Beats Solo 3 vs Solo Pro – Which one should you buy?

The Beats Solo 3 and the Beats Solo Pro are made by Beats which is a subsidiary of Apple and is consistently making good headphones for consumers. The Beats Solo Pro and the Beats Solo 3 are amongst the most anticipated headphones and we have bought a Beats Solo 3 vs Solo Pro comparison so which is completely unbiased and based on facts.

Go through the entire article to find out their differences and similarities and make an informed decision about which one to buy.

Design

• The Solo 3 and the Solo Pro has a modern and simplistic design
• The Beats Solo Pro has a titanium body while the Beats Solo 3 has a plastic body. Note – Titanium >>> Plastic
• The Solo 3 is slightly more comfortable than the Solo Pro
• Both are on-the-ear headphones
• Beats Solo Pro has a broader headband than the Beats Solo 3
• Soft Case is included with both headphones

The Beats Solo 3 and the Beats Solo Pro are very good in terms of design. Both look modern and give you that music vibe that is premium in a very sleek and simple design. You can see that they don’t have any special effects or lighting on their body but that simplicity is what makes them stand out from the other headphones. Where others stress designing, Beats seems to put their efforts into premium sound quality rather than over-designing their products.

The Beats Solo 3 look somewhat similar to the Beats Solo Pro but there are some small differences. The Solo 3 has a plastic body which has its own pros and cons. The headphone can break if it falls heavily or if it is twisted but at the same time, the Solo 3 is lighter than its counterpart. The Solo Pro on the other hand has a premium titanium body which makes it heavy and long-lasting, merely twisting or falling won’t break it.

The Beats Solo 3 also has a slightly thinner earcup than the Beats Solo Pro. The earcup on the latter is very comfortable and cushy. The headband on the Solo Pro is better because it is thicker and feels more pleasing when listening. Also, the headband on the Beats Solo Pro is broader which evenly distributes the weight of the headphone on the head.

Both headphones are on-the-ear headphones but the Solo Pro has a bigger earcup than the Solo 3 which makes it look over-the-ear. The Beats Solo Pro also has more clamping force so your headphones won’t fall easily, the Solo 3 also has a good amount of clamping force to hold your headphones in place. Now, guess what, the Solo 3 is better in terms of comfortability by a small percentage than the Solo Pro in our opinion because of its lighter weight and a perfect amount of clamping force.

Both Beats headphones are compact and can be folded to store and carry them easily making them very travel-friendly. The Solo 3 becomes more compact when folded than the Solo Pro. You get a soft case to store and move them which is nice but it would have been nicer to see a hard case so that they won’t get damaged in your bag while traveling.

The Beats Solo Pro has 6 color options to choose from as opposed to only 3 in Beats Solo 3. Our choice for best design is Beats Solo Pro because of the better build quality which is unmatchable to the Beats Solo 3.

Controls

• The Solo Pro and the Solo 3 both have intuitive controls on the earcups
• The Solo Pro can be turned on or off by unfolding and folding the headphone
• The Solo 3 has an extra set of in-line controls on the aux wire
• The Solo 3 has a power on/off button
• Solo Pro has an extra ANC on/off button

The controls on both headphones are pretty intuitive and easy to master. Both the Solo 3 and the Solo Pro have on-cup controls which means you get all your controls on the earcups. There is basic music control, call control, and volume adjustment. They are user-friendly and can get you going in minutes.

The ‘b’ sign on the earcup is the center. Tapping once on the ‘b’ sign will let you play or pause music. On tapping twice, you can go to the next track and on tapping thrice you can go to the previous track. On the top of the ‘b’ sign, you can tap to increase volume while on the bottom you can tap to decrease volume.

These controls are easily accessible and by playing with them for some time can help you control them without noticing. The Beats Solo Pro has an extra button on the bottom of the left earcup which is used for toggling between transparency mode and Active Noise Cancellation mode. The Solo Pro can be turned on and off by merely unfolding and folding them which is very convenient.

The Beats Solo 3 can be turned on and off by the power button which shows indicator lights each time you tap them for powering up your device. The Solo 3 has an extra set of controls on the wire as well. This in-line control has the same music control, call control, and volume adjustment with a mic also. This in-line control is not present in Beats Solo Pro because it does not have an Aux port.

So, in terms of control, we would say both headphones have their own set of conveniences while the Beats Solo Pro has a convenient on/off feature the Beats Solo 3 has a very different extra in-line control included.

Sound Quality

• Solo 3 has a bass intensive sound profile
• Solo Pro has a very balanced profile
• The Beats Solo 3 has a loud volume whereas the Solo Pro has a neutral volume

The sound on both headphones feels premium as of every Beats headphone and we liked both headphones from their own perspective. The Beats Solo 3 has more visibility in the lows than in the highs or mids. We listened to mix genres of songs and I have to tell sometimes we felt Solo 3 is very good and sometimes we completely neglected that. The Solo 3 has a dynamic driver but the size of this driver is not mentioned.

The Solo Pro also has a dynamic driver but here too we don’t know the size. The Solo Pro is a little better than the Solo 3 and has a balanced sound. The Solo 3 makes low frequencies more stand out than other frequencies which is why if you are listening to a bass hefty music you might not be able to recognize any other instrument or vocal.

This particular thing can sometimes become a pro and sometimes a con. In some music, we felt the Solo 3 provides more power than the Solo Pro and thus we fell in love with the music but also sometimes it completely wrapped the mids and highs and we were not able to listen to that music.

The Solo Pro on the other hand is a very versatile headphone and you can enjoy every kind of music. Now, when an artist makes music, he adds certain levels of frequencies to it and the original is the best version of the song. The Solo Pro goes with this notion and makes you listen to the original song rather than a bass boost version of it.

The volume on the Solo 3 is a little bit boosted too I don’t know why it is done. In headphones, you don’t need a very loud volume. The Beats Solo Pro has been tuned perfectly and has the volume level as expected.

For general consumers, Solo 3 might turn out to be a better option but for a music enthusiast, I would say Solo Pro is certainly a better option. During our testing, some of our team members were choosing the Solo 3 and some were choosing the Solo Pro. In my opinion, I would like to make Solo Pro the winner of Sound quality because of a balanced sound profile and a better focus on the entire range of frequencies.

Battery

• Solo 3 has a battery backup of 40 hours
• Beats Solo Pro has a battery backup of 22 hours with ANC on and a battery backup of 40 hours with ANC off.
• The Solo 3 can provide backup for 3 hours in 5 mins and the Solo Pro can provide backup for 3 hours in 10 mins.

The Battery life on the two headphones is similar. The Beats Solo 3 has a battery life of 40 hours and it can easily last a full week if you listen to a few hours of music every day. Remember, this claim was made on basis that if you play music at 50% volume. Of course, you won’t need to be louder than that. We tested the Beats Solo 3 and found out that the claimed battery was indeed provided by the headphone. It ran for around 41 hours and this kind of battery is on par with the best headphones in the industry which are priced much higher than this headphone.

The Solo Pro on the other hand has Active Noise Cancellation so it consumes a lot of battery and provides you with only 22 hours of backup. Though this seems to be very less, it is fine when compared to other headphones. Also, if you turn off the Active Noise Cancellation you get a battery life of 40 hours as the Solo 3.

In terms of charging, the Solo Pro boasts a lighting port as compared to the Micro-USB on the Beats Solo 3. But the charging time on the Solo 3 is lower than the Solo Pro. The Beats Solo 3 provides a battery backup of 3 hours of charge in 5 mins of charging whereas the Solo Pro provides 3 hours of charge in 10 min of charging.

In terms of battery nobody is a loser here as both are quite similar.

If your Beats headphones are not charging, check out this article – Beats Solo 3 Wireless Not Charging: Quick Fix

Noise Cancellation

• The Beats Solo Pro has Active noise Cancellation whereas the Solo 3 does not
• Both headphones are closed-back

Noise Cancellation is a big difference between both headphones. Both headphones are on-ear headphones so passive noise cancellation does not work nicely as in the case of over-the-ear or in-ear headphones. Because the isolation here is pretty much less than both of those.

The Solo 3 has only passive noise cancellation so while listening to music you would be able to hear outdoor noise. This isolation might have been better if they would have opted for slightly bigger earcups. The Beats Solo Pro has better noise cancellation than the Solo 3.

The Solo Pro features Active Noise Cancellation which is very well done by this headphone. Outdoor noise is removed by the software and you will be able to feel the calmness it creates while listening to music. The ANC works pretty well in blocking street noises. You will appreciate it while in the office or at work because it pretty much blocks those noises easily. Beware of construction sites because it won’t be able to block them very efficiently but will certainly provide you with a better experience than the Beats Solo 3.

Now, both headphones are closed-back so noise isolation is done as expected. Your partner would be able to listen to you if you try to hear music at loud volumes. The headphones don’t provide full isolation but it is pretty decent of course.

The Beats Solo Pro is the no-doubt winner of this category.

If you’re worried if Noise Cancelling headphones are safe for your ears, check out this article – Are Noise Cancelling Headphones Safe for Ears?

Microphone

• Microphone quality is not good as expected
• Sometimes the software can’t recognize the person talking and therefore enhances the background noise

The microphone quality on both headphones is decent and not something very different than other headphones. I would say at this price range they could have done it better but it is unfortunately not done. The Microphone sounds cheap compared to headphones in this price range. And, both headphones have similar kinds of microphones.

The microphone is not able to clear out background noise as nicely as expected. It even sometimes can’t figure out the difference between the person talking and the background noise and therefore enhances the background noise sometimes. This is annoying and therefore I would no headphone is better in microphone and call quality.

Additional features

• The Beats Solo 3 and the Beats Solo Pro are compatible with Apple and Android
• The Solo 3 has W1 chip and the Solo Pro has H1 chip

The headphones are compatible with Android and iOS as well. They are primarily designed for Apple products but you can use them with android. The Beats Solo 3 features a W1 chip from apple and the Beats Solo Pro features an H1 chip. The H1 chip is better in every way than the W1 chip.

With the H1 chip, you can easily link to your iCloud and Android gadgets and navigate between them efficiently. The H1 provides more portability and freedom than the W1 chip and is therefore better than the latter.

The winner of the Additional features is the Beats Solo Pro.

Beats Solo 3 vs Solo Pro – verdict

Features	Beats Solo 3	Beats Solo Pro
Design	❌	✅
Control	✅	✅
Sound Quality	❌	✅
Battery	✅	✅
Noise Cancellation	❌	✅
Microphone	❌	❌
Additional Features	❌	✅
Check Price	Beats Solo 3	Beats Solo Pro

Both headphones are better in their own ways but it is up to you if you would like to spend a little more on a good processor with Active Noise Cancellation which has a balanced sound. Or, you would like to listen to more bass-centric music with decent passive noise cancellation and a decent processor.

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