Beats Fit Pro Review

Almost all of us have a need for wireless headphones, and brands are doing everything they can to make new offerings stand out, both in their quality and the design. AirPods and Beats earphones are iconic and easily recognizable but if you want something a bit more unique, Beats has partnered with global reality star Kim Kardashian on a new pair of headphones: Beats Fit Pro X Kim Kardashian. The standout feature of these is not that they’re flashy or blingy, but that they’re subtle and more of an incognito offering.

Beats Fit Pro review

I recently picked up a pair of Beats Fit Pro x Kim Kardashian earbuds off Amazon to take a closer look. In this review I’ll take a look at what sets these earbuds apart, what the audio quality is like, and if they might be a good pick for you. I will also add that while I’m looking at the Kardashian coulourway, these are the same Beats Fit Pro you’ll find from Apple in more standard colours.

Design and style

Don’t fret if you are a guy or maybe not a Kim Kardashian fan because this collab is all about the paint job on the charging case and earbuds themselves! The custom lineup consists of three styles featuring varying shades of neutral, skin-toned colors – Kim K dubs them Dune, Earth, and Moon. The idea is that these colored Beats Fit Pro earphones blend into your ears. Compared to the iconic  Apple AirPods Pro, the Beats Fit Pro has a more subtle design that’s still playful and hip with a rounded exterior and angled wing tips along with the recognizable “b” logo.

What’s in the box?

Unique colors aside, these earbuds function exactly the same as the original Beats Fit Pro and come with the same accessories. You get a USB-C to USB-C charging cable (only in black sadly), three sizes of ear tips and a quick start guide. Like the iPhone, you don’t get any wall adapter for charging.

Comfort & on-bud controls

These earbuds slip in easily, and the silicone fin tucks easily in the ear to create a secure fit. These buds do have what you could term a bit of an ‘edge’ to them, creating a flat area that’s made for easy-access touch controls. Indeed here there’s subtle clicakable buttons on each bud; tap once to play or pause, double tap to jump forward and three taps to go back.

Volume gets changed by using your phone or device, or by asking Siri. While it would be nice if there was on-ear volume controls, that’s not the case here.

These earbuds have dual Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode, which both blocks out all noise or lets some in. A long push on the buttons on the buds will swap between modes and we’ll get to the effectiveness of this in a minute.

The earbuds feel quite comfortable and wickedly secure thanks to that silicone fin. This feature is obviously geared at athletes, weekend warriors and gym rats wo can find comfort in the fact you could do cartwheels in these and not have them budge a millimeter.

Even with longer term wear they’re quite comfortable, though I prefer my Airpods Pro for their more relaxed fit when I’m working at my desk… but yes these are a different use case.

Set up

Anyone who’s ever used Apple headphones before Noah’s they are extremely easy to set up with Apple devices. As soon as you open the lid on the charging case and bring them close to your iPhone, the phone will recognize them and initiate the pairing process. This takes literally seconds and I was hooked up and ready to listen immediately.

Beats Fit Pro will work not only with Apple devices, but will also work with Android and other devices as well.

How to pair Beats Fit Pro

Pair with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

1. Turn on Bluetooth on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
2. Place the Beats Fit Pro earbuds in the case.
3. With the case lid open, hold your Beats Fit Pro next to your unlocked iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions. If you don’t see any instructions, follow the steps to pair your Beats Fit Pro with another device.

Pair with an Android device

Pair your Beats Fit Pro using the Beats app for Android.

Pair with your Mac or with another device that uses Bluetooth

1. Turn on Bluetooth on your Mac or other device.
2. Place the Beats Fit Pro earbuds in the case.
3. With the case lid open, hold your Beats Fit Pro next to your Mac or other device.
4. Press and hold the system button on the charging case until the LED blinks.
5. Open the Bluetooth menu on your Mac or other device. For example, on your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Bluetooth.
6. In the list of discovered Bluetooth devices, tap or click your Beats Fit Pro.

Key Features

Sound quality

Since these are marketed as fitness earbuds, I wasn’t sure what to expect from them in terms of sound quality. I can say I was pleasantly surprised by the overall sound. They’re quite well balanced, and resonant; vocals (like Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero) are really intricate and full sounding. Particularly with the noise cancelling on its really easy to focus on the music.

The bass was surprisingly booming too; not head rattling and buzzy, but more rich sounding.

In short, I was surprised at how great these sounded.

Smarter guts

For those who might not be aware, Apple still owns the Beats by Dr. Dre brand and as a result, you can find plenty of AirPods DNA in the Beats Fit Pro although they are positioned as a tier lower than Apple’s flagship AirPods Pro.

The Beats Fit Pro uses the same Apple H1 chip found in the 3^rd generation AirPods, 1^st generation AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. The custom chip supports Bluetooth 5.0 and lets you switch the wireless connection to different Apple devices you own. It also powers the “Hey Siri” feature which lets you call out Apple’s familiar voice assistant on the iPhone through the earbuds built-in mic.

Audio Sharing

If you have an iOS or iPadOS device running 13.1 or newer, you can also use the audio sharing feature to send audio to the Beats Fit Pro x Kim Kardashian as well as another pair of earphones or speakers with the Apple W1, H1 or H2 chip.

Spatial Audio

Beats Fit Pro x Kim Kardashian also comes with Apple Spatial Audio which is like Apple’s implementation of Dolby Atmos. As long as you watch supported content from streaming services including Apple TV+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, and Hulu, you can expect an immersive 3D audio effect that feels like you are in a multi-channel surround sound environment.

You can enjoy this effect on the music you listen to as well and Apple hopes you get that from Apple Music since it makes use of the Beats Fit Pro’s dynamic head tracking support which makes the audio seem like it’s beaming from your phone or tablet, even if you’re turning your head away from the screen.

Noise Cancelling & Transparency Mode

Adaptive Noise Cancelling is another cool extra you’ll get from the Beats Fit Pro x Kim Kardashian. I found Apple’s technology around noise cancelling to be some of the best in the business. It’s quite possible to create a major cone of silence using AirPods, and I am pretty excited to see that high quality noise cancelling does extend to the Beats lineup. With noise cancelling turned on, I was blissfully able to focus on my work without distractions like the neighbour’s snowblower or a barking dg. Pushing and holding to swap to Transparency Mode lets me keep half an ear on what’s going on around me; great for catching the UPS guy at my door, or listening for your flight in an airport terminal. I think these features score full marks for effectiveness.

Auto-Pause

These earbuds also sport the same skin-detect sensors present in the 3^rd generation AirPods models which can automatically pause content when you take them off and resume when you put them back on.

Automatic Ear Detection

Your Beats Fit Pro sense when they’re in your ear and receive the audio from your device. Beats Fit Pro also pause and resume playback when you remove one of your earbuds, or stop playback—and won’t resume—when you remove both. When you have Automatic Ear Detection on and you’re not wearing your earbuds, audio plays through your device’s speakers.

When you turn off Automatic Ear Detection, all audio plays to your Beats Fit Pro whether or not you’re wearing them.

Here’s how to turn Automatic Ear Detection on or off:

1. Go to Settings > Bluetooth on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
2. In the list of devices, tap the More Info button  next to your Beats Fit Pro.
3. Tap the slider next to Automatic Ear Detection.

Water resistance

Like the AirPods Pro 1^st and 2^nd generation models, the Beats Fit Pro x Kim Kardashian has an IPX4 rating which is good enough for sweat and water resistance.

Battery life and charging

The charging case does not support wireless charging, leaving you with just a USB-C option (bub-bye, lightning cable!) but  that’s just fine since there is fast charging, where 5 minutes of charge gave me about an hour of use.

All told, the earbuds have up to 6 hours of listening time in the buds themselves (and you can stretch this to seven by turning ANC off), with 18 additional hours provided by the charging case.

This may not sound like a lot, but it’s in line with a lot of other wireless earbuds (including Bose QC II) so no points deducted for being merely average. Yes, more time would be nice, but Apple has also never been known for battery life which goes above and beyond.

Overall review: Beats Fit Pro

Adding some extra colors to one of Apple’s most popular earbuds is definitely welcoming; the skintone shades of the Kardashian edition are quite beautiful and are just the trick for a more subtle look that doesn’t scream ”look at me!” (which is odd for a Kardashian!) and like I noted these are the same as the regular Beats Fit Pro but just in a unique colour. On the pro side these are comfortable, easy to wear, feel secure, they sound great and they have both noise cancelling and transparency mode.

So what are the downsides? You do need your phone to control volume or risk invoking Siri in public, and the battery life is simply average.

Even so, these earbuds have pleasantly surprised me so I can absolutely recommend them to you if you’re looking for either a stay-put pair of workout earbuds, or just for something to listen to for work, travel and lounging.

Beats Fit Pro sells for $249CAD or $199US and you can get them, as I did from Amazon.

Plus, that $249 CAD asking price could be worth the $80 CAD savings if you don’t need the physical volume controls which you would get trading up to  Apple AirPods Pro.

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