The aforementioned headphones have literally impressed me, from a company for which the best has not been written.
So let's make a comparison with the Airpods and the Galaxy Buds so that everyone has a rough idea of what's going on.
Regarding the Airpods, the positives of the Beats are:
+ More color options (available in 3 different colors).
+ There is no chance of them falling off and losing them. Especially ideal for the gym.
+ They are splashproof (meaning they can withstand light rain or sweat. The Airpods cannot).
+ They have physical buttons on the headphones for better control and volume adjustment, as well as for pause/stop and next song.
+ They have the best battery life on the market. Around 9 hours compared to the Airpods' 4-5 hours.
+ Better sound quality (especially bass).
Now let's move on to the negatives compared to the Airpods.
+ The carrying case, as well as the headphones themselves, are bulkier. This applies more to the case.
+ They do not support wireless charging.
+ They are noticeably more expensive, especially since the prices of Airpods have dropped.
Their biggest negative is mainly the initially very high price in Greece. If you can find them for around 200 euros in Greece or abroad, they are a much better option.
Now let's compare them to the other well-known Galaxy Buds from Samsung.
The positives of the Powerbeats are:
+ Better pairing, especially with iOS devices. Due to the chip they have, they are the only Bluetooth headphones along with the Airpods that allow you to see the battery percentage of the charging case.
The Galaxy Buds only have one notification LED for this.
+ Better overall battery life. Up to 24 hours for the Powerbeats, and only around 12 hours for the Galaxy Buds.
+ Better overall sound quality and volume, even though they don't fit completely inside the ear like the Buds.
+ The biggest positive for me is their microphone. I constantly had complaints about the microphone of the Galaxy Buds. With the Powerbeats Pro, everyone I call says only good things.
+ They have better controls on the headphones with physical buttons for songs and volume.
Now let's move on to the negatives.
- They are noticeably more expensive.
- They are bulkier (both the headphones and the carrying case).
- There is no application like the Galaxy Buds (Galaxy Wearables) for customization, sound profile changes, or settings.
- They do not offer complete noise isolation, so some external sounds can still be heard. This can be a positive for some (to have some awareness of the surrounding environment), but a negative for others.
- They do not support wireless charging.
- The connection type is lightning and not USB-C (obviously a small inconvenience for iPhone users).
Overall, the Powerbeats are some of the best Bluetooth headphones on the market, standing out for their very good microphone, excellent connection especially with iOS devices, top-notch battery life, and better application compared to the popular Airpods. However, they lag behind in terms of their initial price in Greece (ridiculously high) and the bulky charging case.
In general, I highly recommend them, but at a lower price (in my opinion, no headphone is truly worth more than 200-220 euros).