Beats Powerbeats Fit Review

Design

• Smaller design and case
• IPX4 rating
• Four ear-tip sizes

There’s not much here that differentiates the Powerbeats Fit from the Pit Pro. It still has the same sculpted boot appearance, with a wing-tip design that keeps the earbuds stationed in your ear, regardless of how rigorous your workouts are.

The earbud is a little smaller, and I’d wager that the reduction in bulk will help it fit into different-sized and shaped ears better. I’ve found the fit and comfort levels they offer to be fine – they haven’t come out during any runs or gym sessions I’ve used them.

Despite that, I do sense that they come slightly loose after a while, and that loosens the noise-cancelling seal needed. It’s the same matter I’ve run into with previous Beats headphones.

Like other Beats headphones, the Powerbeats Fit use physical buttons, and it’s a good choice because it provides a tactile response when pressing the control surface that confirms you’ve actually pressed it. Though, whenever I reposition the headphones, I have found that I accidentally press said buttons.

That charging case is smaller than before, so if you’re obsessed with size, this charging case should be able to go into your pockets with less of a bulge. Both the earbuds and the charging case are rated to IPX4, which isn’t as much as I’d expect, but enough to bat off some sweat and water.

Accessories include four ear-tips (extra small, small, medium and large) – you don’t get any wing-tips as they’re attached to the earbuds and can’t be swapped out. Colours come in Jet Black, Spark Orange (my favourite of the four), Gravel Grey, and Power Pink.

Battery Life

• Seven hours per charge
• No wireless charging

Beats say they’ve improved the battery life with the Powerbeats Fit, extending the stamina from six to seven hours per charge, and thirty hours in total (up from twenty-seven).

After a battery drain with the volume set to 50% over an hour, the Powerbeats Fit lost 12% of its charge. That rounds out to just over eight hours, better than Beats’ own claims, though not as good as the Powerbeats Pro 2, which, in my tests, got 10 hours per charge.

There’s no wireless charging support as there is on the Powerbeats Pro 2. A five-minute charge with the case provides another hour of playback.

Features

• Beats Android app
• H1 chip

Though Beats describes the Powerbeats Fit as being partisan as far as platform support goes, if you have an iOS device, you get more features and better integration.

On iOS you get Automatic Switching, which makes it easier to connect the Powerbeats Fit to any iOS device you have. There’s Audio Sharing, which allows you stream from an iPhone or iPad to a pair of Apple and Beats headphones at the same time. There’s also hands-free Siri voice control, Personalised Spatial Audio with head-tracking, and the Find My function if you lose the headphones.

Android users get the Beats App, and within it, you can customise controls and a few other aspects, use the Locate My Beats feature if they go missing, and perform a Fit Test to measure the seal (which you can also do on Apple devices).

All these features are powered through Apple’s onboard H1 chip – less powerful than the H2 chip that’s in the AirPods Pro 2 and Powerbeats Pro 2. Wireless support is Bluetooth 5 (or Class 1 Wireless Bluetooth), with streaming support for SBC and AAC.

The feature set here is bog-standard, and though the Beats Android app allows some customisation, such as toggling Automatic Ear Detection on or off or customising the controls to add Volume Control, the scope of this customisation is limited. There’s no EQ option, no means of affecting noise-cancellation other than turning it on and off. Given we’re a number of years into this Beats reboot, the feature list is getting stale and uninspiring.

Noise-cancelling

• Better than the Fit Pro
• Transparency mode

You, dear reader, and I, would expect Beats to bring about upgrades to the noise-cancellation, and the PowerBeats do satisfy in that sense. The performance is a big step over the older model.

That doesn’t mean that all the noise is suppressed, as walking around a large Tesco store it got rid of the ambient noise and people chattering; but it wasn’t completely quiet. There’s still some noise that evades the Powerbeats Fit’s microphones, but what you get is a strong performance. If you’re using them in a gym, you can get on with your workouts in relative peace away from the whirring machines and people grunting.

With the Transparency mode, I can hear my surroundings in sparkling clarity, though it’s with the caveat that there’s a slight noise present whenever I turn the mode on.

Sound Quality

• Clearer, more detail than Fit Pro
• Better high and low frequency performance

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting a big boost over the Fit Pro, but having compared the newer model to the older one, I am surprised by just how big the gulf is. The Powerbeats Fit is a significant step up from the Fit Pro.

The word that best describes the difference between the two headphones is presence, and the Powerbeats Fit have more of it across the frequency range than the Fit Pro.

For one, the soundstage is bigger; the way the soundstage is described brings instruments and vocals closer to rather than further away, as it is on the Fit Pro. The Powerbeats Fit are louder, more energetic in a way that makes the Fit Pro sound subdued.

GoGo Penguin’s Ascent is provided with more presence (there’s that word) in terms of clearing the highs, which are sharper, clearer and more detailed. I can hear more detail within Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade across the board. The level of insight, of what’s revealed in a track with the Powerbeats Fit comfortably beats the Fit Pro’s slightly hazy sense of detail.

Bass in Katy B’s Katy is on a Mission punches with more weight, clarity and presence. The improved clarity of the bassline gives the track more energy and pep, making it a more workout-friendly companion to go with your workouts in the process.

Vocal clarity is improved, but it’s mainly the size of the vocals that’s better. The Fit Pro makes vocals sound quiet and reserved; the Powerbeats Fit brings them forward with more clarity – the pocket in the centre of the track simply has more presence.

Should you buy it?