B&O Beoplay E8 Review
Numerous manufacturers offer true wireless headphones and thus completely wireless music enjoyment. Find out now in the test how good the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 are!
The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 are high-quality true wireless headphones that offer long battery life, good wearing comfort, and strong connectivity with Apple and Android. Unfortunately, they do not have active noise cancellation, and the design is a matter of taste.
The Danish manufacturer Bang & Olufsen has also played a role in the market for real wireless headphones and is already using the completely wireless design in the third generation of the Beoplay E8. Therefore, we took a close look at the B&O Beoplay E8 and summarized the results for you in this test. Furthermore, you can learn how the B&O Beoplay E8 works compared to other in-ear headphones in our leaderboard.
- Good sound
- Good connectivity with Apple and Android
- Numerous setting options
- High price
- No active noise canceling
The Sound – How good do the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 sound?
The most important thing about any headphone is the sound. The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 is convinced in this regard on many levels. For example, in our test song Hurt by Johnny Cash, the headphones were able to convince with a detailed representation of the two guitars, each of which is audible.
Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now also sounds very good on the B&Os. The division of the high and low notes is appropriately adopted, and the singing can be heard without any overlays occurring. However, minor weaknesses emerge in the third bass-heavy test song, Pray For Me by The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar.
The deep bass of the Beoplay E8 isn’t quite as strong as that of some competitors like the Sony WF-1000XM3. Otherwise, the real wireless headphones do an excellent job here. The B&Os are also suitable for spoken content such as podcasts or audiobooks. The content can still be heard very comfortably at high volume via Spotify.
Practice: How are the headphones doing in everyday life?
The B&O Beoplay E8 does completely without cables and relies on an integrated battery. At normal volume, the Beoplay E8 lasts up to 7 hours. This makes them perfect for longer trips without access to electricity. This value naturally refers to the standard model since the headphones do not have active noise canceling. So, nothing stands in the way of hours of music streaming.
If you are often on the road for more than seven hours, this is no problem with the Beoplay E8 either. The associated charging case offers four full charges and thus up to 35 hours of listening time. It takes about two hours for the plugs to be fully charged again. Unfortunately, the headphones do not currently offer a quick charge function. The charging case is charged via USB-C or wirelessly. It’s a good size but might be a bit big for very tight pants.
The plugs, which rely on the classic design of in-ear headphones, are also quite clumsy. Although they sit quite comfortably in the ear, they can get shaky with faster movements. Moreover, the in-ears are not necessarily suitable as sports headphones anyway since they do not have an IP standard and are therefore not reliably protected against moisture.
The voice quality when making calls, on the other hand, is impressive. Several built-in microphones ensure an understandable conversation even with ambient noise. Unfortunately, the battery life is reduced if the phone is used continuously.
Operation – The buttons and setting options of the B&O Beoplay E8 in the test
Playback can be controlled via touch fields on the plugs. Start, stop, skip, all of this can be controlled during use via touch fields on the outside of the plugs. The operation is very reliable and easy. However, it would help if you were careful not to press too hard on the touch fields since you can hear the pressure quite loudly in your ears.
Like the connection establishment, settings can also be made via a separate app for IOS and Android. This offers various listening modes such as “Clear” or “Podcast,” which can customize the listening experience. Although the Beoplay E8 does not offer noise cancellation, a transparency mode is on board. This model is practically the opposite of ANC, as it allows extra ambient noise through.
This is very helpful if you want to stay alert in traffic or have a conversation without packing the headphones separately. In addition, this mode can be adjusted at different levels depending on the desired degree of transparency. Overall, the Bang & Olufsen app is quite versatile, but some competitors offer a little more setting options.
Bluetooth – How stable is the connection?
The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay relies on the current Bluetooth standard 5.1. Once established, this ensures a stable connection. However, the pairing turned out to be a bit tricky from time to time and had to be tried several times from time to time. However, once connected, the Bluetooth headphones work very well with both Apple and Android devices thanks to the AAC and aptX codecs.
Design – optics and processing of the Beoplay E8 in the test
One reason for the great success of true wireless headphones is the style aspect since the advent of the design with the Air pods. Unfortunately, B&O uses a rather clumsy design for the earplugs, which is quite noticeable when worn and takes some getting used to. On the other hand, the charging case is impressive; it is very high quality, like the earphones themselves.
Conclusion on the Beoplay E8
With powerful sound, long battery life, and a good charging case, the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 are high-quality true wireless headphones. The connectivity with Apple and Android is also impressive. Unfortunately, the real wireless headphones do not offer active noise canceling, and the design is a matter of taste.
