Apple-owned Beats has long been renowned for its workout headphones, with the 2021 Beats Fit Pro being top of our list of workout headphones for quite some while. Now, the next generation of those earbuds is here, and Beats is clear that these new buds are an update to the old design rather than a ground-up rethink.
Beats has chosen to align the naming of the new buds with the Powerbeats lineup to follow up on the excellent earhook-toting Powerbeats Pro 2 from earlier this year.
Beats makes a big claim with these buds – that the wingtip they have makes them as stable as Powerbeats Pro 2’s earhook. It’s around 20% flexible this time, apparently. I used Powerbeats Pro 2 on a run this very morning and they are extremely stable, so I’m really looking forward to trying out the new wingtip of the Powerbeats Fit.
There are four ear tip sizes included: extra-small, small, medium and large. Crucially this time they’re also housed in a more compact IPX4-rated charging case; the Fit Pro’s case wasn’t too pocketable when compared to AirPods. The buds have the same rating for water, sweat and dust resistance.
Powerbeats Fit have most of the features you know from AirPods Pro, including Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking as well as Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) with Transparency mode.
Adaptive EQ can tailors audio based on each earbud’s individual fit and seal. It uses mics in order to do this, taking into account movement as you exercise.
While AirPods Pro 2 and 3 use the H2 chip – like the Powerbeats Pro 2 – the Powerbeats Fit sticks with H1 like its predecessor buds. This is probably to hit the sub-$200/£200 price point.
In reality, you’re not missing out on a great deal of everyday features there, though you won’t be able to do any of the premium AirPods bells and whistles like live translation or being able to use it as a hearing aid.
Powerbeats Fit offers up to 30 hours of battery life with the charging case and there are 7 hours in each charge of the buds – however, these figures are more like 24 hours and 6 hours respectively if you have ANC turned on, says Apple. Both sets of figures are an improvement on Beats Fit Pro. A five minute fast charge will give you an hour’s worth of listening time.
Powerbeats Fit will be available in four colors—Jet Black, Gravel Gray, Spark Orange, and Power Pink.
