The Beats 360 are better than the Studio Pro in almost every way, but there is a reason why the old cans remain my top choice for long-haul flights

I came away from my Beats 360 review thinking they were some of the best headphones the brand has made in years.

They sound excellent, the active noise cancellation is much stronger than before, the battery life is impressive, and their secure fit finally makes working out in premium over-ear Beats feel like proper running headphones.

And while the new cans sound better than the Beats Studio Pro, I would still choose the older, cheaper headphones for long-haul flights for one simple reason.

Simply put, the Beats 360 has no wired audio connection, which means I can't use them for in-flight entertainment, forcing me to use the terrible cabled earbuds they give you on flights. Boo-hoo.

Newer isn’t always better

That omission makes sense when you look at how Beats designed the 360. The headphones use what the brand calls a "true wireless architecture," with separate batteries, antennas and processing components in each earcup.

This approach lets Beats reduce the hardware passing through the headband and optimise overall balance and fit. The result is a comparatively lightweight, secure headphone that feels much better suited to exercise and all-day use.

Conversely, the slightly heavier Studio Pro offers a 3.5mm analogue input, which might sound increasingly old-fashioned in 2026, but it remains incredibly useful on an aircraft.

Plug the included cable into the entertainment system in the seat in front of you, and you can listen to films and TV through your own headphones instead of relying on the usually dreadful pair handed out by the airline.

And there's an even bigger advantage! When you connect Studio Pro using the 3.5mm analogue cable, the headphones don't need battery power to play, which is enormously useful on a long-haul flight.

ANC won't work indefinitely because that still relies on the headphones' electronics, but basic audio playback through the cable does.

If the battery dies halfway across the Atlantic, or you've simply forgotten to charge the headphones before leaving home, you can still plug them into the seat and carry on watching.

With the Beats 360, once the battery is gone, so is your audio. Admittedly, the 32-hour battery life means that's unlikely on a single flight, but that's not really the point.

Sure, some newer aircraft and airlines now offer Bluetooth pairing, but it's far from universal. For most flights, the seat socket remains the easiest way to use your own headphones.

You can buy a Bluetooth transmitter and plug that into the aircraft's headphone jack, of course, but that's another gadget to remember, charge and carry around.

The Beats 360 is the more advanced product in almost every other respect. It has Beats' newer fourth-generation proprietary chipset, stronger ANC, interchangeable cushions, IPX4 sweat and water resistance, and longer ANC battery life.

So for commuting, exercise and everyday use, I'd take the 360. For a 14-hour flight from London to Tokyo, I'll still pack the Studio Pro.

Sometimes the boring feature matters most

It's easy to dismiss wired headphones as something the industry should have left behind years ago. For phones and everyday listening, I'd probably agree, as I almost never plug headphones into my smartphone anymore.

However, a simple 3.5mm socket gives Studio Pro flexibility the Beats 360 doesn't have, and analogue playback without battery power makes it especially well suited to long trips.

None of this makes me like the Beats 360 any less. They're still the Beats headphones I'd choose for almost everything else. But until in-flight Bluetooth becomes genuinely universal, the supposedly old-fashioned Studio Pro will keep one very important place in my bag.

Beats just permanently reduced the Studio Pro's price, so if you like cabled listening, now is the time to get one.