BeatsX headphones review: good value for money

Beats X release date and price

Launched two years ago, the Beats are the first headphones to come out of the union between Beats and Apple. You can find them today for less than $100.

Not 100% wireless

Contrary to the current trend in headphones, the BeatsX are not 100 percent wireless. Like the OnePlus Bullets Wireless headphones, each end of the earbuds is connected to a small block, and each block being connected itself by a much larger wire.

Clearly, in terms of style, the headphones that sit around the neck are not the best option. Compared to the current fashionable AirPods or the Sony WF-1000XM3, the BeatsX cannot compete. However, there are many users who are reluctant to use true wireless headphones, especially for comfort reasons.

Compared to OnePlus headphones, BeatsX are lighter. However, their design ensures good stability on the shoulders, and even athletes will quickly realize its practicality because running with these headphones is a real pleasure. You easily forget about their existence and do not fear losing them as a result of sudden movements.

As is customary, you will find different sizes of rubber tips and fins in the box. Choose the most appropriate ones for your own ears. This choice, I must remind you, is certainly one of the most important if you want to benefit from better sound. A Lightning charging cable is provided (and yes, forget the USB-C port, you are at Apple). No case or cover is now provided in the box. Too bad.

Overall, BeatsX headphones offer excellent comfort, which is even more pleasant if you run a little, but the lack of certification for water and dust resistance is a little annoying. The design is not attractive but is practical when making calls since you can adjust the microphone yourself if the environment is too noisy.

W1 chip under the hood

The BeatsX are equipped with the famous W1 chip, a collaboration between Apple and Beats. This is the first generation of Apple-made chips designed for wireless headphones. It is also found in the first generation of AirPods. Therefore, if you have an iPhone or other Apple product, pairing is child's play, press the power button (on the right earphone block) on your headphones for one second and your headphones are automatically recognized.

On an Android smartphone, the procedure is a little more complicated. You must press the power button for five seconds and then go to the Bluetooth settings to complete the connection. It's not difficult, it's true, but the experience begins in a different way depending on the device you have.

While Beats has been inspired by other manufacturers to offer magnets to attach the headphones, it does not offer any functionality when they are attached. You should also not expect an automatic shutdown when you remove the headphones from your ears or vice versa. I also strongly advise you to turn off the headphones manually using the power button after each use because the BeatsX will only turn off automatically after a few hours....

A homogeneous and balanced sound

As always, what you want with headphones, true wireless or not, is good sound quality. With a price of $100, the request is legitimate because it is already a decent amount of money. No active noise reduction is present, of course. However, the earphones, due to their in-ear design, do provide good passive isolation.

We find the Beats brand with a slight predominance of bass but the days when bass dominated everything are now over since the takeover by Apple. The sound is finally balanced and homogeneous. All frequencies are available for good sound quality with all musical styles, even podcasts, and the other good thing about these headphones is the very powerful volume. It seems obvious that we are not dealing here with a headset like the Seinheiser Momentum Wireless, but the BeatsX should satisfy most users, including myself.

In terms of sound quality, it was a pleasant surprise. That being said, competition in this price range is high and headphones like those of OnePlus a few dozen that are cheaper offer a similar experience.

Beats X battery

Announced with eight -hour battery life,  the BeatsX deliver on this promise in real life. If you think about turning them off and don't listen at too high a volume (anyway there's no point in turning up the sound except to hurt your ears), the battery life will be close to this figure. Otherwise, don't be surprised if it is around six hours.

Beats offers an ideal fast charge system called Fast Fuel to give you a last-minute boost. With five minutes of charging, you get two hours of listening time when the battery is low. For a full charge, allow a little more than an hour.