Beats Solo 4 Review: Classically Modern Headphones

The Beats Solo 4 headphones are a case study for how to slowly evolve a product just enough that it continually stays relevant. Some 14 years after their first release, the new model of the on-ear headphones still retail for $199.99 but get enough upgrades to keep them interesting and worth checking out.

Beats Solo 4

Beats Solo 4 delivers native ecosystem benefits for both Apple and Android customers, including one-touch pairing and Find My or Find My Device.

Pros

• Solid audio quality with support for lossless via USB-C
• Modern features like Find My
• iOS and Android near feature parity

Cons

• On-ear design isn?t for everyone
• Less deep, rumbly bass than expected

Price and Availability

The Beats Solo 4 are available to order now on Apple’s website and will begin shipping May 2, 2024. The headphones will retail for $199.99 in each color.

A Design, 14 Years in the Making

Even in late 2023, when the Beats Solo 3 headphones were seven years old, they still sold incredibly well, according to the company. In that context, it seems obvious that the new Solo 4 wouldn’t rock the design boat too much and they don’t.

The look is instantly familiar. To spruce things up, the product does come in new Matte Black, Cloud Pink, and Slate Blue colors to start, but just as the seasons change, it’s almost certain that there will be some other color options in the coming years.

On the feature front, the Solo 4 model overhauls most aspects compared to the Solo 3s. New audio drivers are included. There’s a new Beats proprietary platform that replaces the W1 chip. Personalized spatial audio with head tracking is now supported, there are new digital MEMS mics for calls, and Android users finally get access to Find My, one-touch pairing, and automatic account setup.

There are 10 more hours of battery life to bring the total on the Solo 4 to an impressive 50 hours. Plus, you can now listen wired to high-res audio via a USB-C or 3.5mm cable.

Overall, the updates are significant when coming from a seven-year-old product. In the context of 2024 headphones, however, these headphones pretty much slot into the expected feature set for their price range.

The one omission I was disappointed not to see (or hear) was the lack of ear detection on the Solo 4. They don’t stop playback automatically when removed from your head. A small detail, but one I missed during testing.

Besides not having active noise-canceling, EQ listening modes, and sitting on your ears, instead of over them, the Solo 4 nearly match all the features on the Beats Studio Pro which debuted last year. There are other differences between the two products, but it’s still nice that there isn’t too big of a gap between them.

Trying to Bump the Beat on the Solo 4

Under the covers, the Solo 4 headphones use new passively tuned 40mm drivers. These allow listeners to get the same quality audio whether they’re listening wirelessly or over a 3.5mm cable with no power turned on.

To give the headphones a first pass, I played through 31 new Taylor Swift songs, as one does. Tracks like “Down Bad” have a surprising amount of ethereal sounds floating around the background and these were all present in my tests.

Since the Beats Solo 4 headphones are focused on being suitable for the fitness crowd, I narrowed a lot of my listening to the pop and rock genres. Interestingly, I found Dua Lipa’s “Illusion” banger didn’t sound quite as deep and punchy as I expected. It was still full and energetic, but had less low-pass bass than I heard on some other headphones. On most songs I listened to, the bass was tight and present, just not overly rumble-y. Personally, the soundstage on the Solo 4 fits my eclectic listening style well. There was a good mid-range response to keep singers’ vocals audible.

I don’t expect to use the Solo 4 much with my iPhone 15 Pro via a USB-C cable in the future, but I did plug them in to see how they fared. After turning on the 24-bit/192kHz lossless streams from Apple Music, I could hear more depth and clarity. But not enough to justify using 145MB of data per three minutes of audio—compared to 6MB at 256kbps AAC.

These headphones aren’t targeting audiophiles so they shouldn’t be graded on that curve. Still, I thought they sounded great on the whole. Anyone looking for a pair to work out with or to pack in a bag should be more than satisfied with the audio quality. The microphone quality was slightly disappointing because I thought my voice sounded too digital and compressed. The headphones did an admirable job of blocking background noise, however. In a noisy construction environment my words can still be heard.

On-Ear Headphones Are Becoming Less Common

The size of the earcups, which are meant to sit on top of your ears, are slightly increased over the previous model. I didn’t notice any real change in fit or feel. The headphones remain lightweight, coming in at 217 grams.

I appreciate how the Solo 4 are sports-focused but remain comfortable and mostly compact. For example, the headband is minimal and doesn’t appear padded, but it still didn’t cause any discomfort.

The headphones mostly split the difference between fitting snugly and being able to be used while running or working out, without being too tight. The size of your head may affect that feeling, but there was some flex available in the plastic frame.

I’m less of an on-ear headphones person, so given the chance, I’d probably pick the over-the-ear Beats Studio Pro model over these. That said, I still enjoyed my hours wearing these during pre-release testing. The ear padding is nice and squishy and the earcups can pivot around freely thanks to their infinite-direction gimbal.

The physical media controls on the left side of the headphones are still easy to use. They come with a nice, thick nylon-like case that can fit the 3.5mm cable and a USB-C cable.

I tried, but couldn’t get through the headphones’ 50 hours of battery life in my pre-release use. It’s a lot of listening time. It didn’t help that I also wanted to try their promised 5 hours of power with just 10 minutes of charging. It should be weeks between when most people will need to charge these headphones.

Should You Buy the Beats Solo 4 Headphones?

If you’re willing to spend up to $200 on a pair of headphones, your choices are nearly endless. Still, the Beats Solo 4 pack enough modern features into their on-ear sporty frame that they keep up with the crowd.

Both iPhone and Android users can take advantage of Find My and location tracking. Headphones are a product you may misplace, too. There should be enough extras here to keep people satisfied for close to another seven years.

You can probably find comparable headphones for a little bit less money, but it’s hard to buck the trend of a company that has been iterating on the same headphones for 14 years. There’s nothing about the Solo 4 that makes me think Beats didn’t put together a solid game plan for this new model and then execute it.

Beats Solo 4

Beats Solo 4 delivers native ecosystem benefits for both Apple and Android customers, including one-touch pairing and Find My or Find My Device.