Beoplay H8i

Edited Feedback:My initial feedback was 1 star because I received a faulty piece. My headphone's built-in proximity sensor was not working so the headphones didn't auto-stop playback when I removed them and resumed when I put them back on. I returned the headphone and received a quick refund from Amazon.New Feedback: (Changed from 1 star to 5 stars)I bought a new pair from Band & Olufsen London showroom. I am very impressed with the headphone qualityPros:1. It is lightweight and looks nice. The black color makes a style statement.2. Proximity sensor works fine so you can auto-play / pause when you remove and put them back.3. I use Apple Watch to change tracks or vol control etc. so not much fancy about touch control buttons on H9i.4. Bluetooth range is really good, no drops.5. Simultaneously connects to my MacBook and iPhone.6. Two mic makes a difference when you are on call. I tried talking long hours on office conference calls and my sound was crystal clear and I can hear my colleagues with ease and take short walks in the house without dropping the call.7. Transparency mode works well when I wanted to hear bus or train announcements during daily travel without removing the headphones.8. Active noise canceling is heaven. I checked it on Jubilee Line underground train in London and then in Stratford Westfield Mall (London). I was very impressed with the noise canceling feature.9. Battery life is very good and there is an option to use the cable in case you run out of juice.10. Sound quality is awesome. I enjoyed my Spotify playlists and varieties of music (folk, piano, bass, cello, classical music) for long hours without irritation. As mentioned earlier, it is very lightweight, the ear pads are very comfortable and put no pressure on ears. They are made up of good quality leather that gives a soft comfortable feel.11. I tried Active Noise Cancelling without music on and to my surprise, there is no hiss or annoying mechanical sound, so I would call it truly ANC headphones.Cons:1. I am not a fan of BeoPlay app. I like Jaybird music app (I have got Jaybird Freedom 2 sports headphone for running and their app is awesome)

B&O. Shed loads of money. Noise cancelling. On-ear. What's not to love?Well, for me, quite a lot.I wanted to love these, but actually hated them. They look good, but on the head they stick out too much and are very uncomfortable. I am tall, but fairly "normal" sized, but these phones do not extend far enough to reach my ears without putting too much pressure on the top of my head. The extension is really quite small.I hate over-ear 'phones, so these seemed to be mana from heaven, as on-ear, bluetooth, with noise cancelling, an ideal replacement for my ageing Bose QC 3. Fat chance. Still, as ever, the Bose QC 3 are way and above the best on-ear NC headphones ever made - but without bluetooth!So, back to the review.Good, but not great sound, clunky controls, I really cannot see how these get so many good reviews. I found the sound muffled, and the app did not give much in the way of control of the sound - form over function (as often the case with B&O!). The noise cancelling was good, and really made a difference. But.........Move your head and they fall off. Seriously - these are pretty good headphones, on ear, noise cancelling, bluetooth, reasonable sound quality, but unless you are sitting down, immobile, they are a menace.When mobile, they slip, slide and fall off, and even worse they suffer from a very common problem with headphones, they transmit sound from footsteps as a booming sound to your ears.I want a multi-purpose set of 'phones, for use in and these are not them!Having written all this I am wondering why I gave them 3 stars!! I have to say they are okay, and if you want on-ear noise cancelling 'phones with bluetooth these are as good as I've tried, as long as you don't move around. At all.

After reading some of the reviews, I was a little apprehensive on spending so much on a pair of headphones BUT I’m incredibly glad that I did! These are my first pair by Bang & Olufsen, after testing out a friends older model and hearing their speakers, I decided to give them a try. After spending years using in-ear headphones, buying a pair of on-ears was a bit of a risk; however they are lightweight yet sturdy, whilst still looking sleek and stylish. I was worried they’d look and feel clunky but that isn’t the case at all!!So far the manufacturers description has been accurate, they took around 2 hours to fully charge and although I have them on the highest volume, the battery hasn’t decreased that much. I like that you can have these wired too as I’ve used them with the PS4, although I do wish the app was a bit better. I don’t currently have WiFi at home and can’t seem to update the headphones whilst using 4G which is a shame, that being said I LOVE how much you can customise the sound with the newer app! The presets are wonderful, it’s great to be able to swipe around the screen to find the perfect balance between tracks. I was a little disappointed with the button features being the same for switching the headphones on and enabling transparency mode; also as a few other reviews have pointed out, whilst walking you can hear a slightly thump of the footsteps but if you’re listening to quite bass heavy music then that shouldn’t be an issue.All in all, I’m very impressed with this purchase and look forward to buying more Bang & Olufsen products in the future!