98 MACWORLD FEBRUARY 2020
PLAYLIST REVIEW: POWERBEATS PRO(go.macworld.com/2apr) aren’t the best
true wireless earbuds Apple makes. Not
anymore. That honor now belongs to the
company’s Beats by Dre subsidiary and its
new Powerbeats Pro earbuds.
The first true wireless earbuds by
Beats, the Powerbeats Pro, are better than
AirPods. You pay a premium for this
quality—$249, compared to $159 for
AirPods—and you won’t find the
Powerbeats Pro quite as portable as
AirPods. But if you want true wireless
earbuds that work with your iPhone as
effortlessly as AirPods and sound better
and last longer, they’re well worth the
premium price.
BEATS ON THE OUTSIDE
The Powerbeats Pro will look familiar to
fans of the incredibly popular Powerbeats
Bluetooth earbuds. They
have the same angled
nozzles with rubberized tips
that fit snugly in your ear
canal. Four pairs of tips are
included, so almost anyone
should be able to find a
comfortable fit. They have the
same flat, forward-facing
body (this time slanted
upward a little), connected to
an ear hook that fits behind
your helix, like a tightly-fitted
pair of glasses.
It’s a design made to keep the ’buds in
place during athletic activity. Running,
weightlifting, CrossFit—whatever it is you
do, the Powerbeats Pro aren’t likely to get
dislodged. They’re IPx4 water resistant,
which basically means you don’t have to
worry about sweat or splashes, but you
shouldn’t submerge them.
In my testing, I couldn’t get them to
budge without deliberately knocking them.
I ran, I turned cartwheels, I did jumping
jacks, situps, and pushups, I stumbled my
way through a few shoulder rolls I haven’t
attempted since practicing Aikido 20 years
ago. Not only did the Powerbeats Pro stay
on my ears, they stayed properly fitted into
my ear canals.
They’re comfortable enough to wear for
extended periods, though as with all earbuds
that feature ear hooks, the hooks start toThe hook keeps the earbuds in place, but can become
uncomfortable after a couple hours.