Beats Powerbeats Pro

All the features you could want from wireless sports headphones, but the audio isn’t good enough to keep us going

The three things any music-listening athlete looks for in a pair of headphones are comfort, a secure fit and a longlasting battery. With the boom in wireless technology, you can add securely fitting ear hooks and not so much as a tendril of cable to that list.

The Beats Powerbeats Pros have all the ingredients, Beats having redesigned the Powerbeats into a set of truly wireless headphones for runners and gym-goers. The previous model’s cable, which dropped down from the earbuds and wrapped around the back of the neck, has completely disappeared.

In terms of their presentation, the Powerbeats Pros are on-message with parent company Apple. They come in a solid black charge case that, thanks to a magnetic catch, won’t accidentally open up and let your earbuds spill out.

Full charge

The Powerbeats Pros’ case doubles as a battery charger and the headphones slot magnetically into the contacts. When full, the Powerbeats Pros manage up to nine hours before requiring another charge. The box stores almost two further rounds of charge, giving you a possible 24 hours before you have to power up again. The case is too chunky to fit comfortably into your jeans or jacket, but as the Pros are designed primarily for exercise, you’ll probably put it in your sports bag anyway.

Available in a choice of black, navy, ivory and moss (green), the Powerbeat Pros are works of secure-fit, rubber-clad magnificence. They sit nice and tight to the side of your head, and the bendable ear hooks offer all the grip you need.

During our workouts, the Powerbeats Pros don’t move from their snug-fitting position. Thanks to their sweat and water-resistant design, they’re as comfortable from our first stride to our last; never hot, never slipping.

The Powerbeats Pros are controlled by the Beats symbol button, which is used to take calls, play/pause music, skip forward/go back and fast-forward/ rewind. The controls are duplicated on each earpiece, so there’s no need to remember which side does what – handy for when you’re on the treadmill and every little hesitation counts.

The other piece of built-in tech that works wonders is a sensor that detects whether or not you’re wearing the headphones. Take one off, and they’ll send a message to your device to stop the music. Put it back on and playback begins again. You can override it by pressing the Beats button should you wish to keep listening with one earbud.

No dropouts

There are no Bluetooth dropouts during testing, and pairing mode is activated when you open the Powerbeats box with the headphones docked inside. Bring the box near to any IOS device and it kicks in automatically. Open the box near your device, and you get a display of battery power remaining. The built-in Siri voice assistant support allows you to make phone calls and perform other tasks.

Beats has a history of producing bass-heavy headphones and there’s no change here. When listening to lower quality streaming services, that tonal imbalance is perfectly acceptable. At normal volume, the presentation is smooth and clear. It’s only when we turn it up that it becomes a touch hard and aggressive. There’s decent detail too, with emotion behind the vocals and resonance on every guitar strum.

But these are headphones for exercise, so we fire up Spotify’s Running Hits playlist and hit the pavements. Tiesto’s remix of Obsessed by Dynoro and Ina Wroldsen kicks in, and while the track usually has enough drive to make us run through walls, it reveals everything that’s not right with these headphones.

A lack of dynamic range in the sound makes the opening samples of a runner’s feet pounding the pavement sound like a weak pitter-patter. These aren't the heart thumps they’re supposed to be, and when the thundering bass kicks in, we’re astonished at how soft and inaccurate it sounds in comparison to rivals such as the Award-winning Sony WF-1000XS.

There’s little energy or agility to the Powerbeats Pros. Obsessed becomes just a measure of another four-minute run and not the shot of adrenaline we need to pull us through the next mile. It’s a real disappointment. Even the bass, where we expect these headphones to excel, is missing weight, authority and the punch we’d hoped for.

In terms of practicality, the Powerbeats Pros are an excellent set of headphones, which makes it all the harder that they’re so let down for sound. They may have the battery life and build to last 26 miles, but if we had to get through a marathon, we’d rather be wearing something else.