[Roybenz]

Is there much difference in sound quality with ANC on? If so, would you say that sound is degraded by 20%?

Edit: Also do the H9's require a break in period?

I would say ANC degrades sound so much that you shouldnt use it. Wich makes them useless for me. Does not require burn in

 

[Demis013]

Ok guys so I went on the impulsive tour and got a pair of H9i's as well. Went to the B&O store here in Amsterdam to check them out, and decided to go for it. Promised a friend of mine he'd get my H9's. Did the software update right away and succeeded with that without any problems. I've had them on for a few hours now and I must say I am very happy. Didn't have any unintended pause/play moments unlike others here, sound is way more balanced than the H9's, they're lighter than the H9's which feels nice. Sound wise I must say this is an improvement. I've had the H9's for a year and I believe that for 70% of the time I'd have them on with the ANC on because the sound with the ANC off was just too muddy for me. The H9i is just what I was looking for soundwise, really enjoying them. Was listening to this instrumental guitar track and at one point the slightly bassy percussion would kick in and it was the most pleasant thing i've heard in a while, the bass was tight and subtile, just exactly how it was supposed to be. About the ANC: I haven't had the chance yet to test it outside or in a train, so I can't really tell if and how much the ANC is improved, it is clear however that the sound gets narrower when you put the ANC. I will report back about the ANC. So first impressions are very positive from my side, I am impressed with the tightened bass and the more open character of the sound overall.

Ok so I just had some more time to directly compare my H9i to my H9. For me the H9i wins it. H9 felt a bit clumpsy on my head now that I had the H9i on for the whole day, but the main point: the H9i handles the bass way better. The muddiness of the H9 becomes quite clear in a direct comparison. I don't dislike the depth of the H9 and with some tonetouch adjustment it is fine, but it feels a bit out of control most of the time, and listening to various songs on the H9 and H9i, my conclusion is that you simply get a more realistic experience with the H9i. I used the H9i's ANC for the first time in a real world situation when I walked back home today after work, and it's an enormous improvement compared to the H9. It was how I hoped the H9's ANC would have been in the first place: real silence (apart from sudden noises like bike bells ringing etc, which I don't mind not having filtered out completely when outside). Very pleasant. However it doesn't handle the wind much better than the H9 does, no noticeable improvement there. The proximity sensor works when at the office - sitting down, but when walking outside it is just too sensitive I guess, and I get the same issues that others had (sudden and irregular pauses/plays). You can turn the sensor off by pressing the button up for 2 seconds, and then when the light gets blue you double tap, and you get a red light. Then it's off. If you do the same again, after the double tap the light turns green and it's on again. So at least you can choose to only use it when at the office or sitting in a plane for example.

 

[ducatiti]

Ok so I just had some more time to directly compare my H9i to my H9. For me the H9i wins it. H9 felt a bit clumpsy on my head now that I had the H9i on for the whole day, but the main point: the H9i handles the bass way better. The muddiness of the H9 becomes quite clear in a direct comparison. I don't dislike the depth of the H9 and with some tonetouch adjustment it is fine, but it feels a bit out of control most of the time, and listening to various songs on the H9 and H9i, my conclusion is that you simply get a more realistic experience with the H9i. I used the H9i's ANC for the first time in a real world situation when I walked back home today after work, and it's an enormous improvement compared to the H9. It was how I hoped the H9's ANC would have been in the first place: real silence (apart from sudden noises like bike bells ringing etc, which I don't mind not having filtered out completely when outside). Very pleasant. However it doesn't handle the wind much better than the H9 does, no noticeable improvement there. The proximity sensor works when at the office - sitting down, but when walking outside it is just too sensitive I guess, and I get the same issues that others had (sudden and irregular pauses/plays). You can turn the sensor off by pressing the button up for 2 seconds, and then when the light gets blue you double tap, and you get a red light. Then it's off. If you do the same again, after the double tap the light turns green and it's on again. So at least you can choose to only use it when at the office or sitting in a plane for example.

That's good to hear that the sensor can be turned off. I assume that the other owners missed this in the instructions. What button do you press?

 

[Demis013]

That's good to hear that the sensor can be turned off. I assume that the other owners missed this in the instructions. What button do you press?

You move the switch to the top position, you keep it there for 2 seconds, then - as soon as the blue light starts blinking - you double tap in the middle of the aluminium of the right side (so on the surface that you normally use to tap pause or play). Then the blue light turns red, which means the proximity sensor is off. If you do the same once again, it will turn green, which means the proximity sensor is on again.

 

[mgw01]

I would say ANC degrades sound so much that you shouldnt use it. Wich makes them useless for me. Does not require burn in

After listening to mine a bit more I'll say that there is no question that the SQ is much better with ANC off, but after adjusting the volume up a bit when active it is acceptable for me. And once you settle in for a bit your ears adjust to the new sound profile. Having said that, if your use case is having ANC on most of the time then perhaps there are better (and certainly less expensive) options.

A few other comments after listening to them a while longer:

• I did try the ANC while standing next to the clothes dryer and the dryer sound was not audible when music was playing. That should bode well for use on a plane.
• Comfort is exceptional for me and I'm having no issues wearing glasses at the same time.
• I'm not having the apparent proximity sensor issues others have mentioned. Wearing them at my desk, while walking on flat ground, up and down stairs, bending down, twisting, etc. I've had no pauses of music. Maybe some units are more sensitive? Or head shape and ear size are having an impact?
• I did update the software to 5.0.3 this morning - don't notice anything different in general use, though I did have to turn them off and back on to get all the touch controls to function properly.
• As others have mentioned it's a shame B&O doesn't include a better case for them at this price point. I did get a 10% coupon code from Beoplay by signing up for emails from them, so that softened the hit to my wallet a bit. Don't remember how long it took to get the coupon code, but it wasn't an immediate thing - probably several weeks.
• Definitely more bass than my H6's, but otherwise they compared favorably during a brief a/b test.
• I like that they can be used in passive mode with an amp unlike some other bluetooth headphones. I gave them a go with my dragonfly black and not surprisingly they do sound better than when using bluetooth.
• ToneTouch in the app is a nice feature. Dragging the circle around makes it a snap to tweak the sound.

So far they are keepers for me.

 

[mattbanks]

Disappointing to hear that the ANC degrades the sound much more on the H9i than on the H9. I don't really notice it on the H9 (and don't think the ANC is that good anyway). I'm on the fence about upgrading from H9 to H9i.

 

[winslord]

Disappointing to hear that the ANC degrades the sound much more on the H9i than on the H9. I don't really notice it on the H9 (and don't think the ANC is that good anyway). I'm on the fence about upgrading from H9 to H9i.

I don’t know why so many people think that way. Well if you don’t think that it degrades the sound quality on the H9, you’re probably like me. For me, the H9i and H9 sound worse with ANC off.

I guess these people are disturbed by the tightening of the soundstage, which is obviously expected from ANC. After all, it’s blocking the outside world, and not an open-air headphones.

 

[christiand]

Just spent an hour demoing in the b&o store, all current models.
For interest, my impressions:

H4 - clearly a beats competitor. Actually sounds great though. Fun, lots of bass. Lightweight too. Lack detail, but not the point of these. I'd buy em if they were less than 300usd.
H7 - meant as Bluetooth 'audiophile' or reference sound. just as light on the head as h4, wayy more detail in the sound. Bass is not overpowered. I'd call it accurate but most people like more. I'd get these if I didn't care for ANC.
H8i - on ear is comfy, though after 15mins my ears were a bit hot. Very very bass heavy which I wasn't expecting. Meh.

H9i - heavier version of h7 with more bass and good ANC (compared to b&w px, the h9i was 90% as effective as PX in cancelling the background music playing in store, which I could still hear in both cases - low freq no problem).
Sound quality much more listenable than PX which lack mids to the point of sounding broken.

However on one track with h9i, I could hear some distortion.. it shocked me. On another track, if I dragged the sound profile to bottom left (relaxed?) I also got distortion on vocals.

1. Do you think that's headphone issue or just the Spotify track quality issue (downloaded, highest quality)?
2. At h9 for $400 vs h9i for $500, is h9i worth it? (This stores prices)

 

[Yreme]

Without doing a full review, would only add, that at fairly healthy listening volumes for myself, I don't here any distortion; ...

I agree that there’s no distortion at “fairly healthy listening volumes.” When you max out the volume though, on some tracks it’s evident. It’s not like every song is distorting all over the place, it’s only certain moments in a song. I thought the initial report of this was a bit crazy but at full volume over BT from an iPhone you can find songs that exhibit the behaviour. Your ears might not thank you for it, however ^_^

 

[emdeeerz1000]

I have not noticed any distortion on my pair yet however so far, they sound pretty good!

For other H9i owners, when you swipe up, does music stop and the microphone works for just two seconds..? I am wondering if there is something wrong with my pair since when I swipe up I don't really hear the outside environment through the microphones like the Sony MDR-1000x but it just turns off NC....

 

[Demis013]

I have not noticed any distortion on my pair yet however so far, they sound pretty good!

For other H9i owners, when you swipe up, does music stop and the microphone works for just two seconds..? I am wondering if there is something wrong with my pair since when I swipe up I don't really hear the outside environment through the microphones like the Sony MDR-1000x but it just turns off NC....

I haven't experienced any distortion so far either... using a Samsung Galaxy S8 with spotify premium (downloading everyting on ''extreme quality''). But I must add that I haven't listened to any songs on full volume because I honestly do not see the point in that unless I'd want to ruin my ears.

About transparency mode: When you swipe up, for like 1-2 seconds you hear the environmental sounds really enhanced and then you hear them on normal level. The pair I tested in the B&O store did exactly that as well, and mine as well. So very unlikely that yours has a problem. You do hear the outside environment after those 1-2 seconds, but it's on a normal level and not on that enhanced level of the first 1-2 seconds (maybe that enhancement is necessary to activate the mics or something? Don't know). You should try it by turning the tv on a low volume that you can barely hear when having the headphones on (with transparency mode off of course), and then swipe up for the transparency mode, you will notice the difference. I've used the transparency mode at work today which coincidentally was a day where I got interrupted by many people and i loved it, worked like a charm. So far I'm liking these headphones more and more by each hour!

 

[FightingRepublic]

Can anyone compare the H9i to the P7W from a sound signature perspective?

 

[brokenhat]

That's weird that some of you think the H9i's sound worse with ANC on ( I have not heard them). I have the H9's and I think they sound much better with ANC on, so much so that ANC never gets turned off. If true B&O made bigger changes under the hood than the "i" on the end would denote.

 

[Yreme]

That's weird that some of you think the H9i's sound worse with ANC on ( I have not heard them). I have the H9's and I think they sound much better with ANC on, so much so that ANC never gets turned off. If true B&O made bigger changes under the hood than the "i" on the end would denote.

I’m completely speculating here, but to me the sound gets more V shaped when ANC is turned on, with mids reduced. When I’m listening to music on the H9i’s with ANC on, and then turn it off, the sound signature changes in the same way it changes on my other wired headphones when I switch from “R&B” or “Rock” presets in iTunes (which are V shaped) back to neutral (turning off the EQ). This is just my opinion

From https://www.headphonesty.com/2017/01/v-shaped-sound-signature-mean/

“Headphones with V-shaped sound signature tend to have booming bass and sparkling treble, which makes for a more exciting listening experience.

As a result, the audio seems “brighter” and the human brain finds this particularly pleasing. Among audio buffs, the V-shaped sound is also known as “fun sound”.”​

There are many factors that could play into why people might like this V signature (i.e. the music you listen to) but my guess is that this is why some like ANC on the H9i and some don’t. Of course, it’s just a theory based on my ears

 

[winslord]

That's weird that some of you think the H9i's sound worse with ANC on ( I have not heard them). I have the H9's and I think they sound much better with ANC on, so much so that ANC never gets turned off. If true B&O made bigger changes under the hood than the "i" on the end would denote.

IKR?!