So after almost 5 years, Apple has finally updated the beats studio pro’s. Now even though I enjoy how these headphones sound and they have a really good microphone on them for phone calls, I feel that these are very hard to justify for premium ANC headphones. But today, we’re going to see how the beats studio pro directly compare to both the Sony 1000XM5’s and the Sony 1000XM4’s.

Regarding pricing, the beats studio pro retail for $350… making them a pair of premium ANC headphones. Where as the Sony 1000XM5’s retail for $400 and the Sony 1000XM4’s retail for $350… but these two headphones like to go on sale on a regular basis now. Overall, the XM4’s are my preferred headphones here cause of their comfort and the XM5’s are the best option here if you want headphones that will block out the absolute most amount of noise. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below.

Now first lets talk about the included cases… both of Sony’s headphones come included with hard shell cases which will protect your headphones if you cram them into your back pack or carry on. But personally I do prefer the XM4’s here cause their case is way smaller… where as the XM5’s case is very burdensome to travel with. But then, there are the beats studio pro, and these come included with a soft shell case… and I feel that this is unacceptable for a pair of premium ANC headphones. Cause who knows, they can get crushed if you plan on traveling a lot with them.

But now, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Regarding fit, this is a big problem for the Beats Studio Pro. First off the Beats Studio Pro’s have a lot of clamping force on them. Making them not big head approved. Where as both of Sony’s headphones are big head approved cause they have less clamping force, giving them a loser and more comfortable fit. But another issue on the Beats studio Pro is the lack of range of motion on their ear cups. These ear cups apply a little more pressure on the front of your ear than on the back… making them feel a little unnatural when they are on your head. Where as with both of Sony’s headphones, their earcups have a lot more range of motion, so their ear cups apply an even amount of pressure around your ears, making them feel more natural. But then there is the padding underneath their headband… the Studio Pro’s have very little padding underneath their headband, so they can create a hot spot on the top of your head. Now the XM5’s also have very little padding underneath their headband, and hot spots can also be an issue for these headphones. But then there are the XM4’s and hot spots aren’t an issue for this headband cause this headband is properly padded. But then there are the ear pads themselves. Now the ear pads on the beats are very shallow, so even if you have normal sized ears like me… these ear pads will press down on your ears which can get uncomfortable after awhile. Now the ear pads on the XM5’s are also a little shallow but these are slightly more spacious cause they have a slightly larger diameter to them. But finally there are the Sony 1000XM4’s which have the most spacious ear pads here cause they aren’t nearly as shallow… so these ear cups will have no problem accommodating most ear types and even if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot, they should have you covered. So overall, comfort wise, the Sony 1000XM4’s are easily the winner here. They have way less clamping force than the Beats, their ear cups pivot a lot more, hot spots aren’t an issue and their ear pads are the most spacious here.

But now lets talk about tech specs, regarding battery life the Beats Studio Pro have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned On and with their Active Noise Cancellation turned off they can go for as long as 40 hours.

Where as with both of Sony’s headphones, they both have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on and with their active noise cancelation turned off they can go for as long as 40 hours as well.

Now when it comes to charging these headphones, they all charge via a USB C port as they should. And all of these headphones have fast charging. Now with the Beats a 10 minute charge from a dead battery is going to get you 4 hours of playback time… and with the XM4’s a 10 minute charge is going to get you 5 hours of playback time… which is okay. But with the XM5’s a 3 minute charge is going to get you 3 hours of playback time.

But the really cool thing about the Beats Studio Pro is that you can use their USB C port as a wired connection with your phone or laptop… and you can listen to music with them while they charge. Where as with both of Sony’s headphones, their USB C ports are strictly used for charging.

But still, all three of these headphones still have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack and they all come included with audio cables… and this is actually a surprise of the beats studio pro. But the key difference here is that both of Sony’s headphones can be used passively with a wired connection… where as with the beats Studio pro… even if you want to use them with a wired connection, they still need to have a charge in them. But regardless, its good that all of these headphones can be used with a wired connection… but I like to see the USB C option on the Beats Studio Pro.

Now when it comes to wireless connectivity both of Sony’s headphones can be simultaneously connected to any two devices at the same time so you can easily hot swap between any two devices, making them great for power users who have devices from different eco systems.

Now the Beats Studio Pro’s are also good options for power users cause you can easily switch from one device to another, but switching between devices with the beats isn’t as seamless as with Sony’s headphones.

But when it comes to overall performance, all of these headphones have zero latency across then board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but when it come to audio codecs, the Beats Studio Pro’s only have support for SBC and AAC which is very typical for apple. Where as the Sony’s have support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC, which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. Just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC… LDAC is also going to take an additional toll on the battery life, and if you use LDAC, then these headphones can only be connected to one device at a time.

But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Now both of Sony’s headphones are people pleasers. As in if you like a neutral sound signature or if you like a bass heavy sound signature both of these headphones should have you covered… and with both of these headphones you can adjust their EQ to your liking cause they both have an adjustable EQ. However, the XM5’s do have slightly better instrument separation to them and the XM4’s, so they sound a little more open and they have a little more detail… but the XM4’s have a little more bass to them. Personally I think more people are going to prefer the XM4’s over the XM5’s cause they have a little more physicality or kick in their bass. But then there are the Beats Studio Pro… now these have a stock bass heavy sound signature… and unlike Sony’s headphones, you can’t adjust their EQ to your liking. However, I will admit that I enjoy how these headphones sound. The bass on these headphones resonates very cleanly and it also has a decent amount of kick to it. But more importantly, the beats studio pro still have good instrument separation and good clarity to them. Overall, I like how the beats studio pro sound… but these are strictly for people who like a bass heavy sound signature, where as Sony’s headphones are versatile cause their customizable EQ will allow you to change their sound signature depending on what you’re listening to or your changing tastes.

But when it comes to the media controls on these headphones… the beats are using physical buttons. And some people just prefer physical buttons on their headphones. That’s fine. But personally I don’t like the lay out of the buttons on the beats cause I hate that you have to press these ear cups into your head and plus they’re on the left side. Where as with the Sony’s, these are using touchpads. Now these touchpads are very easy to use, and they’re very accurate. But sometimes there can be mistakes. But at least these touch pads are on the right ear cup and you don’t have to jam them into your head.

But with both of Sony’s headphones, they have wear sensors, so they will automatically pause your music when you take them off and they’ll start playing your music again when you put them back on. Now personally I don’t really care for wear sensors on my headphones and I usually turn them off if I can… but I thought I would point them out cause wear sensors are becoming more and more common… and the Beats Studio Pro don’t have them.

But something that the Beats do have is hey Siri support, which can defeintly be super useful cause this way you can simply tell Siri to control you music with your voice… or you can ask her to do other things.

But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Now as of August of 2023… the Sony 1000XM5’s are currently the best ANC headphones to consider if you want to block out the absolute most amount of noise… where as the ANC on the Sony 1000XM4’s is still decent… but then there’s the active noise cancellation on Beats Studio Pro which performs more similarly to a pair of mid teir or entry level ANC headphones. But so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into the sound test.

So like you may have just seen, both the Sony 100XM4’s and Sony 1000XM5’s were able to block out way more noise than the Beats Studio Pro… its not even close. Now the ANC on the Beats Studio Pro is useful on lets say a bus ride home or in a slightly chatty office… but if you plan on traveling a lot with your headphones… or if you want to just block out a lot of noise… then you are going to be better off either of Sony’s headphones. But the Sony 1000XM5’s are currently the king of active noise cancellation as of august 2023 cause these manage to block out more road noise, more jet engine noise, and more chatter than the Sony 1000XM4’s.

But then theres the ambient mode on these headphones. Now the Beats Studio Pro’s have an ambient mode, which is something the Studio 3’s didn’t have. And the ambient mode on these headphones is good enough to get the job done. But it doesn’t sound as natural as the ambient mode found on these other two headphones… and with Sony’s headphones you can adjust their ambient mode to your liking. But also, both of Sony’s headphones have speak to chat which works a little like this.

But personally, I’m not a really big fan of speak to chat because it is very easy to accidentally activate. If you’re talking to yourself very quietly that can activate it, if you’re singing along to your music, that can activate it, if you start laughing that can active it, and on rare occasions loud enough outside noises can activate it. So that’s why I don’t use it.

Personally I prefer to use quick attention on both of Sony’s headphones cause its more intentional. And basically, when you full cover the touch pads on these headphones… they’ll lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can talk to someone without having to remove you’re headphones like this.

And then when you let go, your headphone will go back to normal again. Now personally I really like this kind of features on my headphones cause its very useful if you’re flying and its useful for quick conversions. And this is something that is straight up missing on the Beats Studio pro.

But finally here’s the microphone test. Now the microphone on the Sony 1000XM4 is okay to take phone calls with while in a quite room.

But the microphone on the XM5’s sounds much better than the microphone found on the XM4’s

And the microphone on the beats Studio Pro also sounds really good while in a quite room.

But what’s really impressive is how this microphone deals with noise pollution… cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise… but if we were to switch back over to the beats studio pro, it is severely reduced.

And the Sony 1000XM5’s also do a very impressive job of reducing this road noise.

Where as with the XM4’s, you can hear a lot of road noise in the back.

And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter. You can still hear a decent amount of chatter in the back.

Where as with the Sony 1000XM5’s these are also doing an impressive job of blocking out this chatter. Cause again if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter… but if we were to switch back over to the Sony 1000XM5’s, it is severely reduced.

So overall, both the Sony 1000XM5’s and Beats Studio Pro’s have really good sounding microphones on them for phone calls while in a quite room, but they also do a really good job of dealing with noise pollution.

But with all of that being said, I will admit that the Beats Studio Pro have a decent sounding microphone on them for phone calls and I like how they sound… but for me it is hard to justify them over other premium ANC headphones like either the Sony 1000XM5’s or Sony 1000XM4’s cause first off, their Active noise cancelation doesn’t compare to the ANC on either of these two headphones, and their ambient mode isn’t as robust as the ambient mode on Sony’s headphones. But also the Beats Studio Pro’s are way less comfortable than either of these two sony headphones… and comfort is the most important thing to consider when buying headphones. If your headphones dont fit well, you’re not going to want to wear them. But also, the Beats Studio Pro’s dont come included with a hard shell case, which is standard for premium ANC headphones. Now the Sony 1000XM5’s are the best option here if you want to block out the absolute most amount of noise… but personally I still prefer the Sony 1000XM4’s cause they’re more comfortable and their smaller case makes it easier to travel with these headphones.