When it comes to noise cancelling, we’d rank these Beats below the class leaders. But their Pure Active Noise Cancelling tech is more than able to muffle generic hubbub, by dynamically adjusting to what’s going on around you. As has become the norm for Beats headphones, wireless performance is just about perfect whether you use an iPhone or an Android. This isn’t something only just get with Beats/Apple. Sony and other manufacturers also fantastic blip-free wireless these days, but it’s still worth celebrating.

If you’re looking primarily for isolation on the morning commute though, they begin to struggle. Loud transients still have a tendency to break through. This gums up the sound, stopping music from sounding properly separated. It can also seem resonant with certain songs, which is abrasive to the ear.Pure ANC (Active Noise Cancelation) is another tweaked feature of the Beats Studio 3 Wireless. The Studio series has had active noise cancellation since 2014, but this new version claims to put an extra layer of smarts between noise and your ears. When you turn the Beats Studio 3 Wireless on, you’ll see a pop-up prompt appear on your iPhone with a spinning 3D model of the headphones. You just tap a button on this pop-up to connect. iOS 13 already has a great interface for reconnecting to normal Bluetooth headphones, but the W1 chip makes the interaction seem more direct. The verdict is good in terms of sound quality with the Studio 3 Wireless offering lots of bass without being over-powering, and there's plenty of high end frequency too to balance things out. A great listening experience no matter what you're listening to. This is not to say they won’t drop deep. Take the Money and Crawl (Green Day, from Father of All…) lays the beat down like Conor McGregor.

The H1 chip is still very good though; it also lets you see the headphones’ battery per cent from the app you’re using to stream, which is handy. The Beats By Dre Studio3 uses microphones to listen to your ambient environment and then matches the frequency to cancel out the unwanted noise, leaving you and your favourite music alone. Leaks caused by movement, hair, hats or spectacles will also be detected and this is very effective indeed. The plus side is that the music is not affected in any way by the active noise cancellation. Battery life lasts for an estimated 22 hours of noise cancelling listening. Pretty impressive to say the least. Get Connected Micro USB Cable, Charging Cable, Audio Cable, Audio Cable with In-Line Microphone, Power Supply, Hardcase Some pairs are a little quieter, but this sort of noise is not at all distracting as soon as there’s any audio coming through the drivers. Don’t worry about it, unless your ears are truly anal. There’s sound width similar to some of the best travel-friendly headphones, and the Studio 3 Wireless have quite a forward presentation. This makes key parts of a mix seem close to your ears, making sure the sound isn’t too relaxed.Passing cars aren’t “turned electric”, reduced to a light whoosh, and the effect isn’t eerily detaching like Bose’s. However, it's good enough that you don’t have to turn the volume up in noisy environments. The Beats Studio 3 Wireless are also very comfortable. Oval cut-outs in the pads give enough room for most ears, and over-ear headphones like this avoid the ear fatigue problems common among on-ear headphones, like the Beats Solo 3 Wireless and the new Beats Solo Pro. Connectivity and battery life There’s some of the same effect in the Beats Studio 3 Wireless sound. Buy them, put them on, play a tune or two and very few people are likely to be too disappointed. Apple’s W1 chip is one of the key changes in the Beats Studio 3 Wireless. This is a custom wireless chipset that takes the wrinkles out of the connection process when hooking up with an iPhone or iPad. The Beats Studio 3 Wireless’s noise cancellation is reasonably effective, providing the main benefits of making cities less stressful and stopping engine noise from ruining your music. However, the Bose QuietComfort 35’s cancellation is still significantly better.

We’ve heard this mid failing before in Beats headphones and noted how it makes the soundstage seem constrained, even though the problem is in the “middle”, not the top and bottom. The plastics don’t creak too much. And there’s a well-judged bit of resistance in the fold-up hinge of the headband that stops the stems from flapping around like broken arms with normal use. You might think of it as a fat, warm or full tone, which is what leaves a certain bassy aftertaste even though the Beats Studio 3 Wireless are not overloaded with genuinely low frequencies. In a lot of situations this works quite well. Podcasts aren’t underpinned by a bass rumble but voices still sound robust. Connectivity is easy and hard to beat in terms of connection strength. Switching between devices is painless and if you're signed into the same iCloud Drive automatic pairing is possible. Audio Quality Like the last Studio Wireless pair, there’s also a little 5-LED indicator by the power button to let you see a rough guide of how much juice is left before you even put them on.

Unless you’re desperate for headphones made of real leather, aluminum or Alcantara, it doesn’t matter too much, though. Beats has been criticized for the build of its headphones over the years, but the Beats Studio 3 Wireless seem perfectly well-built to us.

Since the Beats Studio 3 Wireless headphones were launched, Apple has improved its wireless technology to bring us the H1 headphone chip, as seen in the new AirPods Pro and the Powerbeats Pro. Beats has marketed “Pure ANC” to sound better than just about anything out there. It isn’t, but it's perfectly decent all the same. Sound quality That said, there’s something a bit on the nose about the presentation, they’re more confined than airy. There’s nothing new to see here in terms of build. Most of the Beats Studio 3 Wireless frame is plastic. The pads use synthetic leather that, while soft, looks fake from 2ft away. It is, seemingly, designed to avoid distortion caused by cancellation of louder sources. We’ve heard such distortion in pairs from less experienced noise cancelling headphone makers when taking the London Tube, standing next to the door, but haven’t heard any such distortion from the Bose QuietComfort 35.

Great functionality let down by so-so sound