40 Macworld • August 2019REVIEW
Age is thumping in all the right places with good
tone and levels.
I’m being a bit picky, too. Powerbeats Pro are
headphones for everyone, and the fact you can’t
meddle with the tuning yourself (some rivals allow
this via companion apps) shows that these are
designed to be easily paired grab and go everyday
headphones. And in that they succeed.
That clever H1 chips also allows for hands-free
Siri. Just say ‘Hey Siri’ with the Powerbeats on
and it’ll start listening. I personally still feel a bit
of a wally doing this, particularly when I find Siri
rarely gets my query right, but you might want the
feature, and the trigger phrase does work every
time. It means you can reply to messages at the
gym without touching the earphones or picking
up your phone, for example.
While the in-ear design means the Powerbeats
have natural noise isolation to keep outside sound
down by sealing the ear canal, there is no active
noise cancellation tech here, but this is rare on
earbuds. Just be aware that on planes and loud
trains you have to crank the volume to hear clearly.
If you want full noise cancellation you should
plump for over ears with ANC.Verdict
The Powerbeats Pro are the best in-ear Beats yet
and a fine choice if you have an iPhone and want
excellent all-round wireless earphones. They are
more expensive than AirPods, but they have better
battery life, better fit and better audio. Connection