Iconic Danish audio pioneers Bang & Olufsen have been in business for a century and in that time it’s probably fair to say the company has achieved an almost Messianic following for its stunning designs and some of the most ingenious implementations of technology that make listening to music a tactile and audio sensation.
The latest product to get the B&O magic is the brand’s new flagship wireless headphones. The Beoplay H100 look set to eclipse the success of B&O’s H95 with a design that’s been overhauled in every aspect, including audio quality, noise cancelation and a modular construction that has sustainability at its heart.
Kristian Teär is B&O’s CEO: “Beoplay H100 elevates what we have accomplished over the past ten decades and defines our future: an era where beautiful sound is built to last. It represents the true potential of what a Bang & Olufsen audio wearable can be and we cannot wait to bring the headphones to our customers.”
The Beoplay H100 look to B&O’s Beolab speakers for inspiration and the modular construction uses the highest-quality materials and electronics all wrapped up in a classic and cool B&O design that’s unmistakably Danish.
The Beoplay H100 are made with a smooth and scratch-resistant glass touchpad on the side of the earcups. Precision haptic dials and tactile buttons all add to the superb tactile feel and performance of the headphones.
A detachable headband upholstered in a breathable and knitted textile defines the comfort levels of these luxury headphones. The earpad cushions are covered in soft lambskin that makes these headphones feel like some of the most comfortable on the market. We are talking Bose QuietComfort levels of softness and fit here.
The Beoplay H100 are available in three colorways: Infinite Black, Hourglass Sand and Sunset Apricot. All of them ooze sophistication and have that understated and classy Danish design that manages to scream luxury in the softest of voices.
The Infinite Black shade harks back to Bang & Olufsen’s classic designs from the 1970s and offset beautifully with the contracting aluminum driver housings. The Hourglass Sand version reflects a natural Scandi tone-on-tone approach while the Sunset Apricot version has a light copper aluminum which offsets wonderfully against the peach-colored earpads.
Tiina Kierysch leads B&O’s design department: “Designing an immersive sound experience with ultimate comfort has been key in the development process when creating Beoplay H100. We wanted to utilize high-quality materials and colors inspired by fine jewelry to create a timeless and sophisticated design. With the solid sheen of aluminum, softness of leather and cold-to-the-touch glass, Beoplay H100 doesn’t just champion sound excellence, it feels like design excellence.”
That may sound like pure PR blather but it’s not. These are the first pair of headphones from B&O that managed to blend a luxurious and comfortable feel with a reassuring level of sustainability and natural materials that bring a sensitive style and feel to the headphones.
To store the Beoplay H100, B&O has crafted a luxurious leather case that looks as if it could have been designed by Mulberry. The zippered case is stylish and portable, but without looking remotely geeky. It could almost be a smart handbag and doesn’t scream wireless headphones as many headphone cases do.
When the Beoplay H100 headphones are stored outside their leather case and are not being worn, they automatically enter a low-power mode that extends the standby time of the rechargeable battery to a maximum of 90 days. No more going to the headphones and finding they won’t turn on because you forgot their weekly charging session.
While they are in standby mode, the H100 remain poised to activate as soon as they are placed on the listener’s head. If stored in the pouch, the headphones will completely power down, providing more than a year of standby time. That is a smart feature and I wish all wireless headphones could do that.
At the heart of the Beoplay H100 are 40mm diameter, custom-made, titanium drivers housed behind aluminum grilles. The drivers and DSP inside the Beoplay H100 have been tuned to deliver Hi-Res sound, thanks to the Bang & Olufsen tonmeisters. The sound was referenced from the brand’s statement Beolab 90 loudspeakers. If you’ve ever heard the Beolab 90, you’ll know exactly what that means.
The volume level of the H100 can be turned up or down using the beautiful control wheel on the right-hand earcup. It so intuitive to use in a wonderfully analog way. Other functions for skipping tracks and accepting calls can all actioned by tapping or swiping on the glass touch panels on each earcup. The ANC modes can also be toggled using a button on the right-hand earcup. It all feels so easy and intuitive, unlike some touch panel headphones.
The sound is everything you’d expect from B&O. I started by playing my favorite reference track, which is Diana Krall’s “Sway” from her Turn Up The Quiet album. The H100 managed to balance the sound to perfection. I am not saying this because I have always been a B&O fan, but what the tonmeisters have achieved is a sound that is as close to perfect for me straight out of the box.
Normally, when I am reviewing headphones, I will note maybe a lack of body in the bass frequencies or a recessed midrange that makes vocals sound a little distant. On the other hand, some headphones have artificially raised levels of treble frequencies which sound impressive at first but soon give you a headache that would make Tylenol run in the opposite direction.
B&O has managed to make a pair of headphones hear that you forget you are wearing or listening to because the sound draws you into the recording with a beguiling soundstage and a presentation of the music that is probably just as the producer, artist and engineer intended. The incredible thing is that B&O have done this without the temptation to included support for Hi-Res wireless codecs like aptX Lossless. That’s a bold move and I respect them for it.
The engineers at B&O decided that shoehorning support for aptX Lossless could compromise the design they had developed including support for Atmos. However, Hi-Res sound hasn’t been overlooked because you can connect the headphones to a USB-C port on a smartphone or computer and get Hi-Res audio at 96kHz / 24-bits, which is perfect for streaming TIDAL. The Beoplay H100 also ships with a USB-C to TRRS cable for connecting to an amplifier or old-school smartphone or iPod.
According to B&O’s Director of Technology, Neo Kaplanis: “Beoplay H100 is the best pair of headphones we have ever created. Whether you are listening to your favorite music, having a phone call in a noisy environment, controlling the effect of the surrounding environment with active noise canceling or audio transparency, H100 always delivers exceptional audio performance”
He’s not wrong and it’s not just the sound that makes these headphones so special. There is a heap of technology that I want to highlight that makes the H100 truly innovative. B&O hasn’t ruled out Hi-Res wireless support and the tech specs says there will be support for a Hi-Res wireless audio codec sometime in 2025 via a firmware update.
Bang & Olufsen’s new adaptive audio processing EarSense is what delivers a truly personal listening experience by adjusting the sound to the wearer’s unique fit in real-time. To offer a spatial audio experience for those who want it, B&O optimized the Beoplay H100 for Dolby Atmos with head-tracking for a more natural spatial audio experience. And to ensure the music isn’t spoiled by unwanted external sounds, the H100 incorporate no fewer than 10 separate studio-grade microphones for B&O’s best ANC to date.
Those microphones are also used to convey outside sounds in Transparency mode so you can hear exactly what is going on around you if you need to. It’s easy to move from the splendid isolation of your music to hearing everything going on in the outside world by twisting a haptic dial to enable TrueTransparency mode, which means you can hear everything as if you weren’t wearing headphones. From silence to eavesdropping in a turn of a dial. This adaptive ANC function is really impressive and being able to dial it up and dial it down is superb.
If you do need to listen briefly to something or someone—that friendly flight attendant asking if you’d like more Champagne— then simply lift an earcup or cover it with your palm to move from fully closed and immersed mode to open mode, where you hear your surroundings and can say thank you for that second glass.
The auto-on-and-off feature worried me at first. I am just not used to putting on a pair of headphones without having to press the power switch first. I soon got used to the idea. Slip the Beoplay H100 on and they come to life. Take them off and they go to sleep. Put them in their stylish leather bag and they slip into hibernation and you haven’t touched a button.
A full charge of the H100 can deliver up to 32 hours of playtime with ANC turned on. While they aren’t the longest-lasting batteries, the reassurance is they can be stored away for a year with only a very low drain on the charge. Incidentally, if you do find the H100 in a depleted state, a quick five-minute charge will yield a full five hours of playtime.
The controls on the Beoplay H100 can be customized to suit the user. If your previous headphones did things in a certain way, well you can use the B&O app to customize things to how you like them. The app is a lesson in UX simplicity and effectiveness.
Sustainability is a subject close to B&O’s 100-year-old heart. The company has a commitment to product circularity, repairability and longevity. This is evident in the Beoplay H100. The new headphones have been designed with a cradle-to-cradle principle and the company expects Beoplay H100 to be officially certified in 2025.
These headphones have many user-replaceable parts: The most exposed areas that can suffer wear and tear are the ones facing the user and, for this reason, the inner headband and ear pad cushions are easily detached so they can be replaced by the user.
Because of a significantly revamped headphone design, the key components can be quickly and easily accessed by Bang & Olufsen’s service team so replacing batteries, glass surfaces, drivers or repairing circuit boards ensures the H100 last a lifetime.
The Beoplay H100 also mark a new Bang & Olufsen software platform for wearables. Inspired by B&O’s Mozart software platform, the software used in the Beoplay H100 is upgradable, meaning these headphones won’t be made obsolete by new technology. Bang & Olufsen will also be bringing new capabilities to Beoplay H100, notably wireless hi-res audio and 3-Device Multipoint.
Finally, the Beoplay H100 have a five-year warranty when owners join Beocare, B&O’s extended warranty program. That’s reassuring and considering the price of the Beoplay H100, you’d like to hope they would give a lifetime of service and musical enjoyment.
Verdict: I know I have waxed lyrical here about the new Beoplay H100 wireless headphones but that’s because they truly deserve the highest praise. It’s hard to find bad pair of headphones these days, but so many products are made with a short lifespan in mind. Buying a pair of Beoplay H100 is a bit like buying a Rolex. It’s an heirloom and an object of beauty. With B&O’s commitment to sustainability and product circularity, you can be assured these headphones will provide many happy years of musical enjoyment. The sound is impeccable and the tone has been tuned to perfection. I expected nothing less, but what impressed me with the Beoplay H100 was the beautiful design and construction, plus the sheer usability with the auto-on and auto-pause functions. I love the rotary volume control on the right earcup and the dial for transparency on the left. I respect B&O’s decision not to include support for aptX Lossless. Unlike some headphone makers, they didn’t feel compelled to tick a box on a spec sheet but chose instead to make the best sounding pair of headphones they could. I think B&O has managed to do that. Don’t look at the spec sheet, listen to the music and then decide. When worn, the Beoplay H100 feel like a second skin and I think Dyson should take a closer look if it wants to know how to make a top-tier pair of headphones that look great and sound superb. If you can afford a pair and can get over the absence of aptX Lossless, listen to the Beoplay H100. You won’t regret the investment.
Pricing & Availability: The Bang & Olufsen flagship Beoplay H100 true wireless headphones are available from Bang & Olufsen stores and online at a cost of $1,549 / £1,299 / €1,499.
Tech Specs:
- Driver: Electro-dynamic Titanium Driver with Neodymium magnets.
- Driver diameter: 40mm.
- Frequency range: 10 – 20,000Hz / 10 – 40,000Hz (Hi-Res mode).
- Sensitivity: 103dB SPL (1kHz/-3dB FS).
- Bluetooth: Version 5.3.
- Audio codecs: SBC, AAC with Hi-Res wireless codecs due in 2025.
- Battery life: ANC 32 hours / Spatial audio and headtracking 30 hours / Talk time up to 26 hours.
- Microphones: 10 (4 x digital MEMS voice mics / 4 x MEMS feed forward mic,
- 2 x analog feedback mic for ANC/Transparency function.
- Certifications: Google Fast Pair, Made for iPhone (MFi), Microsoft Swift Pair, Optimized for Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res.
- Weight: 375g.
