Why Beats Is Apple’s Stealth Mid-Tier Brand

Getting Studio Pros for 50% off taught me a lot

When Studio Pros are on sale, they become a very different product (image: author)

I have been setting up a new home office, so I found myself in the market for a new pair of over-ear headphones. These headphones would primarily be for traveling, listening to music if my wife was working in the next room, and connecting to my Apple TV when watching something on my projector. These new headphones would slot in between my AirPods Max (for TV watching and working from home when my kids are around) and AirPods Pro 2 (for walking the dog, working outside, and any occasion where easy portability is a must).

While a decision like this would normally involve hours of research and soul searching, I had fortunately already done the majority of this homework before Christmas when I decided to surprise my wife with her first pair of over-ear headphones. As I was browsing Amazon, I was amazed to find that the latest version (the fourth) of Beats’ flagship ANC headphones, the Beats Studio Pro (BSP), were on sale for $170 — over 50% off their original price of $350 when they launched in July of 2023. Even for a product that was approaching two years old, this struck me as a steal, especially considering the many reviews I’d seen that compare the Studio Pros favorably to high-end headphones like the Sony XM4s and XM5s, Bose QuietComfort headphones, and even the AirPods Max. So when it was time…