Tested: Beats Fit Pro | Better than AirPods Pro

Fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem with ambient noise cancellation and balanced sound, the Beats Fit Pro are also less expensive and last better than the AirPods Pro. Unless you’re a big fan of magnetic charging or the unique shape of AirPods, here we have the best headphones for Apple products. For others, it’s debatable.

Karim Benessaieh
The Press

WE love

Who better than Apple to downgrade the AirPods Pro, generally considered the best headphones for iPhone and iPad? That’s exactly what we did with the all-new Beats Fit Pro, designed by a subsidiary that Apple bought in 2014 and hit the Canadian market this week.

Without being affordable, the Beats Fit Pro initially cost less, $249.95, than the AirPods Pro ($329). With their H1 chip, they are also fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem: the iPhone detects them as soon as you open the case, you can summon Siri at any time and they automatically switch from one iOS device to another. without having to disconnect them.

The Beats also have an Android app that allows for some control, including setting up controls and listening modes. Connecting to an Android phone is not as automatic as with an iPhone, but it is fully functional.

However, with Android devices, we lose a function offered by Apple, spatial audio. It simulates the origin of the sound according to the position of your head: it seems that the sound comes from a very specific place, as if it were an external loudspeaker and not headphones planted in your ears.

The Beats Fit Pro also have a rather effective active ambient noise cancellation function, which considerably muffles the intrusive sounds of traffic or public transport. You can stop this filter with a single click or switch to Transparency mode, which amplifies ambient sounds.

The big difference in our case with the AirPods Pro is that the Beats Fit Pro fit superbly in the ear. We added small wings to them which allow them to be blocked in the pavilion of the ear. By turning them a little, we hear a click that firmly moors the headphones. Jogging, cycling or on the phone, our Beats Fit Pro never fell and we didn’t need to replace them.

The reproduction quality seemed to us to be superior to that of the AirPods Pro, especially for the bass definition. Overall, these are headphones with a rather balanced, precise sound, and which adapt well to the human voice or to more invasive instruments such as drums or guitar.

Beats Fit Pro are IPX4 rated, sweat and water resistant. They are controlled by clicking lightly or long on one or the other of the headphones. The commands are configurable: you can stop or resume the music, control the volume, deactivate the ANC or Transparency mode, answer the phone or hang up, summon Siri (or the Google Assistant and Alexa for Android devices).

Battery life is approximately 6 hours, with an additional 21 hours provided by the case.

We love less

The case does not support magnetic charging, which is surprising in this price range. Also, the USB-C socket for charging it is oddly recessed, so some cables don’t have a small enough socket head to access it.

The sound quality of the Beats Fit Pro is above average, but not the best. Compared to Jabra Elite Active 75t or Sony WF-1000XM4, they have a less enveloping bass and less tone.

One buys ?

For an Apple user, as we announced from the outset, the Beats Fit Pro is now the best choice. They have full ecosystem integration, deliver above-average sound at a lower price than AirPods Pro, yet fit firmly in the ear.

It’s not a bad choice for an Android user, and the presence of an app aimed at them makes it a possibility worth considering. Without being the best sound-wise, their versatility, design and software capabilities are impressive.