From Danish consumer electronics company, Bang & Olufsen (B&O) comes their Beoplay H4 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones.
Bang & Olufsen has been around since 1925 founded by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen and the company’s early beginnings was known for its alternate current radio and known later for its flagship speaker, the BeoLab 5.
For fans of B&O products, along with wonderful sound, they are also attractive for their distinctive design and while B&O products tend to be expensive, the company released their first inexpensive bluetooth wireless headphones, the H4.
The Beoplay H4 headphones is compatible with the Beoplay app for Android and iPhone.
The H4 headphones comes with a Micro USB cable to charge the headphones (if you own an Android phone, you can use the mini USB charger) and comes with a 1.25 audio cable with a 3.5 mm jack.
With the H8 being noise cancelling and everything controlled with a wheel on the side of the headphones (and also priced at $499), the H4 is not noise cancelling, nor does it have side controls and is priced much less at $299.
Everything in the H4 is controlled through its three buttons. Center button is to turn on and turn off the device or to initiate a call or communicate with Siri (for Apple users).
The center button also is how you move forward to a track by pressing it twice quickly to forward. Otherwise, pressing the button will pause the track. Press it again to unpause. The microphone is one electret type, omnidirectional.
There is a button above and below the center button to increase/decrease volume. They are also used to pair your headphones to a device (by holding up and down buttons together).
While the H8 is made from premium cow leather and lambskin leather on the ear pads along with memory foam plus anodised aluminum. The H4, designed by Jakob Wagner uses lambskin leather on the earpads, aluminum stainless steel on the outer edge of the ear pads and braided textile cord.
Charging time for the H4 is 2.5 hours and allows for 19 hours with bluetooth thanks to its 600 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The H8 is only up to 14 hours.
The bluetooth remembers the last 8 paired devices and is 4.2-AAC codec with a 10m (32 feet) operating range. I actually tested the headphones walking into the garage far from my bluetooth device (more than 50 ft.) and it worked with slight crackle but it worked, but I did try it at over 30 ft. outside and it was barely picking up. But for indoor use and your bluetooth device is near your headphones, the H4 works perfectly.
JUDGMENT CALL:
The Beoplay H4 headphones are sleek and really gave crystal clear audio and handled the bass very well with no distortion. I was very impressed with the audio in conjunction with the overall design. I was really loving these headphones to listen to audio, may it be music, a video on YouTube, a podcast, the H4’s are quite solid.
But of course, for B&O to make them cost less, they had to cut corners when compared with the H8 and that is the H4 having the device controls limited to three buttons instead of the touch control on the side of the outside wheel like the H8.
While I love wearing the headphones, you’ll want to skip tracks through your device than fuss with the center button. Otherwise, pausing/unpausing a track, increasing/decreasing volume is simple. Call control is also well done through the headphones and tests on the other line with another person said the audio was clear, as far as I’m near the Bluetooth device.
While there are other headphones that can deliver much better audio for the same price, Bang & Olufsen are considered designer/stylish electronics and some people call B&O as more luxury item, because of its design and overall look.
But I felt the H4 offered great sound quality, especially when compared to the H8. I like the fact that you can get 19 hours of power using Bluetooth on the headphones after 2.5 hours to charge.
Overall, if you are a person conscious about great sound to go along with great aesthetics and cool style but not ready to spend nearly $500 for headphones but are willing to compromise for an under $300 headphone from a well-known, reputable company. You can’t go wrong with the BeoPlay H4 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones.
Recommended!
