Bang & Olufsen A8?
Jun 19, 2002 at 2:14 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 26

Delph1us

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I've heard great things about the A8. i was wondering if anybody could give me a better perspective of its pros and cons. it would be very helpful. thanks.
-Delph1us
 
Jun 19, 2002 at 2:36 AM Post #2 of 26
Type in Bang & Olufsen into the search engine. It seems like one of these questions come up every month or so. Long story short, they are VERY VERY overrated. Try picking up a pair of etymontics. www.headphone.com is your guide.
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Jun 19, 2002 at 3:00 AM Post #4 of 26
I bought the B&O A8 earbud in Hongkong for HK$580 (US$75) in February for my Apple iPod, which I thought was a bargain considering that it was selling in USA for US$160. I was attracted by its cool design and good comfort. It sounds pretty good with my iPod but a bit lacking in bass. However, after 2 weeks of use, I experienced an intermittency problem with the B&O A8. I got it replaced by B&O but the same problem came back after 1 month of use. I suspect the intermittency problem was caused by the poor connection of the cord to the mini-plug.

I subsequently bought the Sennheiser MX500 earbud as a replacement at only US$15, which in my opinion, has more superior sound quality than the B&O A8 at only a small fraction of the price (although its design is not as cool as the B&O A8). I also bought the Koss KSC/35 sterephone at US$20 after reading all the good reviews in this forum, which sounds excellent with my iPod.

My advice is forget about the B&O A8 and go for the Sennheiser MX500 or the Koss KSC/35, which both have superior sound quality than the B&O A8 at only a small fraction of the price.
 
Jun 19, 2002 at 3:07 AM Post #5 of 26
Amen to jtanys!

I have both of the phones he's mentioned. MX500s and ksc-35s.

Unfortunatly, my friend was suckered into buying the b&os. Lets say the koss/senns beat them in everyway. Well, except looks.
 
Jun 19, 2002 at 3:33 AM Post #6 of 26
When I whent to the B&O store to see and hear the A-8 it sounded fantistic so I bought it right away. When I got home and used it on my stuff it was true crap. At the B&O store they bait you by useing a high quality source and a real good amp but you cant see all this stuff unless you look real close and ask and they say regular B&O rig. Yeh sure. Maby with the headroom block head they might sound good but with regular stuff forget it. I returned the A-8 in three days for a full refund. These have the shortest return policy I ever heard of. You must return them within seven days with all the packing and all stuff that came with it plus sales receit. And they ant all that comitable either. This is true crap and the senn. mx500 are way better sounding at 17.00. I also used the total airhead with them and they were still crap sounding. But with a great source and a great amp they sound great. LOL. They cost 160.00 but need over 2000.00 worth of stuff to sound good. This is just my opinion while I role on flore laughing that I bought AHHHHH.
 
Jun 19, 2002 at 2:03 PM Post #8 of 26
I'm sure that most people who are regulars around here know that I really preach about how much I don'ti like the B&O A8's. I don't mind some of B&O's products; they're cool, some of the products sound semi-decent, though you will never get what you pay for. There is a monstrous premium paid for ALL Bang and Olufsen products, whether you like it or not.

I actually came into this forum raving (embarrassingly now) about the A8's and their "silky midband" and "clear sound," and I REFUSED to believe the bad comments that people were saying about them. I thought, "They haven't heard them long enough," or ,"they just don't think B&O can make a good product." But the fact of the matter is, that when I got my W100's and compared them to the A8's, I was SO suprised that I practically jumped out of my seat. Then I listened to my A8's compared to the cheapie Sony buds that came bundled with my PCDP, and then I probably could have cried. The Sony buds delivered very close performance (besides boosted bass) and it was very dissapointing.

GET RID OF THEM NOW! Sell them on ebay now! Sell them "AS NEW!" Chances are your opportunity to return them to Bang and Olufsen are expired, so DO sell them on Ebay and DON'T sell them here or on HeadWize for the reason that everyone knows how bad they are. Sorry to be harsh, but is the truth; I LOVED the B&O A8's until I heard better products; it's all about your reference point.

See these threads:

--In this thread, I come into Head-Fi raving about the A8's and what I thought to be great sound.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...2&highlight=A8

--In this thread, I made a rapid transition to from liking them to coming to my senses as to how bad they were. (For the record, I was Tuki-Tuki at the beginning of the tread and changed back to my original name, The Quality Guru, after realizing how fruity Tuki-Tuki actuallly was).

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...6&highlight=A8

--In this thread, I started telling newbies that A8's SUCK. In very lengthy replies, I could write gobs about the a8's horribleness.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...7&highlight=A8

--Actually, Blighty did a review on these; and boy was he being subtle about the whole thing. Most people wouldn't be subtle about a $160 headphone that sounds equivalent to a $30 one.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...&threadid=8856

Well, sell these earphones, because you can get MUCH better headphones for much less!
 
Jun 19, 2002 at 3:49 PM Post #9 of 26
Yeah, but they ARE beautiful! Hook them up to an Apple iPod and you are the epitome of style, if not substance.
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I wouldn't be surprised if we see this setup in a movie sometime in the near future.
 
Jul 8, 2002 at 1:24 AM Post #10 of 26
Just finished the show "Minority Reports" starring Tom Cruise and guessed what I saw? The B&O A8 earphone (minus the cord) was used as a pseudo-mobile phone earpiece in the show. Anyone spotted that? They have finally found a better use for the B&O A8.
 
Nov 14, 2002 at 5:10 AM Post #11 of 26
just to walk about manhattan, they are great-my ipod and b & o a8. so they are not the greatest sounding headphones, but i prefer it over my sony 888 something earbuds... and they sure are the best looking with an ipod's remote. now i bought sennheiser headphones to walk about town... then i realized how comfortable a8 is... b & o isn't all bad. someone has to support a design pioneer....
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Nov 14, 2002 at 7:47 AM Post #15 of 26
Quote:

Originally posted by jtanys
Just finished the show "Minority Reports" starring Tom Cruise and guessed what I saw? The B&O A8 earphone (minus the cord) was used as a pseudo-mobile phone earpiece in the show. Anyone spotted that? They have finally found a better use for the B&O A8.


Yes I did. That movie has some strange parts as we see here.. "file transfer" might also ring a bell...
Nevertheless I think B&O could make some more millions by selling Bluetooth Earpieces for cellphones using the A8 design. Not much room for a battery though, they would have to use Li-Poly which would drive up the cost... but whom am I talking about?
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