Expensive popular TWS earbuds just got better!
love for Bang & Olufsen is akin to love for Sony: the majority of consumers do not understand anything, but popular rumor itself creates idols – they say, “Bang & Olufsen is definitely top”, “it’s unrealistic for a neighbor in the car”, “ “Bang Olufsen” and Jobs loved “,” I’ve read reviews here, and Bangs are the best. ” Well, in cute shops at the airport, the beautiful Beoplay packaging immediately catches the eye, and people, in anticipation of a miracle, give their money for design delights. Because even great AirPods can get bored and want something new.
As a longtime Beoplay and Bang & Olufsen user, I can confirm all of these thoughts – they are. A glass of wine before departure, and you are already happy to pay for new items. Somehow tired of AirPods Pro, and looking for a new top. Only a cataclysm can make people turn their backs on new products – but it seems like the tension subsides a little and the market is again young, old blood. After all, the third generation Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 will not fight for leadership in the segment – I think these VERY expensive headphones will be sold in good circulation, they are interesting for both sellers and buyers, for the company this is a milestone, but for me a cool toy. And I will be happy to show and tell you everything.
Design
First, I want to say a few words about not the most important points – but the information will be useful to you. Initially, the headphones in the package are all pasted over with a film, a film on the cups, the box is also in a film. It’s nice, you took everything off, you are the first. If there are no tapes – a reason to ask the seller who has already used them.
I was pleased with the long cable in the kit – for some reason, some companies add a short cable for TWS headphones, but here it is with a corporate logo, and a long, buzz.
In general, the packaging from Bang & Olufsen does not fail, everything is beautifully laid out, excellent fonts, colors are chosen as it should. Nice to deal with. The cups jump into the grooves of the case deftly, no problem with understanding where the left / right earphone is. The box is trimmed with leather, wireless charging is supported – I tried different rugs, Nomad, Mophie, Belkin, everything works. The light indicator on the box is small, it glows green or red, depending on what is happening with the headphones. Even if you turn the box over, the headphones stay in place.
The headphones confirm the connection with a proprietary sound signal, a kind of “knock-knock” is a trifle, but a pleasant one. The set includes a scattering of nozzles, there is also “foam” – if you wish, buy and install Comply yourself, a nice thing, both the sound and the wearing experience change.
By default, there are the smallest complete nozzles, they fit me, did not even bother to change.
The headphones are not very noticeable in the ears, the B & O logo will be visible from the side, which is certainly nice. This is how it looks like:
If there is semi-darkness around, then the headphones seem to disappear altogether. Note that AirPods are visible from afar and always.
At the moment, headphones are available in three colors: gray, black, pink.
The gray model is VERY beautiful, it looks awesome alive. In general, in recent years, many manufacturers of good things have remembered about gray, and I’m ready to like this trend. And BMW has a lot of gray, and bangs, and in general. Cool.
Pink headphones are straight girls-girls, but do not flatter yourself: I highly recommend girls to try them on before buying. Despite the reduction in the size of the cup, my wife was unable to wear them, uncomfortable.
There are touch pads on the cups, you can control playback by touching, turn on the transparency mode, pause playback. But it was even more interesting to find the volume control here – put your finger on the left, hold it, the volume decreases. Conversely, the pad on the right earcup allows you to increase the volume.
As for the protection against water, everything is simple, it’s IP54 – you can’t swim, but the headphones will withstand the rain.
In general, there are no questions about the appearance, assembly, decoration, operation of the controls – this is what you expect from Bang & Olufsen. It is clear that all foreign marketing of E8 will pass us by – there they were distributed to various fashionable gentlemen, a blog is being kept, everything is as it should be – but, again, popular rumor will do everything in our country. And even without advertising budgets (in Russia, Bang & Olufsen spends practically nothing on advertising), E8 sales will be fine, I guarantee it.
Regarding the size of the case, it is slightly thicker than the AirPods Pro, it is more convenient to carry in a jacket pocket than in a jeans pocket.
Working hours
Compared to the second generation, the operating time has increased, it is declared about seven hours, in reality, the headphones work for about six hours – but it all depends on the selected volume level. The case gives an additional 35 hours of work. In reality, you live with the E8 and do not bother, I listen to them for a couple of hours a day, from Monday to Wednesday, the headphones lived and did not even beep – the USB Type-C connector allows you to charge them in any available way. I am plugging into an Apple MacBook Pro Power Supply. Wireless charging is supported, there is also fast charging: 20 minutes in a case gives an hour and a half of work.
Convenience
I have used both the first and second generation of headphones. To be honest, both the first and second generation are not the most convenient models. Once I observed a great situation in business class: I was flying from London to Moscow, a man next to me unpacks the E8 I just bought (it seemed like it was the time of the first generation), joy and happiness on his face. Then the interesting thing begins: a person inserts an earpiece, it falls out. Inserts again – the earpiece falls out. He began to help – the man simply confused the left and right earpieces. It helped, but the problem did not disappear, the headphones fell out even with a smooth turn of the head. I think there are many such people. Often they gave Beoplay E8s, bought them as a gift to their beloved without even a second thought, “’bangs’ will not let you down,” as my friend says – meanwhile, E8 of the first and second generation CANNOT be bought without fitting. I talked about it in my reviews,
Even in press releases, they wrote about the third generation of headphones, they say, they tried different models of prototypes for a very long time for compatibility with a variety of ears. Well, for me it was the most important thing that I wanted to understand about the new E8: have they become more comfortable?
I answer boldly – yes. The headphones have become smaller, they do not need to be twisted into the ear, they lie like a glove, they do not pop out. When touching the touch pad, the cup does not press into your ear. In general, compared to the second generation, there are striking differences. And this, of course, is a huge plus.
Update
Rumor has it that previous generations of E8 earbuds could turn to brick if you started updating them and the charge was insufficient. Sellers in some stores even discussed this point in particular – but E8 was still steadily dragged into the service, people do not want to understand anything, they do not read instructions, and I know this even from myself.
It was all the more interesting to update the headphones as soon as I took them out of the box. It would not work – this is content! But everything worked out as it should. The process took about 20 minutes, progress is shown as a percentage. After the headphones are rebooted and connected to the smartphone again. I advise you not to repeat my experience, put it on charge for at least an hour, then update. Better to play it safe. But, I suppose, B&O specifically improved this moment to make life easier for service employees and sellers (remember that the E8 is a very popular headphone model).
The current software version is 5.8.0.
Features:
Supported codecs AAC and aptX – respectively, the headphones will work fine with both iOS and Android, do not forget to try different players, listen to different music formats. I always recommend Vox and FLAC, you can also subscribe to TIDAL, which is also a good thing.
Voice quality
The sound of the interlocutor goes to both ears, in the office you can hear me perfectly, the interlocutors did not complain. On the street, it is better to use a smartphone for conversations. The general impression is positive, you can communicate.
Application
The program is expectedly called Bang & Olufsen, I definitely advise you to install it immediately after unpacking the headphones. I liked the easy and pleasant adjustment of the equalizer, it makes sense to play with the presets. There is also an opportunity to update the software, turn on the transparency mode and choose how efficiently it will work.
I like the design of the application, it’s a pity that the third generation E8s no longer work in the Beoplay program – I have a whole memorable list of all my Bang & Olufsen gadgets there: the first E8s, the wonderful H9s, and my favorite A1 speaker.
Music
No matter how much you talk about design or tricks, the most important thing is music. I am sure that most users will use the headphones if they don’t like something, the brain will carefully paint on the picture, they say, I spent thirty thousand rubles, the mantra “Bangs always sound good”, in general, top and so on, and so on.
From a practical point of view, I see this. The driver here is without miracles, dynamic, ordinary, diameter 5.7 mm, tastefully selected. Thanks to Bluetooth 5.1, there are no problems with reconnecting and reconnecting to another device, everything is fast and smart – it has nothing to do with music, but it adds a positive experience when using the E8. Now let’s listen to some music!
First, I’ll tell you about the volume level – I’m comfortable listening to most tracks in Apple Music at half the volume. Actually, I tested the headphones together with the iPhone 11 Pro Max and Apple Music. Sure, few will listen to E8 FLAC or some Taydal-like stuff, but most will prefer Apple Music or another popular streaming service. The first track I chose is called Toxo / And.id, straight techno as it should be. Emotionally, there is volume, everything is correct with low frequencies, I want a little more meat in the middle. Apparently, this is how the master was prepared. Another “electronic” track – Run to you, is a favorite of Maya Jane Coles, went to her performances both in Moscow and in Europe a couple of times – in general, the track was prepared as it should, everything with the middle is in order. Nothing rings, just in moderation, like it.
Finally, let’s listen to Gregory Porter, this is jazz, for example, the track Holding on, the album Take Me To The Alley. Airy, light, great vocals, the atmosphere is there. I recommend using this track to test the headphones – although, of course, each of us has our own favorite songs.
Few things – battery was top in class when these were released – for the buds/ 7 hours and overall (case)/ 35 hours. Sound quality in lows and mids are well above 7.5 if you get the right seal. 3rd generation do have sweat resistance and water IP54
Bluetooth 5.1, Qi wireless charging, USB-C, come on man these are excellent