How much are you willing to pay for premium, high-end ANC headphones? Chances are, majority of people will name a number under $1,000. Some might even go under $500. Well, those folks are clearly not the target audience for Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay H100, the follow-up to their H95 flagship from 2020.
That’s right, the luxury audio company is embracing their luxury image for their newest flagship wireless ANC headphones, pricing it far above what many other brands in the category sell for. Is it really worth that extra digit? We don’t know, but the outfit seems to think so, touting more premium materials, upgraded noise cancellation, and a revamped design that’s meant to make it easier to repair or replace any of its internal components.
The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100 is equipped with custom 40mm electrodynamic titanium drivers that, the outfit claims, deliver fuller, finer sound with a deep bass and polished power. It also incorporates the outfit’s new EarSense technology, an adaptive audio processing system that tailors the sound to the way the headphones fit the user in real-time, delivering a customized listening experience that the outfit describes as “personal and unrivaled.”
High-resolution audio is supported for streaming 96kHz/24-bit tracks, as well as Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head tracking, allowing it to mimic real-world sound positions for a more immersive sound. The updated active noise cancellation uses 10 individually-configured microphones, resulting in ANC and transparency performance that, the outfit claims, is their most advanced yet. There’s a “quick listen” mode that momentarily activates transparency but also swiftly ends it, as well as a dial outside the ear cups that you can rotate to manually adjust transparency levels, so you can dial in the amount of sound that goes through according to your liking.
The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100 also vows to deliver crystal clear call quality with reduced wind and background noise, so the people on the other side can understand everything you’re trying to say. It’s got all the usual smart features of modern headphones, such as automatically turning on when you wear it and powering down when it’s removed, while being able to customize the onboard controls using the companion app. The onboard battery can deliver up to 32 hours of playback even with ANC running, although that goes down to 30 hours with spatial audio and head tracking activated. Either way, this thing can go a full day of listening between charges, with extra juice leftover. In case it runs out of charge at an inopportune time, there’s a five minute fast charge that immediately provides it with a useful five hours of playback.
As for the luxury element, the headphones use premium materials such as aluminum, titanium, toughened glass, lambskin leather, and cowhide leather. To further justify its premium pricing, B&O are touting the headphones’ potential for longevity via a somewhat modular design that makes it easy to repair and replace almost every part, from the ear pads and headband cushions to the batteries and drivers.
The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100 is now available for preorder with a ship date slated for later in the month. Price is $1,549.