Beats Pill (2024) review: small speaker, big attitude

People usually associate Beats with two products: the Solo headphones and the Pill portable speakers. The company recently updated the former, so it was only a matter of time to release the updated version of the beloved Beats Pill.

It was teased for a little while, so we knew the new Pill would come with a lanyard. However, we didn’t know how the speaker would sound, how much it would weigh, its connectivity, or how it compared to the best Bluetooth speakers currently available on the market.

I’ve been testing and reviewing all the new Beats releases for the last year and a bit, so I expected a lot from the Pill. Considering how important the speaker is for Beats, I knew they would pull out all the stops so the Pill would hit hard when it landed.

And you know what? The Beats Pill delivers. It’s sexy, loud and highly portable; it’s also robust and plays well with both Apple and android devices. It even doubles up as a power bank for your smartphones and headphones. Want to know more? Read my full Beats Pill review below.

Beats Pill (2024) review

Price and availability

The Beats Pill launched in June 2024 and is available to order now at Beats and Apple in three distinct colours—Matte Black, Statement Red, and Champagne Gold—all for a competitive price of $149.99/ £149.99 (AU price TBC).

For comparison, the original Beats by Dr Dre Pill, which launched in 2013 (!), was sold for £144.99, while 2014’s Beats Pill XL cost £269.99, so the new Pill is very competitive. Of course, the market has changed a lot in the last 10+ years, and the competition is fiercer, but still – the Beats Pill is seriously affordable for what it has to offer.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 21.9 x 7.1 x 7.0 cm/ 8.6 x 2.8 x 2.75 in
• Weight: 681g/ 24oz
• Durability: IP67-rated
• Battery life: up to 24 hours
• Fast charging: yes, 10-minute charge = 2 hours of playback
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, Class 1 Bluetooth, USB-C

Design and build quality

One of the good things about releasing products as rarely as Beats did in the last decade is that the difference between the predecessor and the current product is quite significant. Today’s Beats Pill is very different from 2013’s Beats by Dr Dre Pill.

The company redesigned the speaker from the ground up, keeping only the shape of the Pill intact. The new Pill is lighter than the Pill+, the speaker's closest predecessor, by 10% (Pill: 24oz, Pill+: 26.4oz). Surprisingly, it’s ever so slightly larger, adding a couple of millimetres here and there.

One of the big physical upgrades is the Beats Pill's dust and water rating. The new model is IP67-rated, which means it can cope with some rough handling, including exposure to dust and water—not a bad feature for a portable speaker.

The Pill's styling is more subtle, with a smaller logo on the grill. Well, I'm not sure how subtle the bright red colourway is, but it seems Beats didn’t add many unnecessary trims to the speaker.

The cover is made of soft silicone, which is smooth to the touch. The grill looks more solid; you can’t really see the speakers hidden behind it. The four buttons are depressed and easy to locate, and there is only a single USB-C port at the back. Understated design at its best.

Beats also considered that people don’t often place portable speakers on plinths, so the Pill is now tilted up 20%. This is excellent for people like me who carry their Pills around and drop them on the desk/table when they work.

As mentioned above, the Pill added a lanyard, making it easier to carry the speaker around, even with your hands full. Do you usually keep your Pill in a prominent position and don’t like the lanyard dangling around? No problem, as it can be removed if not needed.

Features

Before I explain how the Beats Pill sounds, I wanted to discuss the speaker's features. First and foremost, you can connect two Beats Pills, for example, when you want to play music in two rooms simultaneously. This is called Amplify mode.

You can also connect two speakers and turn them into left and right speakers for a stereo listening experience. This is called Stereo Mode. Admittedly, not quite Sonos levels of multiroom functionality, but a nice addition to a comparatively affordable speaker.

The Beats Pill can be used for phone calls. Beats claims the new Pill leverages machine learning and the brand’s proprietary noise-learning algorithm to help suppress unwanted noise around the speaker and better focus on the user’s voice.

Better still, the Pill enables full duplex functionality, so both sides can converse with the speaker, suppressing unwanted ambient noise. For transparency, I haven’t had the chance to explore this feature fully, but I will update this review once I do.

In line with the latest cohort of Beats products, the new Pill delivered seamless connectivity with both Apple and Android devices. This includes one-touch pairing and Find My on Apple and Find My Device on Android.

You can connect the Beats Pill to an audio source via USB-C and enjoy lossless audio with a max sample rate of 48 kHz / 24-bit while charging the speaker! Not bad.

Finally, and quite impressively, the Beats Pill has charge-out capability for any battery-powered device via the same USB-C connector.

Beats says the Pill automatically supplies power to smaller devices (e.g., smartphones or headphones) and determines whether to draw power from or supply power to larger devices like tablets or laptops.

This feature can be reversed (e.g. you can charge your laptop’s battery with the Pill) or turned off if preferred.

Sound performance

In its marketing materials, Beats emphasised the power of its portable speaker. To achieve a more robust sound, Beats’ sound engineers reimagined the bass performance and completely redesigned the woofer system.

The new single racetrack neodymium woofer boasts 53% more pistonic area and a stronger N50H magnet grade, enabling 28% more motor force and 90% greater air displacement compared to its predecessor, the Pill+. This is said to minimise distortion with 16 radial ribs and venting in the woofer basket.

The new tweeter design complements the woofer, which is housed separately for stability and features a larger rear cavity to optimise crossover and improve mid-range and treble clarity. To accompany the new woofer architecture, the design moved from a dual-tweeter system to a single tweeter.

Moving from a dual-woofer, dual-tweeter design to a single-woofer and tweeter system might sound like a downgrade. Luckily, the new Beats Pill sounds just as powerful as the Pill+ used to – and then some.

Before testing the unit, I listened to music on my headphones (my current favourite is the Beats Solo 4) or just on the phone like a caveman. I often used to associate portable speakers with people blasting music on the streets (absolute idiots); not anymore, though!

Listening to audio on the Beats Pill is like opening the floodgates to a more immersive music experience. You hear the same songs as always, but they sound better, which makes you move and almost appreciate them more.

If you're a fan of Beats’ peppy, energetic sound profile, you’ll feel right at home listening to music on the Pill. There is no distortion – at least I couldn’t hear any – and the power is just overwhelming. Considering how small the speaker is, I was impressed with the clarity and robustness of the sound.

The speaker’s dynamic sound profile caters well to a wide range of music genres, from pop to hip-hop, and it provides a satisfying listening experience with detailed vocals and distinct instrument separation.

Of course, the Beats Pill won’t replace a full Dolby surround system, but it has enough oomph to help you enjoy at-home listening experiences, whether it’s music, gaming or movies.

Stereo Mode

If you have two Beats Pills, you can connect them to play music in Amplify or Stereo mode. The names of these modes give a slight hint of what they do: Amplify enhances the sound (or allows you to play the same music in two different rooms), whereas Stereo mode splits the two units into left and right speakers.

The new Pill has a powerful sound on its own, but adding another Pill really emphasises how robust the volume output is. It's an added bonus that you can kind of use the two-speaker setup as a sort of Sonos speaker system, bringing the same party into another room.

Pairing the two speakers is easy enough; all you have to do is press the centre button on both until the speakers' light turns blue. Once connected, the Pills will go into Amplify mode. To switch to Stereo mode, press the middle and volume up buttons until the blue light flashes, indicating the mode change.

The setup is not without caveats. There is no way to see which mode the speakers are in on the phone (unless you're an Android user, in which case you'll be able to see it in the app). On iPhones, you can't even see the other speaker in the settings; the only indication is the blue light on the top of the speaker.

It would have been great to include two more lights and just an 'S' and an 'A' lettering underneath them to clarify what's going on with the two Pills. Alternatively, iPhone users could use the Beats Pill app for easier controls. It's not a major issue, and definitely something that can be amended by a simple OTA software update.

Battery life

The Beats Pill+ had a 12-hour battery life; the new Beats Pill doubles that. That’s a full 24 hours of uninterrupted listening, even at considerably high volumes. Of course, if you run the speakers near full volume, this might reduce.

I’m yet to fully drain the battery, as I accidentally topped up the Pill once when I connected it to my Macbook, trying out the USB-C connectivity. Thanks to its quick charge feature, which adds two hours of music playback with just 10 minutes of charge time, I ended up replenishing the battery quite a lot.

It’s great that you hardly ever have to charge the battery of the Beats Pill, and it’s even better that you can take it with you anywhere, use it to listen to music all day, and also top up your phone using the USB-C charge-out functionality.

Verdict

The Beats Pill made me appreciate portable speakers a lot more, thanks to its vibrant and lively audio performance, compact form factor, and impeccable build quality. It’s the perfect update over 2015’s Pill+ and offers a lot more bang for your buck for a lot less money than its predecessor was sold for.

And that’s important; today’s portable speaker market is more saturated than it was 10 years ago, so the fact that the Beats Pill feels as premium as it is without the hefty price tag makes it all the more appealing for Beats users, old and new.

Plus, similar to the latest Beats offerings, the speaker’s operating system compatibility opens up the Beats audio experience to a whole new crowd. Don’t miss out on this, people, especially not at this price point!

Also consider

The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 is a compact yet powerful Bluetooth speaker known for its 360-degree sound and deep bass. Similar to the Beats Pill, it features an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance but offers only up to 13 hours of battery life. Its unique "Outdoor Boost" mode enhances audio for open-air environments. Read our full Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 review.

The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 2nd Gen is a premium portable Bluetooth speaker renowned for its luxurious design and impressive sound quality. It features True360 omnidirectional sound, up to 18 hours of battery life, and robust dust and waterproofing (IP67). It includes integrated Alexa for voice control and seamless connectivity. Read our full Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 2nd Gen review.