Solo Pro: Beats by Dre’s latest noise cancelling headphones

Beats by Dr. Dre today announced Solo Pro, its first on-ear, noise-cancelling headphones

Beats promised its most advanced acoustic technologies to date, as well as upgrades to ergonomic features and comfort too. Notably, this is Beats’ first-ever on-ear headphone featuring ‘Pure Adaptive Noise Cancelling’. Beats claims the noise cancelling tech uses algorithms to to monitor and adjust to your listening environment while block ambient noise.

Related: Best Headphones Deals for October

Apple Audio Sharing and Transparency features have been added too. When enabled, Transparency sees the Solo Pro headphones activate external microphones. This blends the noise of the outside world with what you’re listening to, meaning you’ll hear the bell on an approaching bicycle as well as your podcast. That’s a useful feature if your daily walking route crosses a busy road or two.

Beats has also developed an intuitive control system with the Solo Pro. Unfolding them powers them up, and you can turn them off by folding them back up. Neat.

Controls on your right earcup are for handling calls and playback. On the left cup, you can swap between Transparency and Pure ANC. If reaching for the ear cup sounds too taxing, Siri voice control is available too.

Related: Best noise cancelling headphones

Powered by an Apple H1 chip, which Beats say provides a faster and more stable wireless connection, it’s compatible with iOS and Android devices.

Luke Wood, president of Beats by Dre, said: “The Solo form factor is incredibly popular, with over 30 million sold to date. Beats created Solo Pro to bring much needed innovation to the on-ear headphone market. With phenomenal acoustics, multiple listening modes and a progressive design, Solo Pro joins recently launched Powerbeats Pro as part of the next generation of Beats products.”

A ‘Lightning cable’ is included for fast charging, and Beats claim you can get up to 3 hours of full-featured playback from a 10-minute charge.

Pharell Williams had his say on the new headphones, thanks to his long term partnership with the brand: “I’ve been along for the ride since Beats started and have collaborated on several projects throughout the last ten years. As a music producer and artist, I’m so thrilled to have contributed to the design and curated a dynamic range of colours for such an innovative and sound-focused headphone. I hope the audio experience inspires creativity and focus in you as it does for me, and I look forward to sharing our global campaign soon.”

Solo Pro headphones go on sale in the UK on the 30th of October for £269.95.