Clairty, Looks

Price, comfort, lack of bass

I used this product for more than a year before I accidently sucked it up my vacuum cleaner. Anyways, I did enjoy these earphones very much. Usually I do not like B&O products because of their priority of looks over sound. But these ear phones give a lucid and defined sound that is rare at this size. I might disagree with some who think that these are very comfortable but I personally did not enjoy having the hooks behind my ears after 45 minutes or so. Also, listening mostly to my Sony CD walkman, I found the bass lacking and when I used the bass from the CD player, it became boomy and unclear. So I ended up listening without adding bass. I would recommend it but I think that I shall get a pair of Sony headphones from now on.

Similar Products Used:

different levels of Sony earphones

Everything.

Retail price is a bit high, but if you get them for a discount they are fantastic.

Simply put, these are stunning headphones that outperform nearly all of the competition--their combination of comfort, looks, price, and most importantly sound, put them above and beyond nearly all other alternatives. I own a pair of Sony street-style phones for portable use. These sound pretty awful, and let massive amounts of distracting noises in to ruin the music (living in New York, this exterior noise problem can be one of the biggest factors when shopping for phones). Later, I bought the Sennheiser HD-570's for home use, and these showed me what good headphones could do for musical enjoyment. Unfortunately these are massive and open-air, which is perfect for the house but not for walking around or flying (plus they aren't made for portable players, and sound too quiet when applied--they need a good amp to come alive). So I was in the market for small phones that I could use portably to replace my Sony's. But I had a few issues: first, they needed to be very good quality. Also, I had to have them either in-ear or noise canceling, because I fly enough to not want to listen to music with plane noises. I don't want to have to own three separate phones for home, portable, and planes--I had home headphones, and now I needed something for portable use as well as flights. But what could do this? What could be light and comfortable enough to walk around with, but also decrease distracting noises efficiently? I had found a solution--the Etymotic ER-4P. These had amazing reviews all around, and were supposed to be not only amazing noise-canceling phones, but fantastic for simple sound quality as well. Two things made me stay away: the $250 (cheapest I could find them) price tag, as well as, believe it or not, the noise canceling. I changed my mind because I decided maybe phones that block out exterior noises completely would be dangerous walking around in New York. Then, surfing on the Bang and Olufsen website, I found the A8 cans. At $160 they were around the top of my budget, but after finding them for around $115 (including shipping) on Ebay, and after reading great reviews all around the internet, I decided to take the plunge. They arrived in their own gift box with an extra set of pads, an extension cable, and a gorgeous leather carrying case. After taking them out and playing with them, I found their cosmetics to be beautiful as well--they are crafted from strong aluminum, and are very light yet well-built. It took me like ten minutes just to figure out how to get them on correctly and then to make them comfortable, but now that I'm a little more used to them, I can slip them on/off with ease. Granted, these take some adjusting every time you want to listen to music--they aren't going to just slip on and off, but the advantage is that once they are on, they feel fantastically light and comfortable (and I normally hate the feeling of in-ear phones)--they fit well enough to forget they are on while sprinting. Sound wise they are a marvel as well, and the only area I find them lacking is in the lower-end; but I don't thinking anyone should expect deep bass from tiny little buds like these. But they do have as deep bass as my Sony streets, but much more accurate--very tight and punchy. Upward from the lows I really can't describe how good they sound--it's like listening to a $10,000 stereo system. They sound better than my $2,000 or so stereo system! Although breaking them in will help, I find them a bit bright--MUCH more so than with my overly warm Sennheiser's. Vocals are piercing and full-bodied, cymbals shimmer across the soundstage, and they even create a wonderful sense of recording ambience. This combination makes portable listening like listening to a concert. I hear details in the music, and because they fit so well, they block out tons of exterior noise, but not enough for it to be dangerous walking around-I love it! Worth every penny.

Can listen to wonderful sound for extended periods without ear-fatigue.

The B&O's reveal that there are too many headphone pre-amps which are too noisy for good audiophile use.

These are outstanding earphones. The clarity, definition, and imaging are better than anything else I’ve tried or owned. I used to think my Grado SR-225’s were the best. I also have some $100 Sony bud earphones that I like. B&O gives me better-defined bass and more clarity in the mid to high range. I always have problems with irritation on my skin from the foam or plastic of any headphone / earphone. I replaced the foam pads with $2 silicon pads from Radio Shack and have been very happy. I think this helps me with optimum placement as well. I use these headphones with everything. They are very revealing. I have friends compare equipment using my B&O earphones. They almost always report that “any old headphone” will work ok with a Sony portable CD player but the match-up of B&O with some of the better Panasonic players provides better sound quality than most sound systems costing over $10,000. I’ve been a little frustrated and disappointment with the earphone pre-amps on portable radios. They are usually just not good enough for audiophile earphone use. The Grundig YB-300, YB-400, and Porche 2000 seem to have a good pre-amp for the headphones but the YB-500 does not. The Radio Shack (Sangeon) DX-399 and DX-440 work very well with batteries but have a horrible 60 hz hum when attached to any AC adapter. I just purchased a DX398 that sounds great with the B&O earphones. In all cases, the B&O earphones (and others) reveal a hiss (white noise?) from the radio. This is even heard when the volume is all the way down. I bought a little in-line volume control from Radio Shack for about $6 that helps knock-down the hiss. Unfortunately, it also cuts down some of the dynamics and imaging. Cheap headphones / earphones make my ears hurt after 30 minutes or so. I can enjoy the B&O headphones for hours without ear fatigue. I recommend these to anyone.

Similar Products Used:

Grado SR-225, Sony ES (two models of bud earphones costing over $100 each. I don't remember the model numbers)

Stylish, distinctively unique, makes other earphones look unequivocally boring!

Nothing too major to really worry about!

I have had my B&O earphones approximately nine months, in which time I have used them mainly for listening to my portable minidisc player. I occasionally use it for listening to my home audio system when it's required that I keep the noise down. These earphones have definitely been a revelation, they rarely if ever disappoint! I first bought them as the ones that came standard with my minidisc player were woefully inadequate. It might not be apparent to many people how dire your usual earphones can sound unless you compare them with a pair of quality earphones. I like to use the analogy that you can't appreciate the sweet until you've tasted the bitter! In the same way with earphones, you have to listen to a pair of 'regular' earphones to truly appreciate the level of detail and clarity you get from a pair of quality earphones. I have tested this theory with many of my friends, not many of them you would call audiophiles and the difference to them is as clear as night and day. If you know of anyone with a pair of these phones, or can have them demonstrated to you at a B&O dealership then you will realise the difference immediately. One test I like to try out is to play tracks on a pair of regular earphones, and then on these. You will find your own music to try this out and I know this has almost become cliché, but you really can rediscover your music and if you try this you will find this maxim holds true. I especially like to play Massive Attacks track Angel when showboating to friends (aren’t we all guilty of that?). What you will find is that these earphones will pick up the finest nuances of every instrument, especially towards the end of this track you will discover an ever so feint electric guitar riff just as the music is playing out, which a pair of regular earphones won’t even know exists. I tried many earphones from reputable manufacturers and many were good, but I dare say none of them had an edge! That is what I would say these earphones have without a doubt! I'm not denying that you can buy earphones of good sound quality for about half the price; however I would still argue that the overall sound stage of these phones is superior! It's not only the quality of the earpiece but also the fact that they fit so well as to virtually block out most external noise, meaning you get a much more faithful representation of the music being played. G

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Sony, Koss, Philips, Technics, Sennheiser

Sound Quality, Comfort

Can be difficut to get placed properly

I've always been aprehensive of earbud headphones. To be honest I passed these up to purchase the "standard" style B&O Form 2's. But once I gave in for travel purposes I was greatly impressed. They do take a bit of adjustment (easy to do with the flexible design) to get just right but when you do be prepared. The quality pumped into your head is quite amazing considering the size.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Koss, Phillips, B&O

Style, comfort, sound quality

slight distortion at low end if pushed

I write this listening to the strokes album with my new earphones - hello! Very impressed! Comfortable. Stylish - beyond a doubt. But wait 'til your hear 'em - The kind of rich sound that puts a smile on your face and gives you goose bumps while listening to 'last night' at full blast on a train full of people ignorant to the fact that there's a party going on in your head!!!! I LOVE IT! You will not be disappointed.

Stylishness; comfort; sound quality

Sometimes fiddly to get properly positioned; possible fragility

The design alone is enough to grab the attention of any gadget freak... They look well cool... Fitting them can sometimes be fiddly and finding the right spot is not always easy, though once you do get it, beautiful sound on all ranges... Another big plus is that there is almost zero sound leakage to disturb your neighbour... Another negative point is the tendency for the wires to get tangled in the ear loops. Given that the wires are very light weight, it could be quite easy to damage them trying to untangle the ensuing spaghetti. Over all though, they are the most comfortable earphones I've yet encountered and compared to headphones, are streets ahead. Almost to the point that you are not aware you are wearing them... A hot product. What more can I say!

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Variety of headphones and earphones

Clarity, comfort, durability, the extra extention cord is brilliant! the leather case is pretty cool looking.

The foam pads are a bit low quality for such an expensive product and they keep coming off, very annoying. Strangely enough i find them rather ugly. I think B&O can suffer from the "emporer''s new clothes" syndrome from time to time. And the leather case stinks!!!

These are quite easily the best earphones I''ve ever used. Very neutral without being harsh. Since i also use them in a professional sense out in the field as an audio engineer, I''m not really a fan of the "extra phat bass extension" that you''ll usually find in other ear/headphones. That''s not to say that these are lacking in bass response at all, in fact i believe they give the most accurate bass reproduction in thier field (as do most other B&O products)ie; no strange resonance or coloration. The best part is my ears dont get sore ofter a few hours of wearing them as is the case with other "bud" type earphones. And they do complement a ti powermac very well for all you muso''s and sound editors out there... ;-)

Similar Products Used:

Various sony, panasonic, etc etc that come with diskmen and walkmen.... Various senhieser studio headphones.

sound: detailed, crisp, relatively good bass design: amazing construction, looks fantastic infinitely adjustable

absurdly expensive, infinitely adjustable

B&O is all about function following form, but the A8s are an exception. They sound great, and they look great. Their infinite adujstability allows you to find a solid fit and position the speaker right in the ''sweet spot.'' However, this attribute is a double-edged sword. It also takes forever to get them properly situated in your ears. And it doesn''t make them that much more comfortable then the molded, non-adjustable types - earphones are intrinsically uncomfortable. I compared them to two other styles of in-ear headphones, which were much cheaper, Sony MDR-J10 ($10) and Koss sport clips ($20). For watching movies or PC gaming the A8s blew the others away. But for music use with a portable player, they were only marginally better than the Sonys (the Koss ''phones were quite comfy but sound quality was generally lacking). For home use why would you want to use earphones instead of circumaural headphones? For portability, earphones can''t be beat, but I don''t like the idea of walking around or riding the subway with $160 of hardware on my ears or in my pocket. I wouldn''t feel comfortable taking these out of my home, and that undermines the sacrifice you make in comfort for ease of portability. The sound quality, while excellent does not make up for this fact. The A8s, as I mentioned, were only slightly better in sound quality than the $10 Sonys - definitely not 16 times better - which is the difference in price. Thank goodness for B&O''s 1 week return policy, otherwise I wouldn''t have purchased these. The fact that these were even comparable in sound quality to $10 dollar cheapies speaks volumes. If you are a wealthy audiophile, by all means, buy a couple pairs of these for the times you can''t enjoy your $14,000 Sennheiser Orpheus electrostatic headphones. As for me, I can afford to lose a few pairs of $10 Sony MDR-J10s, which, by the way, are by far the best of the cheap earphones I''ve tried so far.

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Under $30 earphones, Sony, Koss

Design and comfort Excellent reproduction above approx 100Hz

Subjectively, low bass sounds weak. I am uncertain if this is d/t headphone response or d/t listener not "feeling" bass as with full speakers.

The design and comfort of these headphones are really their strongest qualities. They sound fantastic in the upper octaves to high-bass, but aren''t strong below ~100Hz (expected given their size). I''ve compensated by throwing a small sub in my backpack while I jog. Overall, I recommend them highly, but consider listening tastes vs. size/comfort in your decision. -Leonard PS- Play with adjustment, as reproduction varies greatly with position. This becomes second nature, though, and isn''t a pain in the butt with chronic listening.

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Best sony ear-buds and hi-fi stereos