So the beats studio buds plus have some very important upgrades over the originals like a much longer lasting battery life, a better preforming microphone for phone calls, a better sounding ambient mode and slightly better ANC… but today we’re going to see how the beats studio buds plus compare to both the Sony WF-1000XM5 and the Sony Linkbuds S, cause all of these are good options if you’re an android user.
Regarding pricing, the Beats Studio Buds Plus have a retail price of $170 and the Linkbuds S have a retail price of $200… but they both like to go on sale for $130. But then there are the Sony WF-1000XM5 and these have a retail price of $300… but I do expect them to go on sale from time to time as well. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now frist lets talk about these cases. Now both the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Linkbuds S have decently small cases for every day travel… but the XM5’s case is the smallest case here. But then there’s the Beats Studio Buds Plus case… now this case is decent for everyday carry… but this case is rather noticeable when its in your pocket cause of its larger foot print. But when it comes to charging these cases, they all charge via a USB C port, which is good if you’re an android user. But only the XM5’s have wireless charging. And in general, it is a shame that neither the Linkbuds S or the Beats Studio buds plus have wireless charging, cause there are plenty of mid tier ANC earbuds out there that have wireless charging.
Now when it comes to the battery life on these earbuds… this is one area where the Linkbuds S really struggle here. With the linkbuds s, they have an advertised combined battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on. The earbuds themselves can go for 6 hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges, however, if you were to use these earbuds with their ANC turned off, you’ll be able to extend their battery life. The earbuds themselves can go for 9 hours the case gives you those 2 extra charges, for a combined battery life of 27 hours.
But then there are the Sony WF-1000XM5 and these have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their ACN turned on. The earbuds themselves can go for 8 hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges. And if you were to use these earbuds with their ANC turned off, they have a combined battery life of 36 hours, the earbuds themselves can go for 12 hours plus those two additional charges.
And with Beats Studio Buds plus, if you use them with their ANC turned off, they have an advertised combined battery life of 36 hours. The earbuds themselves can go for 9 hours and the case can supply 3 additional charges.
Overall, I do feel that battery life on the linkbuds s is a weak point… but in general the XM5’s do have the best battery life to case size ratio here. Cause even though the Studio buds Plus have a long battery life… their case is much larger and also it doesn’t have wireless charging.
But now lets talk about fit cause all of these earbuds fit very differently from one another. Now the linkbuds S are a pair of standard fitting in ear earbuds, as in they go into your ear canals a decent amount. Where as the Beats Studio buds plus are a pair of shallow fitting in ear earbuds so they dont go in as deep so they feel more comfortable cause they’re less intrusive, however, they can wiggle out more easily than the linkbuds s. But then there are the XM5’s, now the XM5’s are a pair of standard fitting in ear earbuds… but they have foam ear tips. Now these foam ear tips are supposed to offer more lock down and they’re supposed to passively block out more noise… and they do that. But I find that these foam ear tips can get itchy after awhile… where as these silicon ear tips on these other earbuds don't. So overall, I feel the Studio Buds are the most comfortable earbuds here, where as the linkbuds offer better lock down… and with the XM5’s I would replace their foam ear tips for silicon ones.
Now when it comes to connectivity, with all of these earbuds, each earbud establishes a connection with your phone, so if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one, it doesn’t matter, and this is the connection setup that we expect to see on all of our earbuds nowadays.
Now the beats studio buds plus are great for any power user out there cause they are very fast to jump from one device to another if you call to them from another device. And if you pair these earbuds with an apple device… they’ll automatically show up on all of your other apple devices associated with your iCloud account.
But then there are the Sony’s and with both of these, they can be simultainlsuy connected to 2 devices at the same time, regardless of eco system, so these are a good option for any power user out there with devices from different eco systems cause you can easily hot swap from one device to another.
And when it comes to overall performance, both of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone, whether you’re using an iPhone or and android device, and when it comes to audio codecs, the beats studio buds plus have support for SBC and AAC. Where as both of Sony’s earbuds have support for SBC and AAC but they both also have support for LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. However just keep in mind that if you want to use LDAC you have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC, and also LDAC does take an additional toll on the battery life, which could be a big problem for the Linkbuds S.
But now lets talk about actually lsinting to music with these earbuds. Now first off with both of Sony’s earbuds you can directly adjust their EQ to your liking, so you can make them sound however you want. Where as with the beats, you can’t adjust their EQ. But in general, the linkbuds s sound decent, however they can sound a little narrow. Where as the XM5’s have much better instrument separation, so they sound more open and their bass also resonates a lot more than the bass found on the Linkbuds s. But then there are the Beats Studio Buds Plus. The bass on these earbuds also resonates very well and there’s a slight kick to it. But even though the Beats Studio Buds Plus have a lot of bass to them, they still sound balanced cause their vocals are still very well pronounced. But also, they have better instrument separation than the XM5’s so these sound more open as well. My only critique about the Beats is that their treble is a little too high. But overall, I really like how the Beats Studio buds Plus sound and these are my preferred sounding earbuds here.
Now when it comes to the media controls on these earbuds, the Beat’s are using physical buttons where as the Sony’s are using touch pads. But in general, the touch controls on the Sony’s are more robust than the controls on the Beats. But I know some people just dont like to deal with touch pads on their earbuds or headphones.
But more importantly, both of Sony’s earbuds have proximity sensors, as they should. So they will automatically play and pause your music when you take them out of your ears or put them back in. Where as the beats studio buds plus, dont have proximity sensors… and I do feel that this is a major inconvinance. Especially given their price point.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these earbuds. Now the ANC on Sony’s earbuds is imrepssive and the ANC On the beats studio buds plus is decent. But I do want to taper expectations here, dont expect these earbuds to block out as much noise as a pair of premium ANC Headphones like lets say the Sony 1000XM5’s, Bose QC45, AirPods Max, or Sennheiser Momentum 4.
Now when it comes to overall ranking, for me, the AirPods Pro 2 and Sony WF-1000XM5 are neck and neck for first place, closely followed by the Bose QC earbuds 2, below them are the Sennheiser momentum 3, below them are the linkbuds S, below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2 pro, below them are the pixel buds pro and below them are the beats studio buds plus.
Now below the beats studio buds plus are the Jabra Elite 4’s, below them are the original beats studio buds, below them are the galaxy buds 2 and below them are the sennheiser CX plus. So overall, the active noise cancelation on the Beats Studio buds Plus has been improved over the originals… but dont expect their ANC to keep up with more premium ANC earbuds. But in general, the ANC on the beats studio buds plus is going to be useful on your bus ride commute or slightly chatty office.
Now the reason why I say the Sony WF-1000XM5 and AirPods Pro 2 are neck and neck for first place is cause the AirPods Pro 2 do a slightly better job of blocking out road noise, where as the Sony WF-1000XM5’s do a slightly better job of blocking out chatter. Overall the difference here is very small and the ANC on both of these earbuds is very impressive.
But finally there’s the ANC on the Linkbuds S… and the ANC on these earbuds is very impressive as well, they do a good job of keeping up with the WF-1000XM5’s… and they dont have foam ear tips. And the Linkbuds S block out noticeably more noise than the Beats Studio Buds Plus.
But like I have mentioned in the past, I only use the ANC on my earbuds when I have to, and what’s really important to me is the quality of their ambient mode. Now with the ambient mode on both of Sony’s earbuds you can adjust them to your liking. But in general, the ambient mode on all of these earbuds is good.
However, the ambient mode on the Beats Studio Buds plus is the active kind, meaning that they will actively block out sudden loud noises like lets say a siren rolling by or if a dog starts barking… your ears aren’t going to get blasted. Where as with Sony’s earbuds, they’re just going to let in everything.
Mic Linkbuds S Quite
But finally here’s the microphone test, now I feel that sony has always struggled with their microphones for phone calls… but is is going better
Mic XM5 quite
Now I feel that both of these microphones are decent to take phone calls with while in a quite room.. and I feel that the microphone on the XM5’s does a better job of focusing on my voice than the linkbuds s.
Mic beats Quite
But I do feel that the microphone on the beats studio buds plus sounds better cause they do a better job of focusing on my voice.
Mic Beats road noise
However, I feel that the beats studio buds plus do the best job here of dealing with noise pollution, cause right now these are doing a really good job of reducing all of this road noise, Cause for comparison sake, 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 Beats Studio Buds Plus, it is severely reduced.
Mic XM5 Road Noise
Where as with the Sony WF-1000XM5’s these are pushing down on my voice and you can hear some road noise in the back.
Mic Linkbuds Road noise
And its the same thing with the linkbuds s. These are pushing down on my voice and you can hear some road noise in the back.
Mic Linkbuds Chatter
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, its the same thing. These are pushing down on my voice and you can hear some chatter in the back.
Mic XM5 Chatter
And the Sony WF-1000XM5’s are struggling with this chatter well.
Mic Beats Chatter
Where as with the beats, these are doing a much better job og dealing with this chatter. So overall all of these earbuds have decent sounding microphones on them, but I do feel the beats studio buds plus have theist preforming microphone here cause they do the best job of dealing with noise pollution.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the Beats Studio buds Plus and either of these two sony earbuds… here’s my break down. With both of Sony’s earbuds, both of these earbuds have better active noise cancellation than the beats and they both have smaller cases which are more convientine. The thing to look out with on the XM5’s is that their foam ear tips might not be for everyone and the battery life on the linkbuds s is lack luster. But then there are the Beats Studio Bus Plus, these have a better performing microphone for phone calls, they have a better sounding ambient mode, they sound better, and they have a long lasting battery life. The thing is, their case is a little bigger and their ANC isn’t up there with these other two earbuds.