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Beats Solo 4 Wireless On-Ear Headphones Review: Is It Worth It?
The refreshed Beats Solo 4 — 50 hours of battery, USB-C lossless audio and a lightweight on-ear fit that seals the Apple-Android split.
Quick answer: Yes — the Beats Solo 4 is worth it if you want long-battery portable headphones and don't need active noise cancellation. 50-hour battery, USB-C lossless audio, refreshed neutral sound and cross-platform pairing on both iPhone and Android. The best portable on-ear at the price.
Illustrative image — see Amazon for the actual product.
Our verdict
Yes — the Beats Solo 4 is worth it if you want long-battery portable headphones and don't need active noise cancellation. 50-hour battery, USB-C lossless audio, refreshed neutral sound and cross-platform pairing on both iPhone and Android. The best portable on-ear at the price.
The short version
The Solo 4 is Beats' overdue refresh of the Solo line, and it does exactly what people wanted: 50 hours of battery per charge (roughly two weeks of typical daily use), USB-C charging with a built-in DAC for genuine lossless audio via the cable, and a rebalanced sound that dropped the boomy bass of the older Solos in favor of a more accurate, listenable profile. It works seamlessly with both iPhone and Android — same one-tap pairing on each — and folds up small for a backpack. What it doesn't have: active noise cancellation. If you want ANC, the Beats Studio Pro or a Sony XM5 is the pick. If you want a long-battery on-ear that fits both platforms and skips the ANC premium, the Solo 4 is the best in class.
Pros & cons
Pros
- 50-hour battery — roughly two weeks of daily listening
- USB-C lossless audio via built-in DAC (24-bit/48kHz wired)
- Fast Fuel — 10 min charge = 5 hours of playback
- One-tap pairing on both iPhone and Android
- Lightweight on-ear fit — easy to wear for hours
- Fold-flat design fits in a backpack side pocket
Cons
- No active noise cancellation
- On-ear (not over-ear) — less comfortable for glasses wearers
- Older audio codec support vs some competitors
Why people love it
Pair in one tap
Hold near an iPhone or Android to trigger one-tap pairing — Beats works natively on both platforms.
Listen wireless or wired lossless
Bluetooth for daily use, or plug in USB-C for genuine 24-bit/48kHz lossless audio via the built-in DAC.
Charge biweekly
50 hours per charge means most people plug in once every 1-2 weeks. A 10-minute Fast Fuel top-up gives 5 hours of playback.
Who it's for
- People who want long battery in a portable on-ear
- iPhone-and-Android households
- Commuters and travelers who don't need ANC
- Anyone stepping up from AirPods to headphones
Is the Beats Solo 4 worth it — and what changed from the Solo 3?
The Solo 3 was one of Apple's best-selling headphones for years, but it was starting to show its age — no USB-C, no lossless audio, and a heavier bass tuning that felt old-fashioned by 2026 standards. The Solo 4 addresses all three. USB-C replaces Lightning, so charging is universal and lossless-via-cable becomes possible. A built-in DAC lets it accept 24-bit/48kHz audio when wired — genuine audiophile territory for critical listening. And the sound signature has been rebalanced with less exaggerated bass and clearer mids and highs, closer to a neutral profile that works across genres.
What Beats deliberately kept: cross-platform ecosystem (one-tap pairing on both iPhone and Android, unusual for Apple-owned products), the foldable on-ear form factor, and the 50-hour battery life that's been a Solo hallmark since the beginning. What Beats deliberately skipped: active noise cancellation. That's the strategic split — ANC lives in the Beats Studio Pro and higher, and Solo is the portable, long-battery, cross-platform sibling. If your use case matches that (traveling, commuting quiet environments, home listening, gym), Solo 4 is the pick. If ANC matters, step up.
Beats Solo 4 vs the AirPods and premium headphone competition
The Solo 4 fits into a crowded market with a specific niche. Against AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 — those are earbuds, more portable, ANC available on Pro, but shorter battery per charge and less presence for critical listening. Solo 4 is the pick when you want headphones over earbuds, or when you need more battery for long trips.
Against premium over-ears — Sony WH-1000XM5 is the best-in-class ANC choice with plusher over-ear comfort and slightly more refined sound, at a higher price and less foldable form. Bose QuietComfort Ultra is another top-tier ANC pick with different sound tuning. AirPods Max are Apple's premium over-ear with excellent ANC and spatial audio, but they're much heavier and don't fold. Beats Studio Pro is Beats' own step up with ANC and a slightly larger over-ear cup. The honest positioning: Solo 4 is not a premium headphone. It's a good headphone that specializes in portability, battery and cross-platform ecosystem at a lower price point than premium ANC options. Buy accordingly.
Getting the most from your Beats Solo 4 — setup, tips and maintenance
Pairing is the easiest part of ownership: hold the Solo 4 near your phone (iPhone or Android — both work natively), tap the pairing prompt, and you're connected. Multi-device pairing lets you connect to two devices simultaneously and switch between them, which is genuinely useful for phone-plus-laptop setups. In the Beats app on iPhone or the Beats Solo 4 app on Android, you can update firmware, customize the button controls, and enable spatial audio for supported content.
For getting the best sound, the wireless connection is fine for most listening — the Solo 4 supports high-quality Bluetooth codecs — but for lossless critical listening (or a dead battery), USB-C wired mode with the built-in DAC gives you genuine 24-bit/48kHz audio. The 3.5mm cable is also included for classic analog wired mode. Take care of the earpads: they're the fastest-wearing part on any on-ear headphone. Wipe them with a barely-damp cloth periodically, and if they eventually crack after a few years, Apple sells replacement earpads. With basic care, the Solo 4 lasts many years — Beats builds them well, which is why old Solo 3s are still being sold on the secondhand market.
See Beats Solo 4 on Amazon
Check the latest price, photos and buyer reviews on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon →Sold and shipped by AmazonFrequently asked questions
Are the Beats Solo 4 worth it in 2026, or should I buy something with ANC?
Worth it if you don't need noise cancellation, and less compelling if you do. The Solo 4's strengths are portability (foldable, on-ear, lightweight), battery (50 hours crushes most ANC competitors), cross-platform ecosystem (one-tap on both iPhone and Android), and price relative to premium ANC. If you commute in loud environments — planes, trains, offices — active noise cancellation is genuinely worth the upgrade, and the Sony WH-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort deliver it. If you mostly listen in quiet rooms, from home, or need a durable travel headphone that lasts weeks per charge, the Solo 4 is the smarter buy.
How does the Beats Solo 4 lossless audio via USB-C actually work?
The Solo 4 has a built-in Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), so when you plug in via USB-C or the included 3.5mm cable, audio bypasses Bluetooth's compression entirely and streams at 24-bit/48kHz — genuine lossless. Bluetooth wireless audio always has some compression (even with the best codecs), so for critical listening — vinyl-quality music files, mastered lossless from Apple Music or Tidal — wired lossless is a meaningful step up. For daily wireless listening from Spotify or standard streaming, the difference is subtle to inaudible. Nice to have for occasional use, essential for audiophiles.
Beats Solo 4 vs AirPods Max vs Sony WH-1000XM5 — which should I buy?
Three different jobs. AirPods Pro and Solo 4 are Apple-ecosystem-first (though Solo 4 works fine on Android too) — Solo 4 gives you longer battery and a headphone form factor; AirPods Pro give you noise cancellation in an earbud. Sony WH-1000XM5 is the ANC gold standard — the best noise cancellation in the industry, plush over-ear fit, more audiophile sound. Beats Solo 4 is the pick when you want long-battery portability, cross-platform, no ANC needed. Sony is the pick when noise cancellation is the primary requirement. AirPods when you want earbuds instead of headphones.
Are on-ear headphones like the Solo 4 comfortable for long listening sessions?
For most people yes, but with caveats. On-ear designs press against the ear itself rather than surrounding it (like an over-ear), so comfort depends on ear cup pressure and how you're built. The Solo 4's cushioning is soft and the clamping force is lower than the Solo 3 — better for multi-hour wear. If you wear glasses, the arms of your frames pressing against your ears against the cups can cause fatigue over 2+ hours (an issue with all on-ear headphones, not Solo 4 specifically). For all-day wear, over-ear like the Sony XM5 or Bose QuietComfort is more comfortable, but is bigger and heavier.
Do the Beats Solo 4 have a microphone for calls, and how's the quality?
Yes, and call quality is genuinely good — improved noticeably over the Solo 3. The updated microphones use beamforming to focus on your voice and reduce background noise, so on Zoom, Teams and phone calls you sound clear even in a modest amount of ambient noise. Not as good as a dedicated podcasting mic (nothing wireless is), but for daily calls and meetings, the Solo 4 is one of the better wireless headphones for voice, particularly at the price.
How does Fast Fuel charging work on the Solo 4?
Plug the Solo 4 into a USB-C charger for 10 minutes and you get roughly 5 hours of playback back on the battery. It's designed for 'I forgot to charge' mornings — grab them, plug in briefly while brushing your teeth or making coffee, and you have enough juice for a day or trip. A full charge takes about an hour and gives the full 50 hours of battery. Combined with the long baseline life, the Solo 4 is essentially never dead when you need it, which is the biggest quality-of-life win over shorter-battery competitors.
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