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So these are the limited edition bang and olufsen H95 ANC headphones… now besides being a major flex, cause these headphones retail for an eye watering $800… The H95’s actually preform very well. Now they do have some minor quirks that I am going to point out but besides that I think these headphones do manage to justify their price. Now obviously these headphones aren’t for everybody… but these headphones do ooze luxury.
Now first off we’re going to have to talk about the included accessories here cause this is an area where most other manufacture’s are really trying to cut corners here. Now these headphones come included with an aluminum carrying case and the inside is lined with matching textile from the headphones themselves. Now just the experience of taking your headphones out and putting them back in feels special. But even though this case is beautiful there are some drawbacks to keep in mind. For commuting this case isn’t the best cause it is larger and heavier than your typical case… and unfortunately since it is aluminum it is prone to scratching. Personally I think B and O should have gone with either a leather wrapped or textile wrapped exterior and had the exposed aluminum on the inside. This way you still get that luxurious feel but you save yourself the heart break of scratching up your beautiful case. But case aside the included cables are also super premium. The H95 come included with a fabric USB C to USB A charging cable and a 3.5 millimeter audio cable. And they even come with an airplane adapter.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves. It goes without saying that these headphones have amazing build quality. Now one of the things that is special about them from the H9’s is that these headphones are fully collapsible. Now these headphones have a mostly aluminum body… when you extend their headband it simply glides in and out… the top portion of the headband has a hit of cowhide leather… underneath we’ve got a little bit of padded fabric and when we make our way down to the ear pads themselves we’ve got lamb skin leather. Now obviously when it comes to materials these headphones are pulling all the stops here, but personally the leather on these ear pads is a little rough or stiff for my taste. Now the leather on these ear pads feels like the leather that you would find on a car seat, wallet, or leather jacket… its not as soft or as supple as the leather or leatherette that you would find on other headphones out there like either the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s or Bose NC 700. Regardless these headphones are using super premium materials… but I would have liked to have seen more supple feeling lambskin leather on these ear pads.
And when it comes to fit… even though these headphones fit well they do have some draw backs to point out. Now first off these headphones do fit rather firm… I can wear them for a long while and I will say that they are big head approved cause they don’t feel like they’re actually squeezing your head but if you’re looking for something with less clamping force you’ll might want to look elsewhere. Now since these headphones are using super premium materials that also means they are on the heavier side. The H95’s weigh in at 323 grams making them a pair of heavy boys. Cause on average your typical pair of headphones weigh in between 270 to 290 grams. And for comparison sake the Bose NC 700’s weigh in at 263 grams and the Sony 1000XM4’s weigh in at 254 grams. So this extra weight on the H95’s means a few things… first off these headphones are super noticeable when you’re walking around with them on cause you can really feel them shifting around when they’re on your head and these aren’t a pair of headphones that you really forget that you’re wearing even when you’re just sitting still. And since these headphones are rather heavy they can develop a little bit of strain on the back of your neck after you’ve been wearing these headphones for like an hour… Now these headphones don’t cause anywhere near as much neck strain as the JBL Club One or JBL Club 950BT curse those puppies weigh in at a staggering 378 grams… but the H95’s are entering neck strain territory. And for comparison sake the H9’s weigh in at 285 grams. Which is average.
But when it comes to the ear pads themselves thankfully the H95’s are using oval ear pads. Now these ear pads are fairly spacious and they should be able to accommodate most ear types… But they aren’t super deep. Now the fabric on these ear pads does push down a little bit giving you a little bit of extra room… but this also mean that you feel like your ears are still getting pressed down. So I still recommend that if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot then you’ll still want to go with either the Bose NC 700’s or Sennheiser PXC 550-II cause their ear pads are still way more spacious. Nonetheless these ear pads fit me just fine and these headphones do fit well but my major critique here is going to be their weight. Since these headphones do weigh in at 323 grams they are super noticeable when you’re walking around with them on and they wouldn’t be my first pick if I we’re looking for a pair of headphones to wear for hours and hours on end cause you never forget that you have them on. But I guess thats a sacrifice you’re going to have to make if you want something with this kind of build quality.
But now lets talk about tech specs, just as you’d expect these headphones charge via a USB C port and these headphones have an advertised battery life of 38 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on which is above average. And with their active noise cancellation turned off they can go for as long as 50 hours. So over all battery life on these headphones isn’t just great… it is above average.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity these headphones are using bluetooth 5.1 but more importantly they can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you can easily hot swap from your phone to your computer which is nice. And when it comes to watching movies or video on your phone these headphones do have zero latency across the board whether you're using an iPhone or an aneroid device.
And when it comes to audio codecs these headphones are using SBC, AAC and APTX adaptive… but if you want you can always use the USB C port on these headphones as a wired connection which is fairly rare these days. But like I mentioned earlier these headphones do come included with a very premium 3.5 millimeter audio cable. But since you can use the USB C port on these headphones as a wired connection this does make me wish that we also got premium USB C to USB C cable.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones. Now these headphones do sound their best with their active noise cancellation turned off. With their ANC turned on the bass on these headphones resonates slightly less and they sound slightly less open. I think your average person might not notice or care but I do. But at the very least I can say that the Active noise cancellation on these headphones doesn’t change their sound nearly as much as the ANC on the Bowers And Wilkins PX7’s. Now from a performance stand point these headphones have really good instrument separation, a decently wide sound stage, and the bass on these headphones doesn’t bottom out… but these headphones are better suited for people who like a neutral or vocals focused EQ. Even though these headphones do have a decent amount of bass, these headphones are not going to physically rattle your head like lets say the Sony 1000XM4’s. The bass on the H95’s is the resonating kind similar to the Bose NC 700’s or Sennheiser Momentum 3’s. Now these headphones do have an adjustable EQ and you can up the bass on them to rattle your head a little bit but they still aren’t going to rattle your head nearly as much as the Sony’s. And personally I am not the biggest fan of this kind of EQ adjustment… cause if you move this dial too deep into warm or high bass they can end up sounding a little shallow cuase they end up pushing the mids down, of if you want to bring the vocals out on these headphones they can end up sounding nasally and flat cuase they end up lowering the bass and upping the treble. So personally for me I’ll mostly just use these headphones while in their stock EQ cause I like their balanced nature or ill might use them with their dial a little bit into the High bass and energetic area… but over all these headphones are better suited for people who like a neutral EQ and I did wish Bang and Olufsen would just give us full control over the EQ settings on these headphones.
Now when it comes to media controls, these headphones have a physical dial that you can use to adjust your volume and they also have a touch pad to skip through your music. Now personally im a really big fan of having a physical dial to adjust your volume and the touch pad on these headphones is super accurate. So controlling your music with these headphones feels very intuitive. However I do gotta point out that Bang and Olufsen did copy this dial system from the Surface Headphones… and even though I really do think the gnarling on these dials is a very nice touch… I do gotta admit that the dials on the surface headphones feels better than the dials on the H95’s. First off there’s placement… having the dial on the outside like on the surface headphones feels more natural and is easier to reach than having the dial on the inside like on the H95’s. And then there’s also tactile feedback. The dial on the Surface headphones has a satisfying resistance to it that makes it feel very intentional when you’re adjusting this dial where as the dials on the H95’s a little too lose. And then there’s also the fact that the dial on the H95’s does like to wiggle a little bit where as the dial on the Surface headphones doesn’t wiggle at all. So over all what im getting at here is that im a big fan of this dial set up and the controls on the H95’s feels very intuitive… But we do gotta give credit where credit is due… Microsoft really did knock it out the park when it came to designing these dials. Cause unfortunately the dials on the H95’s just don’t feel as good.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Like with the Surface headphones you can adjust your ANC on the H95’s by using the dial on the left earcup. And like I mentioned earlier the active noise cancelation on the H95’s does affect how that sound. It slightly reduces the amount of bass these headphones have and it narrows them up a little bit. But I think your average user isn’t even going to notice. But from a performance standpoint I am pleasantly surprised. The active noise cancelation on the H95’s has very little cabin pressure which is great for comfort and there’s zero hissing in the background. And these headphones block out a lot of noise as well. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen the active noise cancelation on the H95’s is very good. They block out way more noise than a pair of entry level ANC headphones like the Sony WH-CH710N and they also block out noticeably more noise than the Surface Headphones 2 which block out nearly as much noise a pair of premium ANC headphones. My only critique here is that since the microphone array on these headphones is fairly exposed they do like to pick up the occasional wind noise when walking out doors. But other than that the Active noise cancellation on the H95’s is very impressive.
And when it comes to the ambient mode on these headphones… its very good as well. The ambient mode on these headphones sounds very natural for the most part but can sound a little over amplified if you were to set them to max… but other than that there’s zero hissing the background which is important for when your watching movies with these headphones. And for the most part this microphone array does a decent job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors but again since this microphone array is so exposed sometimes they will pick up wind noise… but it not problematic. However I do gotta point out that this ambient mode lets in everything… its not the active kind that will actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises like the ambient mode on the Surface Headphones does.
So with all that being said… I think paying $800 for any pair of ANC headphones is over kill. But I aint mad at the H95’s, they actually deliver. Just from a pure build quality perspective these headphones are using premium materials, they’re exquisitely built and they come included with just as premium feeling cables and they’ve got that aluminum case. From a performance standpoint these headphones sound great and they should be able to please anyone who appreciates a neutral sound signature, they block out a lot of noise, and they have a good ambient mode as well. They even tic off extra credit boxes like having an above average battery life, being able to use their USB C port as a wired connection, and they have some really intuitive controls to them. But granted Microsoft did manage to execute on the feel of those dials better. Now my major critique here is going to come to comfort cause these headphones are on the heavier side… but I guess that just comes with the territory if youre aiming for this kind of build quality.