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It’s Amazon’s Big Spring Sale—not quite Prime Day, but as close as you’re going to get in March. But while Prime Day usually includes a bunch of discounts of Apple devices, including the ubiquitous AirPods, they aren’t included among the retailer’s Spring Sale offers.
But that’s fine, because the Apple-made headphones I would actually recommend buying over the AirPods Pro actually are in the Big Spring Sale: the similarly full-featured, great-sounding Beats Fit Pro, which are currently $30 off.
The Pros were actually my second pair of Beats-branded earbuds. I started out with a set of their cheaper cousins, the Beats Studio Buds, which offer similarly strong active noise cancelling (ANC) and have earned decent marks from the likes of PCMag (especially for their price point—they’re also part of the Big Spring Sale, and currently $99—$50 off the usual price). But when I left that pair behind at a hotel and needed to replace them, I decided to upgrade to the Beats Fit Pro for a few reasons:
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They have quality sound and good ANC. As our pals at PC Mag noted, they offer “deep bass and crisp highs with above-average noise cancellation.” I’m not an audiophile and I mostly listen to podcasts, but my tunes (mostly streamed from Amazon Music) sound pretty good too.
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They provide a snug fit. I apparently have gaping earholes, because most earbuds fall right out of my ears at the slightest movement. Beats Fit Pro’s wingtips and silicone tips provide a snug fit that keeps them comfortably in my ears, even when I’m sweaty.
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They have Apple’s H1 chip. This was the main reason I upgraded: The Studio Buds don’t have Apple’s H1 headphone chip, which means they can’t take advantage of many of the features that make AirPods so cool, like in-ear detection, device switching, and Find My functionality. The Beats Fit Pro can do all of that.
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They aren’t AirPods. I get that AirPods are their own thing, and their look has become something of a brand of its own. But I’ve always thought they were kind of stupid looking. The Beats Fit Pro lack those dangling white stems that are the AirPods’ signature, and I like them a lot better for it.
I’m not including this on my list of reasons, but the Beats Fit Pro also come in a variety of pretty colors, and four of them are part of the Big Spring Sale. If you go with AirPods, you only have the choice between white and white.
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