Beats Solo Buds review: Great price, more compromises

That’s not to say the Solo Buds sound bad. They definitely lean toward the brighter side in the treble and midrange, but their sound is accessible and never became overly shrill in my testing. Dynamics sound fairly flat, but there’s some nice detail here, and they completely avoid the muddled lower register common in many budget options. You’ll get a clear depiction of each register across a wide range of tracks and genres.

They also support spatial audio, with video and music supported on services like Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited, though they don’t offer the same head-tracking as those features, which are designed to virtually anchor your listening position to your surroundings.

I made several calls with the Solo Buds and had no complaints from either end. Beats says the Buds use a noise learning algorithm with “advanced logic” that targets your voice and suppresses “external unwanted noise.” Although I wasn’t able to test them in particularly windy conditions, I did try making a call under a bathroom fan. The caller said my voice sounded like a speakerphone call, but the fan noise couldn’t be heard.

Minimum Extras

It’s not uncommon to find the Solo Buds at this price to be at a “just okay” level in terms of sound quality, but that makes their lack of other features hard to come by. Unlike so many newer options at this price (and even less), you won’t find any noise cancelling to buffer disturbances or even a transparency mode to keep you aware of your surroundings.

Also missing here are the now-standard Apple offerings, such as sensors to stop the sound when you take the buds out, summoning the “Hey Siri” voice assistant, or iCloud auto-switching to seamlessly swap between devices. They do offer a few useful Apple exclusives, including Find My support for keeping track of them, audio sharing, and one-touch pairing that automatically pops up on your iPhone when you first open them.

Like other Beats Buds, the Solo can hit the switch for Android gear, with some handy tricks like auto-swapping between Google-connected cloud devices, as well as the same one-touch pairing and Find My Device features you’ll find on iOS. The Beats Android app offers some basic settings adjustments and firmware updates.

That’s nothing, but it’s a short list when you look at the list of extra features Soundcore has offered in the A40 or the even better-equipped Liberty 4 NC.8/10, WIRED recommends), which has everything from noise cancelling and transparency modes to multi-band EQ controls and multipoint Bluetooth pairing. Even considering the potential for sound upgrades for those who can find a better fit than me, the Solo Buds are a hard sell because there are so many loaded budget options out there, and countless more to come.

If you’re looking for ecosystem-agnostic buds housed in the cutest little case in the galaxy, the Solo Buds are right for you, modestly priced and destined to drop in value quickly. Otherwise, you’ll get more bang for your buck elsewhere.