Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: Heart Beats
Announced on Tuesday, Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 improve massively on the original, with heart beat monitoring the biggest and most important feature addition to Apple's audio lineup in years. And, we've been using them for a while.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: The new, updated model
Initially introduced in May 2019, the Beats Powerbeats Pro offered many of the useful elements you'd find in AirPods, but in a package made for high-intensity workouts. Made with an ear hook, they could be securely mounted to the user's ear with little fear that they'd fly off during a particularly vigorous workout.
Over five years later, and after some pre-launch teasing, Apple subsidiary Beats has brought out a brand new version. One that not only makes refinements to the existing form, but one that also takes a massive step towards being a multi-purpose wearable device.
This time around, the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 aren't just for listening to music. It listens to your heart too.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - Physical properties
Much like the original Powerbeats Pro, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are fairly large for earphones. That is mostly caused by the design, which uses a hefty section from the earbud itself, crossing the ear, to an earhook that makes its way back around.
While many earbuds, such as the Beats Solo Buds (on sale at Amazon), aim to take up as little space on the ear as possible, the Powerbeats Pro 2 don't go that way.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: The earbuds side by side
That said, the new models are still more ergonomically refined than the previous version, with a more rounded appearance. The earhook is also half the size of the old one, with overall weight down 20% too.
The earbud still uses a silicone element to plug the ear canal itself. However, with the earhook in use, it's not intended to be the way the earbud stays put, which makes for a fairly more comfortable experience.
There's less need to have a cushion that wedges in firm anymore. With Beats including five sizes of silicone tips in the box, that's a fair amount of comfort choice available.
As for the fit itself, an attempt to throw them off by head thrashing to "Bohemian Rhapsody" resulted in no movement at all. In the vast majority of cases, it's going to be stuck on your ear until you purposefully take it off.
That earbud is going nowhere.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: The selection of in-box eartips has expanded to five sizes
Along the ear-crossing section are a few vent holes and electrical contacts, as well as a rocker volume switch. This physical switch is a great inclusion, since you'd probably want to have immediate tactile controls while working out, instead of fumbling for an iPhone or trying to remember the correct button press combination.
Both earbuds also have the Beats button, which this time is a tiny bit more discrete to match the smaller body. It still clicks in satisfactorily, with increasing clicks handling media and call control.
A long press can also be used to trigger other effects, which can be configured on your iPhone or Android device.
The big change, heart rate detection, is visible thanks to a new transparent section below the silicone tip. This section presses into the bit behind the tragus - the flappy bit at the front of the ear covering the canal - and shines a light to scan for blood vessels.
On the other side is a small black covering hiding an optical sensor, which is used to automatically play and pause music when you remove them from your ear. While it is sensitive and works very quickly, it's not too trigger-happy to pause whenever the earbud is jostled about.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - Audio and configuration
The original Powerbeats Pro relied on the H1 chip, but the second-gen model is the first Beats product to use an H2 chip. The upgrade means the new version is a lot more capable.
This includes the much-needed addition of Active Noise Cancelling with Transparency mode. A big feature the original model didn't have, which is certainly welcomed in this release.
In our usage, while the ANC did work decently for earbuds, they aren't going to give you the same sort of world-blocking effect as over-ear headphones. However, they still worked reasonably well against a busy street, when Transparency is extremely useful.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: Pairing with an iPhone
Following that are features like Adaptive EQ, Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking, Lossless Audio, and deep integration with iOS.
This last point is a strong card for all of Apple's personal audio accessories, as it provides easy access to the various features and settings within the Settings app. You can adjust the ANC and Transparency, including selecting which earbud's B button works with Noise Control and which summons Siri.
There are options to adjust the number of presses required for call control functions, enabling or disabling automatic ear detection, microphone side selection, setting up Spatial Audio, and enabling the heart rate sensor.
Since Beats also services Android users, there is support for other smartphones using the Beats app, which handles many configuration elements. There's also quite a bit of cross-platform feature parity, with Android users able to use their version of Apple's Find My to keep track of the earbuds, as well as features like quick pairing and device switching.
Audio output from the Powerbeats Pro 2 is strong and clear, with a fairly balanced setup between bass and high-register sounds. This is thanks to a new 9.5mm driver and a new dual-layer transducer design.
As for picking up your voice for calls and "Hey Siri" support, there are three digital MEMS microphones with beamforming in each earbud. Owners of newer iPhones can also take advantage of their device's audio processing capabilities for clearer voice pickup.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - Heart rate monitoring
The massive feature this time around is the inclusion of heart rate monitoring. This is a big deal for Apple, since this is the first time it's bringing the function to a device other than its celebrated Apple Watch line.
That small optical sensor placed just inside the ear canal is tiny, especially compared to the rear of the Apple Watch. Indeed, the Apple Watch neural net was used as a starting point for the development of the sensor.
This makes a lot of sense, since it's basically starting from a well-used and proven base. However, Beats came up with a custom algorithm for this specific use case.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: The heart rate sensor
Much like the Apple Watch sensor, the version in use here shines light into the user's skin 100 times per second, while a sensor picks up the reflected light. There's optical lens filters inside the casing to filter out transmitted light and received light, so that the sensor gets the right one to work from.
Beats includes a sensor inside each earbud, duplicating the data and allowing for more accuracy than from one location.
This data can then be beamed over to an iPhone, and used to display a pulse during workouts. This includes many third-party apps from the outset.
For clarity, the heart rate monitoring capability only comes into play once you start a workout. At the time of review, it's not capable of all-day heart rate monitoring, as with an Apple Watch.
In testing, the Nike Run Club app was able to quickly pick up the pulse rate when used without an Apple Watch. The pulse seemed to be in the same ballpark as normal for the user during testing, which is helpful.
However, when it came to using Apple's Fitness , it didn't seem like the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2's heart rate monitoring would be used at all. There was no on-screen indication of heart rate, which was somewhat discouraging.
Even so, the heart rate was still picked up, just not displayed to the user. Checking in the Health app for the Apple Fitness+ workout showed pulse rate data as usual.
This is somewhat disappointing, as you would anticipate some level of inter-company working between Beats and Apple to show this data on Apple Fitness+. That may change in the future, but it's a minor annoyance at this very early stage.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - Power and the case
Due to the size, the original Powerbeats Pro offered a high amount of battery life to consumers. For the Powerbeats Pro 2, this is no different.
The packaging claims that there is a 45-hour battery life available with ANC enabled. This is broken down to 10 hours for the earbuds alone, with the case adding 35 hours.
In our time with the Powerbeats Pro 2, it certainly feels like the 10-hour claim is pretty accurate. Fast charging is also available, with a rapid 5 minutes of charging equalling an hour and a half of playback.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: In the case
The case is the clamshell style Beats pretty much used last time, albeit slightly smoother and rounder. Beats claims the case is approximately 33% smaller than the previous version.
This time around, the case includes wireless charging at the base, as well as a fairly discrete USB-C port.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - A big step forward
As a pair of earphones, it's hard not to praise the Powerbeats Pro 2 compared to the original. It's smaller, leaner, and meaner, ready to follow the toughest workouts you can throw at it.
The additions of things like ANC and Transparency immediately bring it in line as the sport-focused version of the AirPods Pro (see sale price) an athlete may well need.
That on its own would be great, but then Apple had to include heart beat monitoring into the mix. It's a big jump for Apple, as it's bringing the functionality out from being just an Apple Watch feature to other wearables.
It's certainly not difficult to imagine the inclusion in the Powerbeats Pro 2 is a precursor to Apple including the same technology in something like the AirPods Pro in the future.
At the moment, the feature is functional, but it's still at its very early stages of implementation. It certainly works when used with third-party apps craving some form of pulse data as an input, but it's not that great when it comes to Apple's own software.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review: Comfortable to wear, but secure
On iPhone, iPad, and other screen-based hardware, you can access the data in the Health app, but not in Apple Fitness+ when you actually need to see it.
Obviously, at this point, Apple's heart-based stuff is all about the Apple Watch and its sensing capabilities. The health data collection of the wrist-mounted device is massive compared to the relatively slim data points offered by the earbuds.
The Apple Watch will, for the moment at least, always be the main attraction when it comes to healthcare. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2's heart rate monitoring will play second fiddle, but it has its uses.
That includes situations where you don't want to wear an Apple Watch.
It's not hard to think of team sports where having an expensive and breakable device on your wrist would be a bad idea, whereas headphones would still be acceptable. Sports where the freedom of movement of the wrist, like baseball or tennis, also spring to mind.
Ultimately, the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 is a refinement of a decent design that modernizes everything audio and feature-wise, while also adding a handy fitness-related feature.
It's a big healthcare push for Apple, outside of the Apple Watch. It just remains to be seen if its next moves will support it properly.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - Pros
- Heart rate tracking
- ANC and Transparency finally arrive
- It's not going to easily fly off your ear
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review - Cons
- More Apple-specific support for heart rate tracking is needed
Rating: 4 out of 5
Where to buy Powerbeats Pro 2
Retailing for $249.99, Powerbeats Pro 2 can be ordered at Amazon, Best Buy and B&H Photo. Units begin shipping on Feb. 13.
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Comments
Or did you simply not test that scenario?
However, this is relatively academic since it's presumed you'd be primarily using the Apple Watch for your fitness tracking needs.
Exactly, Which is why I'm surprised the PBP2 wasn't compared directly to APP2 in areas like noise reduction and audio quality. As to how good these are in the latest USB-C version of APP2, I can only say this: I've mostly stopped using my AirPods Max completely because the AirPods Pro 2 are just THAT good.
The addition of heart rate monitoring is really interesting, and I would think Apple will find a way to track heart rate even more accurately by analyzing signals from both the wrist and the ear if the user is wearing two devices.
Anyway, if this is possible with the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 it might provide a good alternative to a chest strap monitor to get more consistent and accurate readings.
Edit: After doing a bit of research elsewhere, it seems to be the case that you cannot use the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 as an external HRM device with Apple Watch (as you can with various chest strap HRMs). I'll reiterate that this is a big miss by Apple/Beats not to have gotten this to work as it should. It's just dumb that a health and fitness device (which is effectively what these are) from Apple (which is essentially who these are from, despite the Beats branding) isn't fully integrated with Apple Watch. Apple, count me as one (potential for this product) customer who is not delighted.
I'll stick with my AirPods Pro 2, thank you very much.
But maybe they’ll surprise me and this is all there and just a firmware upgrade in the future.