H6 produces great sound, but they don't have ANC and they have a cable, which makes movement and listening to it outside of controlled environments a bit more challenging. The H9i is closer to the H6 than the H9 was, but they are meant for different purposes. I really missed having ANC when I use the bus and train to commute using the H6, and the cable on the H6 is so long it tends to find its way around objects, making your phone at risk of falling out of your hands or pockets.
My recommendations are the H9i for outside use, and the H6 in offices or your home. I ended up buying the H8i, and will probably keep them, due to their great sound and form factor with light weight and less impact around my neck when not in use. The new H8i and H9i have one catch though, and that is their proximity sensor, which is not that reliable, even with their newest firmware installed.
The H6 2nd may be the best choice for people who are comfortable with cable and not having ANC. They are still the best headphones sound wise for consumers, but I guess H9i or even the H8i has good enough sound for me to not care. Being out in the public competing with 65-90 dBA noise from other people and traffic is a challenge for most cabled and classic headphones, so in many cases ANC is a must to avoid boosting the volume to hazardous levels and ruining your hearing. Another risk by adapting relative new technology is that there is a lot of trial and error before they feel complete, and the cabled H6 2nd is as good as a consumer cabled headset probably will be, but the convenience of wireless noise cancelling products will offer comfort that is unmatched in the headphone world.
It is not about an absolute decision, but rather about use case and listening scenarios.
I totally agree with beoneo. Bluetooth ANC headphones will never sound as good as non ANC wired headphones such as the H6’s in a controlled environment. The H9i’s have to battle with limited Bluetooth bandwidth, different standards and external noises. I think they do a very good job considering. They are very precise headphones which demand a very good source to work at their optimum and I think this is why so many people on this thread have a wide range of positive and negative experience with them. I’ve only had mine 5 days but have done extensive listening and have come to the following conclusion:
With good high quality recodings with good mixing and a good source, my personal option is the H9i’s are the best Bluetooth ANC headphones currently on the market. However with recordings slightly sub standard with mixing, production bit rate, they sound awful. You could look at this two ways.
1. They are accurate monitors and reveal the true nature of any recording
2. They have a narrow operating window and not a good all rounder product.
It really depends and what you want and what you listen to and at what quality. As far as their brief I feel they tick all the boxes they are meant to do. We all have to remember they are Bang & Olufsen, their arena is high quality everything. I assume when their engineers designed and tested the H9i’s they used the best equipment, best recordings with high bit rate, mixing, production etc.
They remind my of Shure’s SE535 & 846. Sounds great with high quality recordings, sound ok/average with anything other than the best.
The problem is most of our favourite songs in our catalogs probably were recorded years ago and production is poor, but we love the tracks.
There are cheaper headphones out there that do a better job with poor recordings but don’t sound as good as the H9i’s with great recordings.
As a side note. I work in London and spend a lot of time traveling on the tube. Anyone who knows the London Underground will know the Central & Jubilee lines will challenge any ANC headphones. The H9i’s do a fair job at blocking out sound without destroying the sound like the QC35’d
I’m not blind to their faults but will keep the H9i’s
