December 2019 • Macworld 49the Beats Solo series has made it clear: on-ear
headphones have lots of fans.
With the Beats Solo Pro, Apple’s headphone
brand has taken the very successful design of the
Beats Solo^3 and tweaked it in some meaningful
ways, while also adding a stellar active noise
cancellation mode. The result is a fantastic, if
pricey, pair of on-ear noise cancelling headphones.
They don’t break new ground, but they’re probably
the best on-ear wireless headphones for anyone
with an iPhone.
Design and comfort
If you’re familiar with the Beats Solo headphone
line, you’ll have a good idea what to expect from
the Solo Pros. They’re on-ear headphones with
thick, dense pads that come in a variety of colours
- not as many as the Solo^3 now do, but still, it’s a
veritable rainbow array. You get white, black, grey,
red, and two shades of blue.
I have a very small head. Every pair of
headphones I have are set as small as they will go.
The Beats Solo Pros are no exception, but they are
still comfortable to wear even for several hours.
The earpads are thick and dense, but not at all stiff.
If I’m wearing glasses, my right ear starts to get a
little sore after a while, but that’s a problem I seem
to have with any pair of on-ear headphones, no
matter the brand or design.
I had colleague Roman Loyola, who has the
largest head of anyone I know (hat size 7 3/4),
try them on for a couple hours. He had to adjust