Review: B&o Beoplay Hx – Form Meets Function

Bang&Olufsen’s top class mid-range Bluetooth headphones focal point as a lot at the aesthetics as they do at the sound.

The place to Purchase

Unboxing and First Influence

Advent

Bang&Olufsen (shortened to B&O from hereon) is widely recognized for distinctive commercial designs that stand out amidst a sea of “me too” merchandise. The focal point on design does now not detract from capability, and I’ve come to be expecting a undeniable increased stage of high quality from the Danish emblem’s choices.

Sadly, outstanding design and stable efficiency don’t come affordable, and B&O’s flagship H95 are a testomony to that. The more recent Beoplay HX are an try at reducing down the (absurd) price of the H95 whilst providing a lot of the similar capability and retaining the design language intact.

At the floor stage, B&O has accomplished a lot of the ones objectives. The HX are noticeably less expensive (albeit nonetheless pricey), the construct fabrics are in large part the similar, and the way of living options like Adaptive ANC are right here to stick.

Paper specifications imply little, regardless that, so let’s delve deeper.

Packaging

The Beoplay HX packaging is reasonably simple. You slide up the field, and that’s about it.

Within the field

• B&O Beoplay HX headphones
• USB-A to type-C charging cable
• Manuals
• Raise case
• 3.5mm analog enter cable

The raise case provides good enough coverage and has a nifty, hidden compartment to retailer the charging and analog cables.

Battery

• Battery Lifestyles: 35 hrs (with ANC on)
• Rate Time (15 minutes): as much as 240 minutes playback time

At round 35hrs (with ANC on) and 40hrs (with out ANC), the battery lifetime of the Beoplay HX is just right however now not the most productive, given the contest is pushing 80 hours of playback. I wish to rate the headphones as soon as each and every week, with reasonable utilization.

15 minutes of rate can rise up to 4 hours of playback, supplied you utilize an appropriate fast-charging cable.

The fast rate serve as is to hand however now not class-leading. The headphones will flip off after quarter-hour of “unpaired” state.

UX

• Keep an eye on Mechanism: Mechanical + Contact
• Contact Accuracy: Inconsistent
• Keep an eye on Symmetry on each ear-cups: No
• A proximity sensor in each and every earcup for wear-detection

The highest button at the proper earcup powers at the B&O Beoplay HX. Above the button is an LED that blinks in pairing mode, while the LED beneath the type-C port signifies charging standing. In the end, there’s a 3.5mm analog enter.

The left earcup hosts the ANC button that cycles thru quite a lot of ANC modes. In the end, the “multi-button” can cause the voice assistant when pressed and held for a second. It may additionally mute the mic in case you are on a choice.

The round aluminum space at the proper earcup additionally acts as a marginally panel.

There are a couple of gestures that you’ll carry out right here. Unfortunately, they’re neither customizable nor very in depth. Additionally, the contact panel is awkward to make use of, and touches are regularly now not registered correctly.

A brief rundown of the to be had controls are:

• Faucet the B&O emblem: Play/pause song, resolution/finish name
• Swipe ahead: Skip ahead
• Swipe backward: Skip backward
• Swipe up: Quantity up
• Swipe down: Quantity down

Design

• Profile: Over-ear
• Subject matter: Plastic, aluminum, leather-based
• Have compatibility and Convenience: Exceptional

B&O Beoplay HX are constructed exceptionally smartly.

The development is most commonly steel, with a stitched leather-based headscarf. The texture in hand is very good and alludes to the top class pricing.

The scarf has cushy reminiscence foam beneath that cushions towards the load of those headphones when worn.

The adjustment mechanism is clean, so it’s difficult to dial within the stage of extension you require exactly. The hinge additionally rotates easily, and all of the mechanism may be very strong.

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The earpads may also be indifferent simply by way of “unscrewing” them from the earcups. It’s a nifty characteristic and a greater implementation than the Airpods Max’s magnetically fastened cups.

The earpads are constituted of lambskin leather-based and feature reminiscence foam beneath. Convenience is very good in consequence, despite the fact that those pads will make you sweat on sizzling and humid summer season days.

Additionally, the pads may well be “roomier,” with the round form now not supreme for massive ears.

The clamp could be a bit at the more potent facet, however the power distribution is just right sufficient to stay issues manageable. Total, very good construct high quality that lives as much as the lofty expectancies that include the sort of excessive price ticket.

Mic

• Noise Cancellation: No noise
• Voice Pick out-up: Superb voice pickup

B&O makes use of 8 microphones in general to assist in voice pickup and noise cancellation at the Beoplay HX. This ends up in a microphone efficiency that competes with the most productive at school.

My voice does now not get a divorce or lose readability, even within the subway or windy stipulations.

Background noise is suppressed in point of fact smartly, regardless that positive high-frequency noises can pop up now and again. For essentially the most phase, it’s a non-issue.

Mic demo

Sound

• Motive force: 40mm
• Sound Signature: Heat
• Bass: Excellent
• Mids: Excellent
• Treble: Reasonable
• Soundstage: Reasonable
• Imaging: Reasonable
• Dynamics: Reasonable

The B&O Beoplay HX have a heat tuning with some unevenness within the treble area and reasonable technicalities.

Bass

The bass has an emphasis within the sub and mid-bass area, however not anything that is going overboard.

Bass texture and velocity are quite just right, with rapid basslines now not being utterly blurred. The likes of Stax Spirit S3 do higher on this regard, however they’re a distinct beast altogether. The sub-bass rumble and the mid-bass slam are muted at the Beoplay HX.

Excellent bass given the product class, however not anything impressive.

Mids

The decrease midrange sounds quite linear, however the upper-mids are too restrained every now and then. Because of a dip between 2 – 3kHz, this muted upper-midrange ends up in a loss of “openness” in hovering vocals.

At the plus facet, such tuning avoids shout and shrillness altogether, albeit on the expense of vocal articulation.

Treble

There are noticeable peaks round 5.5kHz and between 7-8kHz for me, however the upper-treble extension is missing. Treble sounds unusually subdued on the subject of decay, and the preliminary hit of cymbals and hi-hats also are missing in definition.

Dynamics

Macrodynamic punch (surprising adjustments in volumes) has a muted supply, whilst the microdynamics (delicate shifts in quantity) don’t seem to be very noticeable.

In tracks like Counting Crow’s Miami, the vocals and the software have a incessantly various quantity stage, which the Beoplay HX don’t faithfully mirror.

At the different facet of the spectrum, surprising bass drops lack gusto and immediacy. This difficulty plagues many Bluetooth headphones and IEMs in the market, and the Beoplay HX are not any exception.

Soundstage

The soundstage feels broad because of the recessed midrange, however degree intensity is missing.

Imaging

Imaging is not anything to jot down house about, with the tools most commonly positioned left and proper. Tools lose the sense of ordinal orientation, leading to simply reasonable spatial cues.

Energetic noise cancellation

With the ANC grew to become on, the sound signature of the Beoplay HX does now not trade noticeably.

I like to recommend retaining ANC on most often, as that’s the characteristic you’re paying for.

ANC efficiency is excellent, falling quite at the back of category leaders Sony WH-1000XM5 on the subject of high-frequency noise attenuation.

The app has granular keep an eye on of transparency mode the place you’ll dial within the actual quantity of sound “leakage” you need.

Connectivity

• Audio Codec: SBC, AAC, AptX Adaptive
• Bluetooth Model: 5.1
• Auto-connect when: Put with regards to paired gadgets.
• Reasonable drop-outs in an hour: 0 – 2 instances
• Multi-point connection: Sure

The relationship is rock-solid, and pairing is lovely easy as soon as the headphones are installed pairing mode (urgent the ability button for a couple of seconds).

Multipoint give a boost to works seamlessly for 2 gadgets. Total, the B&O Beoplay HX have nailed the connectivity options, or even the “perks” are smartly applied.

Water-resistant

• IP Ranking: IP53

The Beoplay HX are IP53 rated, which means that they’re “secure from restricted mud ingress, secure from water spray not up to 60 levels from vertical.”

Device

• Granular ANC keep an eye on, together with Adaptive ANC.
• Beosonic.
• Wind noise relief.
• No remapping of controls or buttons.
• Auto Pause: Sure.
• Cellular apps

The Beoplay HX app appears blank and provides some significant customization choices. The “Beosonic” characteristic is a glorified EQ preset builder, and admittedly, I’d a lot choose the old-school graphic equalizer.

One atypical omission is the loss of keep an eye on customization, so you’re necessarily caught with the manufacturing unit presets.

Conclusion

B&O Beoplay HX appear and feel extraordinary. The relief is very good for essentially the most phase, and battery existence, microphone high quality, and ANC efficiency are just about class-leading. Only a few packing containers stay unchecked, which is excellent news for the excessive asking worth.

Unfortunately, sound high quality falls in need of expectancies within the sense that the HX don’t sound impressive. There are not any obvious flaws within the sound that lead them to unlistenable, however the absence of a standout sonic characteristic leaves me in need of.

After all, the Beoplay HX are extra of a way of life product – a way commentary that will get lots of the fundamentals proper. They gained’t galvanize seasoned audiophiles, however that isn’t the audience both, for higher or for worse.