Beats is launching a new version of its sports headphones that can track the user’s heart rate. Because they incorporate the sensors of the Apple Watch.
More than 10 years after the launch of its first wireless sports headphones, Beats by Dre continues to want to innovate. The brand had teased them last September, its new Powerbeats Pro 2 are now available since this Tuesday, February 11 at a price of 299.95 euros.
A high price for headphones that do not aim for ultra-excellent audio, but which is justified, according to Beats, by a few significant additions.
To the rhythm of your heart and music
At the forefront of the new features for the brand’s most popular headphones is now heart rate monitoring without any other accessories needed. A feature already available on Sennheiser’s Momentum Sport .
Athletes will be able to monitor their performance in real time in their compatible fitness applications (Nike Run Club, Open, Runna, Slopes, YaoYao) to which all the data will be transmitted. This is made possible by the addition, on each earphone, of the optical sensor that is also found on the back of the Apple Watch , the connected watch from the parent company.
To work, an integrated LED emits light into the user’s skin, while a photodiode measures the light reflected by the skin. The amount of light reflected, varying according to blood flow, will allow the heart rate to be measured using the algorithm also found in the Apple Watch. It is therefore necessary to wear both earphones to obtain the information.
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The feature is available on both Android and iOS. It only works with enabled fitness apps. If you’re just listening to music, you won’t see any data displayed.
More durable, more comfortable
The Powerbeats Pro 2 don’t forget to also be excellent audio headphones. The acoustic architecture has been redesigned to improve acoustic quality, with spatialized sound now and dynamic head tracking. The new version also includes active noise reduction and transparency mode. The algorithm adapts the sound to the surrounding noise in real time.
Battery life is also improved. While the first-generation Powerbeats Pro boasted 24 hours of continuous battery life, their successors see their endurance increased to 45 hours, with a case that now allows for additional charges and Qi wireless charging.
The embedded H2 chip thus allows for improvements in energy consumption, more stable connection and slightly more precise sound quality on iOS (more calculations performed per second). On the other hand, unlike some AirPods Pro headphones and other Beats headphones, the Powerbeats Pro 2 do not integrate the U1 chip to be located more easily in the Location application.
Changes in substance, but also in form. The design of the earphones has been revised with a nickel-titanium alloy to make the hooks more flexible, more comfortable and better fixed on the ears. They are also 20% lighter. The case that contains them also displays smaller measurements to take up less space in the pocket.
Powerbeats Pro 2 pricing and availability
The Beats by Dre headphones are already available for 299.95 euros on the Apple website. They are available in obsidian black, ultraviolet, sand and electric orange.
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