ARE THE B&O H9 3RD GEN WORTH £450? | REVIEW

jjj2788

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I've been testing the Bang & Olufsen H9 3rd Gen in the last 5 days and so far the one thing I can say for sure is that they are way above the PX7 from B&W and miles ahead of the XM3 & XM4 from Sony in terms of comfort, sound quality and ease of use.

The touch controls have worked for 70% of the times though I personally always take my phone out of my pocket even for volume change, but they do work better than the SONY's.

£449 sound?
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As i'm typing this I'm listening to Mystified by Fleetwood Mac off of Tango In The Night album and the presentation is so nicely arranged and decently spaced out. I can hear a slight boost in the very low mids which I don't normally on my DALI iO6 but I'm not mad at it. Not a big fan of it myself, but I can imagine how others may find it quite nice. Lower frequencies are very present throughout and sometimes a little too much... To the point where when listening to high volume levels you can hear distortion creeping in (something to bare in mind) which I only encountered with the Sony & SENNHEISER MOMENTUM 3. Mind you, this isn't mechanical distortion, this is coming from a place in the signal chain before it reaches the amplification stage and then the driver. Tha happens if course on bassier tracks such as BAD GUY by Billie Eilish, Lost Without You by Freya Ridings and Truth by CHINGIZ, to name a few.

The high frequencies are very very crispy and sparkly, though rolled off which left with me with the impression that the sound Bang & Olufsen was going for was something that is on the safe side but still very strong in its own right. Compared to my DALI iO6, to most consumers, the H9 might be more appealing because they come across more well behaved. They never lose control or sound of their element. They always manage to keep composure but with quite a big compromise on dynamics and emotions. They don't sound clinical at all, but they don't emote the feelings of a song the same way the DALI iO6 does.

Also, if I had to describe their sound with one word I would use focused. It doesn't have the depth, height and the dynamic reach of the iO6 but their focuced, intimate presentation will be appealing to most.

Overall, I urge consumers thinking of buying these to not expect a sound worth their price tag, because it won't actually reflect it, but when you look at the headphones as a whole package of features, design, comfort, app support and their sound delivery, the £449 makes a lot of sense. Sound is better than Sony & Bowers & Wilkins so there's that.

Design wise, they are very comfortable and I have had no issues wearing them for longer periods of time.
At times I had issues with Bluetooth connection when listening to music, it would sturrer 3 times in a row and then come back to normal, but I'm not sure if others have had the same issue with their units.
App support is great, simple and works 80% of the time. Last 2 days I've had issues with being unable to create a preset but will try to report back further down the line.

I hope this helps.
 

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These are fiarly often 160 on ebay, open box from Peter Tyson iirc
 
It is worth £199? available new on Peter Tyson. Or any closed back wireless recommendation around £250 pls.
 
I think the OP has left town
 
In ear or On ear ?
 
I have XM 3 and they are fine I think the XM4 dropped some of the features
 
These are fiarly often 160 on ebay, open box from Peter Tyson iirc

Sune (Bang & Olufsen)
Apr 14, 2022, 23:14 GMT+2
Dear Guan,

Thank you for getting back to us.

We are happy to assist you further however, we do not offer any paid repair options for the headphones due to the way they are manufactured and no spare parts being available.

I don’t understand why headphones cannot be repaired!!!!!
 

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