Blighty
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
- Posts
- 376
- Likes
- 10
I'd write a longer review but I find there is not much else good to say about them and there are enough threads with negative opinions as it is
Just for the record, I purchased a pair of B&O A8s because of conflicting opinion between several headfiers. Fjhuerta(from mexico) was one of the earlier members who purchased a pair and had nothing good to say about them while, Dlorde(UK), the other owner, was quite impressed with their sound quality. I let them burn in for 100+ hours before putting them on for a 5 hour listening session(all I could stand). As much as I liked the design and wanted to be impressed by them..... I had to admit they were quite inferior in many areas of the sonic spectrum
In their defence, I must say that they are also one of the most comfortable pair of earphones/buds/headphones that I have ever worn. You do not even notice you are wearing them. The aluminum finish is elegant and exudes class. The cable is thin as these are meant for portable use but I did not find the connections nor the cord weak in relation to other portable phones.
My biggest complaint is that low frequency extension is abruptly cut off before 100Hz which takes away plenty from the listening experience. Mid and upper bass is there but not very involving or enveloping at all compared with a set of KSC-35s(which take the reward for ugliest portable phone as I have stated before). The lower and mid-range is rather uneventful and at best average when compared with other earphones. However, upper-mids and highs are crystal clear and edge out the Sony E888s a bit. Although the 888 wins by a comfortable margin in bass response and even mid-range.
Spatial imaging on the A8s is annoying(to me) to say the least. It feels like a hard pinpoint in the middle of your head that just cannot escape. Regrettably, this effect gives me a bit of a headache over time. Their ability to reproduce an adequate soundstage is obviously ineffectual to put it politely.
If I seem harsh(yeah right), it is due to the fact that these retail between $160-200USD normally. I was fortunate to pick them up for roughly $108USD shipped total. Had these been given a MSRP of $100 and street of perhaps $70USD they would have deserved a recommendation for their great style and comfort factor. As it stands, I would rather recommend the Koss KSC-35, Senn MX500 and Sony E888LP over the B&O A8, unless style and comfort is more important to the listener than fidelity.
In retrospect, I should have listened to the bashers but I am a sucker for aesthetics.
Now that I got that off my chest, all I need to do is track down dlorde and introduce him to my smatchet. j/k
Well maybe not had I not been able to dump them onto a lucky buyer. My total loss was less than $20 so I will call it a fair game for a lesson learned the hard way.
Just for the record, I purchased a pair of B&O A8s because of conflicting opinion between several headfiers. Fjhuerta(from mexico) was one of the earlier members who purchased a pair and had nothing good to say about them while, Dlorde(UK), the other owner, was quite impressed with their sound quality. I let them burn in for 100+ hours before putting them on for a 5 hour listening session(all I could stand). As much as I liked the design and wanted to be impressed by them..... I had to admit they were quite inferior in many areas of the sonic spectrum
In their defence, I must say that they are also one of the most comfortable pair of earphones/buds/headphones that I have ever worn. You do not even notice you are wearing them. The aluminum finish is elegant and exudes class. The cable is thin as these are meant for portable use but I did not find the connections nor the cord weak in relation to other portable phones.
My biggest complaint is that low frequency extension is abruptly cut off before 100Hz which takes away plenty from the listening experience. Mid and upper bass is there but not very involving or enveloping at all compared with a set of KSC-35s(which take the reward for ugliest portable phone as I have stated before). The lower and mid-range is rather uneventful and at best average when compared with other earphones. However, upper-mids and highs are crystal clear and edge out the Sony E888s a bit. Although the 888 wins by a comfortable margin in bass response and even mid-range.
Spatial imaging on the A8s is annoying(to me) to say the least. It feels like a hard pinpoint in the middle of your head that just cannot escape. Regrettably, this effect gives me a bit of a headache over time. Their ability to reproduce an adequate soundstage is obviously ineffectual to put it politely.
If I seem harsh(yeah right), it is due to the fact that these retail between $160-200USD normally. I was fortunate to pick them up for roughly $108USD shipped total. Had these been given a MSRP of $100 and street of perhaps $70USD they would have deserved a recommendation for their great style and comfort factor. As it stands, I would rather recommend the Koss KSC-35, Senn MX500 and Sony E888LP over the B&O A8, unless style and comfort is more important to the listener than fidelity.
In retrospect, I should have listened to the bashers but I am a sucker for aesthetics.
Now that I got that off my chest, all I need to do is track down dlorde and introduce him to my smatchet. j/k
Well maybe not had I not been able to dump them onto a lucky buyer. My total loss was less than $20 so I will call it a fair game for a lesson learned the hard way.
