Beats Fit Pro Review: Exercising with a Fitness Professional
The Beats Fit Pro are Beats & Apple’s smallest foray into workout headphones yet, and they work great as exercise or workout headphones.
For a quick comparison between the Beats Fit Pro vs. the Powerbeats Pro, the AirPods Pro, the Beats Studio Buds, and the Jabra Elite Active 75t, scroll to the end.
The TL;DR
The most important features for a pair of workout headphones are arguably fit and sound, and on both fronts, the Beats Fit Pro deliver a great experience. The Beats Fit Pro are also part of Apple’s “Pro” line, and come with several additional features that make them an excellent pair of all-around earbuds:
The Beats Fit Pro are a great pair of exercise headphones with the same feature set as the AirPods Pro.
The Beats Fit Pro have a stable fit that is unlikely to fall out during the most intense workouts.
The Beats Fit Pro are comfortable to wear for long exercise sessions.
The Beats Fit Pro sound clearer than the PowerBeats Pro and have more punch than the AirPods Pro.
The Beats Fit Pro only have one button on each earbud, which means you need to use your phone, watch, or “Hey, Siri” controls to change volume. Or you can re-map volume to long presses on each ear. It’s a slight inconvenience when you’re running.
Fit, Stability, and Comfort
The Beats Fit Pro have a great, stable fit. I tested them running 5k runs, 10k runs, sprints, lifting weights, doing yoga, and doing kettlebell exercises; the Beats Fit Pro felt stable for every workout.
The Beats Fit Pro achieve their stability through the use of a wingtip that slots into the inside of your ear and swappable eartips. The wingtip on the Beats Fit Pro is a flexible silicone that should fit in most ears. Once inside, it exerts a tiny bit of pressure to stay in the same place.
The Beats Fit Pro come with eartips in 3 sizes, and the companion app will help you find the most secure fit. The eartips are silicone like you find on most headphones, and they have a similar feel to those on the AirPods Pro. Unlike other workout headphones like the Jabra Elite Active 75t, the eartips on the Beats Fit Pro do not exert strong outward force to stay in place, which means the Beats Fit Pro are comfortable to use over long periods of time and don’t create audible feedback when you run or jump. The Beats Fit Pro are also breathable, similar to the AirPods Pro. The eartips never felt sweaty or gross, even after long workouts.
Between the wingtips and eartips, you get a snug but comfortable fit. After a few minutes, I forget the Beats Fit Pro are there.
Sound
The Beats Fit Pro are the best sounding wireless earbuds from Apple right now. They sound similar to the AirPods Pro, but they have a more pronounced bass, which gives them a wider range and makes them more fun for working out.
Beats have a reputation for making muddy, bass-heavy headphones, but these are an exception. They sound great. They’re still earbuds, so there are limitations to audio quality, but I was frequently surprised how crisp some of my favorite workout songs sounded at the gym.
Noise cancellation on the Beats Fit Pro is good but not best-in-class: they do great at blocking low pitch sounds, okay with mids, and not great with high pitch sounds. If you’ve used AirPods Pro, it’s essentially the same noise cancelling. It’s a nice feature to take to the gym to block out the average bad gym music.
Transparency Mode on the Beats Fit Pro is better than any other earbuds I’ve used, including the AirPods Pro and the Jabra Elite Active 75t. The transparency effect feels more natural and has less of an echo compare to similar headphones. I rarely use transparency modes because I hate the echo, but it didn’t bother me at all with the Beats Fit Pro. I particularly appreciate transparency when running along busy streets where I want to keep some situational awareness, and I found myself turning it on during most of my runs.
Like the AirPods Pro, The Beats Fit Pro come with Apple’s Adaptive EQ to intelligently tune music, and they work well with every genre. They also include Spatial Audio, which will play Dolby Atmos music in virtual surround and spatialize stereo songs. I personally disable this for working out, but if you’re using these headphones outside of the gym, you still get access to this premium features available in other Apple headphones.
Connectivity
The Beats Fit Pro come with Apple’s H1 chip, the same one inside AirPods Pro and Powerbeats Pro, which means these have more features for Apple users than Android users. If you’re an Apple user, the Beats Fit Pro will connect to any of your Apple devices seamlessly. If you’re an Android users, the Beats Fit Pro will only connect to one device at a time and it does not have aptX, the upgraded Bluetooth codec.
Controls
The Beats Fit Pro have one button on each earbud. Each button will pause, play, and skip music. The default configuration uses a long-press to toggle noise cancellation and transparency.
The Beats Fit Pro do not have a volume rocker (they’re too small), so you don’t have full control over the earbuds using only buttons. If you want to change volume, you can manually do it on your watch or phone or you can re-map the long-press to change the volume. The Beats Fit Pro include “Hey Siri” controls, so you can ask Siri to change the volume if you are connected to the internet.
The lack of a volume control on the earbuds is one luxury I miss from the Powerbeats Pro. It’s nice to be able to reach up to either ear to quickly change the volume while on a run, and you cannot do that on the Beats Fit Pro. It’s a minor annoyance to have to reach for a device when changing the volume, especially if you’re used to the Powerbeats Pro.
It’s not hugely inconvenience to ask Siri to change the volume, but you need to be connected to your phone or have an Apple Watch with cellular connection for Siri to work.
Battery & Case
The Beats Fit Pro case is pleasantly pocket-sized. It’s a little larger than the AirPods Pro case, but significantly smaller than the Powerbeats Pro case. It will fit in most pockets.
The Beats Fit Pro have a 6 hour battery life with ANC turned on, and the case gives 18 more hours. The Beats Fit Pro case charges using USB-C and does not include wireless charging. Wireless charging is not a something I particularly miss since I only need to charge these about once a week.
Sweat Resistance
The Beats Fit Pro are sweat resistant, but not waterproof. Don’t take them swimming.
Beats Fit Pro vs. The Competition
You might be reading this because you want to decide how the Beats Fit Pro compare to other headphones at the gym. Here’s a quick comparison to other headphones I’ve tested.
Beats Fit Pro vs. AirPods Pro
The Beats Fit Pro are essentially the same headphones as the AirPods Pro. They have the same feature set and chip set. They have similar audio-quality, but the Beats Fit Pro manage a more dynamic and punchier sound. If you don’t care about neutral sound, I think it’s a fun sound profile.
When it comes to working out, the only major difference is in fit: the Beats Fit Pro will not fall out, the AirPods Pro likely will. If you want one pair of headphones you can use for everything, the Beats Fit Pro are a great choice.
Beats Fit Pro vs. Powerbeats Pro
There are 3 key differences between Beats Fit Pro and the Powerbeats Pro:
The Beats Fit Pro don’t have the same over-ear hook as the Powerbeats Pro. I think the Beats Fit Pro are slightly less stable as a result, but that’s only because the Powerbeats Pro are so incredibly stable. I’ve never worried about the Beats Fit Pro falling out of my ears. The Beats Fit Pro also leave a smaller footprint, which is great when you’re doing floor exercises and need to put your head on the floor.
The Beats Fit Pro don’t have volume rockers on the eartips. Changing the volume with the Powerbeats Pro was dead simple, and you could do it one-handed while sprinting. It’s a little less simple with the Beats Fit Pro, unless you are okay asking Siri for help.
The Beats Fit Pro have Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode. The transparency mode is particularly good on the Beats Fit Pro. The Powerbeats Pro don’t have either of these features.
The Beats Fit Pro sound slightly more crisp than the Powerbeats Pro, but the sound quality is close.
Beats Fit Pro vs. Jabra Elite Active 75t
The Beats Fit Pro fill a similar position held by Jabra’s Elite. Both the Beats Fit Pro and the Jabra Elite Active 75t are great all-around earbuds that you can use at an office, on a commute, or at the gym.
The Beats Fit Pro are likely a better fit for Apple users given the first-party features they come with, include Spatial Audio, multiple device connectivity, and Hey Siri. If you care a lot about having a neutral sound profile, the Jabra Elite Active 75t are tuned more neutrally. You can also change EQ for either the Beats Fit Pro or the Jabra Elite Active 75t within their companion apps.
Aside from the first-party features, there are a 2 important differences between the Beats Fit Pro and the Jabra Elite Active 75t when working out, especially for runners:
The Beats Fit Pro have better transparency mode. It’s the best transparency I’ve used on any earbuds and sounds natural. The Jabra Elite Active 75t’s transparency is not great and I had trouble hearing my surroundings while on runs while using the Jabra.
The Jabra Elite Active 75t exert a lot of pressure on the inside of your ear to stay in place. They can become uncomfortable after a couple of hours. They also create slightly annoying feedback if you run with them: you can hear your footsteps in your ear, which gets grating on long runs when you want to listen to music.
Beats Fit Pro vs. Beats Studio Buds
The Beats Fit Pro are all around better earbuds than the Beats Studio Buds, especially when exercising. The Beats Fit Pro are more stable, sound significantly better, and have a richer feature set with the H1 chip.
The Beats Studio Buds are not specifically workout headphones, but they manage to stay in during exercise well enough.The Beats Studio Buds are slightly more Android friendly, but they’re not significantly less expensive.
If you can spend an extra $50, the Beats Fit Pro are a better pick overall, especially if you are in the Apple ecosystem.