Bang and Olufsen has announced a new set of flagship headphones in the B&O Beoplay H100, and it’s going way bigger than before.
It’s been four years since Bang & Olufsen launched the B&O Beoplay H95, a set of plush ANC headphones that stood as a statement of intent even for the premium Danish brand. The Beoplay H95 – so named to mark the company’s 95th year – were both luxurious and expensive.
Now the follow-up is here in the B&O Beoplay H100, ready to mark (almost) a century in the business. The first thing to note here is the price. While the Beoplay H95 raised eyebrows at the time with a £700 price tag, the Beoplay H100 costs very near double at £1,299 / $1,549. That’s quite the step up.
For your money you can expect “unrivalled” sound quality, bolstered ANC, and a new design that boasts a modular construction for greater repairability. B&O also claims to have configured its software to be ready to “adapt and evolve with new technologies”. It cites wireless hi-res audio and three-device multipoint as two specific upcoming upgrades.
The inner headband is coated in a knitted textile, and is now detachable and replaceable. Once again, the earpad cushions have been covered in lambskin leather, and they too can be replaced by the user. Bang & Olufsen has also configured the H100’s internal components to make them more readily accessible to the service team.
The external earpieces feature a smooth, scratch-resistant hardened glass material for a silky touch interface, paired with precision haptic dials and tactile buttons. The twist of a haptic dial lets you quickly enter transparency mode. You get a choice of three colours: Infinite Black, Hourglass Sand and Sunset Apricot.
It ships with a lightweight leather case, as you’d expect for so far north of £1,000. One neat feature is the headphones power off completely when in the case, and enter a low power stand-by state when out of the case and not being worn.
When it comes to sound quality, the Beoplay H100 features 40mm custom-made titanium drivers. The company claims to have used B&O’s signature Beolab 90 speaker as the reference point for its sound, and promises “sound clarity and dynamic performance that you normally only hear on high-end loudspeakers”.
Unsurprisingly, Bang & Olufsen is claiming that “Beoplay H100 is the best pair of headphones we have ever created”. It’s capable of Hi-Res sound output at 96 kHz / 24 bits, while EarSense technology is said to tailor the sound to the wearer’s unique fit in real time.
The Beoplay H100 has also been optimised for Dolby Atmos, with full spatial audio head tracking support.
On the ANC front, the company claims to have achieved double the noise cancelling performance of the Beoplay H95, packing in studio-grade microphones.
When it comes to battery life, Bang & Olufsen is promising up to 34 hours of playtime, while a five minute charge will apparently get you 5 hours of playback.
The Beoplay H100 headphones are available direct from the Bang & Olufsen website from today.
