The headphone business is booming right now. Go on any plane, train, tube or bus and you will see several people enjoying their audio with a serious pair of cans on their heads. The most desirable of these headphones to the masses – for whatever reason - are Beats by Dre. Here's our review of the latest Studio headphones from Beats by Dre. See all audio reviews.
The new design of the Studio 2013 headphones from Beats by Dre, aren't that far off the beaten track from previous Beats products (excuse the truly awful pun!). They're big, curvy, in your face, and come in three colours; red, white and black. The glossy and plastic finish my not be to everyone's taste, but one thing they are not is boring. See also What are the best headphones you can buy in 2013?
The official line is that these new Studio headphones are “lighter [by 13%], sexier, stronger and more comfortable”. We can vouch for all of that, and would even like to compliment them on how comfy they are. This is an area where on-ear headphones have a real problem; with ear breaks needing to be took every 45 minutes for most other headphones. The Beats by Dre Stuidos go completely over your ears, so unless you have massive ears, these headphones shouldn't even touch your lugs, resting instead on your head proper.
One interesting feature that these headphones have is that they only work when the battery is charged; if you have no battery your headphones are redundant, a feature that is bound to catch you out more than once during this products life time. That said there is a good 20-hour battery life on offer and it's this internal battery that provides the Beat Studio's power and excellent noise cancelling technology, so it's a compromise you might have to swallow.
Before we get into the audio performance of the Beats Studio 2013 headphones, we need to heap the praise on these cans' noise cancelling ability, from the second we put them on and started playing music we pretty much said goodbye to the rest of the world's noise. Similarly there is very little audio leakage occurring here too, so if you want to listen to your music at full volume on your bus/train into work, and not annoy your fellow passengers, then these Beats Studios will not let you down.
Bests Studio 2013 review: sound quality
Beats by Dre are quite obviously designed and built from a hip-hop background, and as such are designed to enhance what's important to hip-hop fans. Bearing that in mind you shouldn't be surprised when we tell you that the base performance of these cans is very impressive.
Previous Beats headphones have been criticized for being so base-y that it overpowers the rest of the tracks high tones. From my time with the Beats Studio 2013 headphones this was not the case. The electronic/synthesized higher tones rang through with excellent clarity too. Similarly if you're looking for headphones that right smash the base at your then this glossy beast should satisfy your lust.
The one minor issue we have with the Beats Studio is that some certain track's mid-range vocals are a ever so slightly washed out by the powerful performance of the base and higher pitched notes. We listened to the Arctic Monkey's new album AM (as well as an eclectic mix of Van Morrison, Jay-Z and Skrillex to really put it through its paces) a lot when reviewing these Beats, and where Alex Turner's booms through on several other pairs of high-end headphones, it seemed a tiny bit muted here.
However, I think what the Beats Studio demonstrate is a forward way of thinking for headphone design. These headphones are unashamedly designed for an urban/hip-hop market and as such emphasize the key areas of audio that are important for that genre, something that is actually a good thing. Bearing that in mind it's hard to fault the performance of these stylish cans.
