Review of the new $150 Beats Studio Buds: comfortable design and good sound quality but poor ANC, and some AirPods features are missing like audio sharing
The VergeChris Welch
Context & Ripple Effects
The $150 Studio Buds enter an Apple-adjacent earbuds lineup with a clear compromise: comfort and sound quality, but weaker noise cancellation and fewer AirPods conveniences. The later Studio Buds+ update improved sound, ANC, battery life, and calls, yet its ANC still trailed AirPods Pro.
Beats subsequently offered a more performance-oriented alternative in the Beats Fit Pro, whose review credited its ANC and transparency mode while noting limited Android support. Together, the reviews describe product segmentation by noise control and ecosystem features rather than a single uniform Beats experience.
First-order effects
Studio Buds buyers receive a lower-priced Beats option with good fit and sound, but must forgo dependable ANC and AirPods features such as audio sharing.
Apple positions the Studio Buds below AirPods on software integration, making feature access a visible part of the purchase trade-off rather than an incidental omission.
Second-order effects
The gap gives Beats room to steer noise-cancellation-focused buyers toward the $200 Fit Pro, while the Studio Buds compete more directly on comfort and audio quality.
AirPods retain an ecosystem advantage in comparisons with Beats: better-performing ANC and sharing features become differentiation points alongside hardware design.
Third-order effects
If this lineup pattern persists, Apple’s earbud portfolio becomes more explicitly tiered: Beats can cover lower price points while AirPods preserve premium software features and stronger ANC.
The Buds+ improvements indicate that Beats can narrow hardware gaps over time without necessarily eliminating the ecosystem distinctions that separate it from AirPods.
The trend: Wireless-earbud competition is shifting toward tiered portfolios in which ANC quality and ecosystem features determine product rank as much as sound and fit.
Ahhh. The reason why it's cheaper is because there is no audio sharing nor auto-sync across Apple devices (huge if you are deep within the Apple ecosystem). https://twitter.com/...
@archiegee64 Well you miss on stuff like in-ear detection, automatic switching on the Apple ecosystem, slightly worse Sound Quality and ANC, but I'd say it might for worth it because it's $100 less, which makes a huge price difference.
I've been using the new Beats Studio Buds for a bit—there are some unique features, and I really like the fit, but you do have to make some sacrifices for that $150 price tag and cross-platform compatibility. https://gizmodo.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Blaster to my head 🤓🔫, I'd take the new Beats Studio Buds over the AirPods Pro. 😱 I SAID WHAT I SAID! 🕺 https://www.youtube.com/... https://twitter.com/...
I reviewed the Beats Studio Buds. https://www.theverge.com/... Beats had big ambitions with these: They've got a sleek design that's tiny compared to the Powerbeats Pro. Noise cancellation is there, and the Studio Buds support OS-specific software features on BOTH Android and iOS…