General Forum

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Evan — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:31:51 GMT

Evan:
Yes, very good to see this praise for the A8.
Although I do like the A8s, I prefer the rubber-tipped 'noise isolating' style earbud. I have some Denon AH-C360s and they are very comfortable. They also do an amazing job of keeping all of the noise around you out. This style also gives great bass, but the mids and tops do lack. Still very enjoyable.

Man, did I say I liked those things?! Wow...

Just out of curiosity and old times' sake I plugged in those Denons. Never mind the bass, whats happening in the highs?! If the loudness was graphed out on these, the graph would have a huge smiley face with a gaping dip right in the middle! It sure has been a long time since I've listened to these!

Long live the A8!

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

jonnyb — Sun, 29 May 2011 14:47:37 GMT

I've written to B&O on at least two occasions to request an updated version of the Earset 3 with a less bulky inline remote and a volume control. This is exactly what I wanted so I'm a happy man. The bass in the A8s/Earset 3 is excellent. It's nice and neutral and not overly boomy.

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Evan — Thu, 26 May 2011 17:26:49 GMT

Peter,

The difference is significant. Even with a mediocre pair of in-ear buds, you will forget your on a plane!

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Puncher — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:52:46 GMT

Peter :

Calvin:
B&Os problem is that they need to produce a headphone, but it's not a market where their style means a lot.

Oh I don't know! I remember using my A8s on an Air France trip and at the end of the flight, I was stopped by a particularly attractive air stewardess who said she had noticed the earphones and wanted to know what they were. I said B&O and she smiled and said that she should have known. If I had had slightly more style, I should have given them to her - but my English reserve cut in I am afraid! I actually don't find A8s very good in an aeroplane anyway - I wonder if in ear devices might be better.

Agree that A8's are rubbish on aircraft. I use some inexpensive Sennheiser CX300's when travelling. The in-ear design together with the selection of rubber plugs mean you get a really decent seal which does a good job of isolating outside noise. I'm under no illusion that they are the best at this task but I am quite happy with their performance mid-air, where they are several streets ahead of A8's in keeping out the constant drone of air travel.

All in all they're really not bad at all considering their low price. If I used them more often I'd invest further up the range but stick with the in-ear design.

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Peter — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:29:30 GMT

Calvin:
B&Os problem is that they need to produce a headphone, but it's not a market where their style means a lot.

Oh I don't know! I remember using my A8s on an Air France trip and at the end of the flight, I was stopped by a particularly attractive air stewardess who said she had noticed the earphones and wanted to know what they were. I said B&O and she smiled and said that she should have known. If I had had slightly more style, I should have given them to her - but my English reserve cut in I am afraid! I actually don't find A8s very good in an aeroplane anyway - I wonder if in ear devices might be better.

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Calvin — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:17:43 GMT

The A8s are good but for the price you'd hardly expect them to be rubbish. It's a fairly crowded market and frankly, I think some other companies do better for the £100-150 level, notably Atomic Floyd. B&Os problem is that they need to produce a headphone, but it's not a market where their style means a lot. It's like if Apple went into producing mouse mats.

You have to love this line though "although you’ll enjoy the privacy of being surrounded by sound, you will not be entirely cut off from the outside world when wearing it." Which makes an excuse sound like a design feature.

I live for the day that someone produces decent wireless quality headphones with a decent battery life. It's a few years away, along with my jetpack and a brand new BeoGram

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Evan — Thu, 26 May 2011 10:06:25 GMT

Yes, very good to see this praise for the A8.

Although I do like the A8s, I prefer the rubber-tipped 'noise isolating' style earbud. I have some Denon AH-C360s and they are very comfortable. They also do an amazing job of keeping all of the noise around you out. This style also gives great bass, but the mids and tops do lack. Still very enjoyable.

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

AdamS — Thu, 26 May 2011 08:24:59 GMT

I'm glad there are some others who like the A8s - I have three pairs and would never want to be without them!

I truly detest any earphones that have to be shoved into the ear as not only do I find them hideously uncomfortable, I find that they usually fall out unless I keep my head perfectly still. The A8s are comfortable and sound great - I admit it takes a few minutes to get them sat perfectly for optimum bass reproduction, but it's not exactly a hardship is it?

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

fridsten — Thu, 26 May 2011 02:56:59 GMT

Would these work with an HTC Incredible S as well?

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

jk1002 — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:40:38 GMT

I have a 8 or 10 year old pair of A8s, I defend them to death as well. The bass might not be that strong but the clarity is a beautiful thing.

Note that I have the Solo HDs as well, sound good but uncomfortable (I have glasses) and talking in a phone conversation with them takes some getting used to since one somehow hears a funny echo .....

I was waiting for the updated phones from B&O and am happy they adopt the control talk thingy ....

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Oakley — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:34:44 GMT

You're deaf, that's all I got to say...

I will defend my A8's to the grave. I've had a same pair for 6 years now and I never looked back. I'm sure if you clean your ears and give them a listen, you'd understand what I'm talkin about.

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

rgbyhkr — Wed, 25 May 2011 12:47:04 GMT

I think the Apple stores used to sell the A8 and maybe even the EarSet 2 but I haven't seen those around in the store in a while. I wonder if the 3i will make it in to join the BL4 and BS8 (US store)...

Jeff

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Tod Daniel — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:30:26 GMT

Hi Michael yes I have the inner ear iBeats (£79) and I have the white Solo HDs which are incredible. Yep, I do wear them outside however, I admit to being a fashion victim! They do sound absolutely amazing mind you, so do the iBeats LOADS of bass with a crystal clear treble! And quality 3.5mm jack and compatible with the iPhone!

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

Chrisreunion — Tue, 24 May 2011 08:51:32 GMT

When I first bought my A8 earphones, I was also very disappointed with the bass reproduction.

Then I learnt to really insert them as far as I could, and also applied scotch tape to the vents, and I must say now I'm more than happy with the whole line.

I have A8 earset, Earset 1 Home and Earset 3 with my Serenata, and apart from the very fragile wires on the Earset 3 kit, I'm more than happy with their performance. Besides, bass is the easiest thing to adjust on portable audio products, if you want more boom. Try adjusting the midrange or treble, it's another story.

I bought a pair of professional stage earphones, costing twice as much as the B&O earphones, and had to bring them back after one hour: they sounded awful to me..all bass and no treble.

Anyway, these new earphones may also be part of the new range of products that B&O are planning to sell out of B1 stores, don't you think?

Re: New B&O earphones for iPhone

jk1002 — Tue, 24 May 2011 08:47:41 GMT

I like the update, was in fact waiting for that.

I would be surprised if the cable issue that the old earset had is not fixed. Just because its a thin cable doesn't mean it has to break.