I’ve spent the last week wearing the Beats Solo 4 almost constantly, and my ears have a few things to say about it. Most of them are complaints about the clamping force, but we’ll get to that later. If you’ve been following the Apple-owned brand for a while, you know the "Solo" line is basically the Toyota Corolla of the headphone world—ubiquitous, reliable enough, and recognizable from a mile away. But the Solo 4 is a weird beast. It looks exactly like the Solo 3 from 2016, yet everything under the hood has been gutted and replaced.
The Beats Solo 4 is a fascinating case study in how to update a product without actually changing its vibe.
The big "No ANC" elephant in the room
Let's address the weirdest part first. In 2024 and 2025, selling a pair of $200 headphones without Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) feels like selling a car without air conditioning. It’s bold. Maybe even a little arrogant. When you put on the Beats Solo 4, you are relying entirely on the physical seal of the earcups against your head to block out the world.
Passive isolation is okay, I guess. If you’re in a quiet library, you’re fine. If you’re on a Boeing 737 sitting next to a screaming toddler and a jet engine? Good luck. You’ll be cranking the volume just to hear your podcast.
Why did Apple do this? Beats engineers, including folks like Oliver Schusser who heads up the brand, have hinted that the Solo line is about portability and "all-day" battery rather than the heavy-duty isolation you get from the Studio Pro or the AirPods Max. By ditching the ANC circuitry and the extra microphones required to run it, they managed to squeeze out a staggering 50 hours of battery life. That’s a 10-hour jump over the previous generation. It’s the kind of battery life that makes you forget where you put the charging cable because you only use it twice a month.
USB-C and the death of the headphone jack (sort of)
One of the coolest things about the Beats Solo 4 is the port. It finally moved to USB-C, which was long overdue. But it’s not just for charging.
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This is the part most people overlook: the USB-C port supports high-resolution lossless audio. If you plug these directly into your MacBook or an iPad using a C-to-C cable, you’re bypassing the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of the source and using the internal one in the headphones. It sounds significantly better. Cleaner. More detailed. It’s a weirdly "audiophile" feature for a pair of headphones usually worn by teenagers on skateboards.
Oh, and they kept the 3.5mm jack.
Yes.
In an era where every company is trying to kill the analog port, Beats kept it. You can even use them passively—meaning if the battery dies, you can still plug in the cable and listen to music. No power required. That’s a win for sustainability and just general convenience.
That classic Beats sound, but... grown up?
Remember the early 2010s? Beats were famous (or infamous) for bass that felt like someone was punching you in the side of the head. It was muddy. It drowned out the vocals. It was a mess, honestly.
The Beats Solo 4 follows the trend of the recent Studio Pro and the Beats Fit Pro by leaning into a much more balanced sound profile. The custom 40mm transducers are designed to minimize distortion. When you listen to something like Billie Eilish's "Lunch," the low end is definitely there—it’s punchy and tight—but it doesn't swallow the mids.
Spatial Audio is the star here. Since Beats is an Apple brand, these have full support for Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. It uses the gyroscopes and accelerometers to map the sound to your head's movement. If you turn your head to the left while watching a movie on your Apple TV, the dialogue stays "fixed" to the screen. It’s an immersive trick that still feels like magic when it works right.
The Android olive branch
Unlike AirPods, which are basically glorified earplugs if you try to use them with a Samsung, the Beats Solo 4 plays surprisingly well with Android.
- Google Fast Pair: One-tap setup for your Pixel or Galaxy.
- Find My Device: It works with Google’s network, not just Apple’s "Find My."
- Beats App: You get a dedicated app on the Play Store to toggle settings and update firmware.
This platform-agnostic approach is the real reason Beats continues to thrive alongside AirPods. They aren't gatekeeping the experience.
The "on-ear" struggle is real
We have to talk about the fit. There is no way around it: these are on-ear headphones, not over-ear. They sit directly on your cartilage.
For the first hour, the "UltraPlush" cushions feel great. They’re soft, squishy, and premium. But around the two-hour mark, that clamping force starts to make itself known. If you wear glasses, the struggle is even worse. The Solo 4 has to clamp tight because it doesn't have ANC; it needs that pressure to create the seal we talked about earlier.
If you have a larger head, you might find these uncomfortable for long sessions. I personally found myself taking "ear breaks" every ninety minutes. It’s the price you pay for the compact, folding design.
Is it worth the upgrade?
If you have the Solo 3 and they're still holding a charge, you probably don't need these unless you desperately want USB-C. But if you're coming from an older pair of wired headphones or some cheap $50 knockoffs, the jump in quality is massive.
The lack of ANC is the dealbreaker for many. If you commute on a train or work in a loud open-office plan, you should probably look at the Beats Studio Pro instead, which often goes on sale for a similar price.
However, for the gym-goer who wants something that won't fall off during a bench press, or the student who needs 50 hours of battery life to survive finals week, the Solo 4 is a solid, predictable choice. It’s not revolutionary. It’s just a very polished version of a formula that has worked for over a decade.
Real-world Action Steps
If you just picked up a pair or are about to, do these three things to get the most out of them:
- Set up Personalized Spatial Audio immediately. Don't skip the step where you scan your ears with your iPhone camera. It actually changes the HRTF (Head-Related Transfer Function) profile and makes the "surround sound" effect way more convincing.
- Use a USB-C cable for at-home listening. If you have a Tidal or Apple Music subscription, toggle on Lossless audio. The difference in clarity when wired via USB-C is genuinely noticeable, especially in the high frequencies.
- Give the headband a gentle stretch. If the clamping force is too much out of the box, leave them stretched over a stack of books (about the width of your head) overnight. It helps break in the tension without snapping the plastic.
The Beats Solo 4 isn't trying to be the most technologically advanced headphone on the planet. It’s trying to be the most reliable one in your backpack. It succeeds at that, even if your ears might need a break after a few hours.