Review: Beats Pill (2024)

It’s been a while since I’ve thought about the Beats Pill. If you’re like me, you probably lost track of the last version, 2015’s Pill+, in the horde of competitors from brands like JBL, Ultimate Ears, Bose, Sony, and many others. In its absence, the Pill’s would-be rivals added new features, great performance, and increasingly weatherproof designs. Now, with Beats firmly under Apple's umbrella, the Pill is back and better than ever.

You’d expect a speaker to greatly improve after nine years off the map, but this new Pill isn’t just good, it’s a top contender. Rocking a heartier design, great features, and tons of battery life, it’s got plenty to offer when it comes to amenities. Most importantly, the posh capsule puts out big, fun, and energetic sound at a manageable $150.

It’s not the most agile or rugged speaker in its class, and there are a few small caveats to note, but after spending several days with the Pill as my sole sonic companion, it's already on my shortlist of the best Bluetooth speakers.

Elegantly Burly

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The latest Pill looks a lot like its predecessors, including their signature smooth curves and capsule-like design, but Beats has made some notable tweaks to both the style and substance. The most obvious upgrade is IP67 dust and waterproof certification (the previous Pill had no IP rating). That matches most of the top speakers in its class for protection against sand and surf, including the ability to be dunked in shallow water for short periods. There's also a 20-degree upward turn for the grille and drivers, aimed at firing the sound more directly to your ears for improved clarity.

That’s important since, unlike competitors from brands like JBL, Ultimate Ears, and plenty of copycats, the Pill’s rounded sides prevent it from sitting vertically. The feet on its contoured bottom keep it from rolling off your desk or table, but also prevent the speaker from facing upward on flat surfaces. You do have the option to hang it by the removable nylon cable, and when I took it out in the yard it was easy enough to throw it on its backside facing up for a clear path to my ears.

Under the grille are upgraded dual drivers, including a reengineered tweeter designed to reduce distortion, and a larger racetrack-style woofer that Beats claims can push up to 90 percent more air than the Pill+ for cleaner, more authoritative bass.

At 24 ounces, the Pill isn’t full-on onerous, but it is among the heftiest options in its class, outweighing both the JBL Flip 6 and Ultimate Ears Boom 4. Weight aside, the design looks and feels premium, with a silky smooth rubberized top and backside and a clean front grille. It’s especially dashing in Champagne Gold (it also comes in Matte Black or Statement Red).

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Its stout backside and front grille provide some rugged durability, but as I discovered on a recent camping trip, it’s not quite as resilient to drops or bumps as the toughest options. While jamming tunes on a cabin deck, a friend accidentally knocked the Pill off a 4-foot railing, sending it bouncing off a couple of stairs. The performance wasn’t affected, but the grille gained some fresh battle scars in the form of dual dents at its edges. Back home I tried a similar stairwell drop test with the JBL Flip 5 and Ultimate Ears Boom 4, both of which walked away mostly unscathed without any noticeable dents.

Somewhat ironically, part of the reason I placed the Pill in such a precarious position is its relative lack of setup positions compared to those more versatile rivals. It's certainly robust enough for outdoor adventures–just pick your setup spot better than I did.

Fully Loaded

Beats packed the new Pill with a full suite of features, including some I never even considered, like a USB-C digital input that lets you wire in high-resolution audio à la the Beats Studio Pro (7/10, WIRED Recommends). As before, you can pair the speaker with another Pill to “amplify” the sound or spread them out as a stereo pair, which works well but unsurprisingly doesn't match similarly priced desktop models. Class 1 Bluetooth provides excellent wireless range (I got up to 130 feet with line of sight before cutouts), particularly helpful for those times when you wander away from the party with your phone.

Other extras include one-touch pairing and even Find My functionality for iOS or Android devices, a built-in speakerphone, access to your phone’s voice assistant, and the ability to flip the USB-C port to output power for charging other devices. You don’t get a 3.5-mm input for sourcing legacy audio devices, and there’s no way to EQ the sound, but neither of those are features I regularly reach for in a speaker designed mostly for ambiance.

I have some minor points of contention with the Pill’s control system. It's simple for tasks like play/pause, song skip, volume, and calling, but going deeper sometimes demands too much “multi” from the multifunction keys. When I first tried powering down, I kept holding the power key past the required “.8 seconds,” putting the speaker in pairing mode. You’ve got to use a quick tap for a battery check, or tap three times to allow the USB-C port to charge other devices. iPhone users have to go through some center-key hullabaloo to get two Pills to pair up, while Android users can connect them in the Beats app. None of this is a huge deal, but you may need to look online since some controls aren’t outlined in the quick guide.

The Pill’s mondo battery life steps in to ease those minor control inconveniences. With up to 24 hours of playback at half volume, the speaker doubles its predecessor and cheaper options like the Flip, while easily outlasting the latest UE Boom (15 hours) and pricier JBL Charge (20 hours). I got even more play time in testing, since I rarely raised the Pill's volume above 30 percent indoors.

Snazzy Sound

In true Beats fashion, the Pill takes a calculated extremist approach to its sound signature. The bass is big and brawny, while the treble is snappy and vibrant for a performance that’s as slick, shiny, and polished as the speaker itself. At first, I thought it was a too sculpted and snazzy for my taste, but maybe due in part to Apple’s takeover, there’s a resigned tact that keeps things from getting overly boomy down low or brittle up high.

After I settled in, I began to really enjoy the Pill’s affected sound for its ability to expose instruments and effects with both clarity and power. The top side preserves lush detail and impressive sonic depth across genres, while the full-bodied bass brings a brazen force that warms up your favorite tracks for a sweet ride. My wife and I couldn’t help but notice the speaker buzzing warmly across surfaces like the picnic table at our campsite, adding some bounce to our breakfast.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

You’ll find a similarly groovy grit to distorted electric guitars, a gleaming gold cut to acoustic instruments, warm yet present vocals, and whistling high-register effects. Given its dynamic response, I had expected softer acoustic music to carry a sharp edge, but even instruments like violin and mandolin are handled with care and fluidity.

In A/B testing, the Pill's sound was more forward and aggressive than the smoother JBL Flip 5 I use as my daily portable, but that lends better clarity to tougher productions, while the Pill's bass is both bigger and more focused. The UE Boom 4 is more creamy in the midrange, and its 360-degree soundstage is more expansive, but the Pill once again provides better punch and body in the lower frequencies and more crispness up top.

Sometimes that crispness feels overdone, especially when rendering the lighter percussion of my favorite Yacht Rock or '80s playlists. It was also brighter than I’d like during some phone calls, though callers gave the microphone high marks, saying it sounded like I was on my phone.

It all evens out for a full and refreshingly fun performance. There may be no perfect portable–I sure haven’t found one yet–but even considering its penchant for brashness and collecting a dent or two under duress, the new Pill is impressively well rounded (no pun intended).

With crazy-long battery life, good looks, great features, and dynamic sound, this resurrected Pill finally lives up to the hype.