Beats Fit Pro vs Beats Studio Buds Plus: What’s the difference?

While Beats is probably most famous for its over-the-ear headphones, it’s still a force to be reckoned with in wireless earbuds, given the brand’s signature aesthetics, bass-heavy sound, and ample marketing help from Apple. But there are two leading earbud options, the Beats Fit Pro and the Beats Studio Buds Plus, and the one to go with may depend on your personal needs and platform of choice.

The most obvious difference between the two is that the Fit Pros (above) have fins on each bud. They’re not there for looks — they help better anchor the buds in your ears, making them extremely hard to knock out during running or weightlifting, even if they’re not as secure as the hooks found on the Powerbeats Pro. The Studio Buds Plus aren’t as resilient, but should stay put most of the time as long as you’ve chosen the right ear tips. It’s a good thing, then, that they ship with four tip sizes versus the Fit Pros’ three.

Both products have an IPX4 rating against sweat and water, which should make them durable enough for most workouts and hot Texas summers. That said, serious athletes or people who naturally sweat a lot may want to choose something tougher, like Jabra’s Elite 7 Active.

As you might imagine, there’s a strong focus on Apple-exclusive features here. Both products support things like “Hey Siri,” quick NFC pairing to Apple devices, Apple Spatial Audio, and tracking via Apple’s Find My network. The Fit Pros lean even more heavily into this, sporting an H1 chip for automatic switching between Apple devices as well as Audio Sharing with other Apple/Beats headphones. They also allow personalized head tracking for spatial audio if you have an iPhone or iPad.

If you want earbuds for an Android phone, you’ll probably prefer the Studio Buds Pro (above). While the Fit Pros will certainly work with non-Apple devices, only the Studio Buds Plus support Google’s Fast Pair, Audio Switch, and Find My Device features, mirroring their equivalents from the Apple world. That’s going to make them a lot more convenient unless you absolutely need the Fit Pros’ secure grip.

Another similarity is that each set of earbuds supports active noise cancellation (ANC) with an toggleable Transparency mode that will let in outside sounds, say if you’re talking to someone or need to hear oncoming traffic. Don’t expect the Adaptive Audio or Conversation Awareness options available to 2nd gen AirPods Pro owners, but those would just be icing on the cake for what’s already pretty solid ANC tech.

The last thing will note here is that the Studio Buds Plus are marginally lighter and smaller. In theory that could make them more comfortable, but in practice, the Fit Pros are already light and comfortable enough that it’s easy to forget you’re wearing them.

The products are effectively equal when it comes to on-bud battery life. You can expect about 6 hours of listening with ANC active, give or take, mostly depending on volume. That’s not enough to get through a whole workday without case time, but it’s still better than some earbuds, and you may be able to stretch that as far as 9 hours if you switch ANC off.

The earbuds’ cases may make a big difference. While the Fit Pro case provides another 18 hours of runtime, that number climbs to 27 hours for the Studio Buds Plus. That gives the Studio Buds a real advantage in travel, or simply in spacing out weekly plug-in sessions.

Whichever route you take, you’re going to be charging via a USB-C cable. There’s no wireless option, which might seem strange given Apple’s competition, and support on some AirPods models.

For price, the winner is clearly the Studio Buds Plus at $40 less. Bear in mind however that since the Fit Pros have been around since 2021, it’s easy to find them discounted. They’re now available in seven colors too, whereas there are only five for the Studio Buds Plus. Some people may gravitate towards the Studio Buds’ retro Transparent option.

If you’re planning to pair with an Android phone, you should almost certainly get the Studio Buds Plus, since Google’s Fast Pair, Audio Switch, and Find My Device features will make your experience a lot smoother. The possible exception is if you’ve had trouble keeping previous earbuds in place — Audio Switch hardly matters if your buds keep popping out. Again, the Studio Buds Plus should do fine most of the time, but the Fit Pros are great at staying locked.

The Fit Pros win if that secure fit is a must for activity, or you’re pairing with an iPhone or iPad. They get access to Apple’s automatic switching and Audio Sharing features, not to mention personalized head tracking, even if that’s mostly useful for watching movies rather than listening to your gym playlist.