Beats EP  Headphones Review

The Beats EP look like a cross between the Beats Solo3 Wireless and the Beats Mixr. They have a compact and sleek form factor that works for most and come in many color schemes to suit your taste and style. The relatively unique headband design makes them stand out a bit more, especially in other color schemes, as the metal of the hinge contrasts well with the color of the ear cups. However, the all-black variant is a bit more understated, subtle, and has a high-end appeal, which some may prefer.

The Beats EP are comfortable headphones, but like most on-ears, they're a bit tight on the head. The ear cups are decently well-padded, but the rigid swivel hinge design and relatively compact headband don't cater well to all head sizes and shapes. This puts enough pressure on the ears to cause fatigue during long listening sessions. However, they should be sufficiently comfortable for most listeners when used for a couple of hours. If you're looking for a pair of wired on-ear headphones that may be more comfortable for young listeners with smaller heads, take a look at the Mpow CH6.

These headphones have a simple and easy-to-use control scheme. They have a typical three-button setup that offers call/music, track skipping, and volume controls. The buttons are decently responsive, although the volume controls don't deliver much feedback. If you want on-ear headphones with better controls, take a look at the JBL Tune 660NC Wireless.

The Beats EP, like most on-ears, are a bit more breathable than over-ear designs but can still make your ears sweat during intense physical exercise. They mostly make the notch of your ears warmer but don't touch your outer ear, which stays relatively cool. However, the pressure caused by the tight fit may cause more discomfort over time than the temperature difference.

The Beats EP are relatively compact on-ear headphones that unfortunately don't fold for more portability. This makes them a bit more of a hassle to carry around on your person than other on-ears if you don't have a bag.

The Beats EP come with a pouch that should protect the headphones from minor scratches. Unfortunately, it won't shield them from water damage or hard falls as the pouch is very soft and permeable.

The Beats EP are decently well-built. The ear cups are dense, while the headband is flexible and made from a good combination of plastic and metal. They also don't have many moving parts since they don't fold into a more compact format like Beats Solo 2 Wireless or Beats Solo3 2018 Wireless. The entire frame isn't metal, though, which is less durable than some other on-ears, but they won't break from a couple of accidental drops. Unfortunately, the non-detachable cable is not replaceable and may wear over time, which reduces the EP's overall durability.

The Beats EP are stable on-ear headphones with a non-detachable cable that makes them less ideal for sports. They're tight enough to maintain a stable fit under most conditions, even while jogging and exercising. Unfortunately, the non-detachable cable can yank the headphones off your head if it gets tangled or hooked on something.

• Beats EP headphones
• Carrying pouch
• Manual

The frequency response consistency is just okay. Due to the closed-back and on-ear design, the bass is prone to inconsistencies across multiple re-seats, even on the same individual. The maximum variance at 20Hz is more than 9dB. The treble range's performance is a lot more consistent, though.

These headphones have very good bass. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is excellent. This, and the flat low-bass, ensures proper reproduction of thumps and rumbles. Mid-bass, which is responsible for the bulk of bass instruments and the punch of drums, is also quite flat and less than 2dB over our target. However, high-bass is hyped by 4.3dB, resulting in a bass that is deep and punchy, but slightly boomy.

Also, their bass delivery varies noticeably across users and is sensitive to the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. The response here represents the average bass response, and your experience may vary.

The Beats EP's mid accuracy is outstanding. The overall response is virtually flat and within 2dB of our target response. This results in clear, accurate, and detailed vocals and lead instruments.

These headphones' treble accuracy is very good. The overall response is slightly underemphasized, but it shouldn't be too noticeable. Vocals and lead instruments are slightly veiled, while sibilants like cymbals are present but a bit dull.

The Beat EP have excellent imaging. The weighted group delay is only 0.2, which is excellent. It can also be seen in the graph that the entire group delay is below our audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our unit were exceptionally well-matched. This results in the accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, footsteps, instruments) in the stereo field.

The Beats EP have a poor soundstage. This is mainly due to the closed-back and on-ear design. Good pinna (outer ear) interaction is key in creating a large and out-of-head soundstage, and since most on-ear headphones sit on the pinna, they can't fully activate its resonances. Overall, the soundstage is perceived as small and located inside the listener's head. Also, they won't sound as open and spacious as open-back on-ear headphones like the Grado SR60e/SR60.

The Beats EP's noise isolation is poor. These on-ear headphones isolate only passively using their ear cups; therefore, they don't reduce outside noise in the bass range, which is important for isolating the rumble of airplane and bus engines. In the mid-range, which is important for cancelling speech, they achieve a mediocre 8dB of isolation. In the treble range, which sharp sounds like S and Ts occupy, they reduce outside noise by almost 30dB, which is good.

Their leakage performance is okay. A significant portion of the leakage sits between 2kHz and 20kHz, which is a broad range. However, the overall level of leakage is low. The leakage shouldn't be audible to people around you unless you are in a very quiet environment (like an elevator) and blasting your music.

The Beats EP's microphone has a good recording quality. The LFE of 270Hz indicates a recorded/transmitted speech that is slightly thin. However, this won't have a significant effect on the comprehensibility of the speech. Also, the HFE (high-frequency extension) of 20kHz and the relatively flat response between LFE and HFE mean that speech sounds relatively present and natural.

The noise handling of the Beats EP's in-line microphone is mediocre. In our noise handling test, it achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 11dB, which means it has difficulty separating speech from ambient noise in moderately loud environments. If you're looking for a pair of wired-on ears with superior microphone noise handling, consider the Logitech Zone Wired, which have a boom mic that does a much better job of isolating speech from ambient noise.

These headphones are passive and have no battery life since they're wired. If you want a pair of wireless over-ear headphones with outstandingly long battery life, check out the JBL CLUB 700BT Wireless.

These headphones have no compatible app and no active features. If you want wireless headphones with a good app, then consider the Sennheiser HD 4.50.

The Beats EP are wired and don't have a Bluetooth connection. They have negligible latency because they have a wired connection. If you want a similar design from Beats that has a wireless Bluetooth connection, then consider either the Beats Solo2 Wireless or the Beats Solo3 Wireless.

The Beats EP have a 1/8" TRRS audio cable with an inline remote microphone that's compatible with the PS4 but not the Xbox One. This is most likely due to the iOS-specific audio cable.

The Beats EP don't have a dock. If you need a headset with a dock that also has a wired connection for gaming or watching movies, then consider the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017.