Bang & Olufsen - Beoplay E8 3rd Gen Earphones - Grey Mist

I have to start by giving my two cents on truly wireless earbuds. The sound quality just simply doesn't compare to over the head cans (like a Bose or Sony). That's not to say they aren't any good, but it is just an inherent limitation of truly wireless earbuds. With that being said, I was hoping for a little bit more from B&O in the sound department. In sum, I found music to be clear, but lacked the "punchiness" and bass I would have expected. By no means am I suggesting they sound bad, they don't, and while they are still a nice overall package, I would have expected a little more given the price point. IN THE BOX The box could have been smaller, but that’s not really a big deal. It just struck me as odd given how pleasantly small the charging case was. You get the earbuds, the leather charging case (which is nice), different sized earbud tips and a USB-C charging cable. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. FIT Anybody who listens to me about wireless earbuds (which there aren’t many) I would tell them that the fit of the earbud is the single most important part of picking out the right earbuds. The tighter the fit in your canal, the better the bass and sound quality. Plus, there’s nothing more annoying than having an earbud feel like it’s going to fall out. At the same time, too snug of a fit can cause some ear pain. I recommend the first thing anyone does is try out the different sized earbud tips. This time up front can really enhance your experience. I found one of the spare sets of tips to fit my ears the most. These don’t have any rubber springs to keep them in your ears, or any hooks. They go into your canal and that’s how they're held in. I was able to get a nice firm fit that was comfortable. I wore them 2 hours straight on a long walk and basically forgot about them. I can say that they are some of the more comfortable pairs of earbuds I’ve worn. Can’t tell you why, could be the weight and balance of the earbud coupled with the materials for the silicone tips. Bottom line is that I don’t think you would have a hard time finding a comfortable and secure fit so long as you spend the time trying on the various tips. SETUP AND APP Nothing beats setting up Airpods on an iPhone, but Android phones have gotten close. I had difficulties setting up my B&O headphones initially, in part because there’s no verbal cues in the headphones (like there are in other brands, i.e. “ready to pair” or “battery life medium”). But after several tries, they magically connected. After that initial setup, they work flawlessly. So long as Bluetooth is on, on my phone, when I take them out of the case they instantly pair. I hate downloading additional apps on my phone, but I downloaded the B&O app to see what I could do to tune the music. The options are pretty sparse, there’s a few generic choices for listening modes like optimal, commute, clear or workout. I could tell a difference between the options, (commute was a little louder) but nothing that would make me want to go into the app and change the settings with any amount of frequency. Maybe the coolest function was enhancing background sounds. If you’re walking on a busy street, you can turn up the surrounding volume. It’s like turning your music down, but it seems to pick up surrounding noise and let that through. A nice feature if you’re walking on a busy street, but I’m turned off by having to go into the app to adjust this setting. Which means for me, I don’t use it much. BATTERY LIFE Other than fit, battery life is the biggest thing you need to look for when evaluating truly wireless buds. This includes how much the battery case charges. You’re going to get at least 3-4 hours between charges. And if you’re like me, you put the earbuds in the case when they’re done which tops off the battery between uses. Bottom line is that the batteries shouldn’t ever die on you in the middle of a listening session (unless you listen to them on an 8 hour international flight straight). The case will charge them some 3 times. I don’t keep track of those numbers, but I can generally say that one charge in the case with moderate use of the earbuds throughout a week, will last me 2 weeks. And I love the wireless charging case. It may not matter to some, but I have wireless pads throughout my house so dropping the headphones on one is an easy way to top them off. And kudos for B&O for going the USB-C route. For most Android users with a new phone, this is a welcome addition as it doesn’t require us to carry around a USB micro cable. EASE OF USE I generally use my phone when adjusting the volume of my earbuds or changing songs. Reason being, the controls are either wonky, confusing or too difficult to register touches. The app has a quick walk through about use, like holding your finger on the right earbud to raise volume, holding on the left to lower it. Double tap on the right skips songs, etc. I found the capacitive buttons to work pretty dang well. But I never use them because I find it hard to locate the earbud with your finger when trying to change the volume/song. RELIABILITY OF CONNECTION This is less of a problem in 2020 but I’ve run into issues with some truly wireless earbuds dropping connections. Sometimes if your phone is in the wrong pocket (i.e. not close to the “main” earbud) the connection might skip. Maybe some of you have never experienced that, but either way, I can say that after my initial few tries in setting these up with my Pixel 4 XL, I have had absolutely no issues with my connection. No drops, no skips, nothing. SOUND AND PHONE CALLS I am no audiophile, but I can generally notice and appreciate better sounding headphones/speakers. I found these B&O to be clear but lacking oomph. Vocals come through nice and clear, but the bass just isn’t there. In heavier bass tracks they sound hollow. But throw on some rock or pop music more focused on the vocals and you’ll be amazed. I can’t say the sound is bad, please don’t think that, I just expected better all around performance than what I got. B&O makes some great speakers and headphones. If the price was a bit lower, that lack of bass so to speak would be easier to swallow. But what I will absolutely complain about is performance for phone calls. In the age of COVID-19 with more calls being made, good call quality is a must. The sound for phone calls is great, but for the loudness. It’s like the maximum volume is 4 out of 10. You can literally hang up a call, turn your music back on and the volume will double. I promise you it isn’t my phone, I confirmed the volume was up. I wouldn’t say that’s a deal breaker because I’m not using these primarily to take calls, but it’s a bummer. CONCLUSION All in all, these are nice earbuds in a crowded market. There’s nothing that truly distinguishes them from the pack. But they are a solid choice for good overall sound quality, battery life and comfort. The earbud case is leather which gives it a nice feel (although unnecessary). The case is pretty small compared to others which makes it all the more portable. Nothing worse that having a large charging case bulging from your pocket when you’re on a walk listening to music. I recommend at least a look at these headphones if you’re in the market.

You can tell from the leather charging case with a metal ring around the middle that these are "classy" ear-buds! Pairing is very easy. Simply remove both units from the case and hold the front button on them for about 10 seconds until the BT pairing light flashes on both units. They have a great sound that you can tweak through a phone app. The app has a "surroundings" setting that has 3 levels to enhance background sounds around you. You can also select from 5 preset "listening modes" - Optimal/Commute/Clear/Workout/Podcast or set your own and adjust the sound output ranges. The battery life is fantastic! I haven't used them until the battery died, but I've used them pretty much all day without having to charge them. The stated battery life is 7 hours with an additional 4 charges in the case, and the case can be charged with a wireless pad or USB-C charger. You can use both earbuds together or just the right one and call quality is fantastic. There are 2 microphones per earbud, and I've had no issues at all with being hear whether I'm in an office environment or out walking or riding my bike. The touch controls are simple and responsive and don't register the false commands I've experienced with others. On the right unit, you press once to play/pause and double press to skip forward. 3 presses will activate your default voice assistant. If you press the left earbud once it activates the "transparency" mode so you can hear sounds around you, and if you press twice it goes back to the previous track. Volume is adjusted by pressing and holding the right earbud to increase and left earbud to decrease the sound level. You can also opt to have the earbuds go into "standby mode" after 15 minutes if there's no active audio source. I'd give them 5 stars except they don't have ANC - Active Noise Cancellation and they don't start to connect when the case is open. Sometimes they connect in 15 - 30 seconds once one is removed from the case, and other times I've had to go into BT setting and select them to connect. They come with 4 sets of silicone ear tips ranging from XS to L, , and 1 set of medium "ComplyTM" tips which is basically a memory foam tip.

CRISP ACCURATE SOUND – NOT BOOMING BASS – WEAK MIC REVIEW: Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 (v3) True Wireless In-Ear Headphones – Black Best Buy Tech Insider Network SUMMARY: Wow, writing about audio devices is hard. Even more so than video, sound quality is VERY VERY subjective. First, let me focus on the mechanics. I love the pillbox carrying / charging case and USB C is plus for ongoing compatibility. The case, the buds, everything is top notch quality as you should expect. Take some time and familiarize yourself with basic controls. At first, I thought they were defective, but instead I just had to turn up the volume (press / hold right bud). Battery life is great. I made a point of using them all day for conference calls, phone calls, and listening to music from my phone and PC. The battery held up to a full 12 hour day without any issues (I think it is rated for 30+ hours). For my taste, the sound field is very shallow. It did reproduce every sound from my albums very precisely, almost too clinically, and with excellent noise reduction. By way of analogy, it felt to me like looking at super crisp black and while photo instead of a full color photo with a deep depth of field. For comparison, I also listened to the same music with my 8 year old business grade Bluetooth buds that I use every day for conference calls. I also tried my 5 year old “sports wrap around” Bluetooth buds. Musically, performance of the E8 was about the same as my “Business Buds”, but not as pleasing as my “Sports Buds”. I prefer strong bass, and crisp high notes. The E8 (to me) is stuck in the middle. At this high end level, I would have expected something that excelled at music and that would have run circles around my old buds. The E8 is a good all around performer with great battery life. I highly suggest you try them out for yourself, especially for the all day battery life. For me, personally, I like crisper highs and heavier base than what the E8 delivers for listening to music. UNBOXING: (see picture) INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: The packaging is high end and frustration free. The case and devices themselves seem to be of very high quality and look great. (it looks like a leather contact lens case) INITIAL SETUP / TIPS: I started by pairing the buds to my computer so I could listen to some music. At first it was horrible I could not get much volume out of them and it sounded like an AM transistor radio. Eventually I realized the buds themselves have their own independent volume control, by pressing and holding the right bud. That made all the difference. (no, I did not read the directions first) Next, I wanted to update the firmware. Even though the BO website (and the specific page for E8) tells you to download software on your PC to update the Firmware, the E8 is not one of the supported devices on the windows app. After some googling around I found a mobile app on the app store that is required to update the firmware. I unpaired my PC and paired with the phone and ran the update process from my phone. This took a long time (on the order of 15-20 minutes). Afterwards nothing was working. As soon as I connected the buds to the phone they disconnected again. I had to tell the phone to “forget” the previous pairing, and then pair them again. This time it worked. TWEAKING THE SOUND As I mentioned the E8 sounds too flat to me (but everyone is different). I played around with equalizer settings in the App, and on my Phone, and juiced up the sound quality more to my liking. (From “only OK” to “pretty good”). TESTING / PERFORMANCE / USAGE: Listening to Music (my test was Santana Wildflower LP) = 7 Conference Calls (my listening Audio Quality) = 9 Conference Calls (the other persons experience to my talking) = 6 (slightly tin can sounding) Ease of use = 9 (easy to pair, easy to learn the few controls) App Quality = 4 (just a firmware update utility with minimal settings for sound quality) Battery Life = 10. Here is where it shines Size / Fit / Looks = 7. Fits great (slightly twist into your ears). Wife says it makes me look like Frankenstein’s Monster with bolts sticking out of my ears, so probably a no go for serious business video calls. SUMMARY: If you want something to stand apart from the crowd this has great looks and style. If you want something to last for days, this has power to spare. There are better buds for listening to music. There are better buds for conference calls. This is a good overall performer in a luxury package with great battery life. Some people like to drive luxury cars, others like value based cars, they both get you where you need to go. If I’m driving a luxury car, I want it to outperform most other cars in the same class. This luxury car drives like a middle of the road sedan.

I've had a chance to test the Beoplay E8 in-ear headphones for about a week. The results: solid craftsmanship, decent touch controls, and excellent range. Regarding craftsmanship, the packaging as well as the devices themselves -- and the charging case (which also works with Qi wireless charging) -- are definitely well-made. The ear buds themselves come in about four different sizes to accommodate the size of ear canal that you possess :) On this front, they're definitely made to compete with certain other companies whose name is synonymous with a type of fruit :) In fact, the only challenge I have in dealing with these in-ear devices is that if I start smiling a lot, that moves the muscles around my ears to where it almost feels like the earphones will fall out. After adjusting the rubber ear buds for my ears, either I have to get more used to the earphones, or maybe my ears just aren't ideal for this device. They definitely still work, I simply have to make sure I don't let them fall out! One of the key features of the earphones is their touch controls. This is where I had to drop one star from this review. In order to best describe how well touch works, I'll list accordingly: - Turning the earphones on: very simple and works well. A single tap against each earphone. After previously paired, will almost immediately sync back up without issue. - Adjusting for ambient sound: very simple as well. A single tap against the left earphone brings up or turns down the overall volume for outside sound. - Adjusting the actual volume: tricky. If you want the volume to go down, you're supposed to tap a longer hold with the left earphone. If up, then the right earphone. The challenge here is that you have to really "hold" the tap for a good 2.5 seconds, otherwise if you're tapping on the left, you change ambient sound instead, and if you merely tap the right, you start or stop playing music! Thought: Maybe being able to adjust the "hold" time to closer to 1.5 seconds would be much more intuitive. Listening to music is decent. Bass range is OK, but you'll do better with a headset that's made for music. Handling phone calls is absolutely no issue, though, to be honest, if I'm traveling in my car, I won't have these earphone in, but will instead be using my vehicle's Bluetooth connectivity. The range is incredible. I can walk at least 30 feet away from my macOS when having meetings without any interference coming in. This includes several walls and walking between the first and second floors of my house. Then again, that's a function of the latest in Bluetooth specs, not specifically these earphones per se, but still -- great range. For charging, give the earphones about 2 hours and you'll have the stated day+ ability for playback (I use mine predominantly for computer audio, whether that's YouTube, Zoom or Slack calls). Also, keep in mind that a limitation of Bluetooth is that you can pair these earphones to one device at a time. Therefore, you'll have to explicitly disconnect and connect if you're going from, say, your computer to your iPhone (that's after you've paried to each device). Again, that's a Bluetooth "limitation." What's positive about this is that you don't have to worry about reconnecting to the last-connected device if you've fully discharged the earphone batteries and need to recharge to listen again. Overall, these are great earphones that I intend to continue using. My only drawback is I'd like the touch control sensitivity to be cranked up a notch.

These earbuds are well designed and built, quality is breathtaking and designed to fit well and stay in ears securely. Pros: The battery provides me with up 35 hours, Wireless changing "Qi-enabled", Bluetooth 5.1 for faster connection. pocketable, and intuitive touch controls. No issues with connection or audio quality so far. Cons: Pairing point is single "Master and slave" which means, I can't use left bud independently to make phone calls as the right bud is the master one. I prefer to have freedom of use by which I can use either side of the earbuds to make phone calls while the other one is sitting in the charging case.

These are nice true wireless earbuds. With some minor opportunities for improvement, but some big areas of GREAT. First Impression: Very nice packaging, as should be expected. Opening box revealed a well packed presentation that included the buds, the charging/carrying case, a thick and premium feeling USB-C charging cable, several earbud foam and silicone inner ear options and the ubiquitous quick start guide. After opening, everything had a premium look and feel. The classic B&O logo is elegantly prominent yet somehow understated. My 15 year old daughter even recognized the quality look and feel and asked if anyone ever "flexed" their earbuds on her, if she could shut them down by borrowing these B&O buds. Apparently the B&O legend is not only timeless, but also multi-generational. For the record, when I asked her to try them out so I could get a picture for this review, she subtly tried to abscond with them. Nice try! Charging was expectedly easy, pairing was the same. Finding the right earpiece fit took a while but the fact that they included so many options is a plus in my overall experience. OK, ready to test now... Sound Quality: Sound quality was somewhere between almost excellent and excellent. Highs were forever effervescent, even and realistic without ever being harsh or shrill. Mid's were clear, crisp, well defined and realistic. The bass? Here is where these are either brilliant or somewhat lacking, depending on your ear. Some people like a thumping bass, while others prefer punchy, yet measured bass. These are the latter and not the former. I find the bass to be pleasing while never overwhelming. To my ear, that is excellent. To others, these may be somewhat thin. As a former professional musician with countless studio, recording and live stage hours, I find these B&O buds to be excellent in overall sound delivery. Ease of Use: With earbuds and on-board controls, my experience is that manufacturers sometimes try to do far too much with a little too little. B&O nailed their touch control on these. While it's not quite intuitive, its easy to learn. The volume control is easy money and awesome. The BEST I've ever experienced. As far as other controls, they are good, accurate and relatively easy, but they do require some practice. But that that is well worth the investment in time for the pay-off of ease of use. Well don B&O. The case is also the charger. The case feels high quality and seeds the buds magnetically and positively. They are advertised at 35 hours of charge time, but that is total charge time that includes the charge in the case. While I have no reason to doubt that, I did not test. I can say charging seems to complete quickly. The "Really Cool": Ambient noise mode is awesome. One touch and you go from isolated passive noise cancellation to the wide open world. I never knew this was something I needed until I had it. One quick tap to the left bud and "BAM!", welcome to the real world around you. Very cool. The "So-So": The app sound control is decent but not great. There is no classic EQ and that is a bit of a bummer. It does offer an option that allows you to somewhat tune the sound but it's kind of hard to get exactly what you want. I would have LOVED a classic EQ, but this is not a deal breaker, just takes a bit of fiddling around with. The "Neither Here-Nor-There": Active noise cancellation. Too be honest, we are on lock down due to CVD-19 so I am not able to test as I usually would at the gym, on an airplane, at the library etcetera, but in all honesty, I don't miss it. The passive cancellation seems to do a fine job for me so far. If I wanted active cancellation, I'd use my over-ear Sony set. They have served me well on countless coast-to-coast and International flights. For my purposes, active noise cancellation in these little buds is not necessary. The "Wow, That's Incredible!" I tested these bad boys on multiple 20+ minute phone calls with several friends. At the end of the call, I let them know I was using these B&O buds on the entire call and everyone was amazed I was on a Blu-tooth device. They all assumed I was on my phone microphone. That is amazing. Each and every person was surprised. B&O uses 2 microphones per bud for a truly encompassing vocal field. To that end, very well done, B&O End of day, I would enthusiastically recommend these to a friend, but I would note the items I mentioned. **PLEASE NOTE** This product was provided to me at no cost in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This review is exactly that: Honest and unbiased. The price played no role in the tone or honesty of this review.

Perfect if you need a headset that will play for a long time between charges. Lasts 7 hours on a charge. But pop it back into the case up to four more times for a total of 35 hours of wonderful sound. Needed to take a call and a tap on the earpiece and I;m connected. Love that he case can be charged with a wireless charge or a plug in. I did struggle a little with the pairing to my android phone, but no problem at all with my Apple iPad. New toys always have a learning curve. Tap left ear for louder and right for lowering the volume.

I really wanted to love these headphones given B&O's reputation for great sound and my experience with their automotive and home products. Out of the box, the presentation is beautiful. The leather case is substantial, well-made and attractive. The magnets which hold the earphones in place are a welcome upgrade from my current headphones which I sometimes struggle to seat correctly in the charging case. It is very important to follow-the instructions. This is not an "intuitive" device and I had to always carry around the "Call/Music Operations" chart showing the different commands in order to use them.They even warn you - "The Tap Controls Are Responsive.But Take Time To Memorize." Connecting to my iPhone took more time than I expected and was a precursor of things to come. I constantly had to re-pair them using Bluetooth. Bottom line, the connectivity experience is poor for such an expensive product. My music or phone calls kept dropping for either no reason at all or because I inadvertently touch the surface of the earpiece. This leads to my second complaint - the over-sensitivity of the touch surface. The sensitivity is something that is just not my compatible with my way of wearing the headphones. Just in the process of placing them in my ear, I would accidently touch the surface and perform some unknown function. If I were just a to reach up to adjust the position of the earpiece, I would again inadvertently touch the surface which would activate some other function. This became very annoying very quickly. I would reach up to push that headphone further in and music would start or stop, or a call would end. I compare the experience to that of my previous headphones which had a more tactile "click" to activate a function. I much prefer that type of experience. The B&O are just too sensitive for me - they may work well for someone else. The sound is excellent, especially the bass. You can tune these, so if the "out-of-the-box" tuning isn’t to your liking, you can tune the E8s for “Optimal, “ “Commute,” “Clear,” “Workout” and “Podcast” sound using the app (if it can connect to the app - another connectivity problem I encountered even when they were sitting next to each other). Keeping in mind that I did not want or expect an “audiophile-grade” experience, there is no doubt these headphones offer superior sound when compared to my previous headphones. However, the hassles with the connectivity and the sensitivity of the touch surface just are not compatible with the way I use in-ear headphones. These are not my "stereo listening headphones" for which I prefer an over-the-ear set. I do not use in-ear for blocking out ambient sound as I have yet to find a pair of ear buds that really perform well for that purpose. These B&O fall out far too easily for exercise. I wanted a wireless set primarily for phone use and occasionally to listen to music on the go. At this price (4 to 5 times that of comparable headphones), B&O should also be delivering free lunch to my desk every day for a month and they do not, so I would prefer a less expensive, more functional and more comfortable set with the trade-off of slightly lower sound quality.