[UoKTeN]

Previous H9, H8, H7, P7W, PX, QC35, QC25, MDR1000X user here. Here's my review on the H9i:

Reasons to return these headphones:

H9: Horrible ANC, very low max volume.
H8: Slightly better ANC than H9 due to being on-ear, low max volume though not as low as H9, very uncomfortable after 1-2 hours.
H7: No ANC, P7W sounded better for a non-ANC headphone.
QC25: Outdated, low max volume, meh sound quality.
QC35: Bad design, very plasticky, average sound quality.
MDR1000X: Best in class NC, but also too plasticky, sound was better than QC35 in my opinion, but headband cracking is unacceptable for a 350£ headphone.
PX: Horrible ANC, leaks sound, uncomfortable, heavy, sound quality is great on some songs and just sound weird on some others.
P7W: Overall amazing sound quality, not comfortable, outdated design, too big, not good for outdoor use, no ANC.

What I was looking for was a good ANC, good comfort, great sound quality, good looks and materials.

PX seemed to have all but failed in the comfort and ANC. Also noise leakage was not tolerable in the office.

WHAT ABOUT H9i?

Let's go one by one.

Design: Amazing no need to say anything on this, they look beautiful. Earcups are a little smaller and more comfy in my opinion. I tried to put these on my H9 and it fits!

Carrying case: I don't care about this that much. I carried my h8s in that pouch and since they are built like a tank, nothing dangerous happened.

Comfort: I think these are the second most comfortable headphones I've ever tried. Bose QC series is the winner here, H9s are close second.

ANC: I love it. Not as good as Bose, but I like it better this way because it is not as pressurizing as Bose either. I tried it on the bus, on the tube, on the streets, and it works like a charm. Also I think these are better at cutting human voices than BOSE. (SONY's are still the best at this category in my opinion.)

Call Quality: Best I have tried so far. P7Ws are close second. The rest is not good. I had a call on the bus with these (ANC on) and had 0 problems for 30 mins.

Max volume: Quite sufficient. Also, better ANC helps a lot since you don't need that much volume when it is quiet. Definitely an improvement over H9.

Sound quality: Amazing with lots of detail. My previous favorite was P7W and this is on the same level if not better.

Excessive treble: It's there. Easy to fix by setting the eq towards WARM area.

Bass: Not as much bass as H9s. Those were bass heavy and it was affecting the sound. I don't know how they did that with these but with the H9is the bass is there only when you need it. The rest of the sound is not muddy and is very spacious. Listen to the first minute of Say Something by Justin Timberlake if you don't believe me. Lots of effects, instruments etc in that song and the bass kicks in perfectly when needed. First minute of that song has pretty much everything you want to test on a headphone.

Distortion: Unfortunately it is there at high volumes. I am an Apple Music user with an iPhone X. I tried Spotify, Macbook, PC, cable, ANC off, nothing helped. It's there. I hope this can be solved by a software update. H9 did not have this problem.

Proximity sensor: I turned this off since I find it unnecessary. I don't like headphones playing music as soon as I put them on. I like putting them on and selecting my own music. Because most of the times I don't like to carry on from where I left off.

Long story short, these are the best headphones for me since they look gorgeous, very comfy and have amazing SQ with ANC. The only issue that bothers me is the distortion (Proximity sensor and excessive treble issues can be fixed easily). I wonder if H8i has that too. I might actually think about switching to those if they don't have this issue.

Any H8i owners?

 

[Demis013]

Previous H9, H8, H7, P7W, PX, QC35, QC25, MDR1000X user here. Here's my review on the H9i:

Reasons to return these headphones:

H9: Horrible ANC, very low max volume.
H8: Slightly better ANC than H9 due to being on-ear, low max volume though not as low as H9, very uncomfortable after 1-2 hours.
H7: No ANC, P7W sounded better for a non-ANC headphone.
QC25: Outdated, low max volume, meh sound quality.
QC35: Bad design, very plasticky, average sound quality.
MDR1000X: Best in class NC, but also too plasticky, sound was better than QC35 in my opinion, but headband cracking is unacceptable for a 350£ headphone.
PX: Horrible ANC, leaks sound, uncomfortable, heavy, sound quality is great on some songs and just sound weird on some others.
P7W: Overall amazing sound quality, not comfortable, outdated design, too big, not good for outdoor use, no ANC.

What I was looking for was a good ANC, good comfort, great sound quality, good looks and materials.

PX seemed to have all but failed in the comfort and ANC. Also noise leakage was not tolerable in the office.

WHAT ABOUT H9i?

Let's go one by one.

Design: Amazing no need to say anything on this, they look beautiful. Earcups are a little smaller and more comfy in my opinion. I tried to put these on my H9 and it fits!

Carrying case: I don't care about this that much. I carried my h8s in that pouch and since they are built like a tank, nothing dangerous happened.

Comfort: I think these are the second most comfortable headphones I've ever tried. Bose QC series is the winner here, H9s are close second.

ANC: I love it. Not as good as Bose, but I like it better this way because it is not as pressurizing as Bose either. I tried it on the bus, on the tube, on the streets, and it works like a charm. Also I think these are better at cutting human voices than BOSE. (SONY's are still the best at this category in my opinion.)

Call Quality: Best I have tried so far. P7Ws are close second. The rest is not good. I had a call on the bus with these (ANC on) and had 0 problems for 30 mins.

Max volume: Quite sufficient. Also, better ANC helps a lot since you don't need that much volume when it is quiet. Definitely an improvement over H9.

Sound quality: Amazing with lots of detail. My previous favorite was P7W and this is on the same level if not better.

Excessive treble: It's there. Easy to fix by setting the eq towards WARM area.

Bass: Not as much bass as H9s. Those were bass heavy and it was affecting the sound. I don't know how they did that with these but with the H9is the bass is there only when you need it. The rest of the sound is not muddy and is very spacious. Listen to the first minute of Say Something by Justin Timberlake if you don't believe me. Lots of effects, instruments etc in that song and the bass kicks in perfectly when needed. First minute of that song has pretty much everything you want to test on a headphone.

Distortion: Unfortunately it is there at high volumes. I am an Apple Music user with an iPhone X. I tried Spotify, Macbook, PC, cable, ANC off, nothing helped. It's there. I hope this can be solved by a software update. H9 did not have this problem.

Proximity sensor: I turned this off since I find it unnecessary. I don't like headphones playing music as soon as I put them on. I like putting them on and selecting my own music. Because most of the times I don't like to carry on from where I left off.

Long story short, these are the best headphones for me since they look gorgeous, very comfy and have amazing SQ with ANC. The only issue that bothers me is the distortion (Proximity sensor and excessive treble issues can be fixed easily). I wonder if H8i has that too. I might actually think about switching to those if they don't have this issue.

Any H8i owners?

Thanks for your review! They're working on an update for the proximity sensor, which for me works fine right now when I'm at the office and even in the gym (surprisingly) but it's unstable when walking, I guess because of the shocks of the footsteps. About the distortion, which I still haven't heard on mine, did you try to do a reset and see how it is afterwards? I checked with their customer service and their answer was this:

We haven't had as many complaints about the distortion as the proximity sensor, as this issue is mostly fixable by a reset. As of now, we are still looking into fixing all these issues via software updates, so please stay tuned!

Now maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but could this mean that resetting the headphone could take the distortion away?

 

[Marsson]

I got a great offer on the regular H9's at my local mediamarkt, so I went ahead and bought them there for 350 dollars. Well worth it since I didn't feel that comfortable with the H9i's.

 

[kartoon]

Long story short, these are the best headphones for me since they look gorgeous, very comfy and have amazing SQ with ANC. The only issue that bothers me is the distortion (Proximity sensor and excessive treble issues can be fixed easily). I wonder if H8i has that too. I might actually think about switching to those if they don't have this issue.

Any H8i owners?

After realizing that I was not gonna be happy with the PX (I've tried hard to like them, but as you said: The leakage is really bad and they sound great on many things but not across all genres) I went out and bought the H8i today. I tested and listened to H9i, H8i and Beyerdynamic Aventho before deciding! Didn't like the sound in the H9i, much due to the bright highs. The Beyerdynamics was a bit boring was way to easy on the bass. Really fell for the H8i. Great clarity without being to bright, and no problems with the highs. AC is also much better then the old H8. And not that much different with AC on or off when it comes to SQ. They darken ut a bit when putting on the AC, but made a setting in the App for that and turn that on every time I need the Ac active. So I think me and the H8i is gonna get along just great Need a few more days before I can say to much more about them.

 

[8lliott]

Not entirely sure how to attach a YouTube video so I’ve just pasted the link! Comparing the Sonys with the H9i and yet again the distortion is raised as a concern... Other than that it seemed as though the H9i came out on top in most areas of sound quality while the Sonys had slightly better ANC! I think that’s me fairly deterred from the headphones for now though, certainly until there’s a breakthrough software update that fixes some of the issues commonly complained about

 

[mattbanks]

I tested the H9i at the B&O store in Boston this weekend and absolutely loved them! I listened for a bit connected to my iPhone X using Apple Music for about 20 minutes. I listened at between 50-60% volume and used a variety of tracks to test the sound and the range.

Less bass than the H9 and more treble, which is how I prefer the headphones (I EQ my H9 to have more treble). In no way did I think it was too much treble. I didn’t listen directly with my H6 to compare, but they had a similar sound signature in my initial test.

I didn’t hear a single bit of distortion in my listening test. I tried. I pulled up a variety of songs and didn’t hear any at all. I’m not sure whether it’s pair by pair or what’s going on there.

Transparency mode is amazing! Enabling it sounded like I didn’t even have headphones on at all.

ANC is better than H9, but not where Bose or Sony are. I think it’s the right amount, personally. There’s definitely more pressure from this ANC compared to the H9, but it’s not bad in any way.

I didn’t really test the proximity sensor, so I can’t comment there.

I was very impressed with the H9i and will be buying them and selling my H9.

 

[shockre91]

Got H9i yesterday after having H9 for more than a year.

Not a single con so far.
I haven't hear any distortion at any volumes.
Max volume is higher than H9. Just right for me now.
Power on and off are faster than H9.
ANC off sound is MUCH better than H9. Bass on H9 was over the top.
Difference in ANC on/off sound is much smaller than with H9. ANC on reduces mids a bit.
ANC is better!
Transparencity mode is great!
I use them with app set on the middle of the line between warm/exciting.
Considering I use them only in the office and on the airplane, proximity sensor works OK for me.
Having them auto connect to both my phone and laptop at the same time is awesome.
Thinner earcups made the headband sit better on my head, it wrapps around instead of resting just on the 1 cm of my head.

All in all, very happy with the upgrade.
I'd suggest to test em out yourself instead of trusting what random people on the internet say.

 

[winslord]

I tested the H9i at the B&O store in Boston this weekend and absolutely loved them! I listened for a bit connected to my iPhone X using Apple Music for about 20 minutes. I listened at between 50-60% volume and used a variety of tracks to test the sound and the range.

Less bass than the H9 and more treble, which is how I prefer the headphones (I EQ my H9 to have more treble). In no way did I think it was too much treble. I didn’t listen directly with my H6 to compare, but they had a similar sound signature in my initial test.

I didn’t hear a single bit of distortion in my listening test. I tried. I pulled up a variety of songs and didn’t hear any at all. I’m not sure whether it’s pair by pair or what’s going on there.

Transparency mode is amazing! Enabling it sounded like I didn’t even have headphones on at all.

ANC is better than H9, but not where Bose or Sony are. I think it’s the right amount, personally. There’s definitely more pressure from this ANC compared to the H9, but it’s not bad in any way.

I didn’t really test the proximity sensor, so I can’t comment there.

I was very impressed with the H9i and will be buying them and selling my H9.

Told ya you’d like it bro!

 

[Marsson]

I just noticed something interesting regarding the "low volume" that so many have talked about in this thread. I just recently switched over to Apple Music from Spotify to be able to control the music from my Apple Watch, and when I looked around the options you have for the app itself inside the iPhones settings, I noticed that there is a "EU Limit" switch for me (I live in Sweden) and if I enabled that it lowered the max output a lot.

 

[kartoon]

I just noticed something interesting regarding the "low volume" that so many have talked about in this thread. I just recently switched over to Apple Music from Spotify to be able to control the music from my Apple Watch, and when I looked around the options you have for the app itself inside the iPhones settings, I noticed that there is a "EU Limit" switch for me (I live in Sweden) and if I enabled that it lowered the max output a lot.

I live in Norway . No eu limit here. Still to low

 

[Marsson]

I live in Norway . No eu limit here. Still to low

Do you use Apple Music? If so, click on settings (the cogwheel icon), then scroll down to the Apple Music app and click on it, after that scroll down a bit until you see the "volume limit" tag, and click on that. In there there's a setting for the EU limit. I hope that this helps, because I can push my H9's to a blistering volume, that would seriously damage my hearing in the long run. I even had to limit the max output to around 75% or so, since I sometimes accidentally max out the volume through my apple watch when it rubs against clothing etc.

 

[Demis013]

Could all the H9i owners check whether there is distortion on the vocals of the song ''Like someone in love'' by Diana Krall? Because, unfortunately, I do experience distortion on the S sounds that she sings, on both bluetooth and cable, when ANC is on. Can others check whether this is the case on their H9i's as well? I played it on Tidal, so it has nothing to do with the quality of the recording or with the quality of streamed music (that also wouldn't make sense because the distortion is only there when ANC is on). Very curious whether others have this too...

 

[leosgonewild]

I have the exact same problem. I posted about at Beoworld today.
Geoff Martin, the Tonmeister, is aware of the issue. I will post any update about the issue when I get a reply.

 

[Demis013]

I have the exact same problem. I posted about at Beoworld today.
Geoff Martin, the Tonmeister, is aware of the issue. I will post any update about the issue when I get a reply.

Your comment on Beoworld was the reason why I checked it myself Since it's only there with ANC on, it must be a software thingy... I hope....

 

[leosgonewild]

Let's hope so. I will wait a little while before sending then in to service.