B&O Beoplay E8 review: Good earbuds with bad execution

When it comes to getting a pair of headphones, I'm willing to bet there are not too many people who know Bang & Olufsen (B & O). Those with enthusiastic eyes could recognize the company's products from those days when they were browsing the Apple store, waiting for a great date. For the most part, however, I bet most people could not name two of their products. (The headphones in question, the B & O Beoplay E8, do not count)

But for those who are familiar with audio brands, the Danish brand can usually be associated with products that have good sound and minimalist designs. Case in point: the true wireless headphones Beoplay E8. Oddly enough, you probably will not find these specific outbreaks in an Apple store, as they compete with AirPod. But one thing of note is that the Beoplay E8 headphones cost almost twice as much as AirPods. So, does that mean they are twice as good?

Who is the Beoplay E8 B & O for?

• Travelers. Due to the extended battery life and the transparency option that allows you to hear what is going on around you just by touching the left earpiece, this is a pretty solid option for travelers.
• People who prefer to be discreet. If you do not want to look like Rudy Giuliani when you use true wireless headphones, they have a more discreet design.

Structure and design

For a company that is known for putting a great emphasis on design, I am a little disappointed with the Beoplay E8 headphones. But first, let's start with the load case they enter.

The case is magnificent. The leather exterior and an elastic band that make it easy to wrap the chain holder in your bag, so you always know where it is. It has a pill shape, like the one Samsung Gear IconX has. However, B & O engineers really thought about what it would look like in your pocket, unlike Samsung, and made the case flatter and elliptical than it is round. That means that when you keep the case, there does not seem to be a giant tic-tac in your pocket. It's the attention to small details like this that makes them great in design, and at first, I was really impressed. But then I opened the box.

True wireless headphones are, by definition, smaller than headphones, because they need to rest in your ear instead of being on top of them. But it seems that the company kept the logo the same size as its large headphones on the ear. In other words, the logo-to-handset relationship is ridiculous . The entire outer edge of the handset is basically the logo. Now you're probably thinking, "Adam, relax, it's not a big problem." And you are right. It is not. But it is one of my concerns when I spend a lush amount of money on a product, and then I have to spend the rest of my days as a walking advertisement. And that without having even commission. Usually, B & O handles this with good taste. I do not mind using the products, but in something so small I refuse to believe there is not a better way to do it.

Logo rant aside, the headphones have a fairly simple design and are made entirely of plastic, which keeps them light The right and left headphones weigh only 7g and 6g, respectively. The right is a heavier gram because it is the master receiver while the left is the slave. They are also tighter than some of the other shoots I've tried, which results in an aesthetically pleasing product that unfortunately does not seem to fit in my ear.

The Beoplay E8 & # 39; buds do not fall; Actually they are very good. The problem is that it does not take them long to feel uncomfortable. After an hour I had to take them out to let my ears relax, and I was aware that I was using them all the time. It is not painful, just annoying. B & O states that they are resistant to water, but sweat is not mentioned. So if you are looking for a pair of headphones for the gym, you may want to look elsewhere. Still, it's good to know that if you get caught in the rain, you will not have to spend another hundred dollars to replace them.

Connectivity

The pairing of the headphones was quite easy. All you have to do is press and hold the touch panel to enter synchronization mode and see Beoplay E8's name appear in the Bluetooth settings. What was not so easy was the B & O application. He has difficulty finding the headphones, even when they have already been paired. Once you do, you will have access to additional features such as some equalizer presets and something that B & O calls transparency. What is transparency? It is basically the opposite of active noise cancellation. Instead of using built-in microphones to cancel outside noise, the transparency uses microphones to allow between to ring around it. There are three different presets you can choose from and each one allows a different amount of noise. He does not pause his music, instead, he simply lowers it so he can hear what someone is saying. As someone who spends a lot of time on the train, I really like this feature. It allows me to listen to what the driver says without removing the headphones. It was also useful while I was waiting to hear my name called at Starbucks for my vanilla mix with sweet and cold cream. I do not care; judge me. They're delicious.

As ingenious as that feature is, I had some other problems with connectivity. On the one hand, the Beoplay E8 does not connect automatically without problems once you open the case and take it out like other wireless headphones do. Fortunately, I never had to go through the dreaded repair / untying process, but I was tempted to do so. The only way I could get them to reconnect every time was by entering Bluetooth settings and touching "Beoplay E8". For the price, this is unacceptable. On the positive side, they automatically disconnect when you put them back in the case.

Regarding the power of the connection, I did not have any problem with that either. I read many other reviews saying that they had a problem with dropouts, but I never experienced an abandonment in regular use. Only when the limits of their range were tested did the music fail and it jumped, but as long as my phone was within 20 feet of the headphones, the connection was fine.

On the other hand, if you're going to watch videos with this, you might want to reconsider since the delay is horrible. It seemed that the audio would arrive a second or two after the video. But to complete my good-bad-good sandwich, let's talk about the playback controls because. Although they are a bit complicated, they work perfectly. The right and left earphones share some controls and differ in others. But once you memorize the right amount of shots and dams, the touch sensitive pads are easy to control.

Battery life

Another positive aspect of these headphones is the battery life. B & O claims about four hours of constant reproduction and nails it. In our tests, we got about 4.45 hours, making it one of the best true wireless headphones we've tested. If you have a long trip, this will be covered. Then, you can put them back in the box, which will give you two additional charges before it needs to be recharged through the micro USB port on the back.

But make sure you replace the pads the right way or you'll end up like me opening the case the next day, only to discover that one of the headphones did not charge properly. The case uses magnets to hold the headphones in place and also to keep the charging case closed properly. This worked well to keep the casing closed, but the problem is that placing the Beoplay E8 headphones in the box and closing it does not mean they are correctly placed. You have to take an extra second to make sure it is charging (you can see it through two small LED lights on the back of the box).

Sound Quality

In the B & O application, you can adjust the music through a screen that allows you to drag a ball between four options: warm, excited and relaxed, and bright. Very descriptive … What is a little more useful are the presets. They explain themselves with names like commute, delete, workout or podcast. For the purposes of this review, I kept all these elements off, so I only heard music the way it sounds fresh out of the box. Beoplay E8 headphones do not have some of the best Bluetooth codecs for higher quality data transmission, but they do have AAC, so if you have a fairly new iOS device or Android device, you will use it instead of the default SBC. 19659002]

At first, I heard that the bass seem a bit weak for my liking. But the more I listened, the more I enjoyed it. Do not get me wrong, it did not do justice to the subwoofer in Summertime Magic by Childish Gambino, but the alternative for headphones of this size is an artificially exaggerated low-end that ends up masking more important notes in the media (like vocals). Although the lower notes were not strong, they are still clearly audible.

But when the lower end manages to pass without sounding fake, some voices end up sounding like you're listening to them from behind a stage curtain. It is not exactly muffled, but you do not get some of the details that make the vocal performance excellent. For example, during the first refrain of Gimme All Your Love by Alabama Shakes (about 1:05 minutes of the song) Brittany Howard chuckles, and I missed it completely on my first listen for everything Otherwise, continue. I had to rewind the track and give it another chance to catch it behind everything else. That said, I found that the treble reproduction is surprisingly good (considering that the 5.7mm drivers make all the sound).

Throughout the song Katie Queen of Tennessee by The Apache Relay, there are a lot of cymbals throughout the game, and although you can hear it, they do not sound exactly as if they were providing a sense of space. They are easy to listen to, which is good, but due to the lack of sound or perceived 3D space, they are not able to fill the space as they should.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to that, the main question is whether the Beoplay E8 B & O wireless headset is really worth the price when there are cheaper options available? For most people, probably not. The Beoplay E8 sound good considering they are true wireless headsets and have some really handy transfer features for travelers or anyone in an office. But they are held back by their uncomfortable design, annoying connection process and only acceptable sound.

Not to mention that for something that costs as much as these, I want true resistance to sweat, not just water and rain. You should be able to use them anywhere you want for that price, but instead, it's limited to just a few select use cases. Also, as much as I like them, they are not the best in any category. The Jabra Elite 65t earned them battery life, Gear IconX has better features and even AirPods beat them in connectivity. And if you know me, you know how rare it is for me to give any kind of praise to those q-tips. Are the Beoplay E8 true wireless headphones good? Sure, but that does not justify a purchase.