[ubs28]

Do these Beats Studio Wireless 3 have an App with user customisable EQ's and DPS effects?

 

[mattbanks]

With regards to the bass, I do feel these are more subdued than the SOLO 2, but relative to the other frequency’s I find the bass to be pretty neutral/ if elevated ever so slightly. I played “dna” by Kendrick Lamar and it still rattled my head around quite a bit.

Just threw that song in and it definitely has a lot of bass. A good example of the lack of sub bass is something like Canyon Moon by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. The bass drum has a good heavy thump with my B&O H6, but it's much more subdued with the Studio 3's

 

[richpjr]

Another thing I've noticed as I've worn them all morning is that my ears touch the inside of the headphone, which has never happened with other sets (B&O H6, ATH-M50, a few others I've tried). It's not uncomfortable, it's just different and something I've noticed a few times throughout the day so far.

Yes I have noticed it and found it uncomfortable, and worse when I wear glasses.

 

[RamGuy]

I finally got my pair today. Its somewhat frustrating to test them as I'm on iOS 11.1 Developer BETA releases and the latest 11.1 BETA2 has a lot of glitches making this somewhat nasty like Apple Music is glitching the audio at random causing a lot of crackling and awkwardness.. And bluetooth is also somewhat bugged with bluetooth audio going dead silent at random before it comes back a few seconds later so I have mostly been using them on my MacBook Pro.

First thing I have noticed compared to ALL other bluetooth headphones I own (Bose QC35, Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H7, H8 and H9) the bluetooth range is vastly superior. I'm so "fortunate" that I have some concrete walls so wireless connectivity to places like my bathroom is horrible. Even with a great WiFi access point only 8 meters from the bathroom you will have connectivity issues while your in the bathroom for instance. If I have my phone on the charger in the living room all of the other headphones will start having issues as soon as I reach the bathroom, the BeoPlay H8 stands no chance and will drop-out immediately. Rev2 of the BeoPlay H7 and H9 will starts falling in and out so they are next to useless but they seldom drop-out completely. The Bose QC35 has been the best, they work if I'm in the right locations but I need to find some sweet spots. But just as the Apple AirPods, these Beats Studio3 Wireless have no connectivity issues at all, which I find really really impressive.

My first impressions about the ANC seems to be legit. They don't create the same feel of "vacuum/cabin pressure" as the Bose QC35 which again makes them feel way more comfortable. And the ANC seems to be rather good, they are not as good as the Bose QC35 but they are way better compared to my BeoPlay H9's and I feel they are more than efficient enough for me and I love the lack of "vacuum" while using ANC. I haven't tried them outside yet so I don't know how they fare in terms of wind.


All this is good. But I'm not entirely convinced on the audio just yet. I didn't really know what to expect, but after reading at Rtings.com and how highly they rated the Beats Solo3 Wireless in-terms of imaging I did expect something with great imaging and somewhat spaciousness and wide soundstage (at least for being closed-back headphones). But my first impressions after putting them on at home is the polar opposite. I feel the soundstage feels really, really narrow. Almost "boxed" if you get what I'm saying? As one who regular use my Sennheiser HD800 and love spacious and wide soundstage with great emphasis on imaging, vocals and separation these felt rather disappointing. My BeoPlay H7 and H9 feels way more spacious and wide. I would even go as far as the Bose QC35 which I don't really like that much in terms of audio has a wider soundstage.

The audio is not bad, they don't have those awfully sounding vocals as the Bose QC35 have. But this narrow soundstage is really bothering me. I will try to burn them in and hope they will open up after a while. I remember when I got my BeoPlay H7 and H9 replaced I was put off by how they sounded when I started using the new ones, they both needed at least a week before they started to sound right.

Another thing I notice about the audio is that spoken word like podcasts and audiobooks have somewhat regressed vocals? I simply have to turn these louder compared to my BeoPlay H7 and H9's in order to get the vocals into focus. If I have them at the same volume levels that I'm used to the vocals seems to drown somewhat making things harder to listening to. I can combat this by using the "Voice Boost" EQ's in my podcast and audiobook-app but I don't like how the vocals sounds after using those and I have never felt the need for those EQ profiles before. I notice that the regressed vocals seems to be less of a issue when I disabled ANC? Awkward.

 

[mattbanks]

I think I've decided to return my Studio 3's. The comfort issue with my ears rubbing is just too much for me. Now I need to decide what wireless headphones to get instead (if there was something that sounded as good as the B&O H6 but wireless, I would buy it in an instant).

 

[Okrelayer]

I finally got my pair today. Its somewhat frustrating to test them as I'm on iOS 11.1 Developer BETA releases and the latest 11.1 BETA2 has a lot of glitches making this somewhat nasty like Apple Music is glitching the audio at random causing a lot of crackling and awkwardness.. And bluetooth is also somewhat bugged with bluetooth audio going dead silent at random before it comes back a few seconds later so I have mostly been using them on my MacBook Pro.

First thing I have noticed compared to ALL other bluetooth headphones I own (Bose QC35, Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H7, H8 and H9) the bluetooth range is vastly superior. I'm so "fortunate" that I have some concrete walls so wireless connectivity to places like my bathroom is horrible. Even with a great WiFi access point only 8 meters from the bathroom you will have connectivity issues while your in the bathroom for instance. If I have my phone on the charger in the living room all of the other headphones will start having issues as soon as I reach the bathroom, the BeoPlay H8 stands no chance and will drop-out immediately. Rev2 of the BeoPlay H7 and H9 will starts falling in and out so they are next to useless but they seldom drop-out completely. The Bose QC35 has been the best, they work if I'm in the right locations but I need to find some sweet spots. But just as the Apple AirPods, these Beats Studio3 Wireless have no connectivity issues at all, which I find really really impressive.

My first impressions about the ANC seems to be legit. They don't create the same feel of "vacuum/cabin pressure" as the Bose QC35 which again makes them feel way more comfortable. And the ANC seems to be rather good, they are not as good as the Bose QC35 but they are way better compared to my BeoPlay H9's and I feel they are more than efficient enough for me and I love the lack of "vacuum" while using ANC. I haven't tried them outside yet so I don't know how they fare in terms of wind.


All this is good. But I'm not entirely convinced on the audio just yet. I didn't really know what to expect, but after reading at Rtings.com and how highly they rated the Beats Solo3 Wireless in-terms of imaging I did expect something with great imaging and somewhat spaciousness and wide soundstage (at least for being closed-back headphones). But my first impressions after putting them on at home is the polar opposite. I feel the soundstage feels really, really narrow. Almost "boxed" if you get what I'm saying? As one who regular use my Sennheiser HD800 and love spacious and wide soundstage with great emphasis on imaging, vocals and separation these felt rather disappointing. My BeoPlay H7 and H9 feels way more spacious and wide. I would even go as far as the Bose QC35 which I don't really like that much in terms of audio has a wider soundstage.

The audio is not bad, they don't have those awfully sounding vocals as the Bose QC35 have. But this narrow soundstage is really bothering me. I will try to burn them in and hope they will open up after a while. I remember when I got my BeoPlay H7 and H9 replaced I was put off by how they sounded when I started using the new ones, they both needed at least a week before they started to sound right.

Another thing I notice about the audio is that spoken word like podcasts and audiobooks have somewhat regressed vocals? I simply have to turn these louder compared to my BeoPlay H7 and H9's in order to get the vocals into focus. If I have them at the same volume levels that I'm used to the vocals seems to drown somewhat making things harder to listening to. I can combat this by using the "Voice Boost" EQ's in my podcast and audiobook-app but I don't like how the vocals sounds after using those and I have never felt the need for those EQ profiles before. I notice that the regressed vocals seems to be less of a issue when I disabled ANC? Awkward.

I share what you’re saying about the soundstage. To me the headphone it self sounds pretty good, but the lack of a soundstage makes it sound more like an “on ear” headphone. I think a lot of it has to do how the ear pads sit. They are more over ear, than AROUND the ear.

 

[eripa]

I was quite a bit surprised by the lack of bass in the Studio 3's as compared to my B&O H6. I knew they wouldn't have the same sound stage and depth to the sound, but I figured they would have the same if not more low/sub bass. Surprisingly, the H6 have quite a bit more in this regard. Enough so I've wondered if I have a defective pair.

You must have the second generation H6, right? I have the original H6 and I cannot imagine anything having less bass than those.. I have a pair of Studio3 coming tomorrow and was hoping them to land somewhere between H6 and QC25, but wireless.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Do these Beats Studio Wireless 3 have an App with user customisable EQ's and DPS effects?

Nope.

Just threw that song in and it definitely has a lot of bass. A good example of the lack of sub bass is something like Canyon Moon by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. The bass drum has a good heavy thump with my B&O H6, but it's much more subdued with the Studio 3's

Agree, they really don't hit like you would expect.

I think I've decided to return my Studio 3's. The comfort issue with my ears rubbing is just too much for me. Now I need to decide what wireless headphones to get instead (if there was something that sounded as good as the B&O H6 but wireless, I would buy it in an instant).

Same here. The Beats are going back. I've fallen in love with the B&W PX. I'll post impressions over in that thread soon. Now that I've had more time with the Beats, I'll share more thoughts below. RE; vs the H6: The H6 sounds fantastic and it's presentation does have a strong bass emphasis. It kind of felt like the tuning was close to the Harmon Target with maybe 3db bass boost, reaching pretty low. There was a bit of a scooped presentation because of it but you certainly aren't missing any mid details and emotion with them. Excellent sound.

The B&W HX, by contrast, has much livelier mids and overall presentation. The signature actually reminds me much of the Audeze corrected Cipher tuning with a lot of energy, speed and depth across every frequency. The mids are more energetic than any other set of wireless headphones I've heard, in such a great way. The bass is quite neutral but it's very fast and pumbs very deep. There's a very good soundstage for closed cans. This, for me, is much more ideal to the type of sound I prefer. Especially after acclimating to the Audeze. HX bring emotion, pop, depth and layering to wireless headphones in a way I've not heard yet. And I'm very satisfied with the bass for my EDM needs.

For reference, I have heard the H6, H9, P7, QC35, Beats Studio, Blue MoFi & ATH-M50 in direct compare with these as a great dynamic driver design in this price range. Yes, I'd put them up against wired sets and prefer the HX to every model listed here. However, I've not heard the Sennheiser HD1/Momentum.
___________________________________________

I think the Beats Studio3 is quite a bit behind the Solo3 for audio. With the Solo3, the emphasis is kind of mid-heavy - both mids themselves and also mid-bass is where they mostly seem to rumble. It's a very warm and inviting sound that can bring out emotion in some tracks.

The Studio3 has just absolutely poor representation across all frequencies, IMHO. The bass is emphasized but it doesn't really thump. It's a fair bit too loose and slow for the crack of a tight EDM bass line. The mids are very pulled out and cold. There's representation of them there and you don't struggle to hear them but you do struggle to pull emotion from them. The highs are boosted but there's something just -off- about them. They don't have sparkle and, again, just lack emotional content, for lack of a better description.

They sound pretty neat for like 1-2 songs but by the time you're on the 3rd song, the lack of depth in SQ seems to wear off the initial excitement of the exaggerated signature and you find yourself wanting to reach for other sets you might have. Not so with the B&W.

 

[mattbanks]

You must have the second generation H6, right? I have the original H6 and I cannot imagine anything having less bass than those.. I have a pair of Studio3 coming tomorrow and was hoping them to land somewhere between H6 and QC25, but wireless.

Yeah, I have the second generation H6 now. I wish there was something comparable that's wireless.

 

[eripa]

Yeah, I have the second generation H6 now. I wish there was something comparable that's wireless.

Oh yeah, wireless H6 with ANC would be a dream come true.


----

So there seem to be a lot of comments on soundstage for this headphone. What I'm interested in is how they compare to other closed-back ANC headphones? More specifically the QC25 or QC35?

 

[ubs28]

Nope.



Agree, they really don't hit like you would expect.



Same here. The Beats are going back. I've fallen in love with the B&W PX. I'll post impressions over in that thread soon. Now that I've had more time with the Beats, I'll share more thoughts below. RE; vs the H6: The H6 sounds fantastic and it's presentation does have a strong bass emphasis. It kind of felt like the tuning was close to the Harmon Target with maybe 3db bass boost, reaching pretty low. There was a bit of a scooped presentation because of it but you certainly aren't missing any mid details and emotion with them. Excellent sound.

The B&W HX, by contrast, has much livelier mids and overall presentation. The signature actually reminds me much of the Audeze corrected Cipher tuning with a lot of energy, speed and depth across every frequency. The mids are more energetic than any other set of wireless headphones I've heard, in such a great way. The bass is quite neutral but it's very fast and pumbs very deep. There's a very good soundstage for closed cans. This, for me, is much more ideal to the type of sound I prefer. Especially after acclimating to the Audeze. HX bring emotion, pop, depth and layering to wireless headphones in a way I've not heard yet. And I'm very satisfied with the bass for my EDM needs.

For reference, I have heard the H6, H9, P7, QC35, Beats Studio, Blue MoFi & ATH-M50 in direct compare with these as a great dynamic driver design in this price range. Yes, I'd put them up against wired sets and prefer the HX to every model listed here. However, I've not heard the Sennheiser HD1/Momentum.
___________________________________________

I think the Beats Studio3 is quite a bit behind the Solo3 for audio. With the Solo3, the emphasis is kind of mid-heavy - both mids themselves and also mid-bass is where they mostly seem to rumble. It's a very warm and inviting sound that can bring out emotion in some tracks.

The Studio3 has just absolutely poor representation across all frequencies, IMHO. The bass is emphasized but it doesn't really thump. It's a fair bit too loose and slow for the crack of a tight EDM bass line. The mids are very pulled out and cold. There's representation of them there and you don't struggle to hear them but you do struggle to pull emotion from them. The highs are boosted but there's something just -off- about them. They don't have sparkle and, again, just lack emotional content, for lack of a better description.

They sound pretty neat for like 1-2 songs but by the time you're on the 3rd song, the lack of depth in SQ seems to wear off the initial excitement of the exaggerated signature and you find yourself wanting to reach for other sets you might have. Not so with the B&W.

Hahahaha. Wait. So Apple doesn’t make an app to customise their own headphone, but Sony does? I will still try out the Beats Studio 3 Wireless, but this is really a big negative point for me in comparison to the competition.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I agree with most of the impressions here:

- Poor sub-bass reproduction (seems similar to the old model in this regard)

- Very restrained bass boost, if any at all.

- Sculpted sound that admittedly brings some details out of the mids and works well for some songs and instruments.

- Drivers themselves are pretty average and seem cheap. They don’t reach the quality of an audiophile headphone.

- Soundstage is narrow and claustrophobic.

- The form factor feels more on-ear than over-ear so it feels like a huge pad pressed against the ear as the ear cups are very shallow but padded well so there’s no physical discomfort. I assumed this would lead to a comfortable design designed for bass impact but I’d take the lightweight approach of the Solo3 over it.

- Solo3 is a far superior headphone in just about every regard besides the more detailed mids and better-extended treble on the Sudio3. I’d say the Solo3 is a more pleasurable listen with incredible bass extension, punch, and depth. Solo3’s sound also feels less congested. Solo3 is still Beats’ crown jewel.

Unfortunately Beats went after Sony and Bose with Studio3 without attempting to innovate or to develop significantly better sound quality in the space. These are barely Beats headphones IMO as the bass is quite poorly-extended and constrained. Congratulations Beats, you’ve managed to make the bass sound undefined without boosting it.

The compliments I can give the Studio3 are that they are very isolating and an easy, balanced listen. But the sound quality overall is lacking for the price.

 

[329161]

Are these better than the original Studio Wireless?

 

[MICHAELSD]

Are these better than the original Studio Wireless?

Mids are definitely better but the overall sound signature seems pretty similar. The FR measurements are going to be more alike than I would’ve assumed considering they’re using new drivers.

 

[RamGuy]

I did some pink noise break-in on high volume levels using cable with ANC disabled through the night and I'm not entirely sure if its all placebo or whatever but I find them to sound better today. Yesterday I was severely disappointed about the audio and they didn't sound the same as the ones I demoed in store earlier in the week. Today they don't feel as recessed as they did yesterday so vocals and spoken word aren't drowning as much as I felt they did yesterday and they feel wider. Still far from being wide, the soundstage is still pretty narrow but its not as bad as my first impressions yesterday led me to believe.

I still prefer my B&O BeoPlay H7 and H9's (they both seem to be pretty much the same, I'm pretty sure Rev2 of the H7 uses the exact same drivers, DAC and amplifier as the H9's so the only difference is the ANC on the H9's) in terms of audio quality. They feel wider, more open with better clarity and they actually have a bit more push in the bass making them feel overall more dynamic even though many tend to describe them as being rather flat and somewhat "boring".

But the Beats Studio3 Wireless have these unique features that sets them apart. The Apple W1 is so valuable for a Apple users with its easy switching between Apple devices, its superior connectivity and range and how you get firmware update automatically through iOS without having to fiddle with third-party apps etc.. It also have half-decent microphone so I can actually using it for voice calls whereas most other wireless headphones feature some really subpar microphones.