I just bought the H9 from the B&O store (Canary Wharf in London). They weren't aware of the free Form 2i deal mentioned above. Boo. They had three in stock when I called this morning (two black and one tan), but they only had one black one left when I got there at lunch time. They're selling quickly!
For those that are interested, here's a quick review based on a very quick listen. Please bear in mind that I will be making a comparison to the H8 which I was listening to on the way to the shop.
H9 vs H8 lightning review:
The H9 is over the ear (compared to the H8's on the ear) which makes the sound much more expansive and immersive. As you'd expect I suppose. It also has better passive noise isolation in addition to the ANC (which also seems to be more powerful) which makes it much more adept at cutting out the noise on the tube (i.e. train). Another benefit is that it keeps your ears warm when out and about in the freezing cold! From a visual perspective, the tan version is slightly darker than the H7 (tan is darker, and it's a mid grey compared to a light silver). They didn't have a tan H8 in the shop to compare against. I couldn't tell any difference in colour between the black H7, H8 and H9. There isn't a brown H9 (I have a brown H8 and was hoping for a brown H9). Size-wise, it's obviously bigger than the H8 so when you rest them around your neck, it will feel bigger. I was wearing a scarf, jacket and coat, so the H9s ended up resting a little over my cheeks. Didn't really mind it, but something you may want to consider.
Out of the box, it was boomy as anything but seemed to have much more clarity than the H8s in that you could pick out certain details better (e.g. tambourines, which could get lost in the mix came out pretty clearly). To be honest, the sound was a little bit all over the place, which I will attribute to the fact that it hasn't been burnt in yet. So let's see how it will sound after I set it to play music non-stop over night. Otherwise, sonically, I've been told by the shop assistant that the H9s are meant to sound very similar to the H7. I did find that the H9 was a little harder to drive (just using my iPhone 6) than the H8, so occasionally found myself with the volume at max. I do have a Questyle QP1R which has a built in amp (and will drive most anything) but I've yet to connect the H9 to it via an audio cable. I also have a Fiio X7 so maybe I'll post my findings about how that sounds through bluetooth.
So that's it. Pretty quick first impressions.
