Beats Studio Pro vs Bose QuietComfort 45

It would be fair to assume that Beats and Bose are quite different at a glance. One company is known for releasing products in eye-catching colors to appeal to the “youth” market and collaborates with celebrities and influencers, and the other produces utilitarian-looking black or white headphones aimed squarely at corporate business travelers.

However, the two have more in common than you might think: both tend to take their time between releases and stick to the formula once they have a winning design. So unsurprisingly, the Beats Studio Pro look very much like the basic Beats headphones that have endured since 2006. Similarly, you can argue that the Bose QuietComfort 45 outwardly appear nearly identical to their predecessors.

But perhaps the lesson here is that it’s what they have on the inside that counts. Let’s see how these two sets of active noise canceling (ANC) headphones compare.

Editor’s note: this article was published on August 10, 2023, and is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

The short version of the design and comfort analysis is that the QuietComfort 45 feel way better to wear than the Studio Pro. Unless your noggin and ears are smaller than average, the Studio Pro sport measly 59 x 40mm ear cups, which are shallow and aren’t going to fit many ears. That said, the Studio Pro fold down, weigh only 270g, and include a decent soft storage case. Long-haired listeners, be careful that the Studio Pro headphones don’t snag your hair. Lest this comes across as totally negative, the Studio Pro still feel like Beats headphones if you really love that feel.

You get a USB-C cable, headphone cable, and bag. Unusually, the Beats Studio Pro can play music using a USB-C connection. This USB-C listening capability means you can listen to uncompressed music over a digital connection. In addition, with compatible devices and media, you can enjoy head-tracked Spatial Audio on the Studio Pro.

As for the QuietComfort 45, they feel better than the Beats because Bose took the time to iron out the design with previous iterations in the QuietComfort line. It’s in the name, so clearly, comfort is a priority with these headphones. While the Studio Pro weigh 270g, the QuietComfort 45 shave that down at 240g. The clamping force is more tolerable, and the QuietComfort 45 fit a greater range of ear sizes and shapes than the Studio Pro. In the package, you get a travel case, a USB-A to USB-C cable (for charging only), and a 3.5mm-to-2.5mm TRS cable.

Both the Beats Studio Pro and Bose QuietComfort 45 use buttons for controls. The Beats implementation of tactile buttons is not well executed because you can hear the buttons loudly in your ear every time you use them. Also, the force required to activate the buttons can break the seal around your ear.

If you listen to the Studio Pro with the USB-C DAC, you can directly access EQ presets via the button. That’s handy, but you need to take off the headphones to see which setting you’re on and have audio playing to get the EQ to change.

Beats Studio Pro controls:

The QuietComfort 45, which also use buttons, better places them so you don’t hear (or really feel) the click. The Studio Pro buttons sit smack in the middle of the housing, so you essentially press the button against your ear. With the QuietComfort 45, the buttons reside along the sides, so you will likely hear or feel the actuation.

Bose QuietComfort 45 controls:

Only the Studio Pro allows users to directly control EQ via the headphones, but that’s still limited to when the headphones are connected to a USB-C cable for playback. You still have the apps to access many of the features on both headphones.

The Beats Studio Pro work directly in your iOS device’s system settings, like Apple headphones, or you can download the Beats app for Android. Some folks will prefer controlling the Studio Pro via their device, rather than endure the loud noises of buttons in front of your ears. Functionally, the app is pretty minimal: listening modes, updates, battery life, Find My, and some command remapping is there, but that’s most of it. The app is basically a set-and-forget situation for most users. However, you can access Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio with head tracking on the Studio Pro, whereas the Bose QC 45 don’t have head tracking compabilities. Regardless of your device, your source and the media must be spatial audio-compatible.

Accompanying the Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones is the Bose Music app (iOS/Android). If you already have Bose products, they conveniently all use the same app. Similar to the Beats app, the features consist mainly of listening modes (weirdly, you can only choose between noise canceling and transparency), updates, and a simple equalizer. Rather irritatingly, the app requires permissions that include things like location history and call and message history. Without it, you won’t get to assign a voice assistant or gain updates. Bose tends to update its products with significant firmware improvements, which can take a while (like 20 minutes or longer).

One of the standout features of the Beats Studio Pro is that you can listen to music over USB-C. The headphones boast a built-in DAC, so you don’t need to consider unnecessary conversions between digital and analog or Bluetooth compression. The onboard EQ presets only work when using USB-C. This also makes them readily compatible with products that ditched the headphone jack but kept the USB-C port. More pedestrian are the AAC and SBC codecs transmitting over Bluetooth 5.3.

The Bose QuietComfort 45 use a headphone jack and the same Bluetooth codec suite as the Studio Pro. You don’t get USB-C listening, and the QuietComfort 45 use Bluetooth 5.1. The Beats Studio Pro wins out here.

According to our standardized testing, the Beats Studio Pro lasts 31 hours, 25 minutes to a full charge. While still no slouch, the Bose QuietComfort 45 reaches 24 hours, 49 minutes under the same conditions. You might stretch out the Studio Pro’s battery life by turning noise canceling off, but there’s no standard listening mode available on the QuietComfort 45.

The latest Beats Studio Pro certainly improve upon older Beats headphones’ isolation and ANC performance, but it’s a closer match against the QuietComfort 45. Isolation is quite good on the Studio Pro, blocking up to 50dB at 6kHz. The noise canceling works pretty consistently on low-pitched to midrange environmental noises, filtering 30dB at roughly 275Hz.

Similarly, the Bose QuietComfort 45 block just shy of 50dB at 5500Hz. At 500Hz, the QuietComfort 45 ANC removes 35dB of noise, and the ANC removes more of the lowest-pitched noises than the Studio Pro. In any case, both do a great job of keeping you separated from the world compared to the aged Beats Studio3 Wireless, for instance. However, neither of these headphones can compete with the Apple AirPods Max noise cancelation even if the isolation of high-pitched sounds is better on both.

If you listen to the Beats Studio Pro via the USB-C connection, you can’t use the ANC or transparency mode while playing music. This is a strange quirk.

Set against our headphone preference curve, both the Studio Pro and QuietComfort 45 frequency responses show they supply a good amount of low-end and scoop the mids a touch more than we’d like. The distinction is in the treble region, where both exaggerate — the Beats to a lesser degree than the Bose headphones. On the Studio Pro, the treble ramps up most significantly above 5kHz. The QuietComfort 45, on the other hand, boost treble around 6300Hz and significantly in the uppermost frequencies.

It looks like the Studio Pro sounds better, so let’s also consider the included equalizers on these headphones. Somewhat disappointingly, the Studio Pro only have EQ for when you listen using the USB-C connection. You get three presets. None of them get much closer to our preferred frequency response.

For the best sound, the Bose QuietComfort 45 get wins with the caveat that you use the Bose Music equalizer. You can drop the Bass to -5 and Treble to -10 to get very close to our headphone preference curve. In sum, the Beats Studio Pro sound better by default, but the Bose QuietComfort 45 sound the best if you use the app’s equalizer with our settings.

Do the Beats Studio Pro or Bose QuietComfort 45 have a better microphone?

Most noticeable from the get go is that the Beats Studio Pro mic has a very low sensitivity. Besides rolling off some highs, the mic sounds okay in ideal conditions. With the introduction of environmental noise, the Studio Pro mics tend to capture most of it. Likely the biggest issue is still the overall low output.

The Bose QuietComfort 45 mics sound mostly fine, if a little muffled at times. They do an okay job of filtering noisy streets, but as always, neither of these headphones give you the same results as gaming headsets with boom mics.

Beats Studio Pro microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Beats Studio Pro sell for about $349. For $329, you can also pick up the Bose QuietComfort 45, but usually, you can find these for less money.

Due to overall comfort surpassing the Studio Pro, the Bose QuietComfort 45 are the better pick for most people. This isn’t to suggest the Beats Studio Pro are bad headphones (they aren’t), but besides USB-C listening and extra six or so hours of battery life, most of the features are similar enough that we’d rather you stay comfy. Unless your head and ears are smaller than average, attaining the proper seal around your ears and avoiding the tight clamp of the Studio Pro is tricky.

Otherwise, both headphones use buttons for controls, but the QuietComfort 45 have these placed in a less intrusive spot. Both use the same Bluetooth codecs, and their frequency responses sound similar by default. Take five minutes to set up the equalizer on the Bose; they will sound great.

We love to see the USB-C listening capabilities on the Beats Studio Pro, but you can’t have ANC running simultaneously. Similarly, it’s strange that you can’t access a standard listening mode on the Bose QuietComfort 45, but we’ll take ANC over nothing. Still, if you want uncompressed audio, both headphones have headphone jacks.