Wednesday, October 09, 2024
It's day Prime Day again (well, technically we're in the thick of "Prime Big Deal Days," but only Amazon calls it that). That means you've probably already read about a dozen articles and social media posts alerting you that AirPods are on sale. (Here's Lifehacker's version.)
That's all well and good—Apple's earbuds are super popular for a reason. But they're not the ones I would recommend getting. For less money, you can get a similarly full-featured, great-sounding, Apple-made set of earbuds. They're the Beats Fit Pro, and they're currently $50 off.
The Pros were actually my second pair of Beats-branded earbuds. I started out with a set of their cheaper cousins, the Beats Studio Buds, which offer similarly strong active noise cancelling (ANC) and have earned decent marks from the likes of PC Mag (especially for their price point—they're currently $80, 47% off the usual price). But when I left that pair behind at a hotel and needed to replace them, I decided to upgrade to the Beats Fit Pro for a few reasons:
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They have quality sound and above-average ANC. As our pals at PC Mag noted, they offer "deep bass and crisp highs with above-average noise cancellation." I'm not an audiophile and I mostly listen to podcasts, but my tunes (mostly streamed from Amazon Music) sound pretty good too.
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They provide a snug fit. I apparently having gaping earholes, because most earbuds fall right out of my ears at the slightest movement. Beats Fit Pro's wingtips provide a snug fit that keeps them comfortably in my ears, even when I'm sweaty.
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They have Apple H1 chip. This was the main reason I upgraded: The Studio Buds don't have Apple's H1 headphone chip, which means they can't take advantage of many of the features that make AirPods so cool, like in-ear detection, device switching, and Find My functionality. The Beats Fit Pro can do all of that.
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They're cheaper. The Beats Fit Pro do most everything AirPods Pro do, and they retail for $50 less. (Even during the current, generous Prime Day sale, they're $20 cheaper than the 2nd-generation AirPods Pro.)
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They aren't AirPods. I get that AirPods are their own thing, and their look has become something of a brand of its own. But I've always thought they were kind of stupid looking. The Beats Fit Pro lack those dangling white stems that are the AirPods' signature, and I like them a lot better for it.
I'm not including this on my list of reasons, but the Beats Fit Pro also come in a ton of pretty colors, though sadly not all of them are part of the Prime Day sale. Still, if you go with AirPods, you only have the choice between white and white.
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