Audio review

Beats Studio Pro Review: 17 Decibels and Ear Cups Too Small

Name: Beats Studio Pro Review: 17 Decibels and Ear Cups Too Small
Item: Beats Studio Pro
Rating: 2.8
Author: Paulo Gerchon

The cups measure 59 by 40 mm where the category standard is nearer 65 by 45. Two testers could not wear them past an hour, and the lab that measured the cancelling got 17 dB.

By Paulo GerchonPublished 15 August 20262 min read

Placeholder graphic, not a product photo

Illustration, not a photo — we don’t have a licensed image of this product yet.

5.6/10

Beats

Beats Studio Pro

Fair · researched from 3 sources

Long battery, honest tuning and the cheapest lossless USB-C audio you can buy, wrapped in ear cups that do not fit most heads. If you have small ears and no glasses these are good; if you do not, the fit problem undoes everything else.

Buy if: Smaller ears, where two sources agree the fit works · Wired listening over USB-C, which is where they are most competitive · Long days between charges
Skip if: Glasses wearers, on SoundGuys' explicit advice · Flights and commuting, on the measured 17 dB · Calls, which TechGearLab scores 4.4 out of 10

Check price on Amazon.com Check price on Amazon.ca

We don’t list prices, because Amazon’s change hourly.

Two numbers explain the whole product

Fifty-nine by forty millimetres. That is the internal opening of the ear cups, per Headphone Curve, against a category norm closer to sixty-five by forty-five.

Seventeen decibels. That is the average noise reduction TechGearLab measured, against rivals at the same price managing twenty-seven or more.

The two are related. Active cancellation only works on top of a good passive seal, and a cup that presses on the outer ear rather than enclosing it does not seal. Headphone Curve describes exactly that happening on larger ears after sixty to ninety minutes.

Which is why the reviews disagree

SoundGuys describes the cancelling as reducing commuting noise by 50 to 90 percent and places these in the upper echelon of the category.

TechGearLab scored the same category 3.6 out of 10.

Both can be right, because both are describing a different head. On an ear the cups actually fit, the seal is good and the cancelling works. On one they do not fit, it does not.

Headphone Curve's summary is the practical one: fine for a quiet room, not enough for an aeroplane.

The comfort verdict is unanimous

TechGearLab: comfort 3.7 out of 10, comfortable listening about three and a half hours, strong clamping force, and a note that longer hair catches in the hinges.

SoundGuys: could not use them for more than an hour, and glasses wearers should steer clear.

Headphone Curve: comfortable past three hours on smaller ears, pressure pain beyond two on larger ones.

That is as clear a warning as three independent reviewers ever give, and it is the thing to test in a shop before buying.

What is genuinely good

Battery. TechGearLab measured 28.4 hours against a 24 hour claim; SoundGuys got 31 hours 25 minutes. Both beat the specification, and this is among the longest in the category.

Tuning. SoundGuys says the response tracks their preference curve closely, with a treble lift above 5 kHz that helps vocals and can sound grating on metallic instruments. Headphone Curve notes the departure from the old bass-heavy Beats signature, and credits the treble with genuine air and separation.

And USB-C lossless. The port carries real audio through an onboard converter, not just power, and Headphone Curve calls these the cheapest headphones offering it. Plugged into a laptop, they sidestep Bluetooth entirely.

The omissions

No multipoint. No wear detection. They do not fold.

TechGearLab scored call quality 4.4 and says outright that they make terrible calls.

And on Android, Headphone Curve reports the cancelling reverting to off every session, which has to be manually re-enabled each time.

TechGearLab's overall figure is 53 out of 100, twenty-first of twenty-six. That is harsh against SoundGuys' 7.4, and the gap between those two verdicts is the most honest summary available: these are good headphones for a specific head and a mediocre buy for everyone else.

How it scored

The overall 5.6 is the weighted average of these five criteria — we never adjust it by hand.

Sound quality

25% of score7.5

SoundGuys says the response tracks their preference curve closely with a treble lift above 5 kHz. TechGearLab scored sound 7.3 and Headphone Curve credits the treble with real separation.

Value

25% of score5.0

TechGearLab scored them 53 out of 100 and ranked them 21st of 26, saying better alternatives exist at the price. SoundGuys is warmer at 7.4 out of 10.

Build quality

17% of score7.0

266 g and well made, but they do not fold, which Headphone Curve lists as a portability problem, and TechGearLab reports longer hair catching in the hinges.

Comfort

17% of score3.5

TechGearLab scored comfort 3.7 out of 10. SoundGuys could not wear them beyond an hour and tells glasses wearers to steer clear.

Noise cancelling

17% of score4.5

TechGearLab measured an average of 17 dB and scored the category 3.6. SoundGuys rates it far more highly, and Headphone Curve calls it fine for a quiet room and not enough for travel.

Pros and cons

What we liked

TechGearLab measured 28.4 hours of battery against a 24 hour claim
SoundGuys measured 31 hours 25 minutes on a full charge
USB-C carries lossless audio, which Headphone Curve calls the cheapest route to it
SoundGuys says the frequency response tracks their preference curve closely
266 g, which is light for over-ear noise cancelling headphones
TechGearLab measured Bluetooth range at 116 feet

What we didn’t

TechGearLab measured just 17 dB of average noise reduction and scored the category 3.6
The ear cups are about 59 by 40 mm against a category norm nearer 65 by 45
TechGearLab scored comfort 3.7 and puts comfortable listening at 3.5 hours
TechGearLab scored call quality 4.4 and says they make terrible calls
No multipoint and no wear detection, per TechGearLab
Headphone Curve reports cancelling defaulting to off every session on Android

Specifications

Specifications
Noise cancelling	17 dB average measured by TechGearLab
Battery	31 h 25 m per SoundGuys; 28.4 h per TechGearLab against a 24 hour claim with cancelling on
Weight	266 g per TechGearLab; 260 g per SoundGuys
Ear cup opening	About 59 x 40 mm
Comfortable listening	About 3.5 hours per TechGearLab
Wireless codecs	SBC and AAC per SoundGuys; Headphone Curve also lists aptX HD
Wired	USB-C with an onboard DAC, carrying lossless audio
Range	116 feet per TechGearLab
Missing	No multipoint, no wear detection, and they do not fold

How we researched this

We have not had this unit on the bench. This review synthesises the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements and owner reports listed below. Every figure on this page comes from one of those sources rather than our own measurement.

sources reviewed

TechGearLab tested them against 25 other headphones and is the only source to publish a decibel figure for the noise cancelling, along with the category scores, the measured battery and the ranking. SoundGuys supplies the frequency response finding, a second battery measurement, the codec list and the strongest statement of the fit problem. Headphone Curve supplies the ear cup dimensions that explain the fit complaints, the USB-C lossless detail and the Android bug. The three disagree substantially on how good the cancelling is and on which codecs are supported, and both disagreements are reported rather than resolved.

What we read

Our full testing policy

Common questions

How good is the noise cancelling on the Beats Studio Pro?

The one hard measurement is not flattering. TechGearLab recorded an average reduction of 17 decibels across frequencies and scored the category 3.6 out of 10, noting that similarly priced rivals block 27 dB or more. SoundGuys is much warmer, describing 50 to 90 percent attenuation of commuting noise when the seal is good and placing them in the upper echelon, while conceding they fall short of the AirPods Max and Sony's flagship. Headphone Curve splits the difference with a useful summary: adequate for quiet spaces, inadequate for travel. Since the seal depends on fit and the fit is the known problem, all three positions are probably describing different heads.

Why do so many reviewers complain about the fit?

Because the ear cups are unusually small and Headphone Curve gives the numbers. The internal opening is roughly 59 by 40 mm against a category norm nearer 65 by 45. On smaller ears that is fine for three hours or more. On larger ones the pads press against the outer ear rather than sealing around it, which they describe as becoming pressure pain beyond two hours. SoundGuys could not wear them past an hour and tells glasses wearers to steer clear outright. TechGearLab scored comfort 3.7 and puts comfortable listening at three and a half hours.

How long does the battery last?

Longer than claimed, on both measurements. Beats rates 24 hours with cancelling on. TechGearLab measured 28.4 hours and SoundGuys 31 hours 25 minutes. Headphone Curve cites 40 hours with cancelling on and 80 with it off, which is higher than either lab found and closer to the marketing figure for cancelling disabled. Whichever number you take, this is among the longest-lasting pairs in the category and it is the strongest thing about them.

Is the USB-C audio worth having?

It is the most interesting feature here. The USB-C port carries lossless audio through an onboard converter rather than acting only as a charging socket, and Headphone Curve describes these as the most affordable headphones offering it. If you listen at a desk from a phone or laptop, that bypasses Bluetooth compression entirely, and it is the use case where these compete best against more expensive rivals.

What else is missing?

More than you would expect at the price. TechGearLab lists no multipoint, so they hold one device at a time, and no wear detection, so they do not pause when you take them off. They do not fold, which Headphone Curve raises as a portability problem for headphones sold on portability. TechGearLab scored call quality 4.4 and says plainly that they make terrible calls, and separately reports longer hair catching in the hinge. Headphone Curve adds an Android-specific bug worth knowing about: cancelling defaults to off each session and has to be turned back on manually.

5.6/10

Fair

The bottom line on the Beats Studio Pro

Check price on Amazon.com Check price on Amazon.ca

More tech & gadgets reviews

8.0/10

Audio

1MORE SonoFlow

SoundGuys measured almost seven hours beyond the claim. TechGearLab's frequency breakdown shows 36.2 dB of reduction in the highs and 15.6 in the lows.

7.8/10

Audio

AKG K371

Sonarworks measured up to ±4 dB of channel imbalance and ±3 dB of bass variation between units. That is a bigger difference than most of the arguments about how it sounds.

Apple AirPods Max over-ear headphones in space grey with the knit mesh canopy headband and anodised aluminium earcups

6.7/10

Audio

Apple AirPods Max

One lab scored comfort 4.6 out of 10 and found glasses cut wearable time to less than sixty minutes. Everything else about them is very good, which is the frustrating part.