Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: which noise-cancelling headphones are better?

Beats headphones have improved a lot since the company was acquired by Apple in 2014. Once the brand stopped cranking up the bass and started focusing just as much effort on every other part of the frequency range, its headphones became more balanced and favourable.

As well as being more affordable than Apple's own over-ear equivalents, Beats headphones work much better with Android devices (AirPods do play ball with Android phones, but Android users still miss out on a lot of their features).

So if you're eyeing up an over-ear pair, which should you buy? Do you spend big on the AirPods Max or save some money by opting for the Beats Studio Pro?

Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: price

There's quite a difference between the two pairs in terms of price.

In 2023, we reviewed the Beats Studio Pro at £350 / $350 / AU$530, but that price has since dropped considerably. They currently go for as little as £180 / $250 (the Australian price has remained stubborn).

You might expect the AirPods Max, as the older pair, to have received an even bigger price reduction, but you'd be disappointed. They currently sell for around £500 / $500 / AU$899 – only £50 / $50 cheaper than their launch price. (Again, the Australian price has mostly remained constant.)

Beats headphones are more likely than Apple pairs to be discounted come sales time, though the AirPods Max have seen some great deals over the years (admittedly mostly just before the 2024 USB-C model launched in order to clear old stock). But still, you never know your luck.

** Winner: Beats Studio Pro **

Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: design and build

When they launched in 2020, the AirPods Max set a new bar in terms of over-ear headphone design. In fact, they pretty much invented a new category of super-premium cans that sit above the likes of the once-'premium' Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones.

Indeed, such headphones feel positively cheap next to the Apple over-ears. Once you experience the AirPods Max's pristinely machined, single-piece anodised aluminium ear cups, stainless-steel headband and memory foam ear cushions, you start to understand why they cost so much.

They are over 100g heavier than the Beats Studio Pro. But the design distributes the weight so well that they don't feel their weight. You can comfortably listen for hours on end.

The physical controls are a joy to use, especially the dial that takes inspiration from the Apple Watch's digital crown. It's just a shame the case is so poor – not only does it look silly, it's not particularly effective at protecting the headphones. Sadly, this wasn't remedied with the 2024 AirPods Max refresh.

The Beats Studio Pro's design is very clean and chic, but they're not as premium-feeling as their AirPods Max stablemates. Which is hardly surprising given the difference in price.

Truth be told, they are a little dull to look at, mostly due to just one colour being used throughout the design. But they are robust and flexible, and they have one key design feature that the AirPods Max lack: they fold down for easier storage.

** Winner: Apple AirPods Max **

Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: features

The AirPods Max are well-specced in most areas, but battery life isn't one of them. Their 20 hours of use pales in comparison to the likes of the cheaper Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, both of which offer 30 hours of use.

Again, Apple sadly did not choose to improve on this when it refreshed the cans at the end of 2024.

The Beats Studio Pro fare a little better, with 24 hours of runtime. But that's still not fantastic, given the aforementioned rivals. Oh, and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless deliver a staggering 60 hours!

The Beats have the superior fast-charging feature. Just 10 minutes of plug time gets you four hours of use, whereas the AirPods Max deliver 90 minutes of runtime from a five-minute charge.

Both pairs support wired listening, but only the Beats Studio Pro include an audio cable in the box. This is USB-C-to-USB-C, so if you own an older iPhone, you'll need a Lightning adapter to allow wired listening through the Beats cans. Both pairs require power to work, even when listening wired.

Wired listening gives the Beats lossless playback (up to 24-bit/48kHz), and lets you select from a list of sound profiles. But oddly, you can't select these when listening wirelessly, which seems like a rather large omission.

Another omission is the lack of a dedicated Apple-made chip so that they work better with Android devices.

Meanwhile, the AirPods Max are powered by an Apple chip, the H1, which analyses information coming in from eight microphones around the headphones to perform active noise cancellation and tailor the sound in real-time to the fit and seal around your ears.

Apple has also kitted them out with its own 40mm driver featuring a dual neodymium ring magnet motor. This allows the Max to maintain total harmonic distortion of less than one per cent across the entire audible range.

Like the AirPods Max, the Studio Pro support Apple's immersive Spatial Audio technology, with dynamic head tracking working to 'anchor' the sound to the source from which it is coming.

Like other Beats headphones, they gain full Android support via the Beats app, but they are missing a couple of features common to most of their rivals: on-head detection and Bluetooth Multipoint. Curious.

They do support Apple's audio sharing feature, though, which lets you share a wireless audio stream with another pair of headphones. Though this only works with other Apple headphones – an odd decision for a supposedly Android-friendly pair of headphones.

** Winner: Apple AirPods Max **

Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: noise cancellation

The AirPods Max are very good noise cancellers, even if they do fall short of greatness. They block a lot of unwanted sounds, though the Sony WH-1000XM5 do a better job of silencing constant drones like engine noise.

Transparency mode does what it is intended to do – let in outside sound – though it does sound a little synthetic and processed. A mode like this is also more useful on earbuds, which you would wear while exercising. But it can come in handy and works well when needed.

The earpads are also nice and big, covering your ears and blocking out a decent chunk of sound. So even without activating the noise cancellation feature, they do a decent job of dulling the world around you.

Again, the Beats Studio Pro fare decently in this regard. They have both fully adaptive and Transparency modes, and both work well. But across the frequency range, they're not quite as effective at blocking external noise as their pricier Apple siblings.

** Winner: Apple AirPods Max **

Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: sound

To listen to, the Apple pair is "very special indeed", to quote our five-star Apple Max review.

The delivery is crisp and spacious, with plenty of clarity and energy. They're an engaging listen, sounding precise and exciting.

Listening to The Road by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, our expert reviews team noted: "The AirPods Max nail the beautiful inconsistencies in the timing and pressure of the piano notes that come from the live nature of the recording. They're both organic and precise, with lovely, subtle degradation to the tail of each note, but a definite, precise end when the vibration of the strings is stopped."

They add a physicality to the performance that's missed by lesser headphones.

Watching a movie in Spatial Audio, the effect is superb. The presentation is completely immersive, and the tracking is amazingly smooth and accurate as you move your head. Combining the AirPods Max with one of the best iPads will give you the most convincing portable cinema experience going.

The Beats Studio Pro only earned three stars in our review, and that's largely down to the sound quality.

Listening to Thin Lizzy’s Whiskey In The Jar, there's a feeling of sonic detachment and a real lack of rhythmic drive. It's all a bit monotonous and dull, which is not at all the Thin Lizzy we know and love.

Bass notes can feel fat and muddled, and while listening via the supplied cable does mean an uplift in quality, they still lack subtlety.

Lossless listening via USB-C does add some sparkle, though. "A hi-res recording of Fleet Foxes' Wading In Waist-High Water hits with real force, and while greater dynamic peaks and troughs would be nice, we're treated to a clearer, more confident showing with the cable attached," we wrote in our Studio Pro review.

In summary, the Studio Pro by no means disgrace themselves, but they don't perform as well as the best at their price level, not to mention a very good and more expensive pair such as the AirPods Max.

** Winner: Apple AirPods Max **

Beats Studio Pro vs Apple AirPods Max: verdict

The Beats Studio Pro do have some advantages over the AirPods Max. They're cheaper, for one thing, and are a better fit for Android devices.

In a choice between the two, however, the AirPods Max are the clear winner. And if you can't afford them, we would recommend a price-suitable pair in our best wireless headphones buying guide over the three-star Beats Studio Pro, which don't even make our list of best Beats headphones.

MORE:

The best AirPods money can buy

And the best AirPods alternatives

Apple AirPods Max tips: how to pair, reset, charge and more

Sony WH-1000XM5 vs Apple AirPods Max: which are better?