[ducatiti]

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

Thanks for your opinion. Considering the H9i’s are the best you have ever tried, what other cans have you tried or own in comparison to?

I’m just waiting for Bestbuy to start selling the H9i since I have a bunch of gift certs. Do you think that they will ever carry them? If not, I will just have to settle for the PX for now.

 

[andrenb]

How many paired devices does the H9i/H8i remember? I switch between six devices; phone, tablet, laptop, work laptop and so on. Using my Bose QC35's they remember up to eight paired devices.

 

[hegbu]

Thanks for your opinion. Considering the H9i’s are the best you have ever tried, what other cans have you tried or own in comparison to?

I’m just waiting for Bestbuy to start selling the H9i since I have a bunch of gift certs. Do you think that they will ever carry them? If not, I will just have to settle for the PX for now.

I’ve tried: H7, H9, Parrot, QC35, B&W PX, Beats, sennheiser Momentum, Blue Design satellites.

These are the most resent I’ve listen to and I know here are many more on the market but can’t listen to all.

I don’t know much about Best Buy but you can always check with B&O customer service. They may have the answer for you.

 

[brokenhat]

Thanks for your opinion. Considering the H9i’s are the best you have ever tried, what other cans have you tried or own in comparison to?

I’m just waiting for Bestbuy to start selling the H9i since I have a bunch of gift certs. Do you think that they will ever carry them? If not, I will just have to settle for the PX for now.

I have the PX's and the H9's and unless the H9i's are way way way better than the H9's you won't be settling for the PX's, they are way better. But sooo uncomfortable after an hour....

 

[bedlamite]

I wear the PXes a little loosely so the headband doesn't apply so much pressure to my crown, but that said, it is true they will never ever, ever, EVER. be as comfy as the H9s. The H9 is lighter, clamping force isn't as severe and the earcups are like wearing cushions. Even right out of the box, the H9s rank right up there for pure comfort. The H9i's have slimmer earcups but I doubt it'll affect the comfort very much.

 

[Marsson]

Long-time lurker when it comes to this thread. I bought the H9 a couple of months ago, and liked it for what it was. I had to return them though due to unforseen stuff happening. Later I tried a friends Beats Studio 3 Wireless, and loved the NC on those headphones, but I felt that if I wanted to spend several hundred dollars on a pair of headphones I wanted the build quality the Beoplay offered. So here I am today, with a new pair of H9i's, and while they sound great I'm a little scared to see that there's some distortion in certain songs (for example Flipside by Lana Del Rey, and Kiss the Sky by Shawn Lee) and I even had to lower the treble a bit since it was a tad too harsh for my ears. The "tighter" bass was a bit underwhelming at first, compared to the original H9, but I'm getting used to it and I'm starting to notice that the "real" lows are more present without being overly bloated.

I'm running it from an iPhone X by the way, if that makes any difference.

 

[fiddo84]

Hi Guys, Thank you for your thoughts on the new H9’s. Would anyone be able to throw a comparisson with the B&W 7. These are in my opinion the only ANC bluetooth headphones worth considering at the moment.

I tried the B&W PX’es and no matter how good they sounded on some generes, rock music made them sound broke. It is like the mids were cut off. Still, they were better than regular h9 in the areas where they sounded good. Despite what has been said, lack of any comfort just crosses the px out from the game.

 

[8lliott]

There is a pretty in-depth review of the H9i by TheGamingAudiophile released recently if there are any potential buyers like myself trying to make a choice... It is however quite critical of the sound quality and distortion in the treble while on ANC:/ do owners of the H9i have any thoughts on this or the review as a whole?

 

[mattbanks]

There is a pretty in-depth review of the H9i by TheGamingAudiophile released recently if there are any potential buyers like myself trying to make a choice... It is however quite critical of the sound quality and distortion in the treble while on ANC:/ do owners of the H9i have any thoughts on this or the review as a whole?

I watched that too, but I'm curious about what he said with distortion. He mentioned it being at max volume. I personally don't understand how people can stand listening at max volume. For me, on my H9, I get to 50-60% at most before it's too loud for me. From this review and a few others, it seems like the only issue is when you crank these things all the way up. I saw a couple other reviews where the reviewers are saying these sound extremely close to the H6 gen 2. I haven't had a chance to hear the H9i yet, but I'm going to the B&O Store in Boston next weekend and will be checking them out.

Side note: does anyone know if you can trade in things at official B&O Stores? I saw on the Boston store website that they offer pre-owned gear, including headphones. I wonder if I can take my H9 with me and trade them in towards the H9i?

 

[Marsson]

There is a pretty in-depth review of the H9i by TheGamingAudiophile released recently if there are any potential buyers like myself trying to make a choice... It is however quite critical of the sound quality and distortion in the treble while on ANC:/ do owners of the H9i have any thoughts on this or the review as a whole?

I posted my thoughts on them a few posts above yours. I'm kinda on the same thought train as TheGamingAudiophile. The treble is extremely harsh to my ears, so I had to change them a good bit into the "Warm" area in the Beoplay app, but I haven't decided yet if I am going to keep them. As he says, the harsh treble and the distortion is not acceptable in a pair of headphones that cost 500 dollars... the build quality and comfort are top notch though.

Add to that the fact that the sensors for pausing/resuming are wonky at best. I laid down on my sofa while listening to the H9i, and if I moved my head a bit the music would pause, so I had to manually disable the sensors, which sucks.

 

[8lliott]

I watched that too, but I'm curious about what he said with distortion. He mentioned it being at max volume. I personally don't understand how people can stand listening at max volume. For me, on my H9, I get to 50-60% at most before it's too loud for me. From this review and a few others, it seems like the only issue is when you crank these things all the way up. I saw a couple other reviews where the reviewers are saying these sound extremely close to the H6 gen 2. I haven't had a chance to hear the H9i yet, but I'm going to the B&O Store in Boston next weekend and will be checking them out.

Side note: does anyone know if you can trade in things at official B&O Stores? I saw on the Boston store website that they offer pre-owned gear, including headphones. I wonder if I can take my H9 with me and trade them in towards the H9i?

Are these official reviews that you’re referring to? Ive been trying to find other reviews but with no real luck other than this discussion forum and ones by nerdtechy and techgoondu, neither of which I’d heard of until i saw the reviews! And unfortunately i have no idea whether you’re able to trade in old B&O products but this would definitely be something I’d be interested in if someone happened to know a bit more about it on here!

 

[mattbanks]

Are these official reviews that you’re referring to? Ive been trying to find other reviews but with no real luck other than this discussion forum and ones by nerdtechy and techgoondu, neither of which I’d heard of until i saw the reviews! And unfortunately i have no idea whether you’re able to trade in old B&O products but this would definitely be something I’d be interested in if someone happened to know a bit more about it on here!

This one says it's very close to the H6:

 

[Puschinsky]

I posted my thoughts on them a few posts above yours. I'm kinda on the same thought train as TheGamingAudiophile. The treble is extremely harsh to my ears, so I had to change them a good bit into the "Warm" area in the Beoplay app, but I haven't decided yet if I am going to keep them. As he says, the harsh treble and the distortion is not acceptable in a pair of headphones that cost 500 dollars... the build quality and comfort are top notch though.

Add to that the fact that the sensors for pausing/resuming are wonky at best. I laid down on my sofa while listening to the H9i, and if I moved my head a bit the music would pause, so I had to manually disable the sensors, which sucks.

Could you overcome the harsh trebles and maybe the distorsion with setting these to the warm quadrant in the B&O app?

 

[Marsson]

Could you overcome the harsh trebles and maybe the distorsion with setting these to the warm quadrant in the B&O app?

Yeah it was partially possible to get rid of the harsh treble with help of the app, but the distortion is still there no matter what setting I use.

 

[mattbanks]

Yeah it was partially possible to get rid of the harsh treble with help of the app, but the distortion is still there no matter what setting I use.

I'm curious about the distortion you're seeing. Sorry if you posted before (I went back but couldn't find it), but what device and music source are you using? Are you seeing distortion at all volume levels or after a certain point?