they did license the technology to other manufacturers – which I doubt will happen – it wouldn’t change a thing for me.

I was a bit disappointed that Space Grey (which was the colour of my Solo 2s that I sold) wasn’t an option, but I think the Silver option I got looks pretty good. Fit and Finish / Build quality is the same as other Beats products I have had in the past, which is perfectly fine with me.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the Solo 3 Wireless, and am now really looking forward to trying out the Air Pods or possibly the Beats X when they come out later this year.

Oh, and that missing headphone jack from the iPhone 7? A complete non-issue for me.