[ubjuris]

  Hi guys,
 
my H7's touch interface only interacts with iTunes. But the thing is, I'm not using iTunes for listening to music at all. How can I change that on Mac?

You may be in bad shape, if it's like the H8s, I believe it's "Apple ecosystem" optimized.

 

[sneaglebob]

  I got these two days ago to replace my Beats Studio Wireless for my iPhone 6S Plus. The audio sounds really balanced and high fidelity, it's great detail to the sound and it feels really laid-back.
 
I got these as they are pretty much the only high-end bluetooth headphones out there that do support AAC for iOS devices. Why companies like Sennheiser and others only support aptx and not AAC is beyond me when they know that there are no other high-end phone on the market remotely close to the sales numbers of iPhones and I highly doubt that people who purchase mid to low-end Android phones would ever consider headphones in the high-end price range.
 
Did also test out the BeoPlay H8 and to be honest, they don't sound that good to me. I suppose they are rather high-fidelity and fairly detailed as well but those over-tuned bass is really killing it for me. It's funny how the BeoPlay H8 lives more up to the "Beats are ****ty headphones with a lot of bass" than the Beats Studio Wireless ever did. The bluetooth also seemed to have some questionable range and stability as well which I find horrendous considering the price. I did not like the fact that they were on-ear instead of around-ear either. Even though the pillows of the H8 is comfortable as hell you will most likely start to get irritated ears after long use anyway as your ears simply won't enjoy having something pushing onto them for extended periods of time.
 
 
I would say that BeoPlay H7 is superior to the BeoPlay H8 in about every way possible. The audio is vastly superior and is not spoiled by over-tuned bass. The bluetooth connectivity seems to have much better range and stability and they are more comfortable due to the around-ear design compared to on-ear of the H8.
 
 
 
There are some drawbacks with the H7 though.. The microphone is a complete joke, it's pretty much useless unless you are sitting in a dead silent environment. The microphone seems to manage to pick up background noises better than my actual voice, which its impressive and quite frankly horrible considering the price of these headphones. It becomes quite clear that B&O simply tossed in the microphone for the sake of having the feature on the box without them ever trying to make it actually useful in any sensible way. But the same goes for the microphone of the H8 so it seems like this is something B&O is doing on purpose.
 
Another drawback is the lack of active noise cancellation. I don't mind not having it, as I tend to not enjoy the feeling you normally get from using active noise cancellation and most headphones tend to behave fussy at times if you are moving while having such a feature active. But the passive noise cancellation is not that great with the H7. One would figure as they are around-ear, they should be rather capable of cancelling some noise but the pillows don't really provide a good seal around your ears so noise are leaking in quite easily. It seems like B&O have been afraid of them not being comfortable so they have made sure that the pillows don't push hard on your ears at all, thus making them not making a good seal at all. Good in terms of comfort, not that great when it's the only kind of isolation they've got.
 
This problem becomes even greater when you take into account the next drawback.. These don't play that loud, at least not using bluetooth to my iPhone 6S Plus. The combination of lacklustre passive cancellation and the fact that they don't go that loud makes it so that they are somewhat less usable on the bus between home and work compared to my Beats Studio Wireless.
 
 
And one last thing I'm afraid of is the leather on the band of the headphone. As I tend to use them when I commute they might get somewhat wet due to a little snow fall or small amount of rain. This was never an issue with the Beats as they are made out of plastic, but with these I'm afraid the leather will turn really nasty after a short while as leather tend to colour when exposed to water.
 
 
 
But after all I think B&O have done a great job with these. If they could replace the dreadful microphone and give them active noise cancellation like the H8 they would have knocked it right out of the park. Why they decided to not include active noise cancellation is really beyond me. Seems like a horrible decision, one they must have made just to continue to have the H8 as a "higher-end" edition compared to the H7 for some stupid reason.
 
The only pair of bluetooth headphones that can match these would be the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless (v2), it's only sad that Sennheiser decided to really cripple those with the lack of AAC....

But still you wouldn't say that the h8 is terrible right? I use beats pro and want an upgrade 

 

[RamGuy]

The H8 is by no means horrible, but the soundstage feels really coloured and varm whereas the H7 feels much more open, wide and detailed in comparison. For being two so similar products in terms of name and looks, they couldn't sound more apart in-terms of soundstage and signature.
 
But if you do like the audio of your Beats Pro, then surely the H8 will have a much more similar soundstage and signature to them.

 

[ubjuris]

  The H8 is by no means horrible, but the soundstage feels really coloured and varm whereas the H7 feels much more open, wide and detailed in comparison. For being two so similar products in terms of name and looks, they couldn't sound more apart in-terms of soundstage and signature.
 
But if you do like the audio of your Beats Pro, then surely the H8 will have a much more similar soundstage and signature to them.

I can concur with this assessment of the H8, can't speak of the H7 (I have the H6).

 

[ceiji]

I have bluetooth issues with my H7. It drops the connection maybe once a day. Does anyone know if there has been any firmware updates?

 

[Sonic Defender]

  I have bluetooth issues with my H7. It drops the connection maybe once a day. Does anyone know if there has been any firmware updates?

Did the problem persist for you? I have just ordered an H7 today so soon I will know more about them. looking forward to having them. I'll see about the volume and I wonder if they are crippled because of that damn EU stupidity.

 

[DivaFonda]

  I have bluetooth issues with my H7. It drops the connection maybe once a day. Does anyone know if there has been any firmware updates?

Is this on an iOS device? I sometimes have reconnection problems with iOS.
 
There is a firmware update, but I think mine already had the update. B&O claimed it was to add the battery meter to iOS notification screen. Mine already had that function when I got them. Maybe there were other improvements because the only times I get drop outs are when I go to another room with the door closed or partially closed.
 
You can try it for yourself anyway, just in case. You have to download and install the updater, connect your headphones, then it will install any updates it finds.
 
http://www.beoplay.com/support/product-support/support-beoplay-h7

 

[Sonic Defender]

I have had my H7 for about three weeks now and the Bluetooth range has been very good and rock solid. I may have had one or two brief drops for less than a second, but that would be it. I just did the software update anyway as it makes sense to stay current.

 

[ceiji]

Did a software update just now. Hopefully the drop issue is fixed.

 

[FutureFossil]

I own the H8... Still have time to trade in for the H7. I find I am a bit sensitive to the ANC, especially during quiet or silent parts of audio (you "hear" the ANC or feel the pressure similar to Bose to my ears), but it works well with movies or talk radio on a plane pretty well with the caveat of some of the source audio being muted or cancelled as well.



I do prefer over-ear but thought the H8 might be an exception since it's smaller size would potentially travel better. I used in-ear for many, many years, but the comfort isn't ideal and was tired of yanking them out by catching cords on drawer/door handles, etc. I like the H8 overall for its intended use: travel/on-the-go, not to analytical, punchy bass, but it is a little muddy in the mids and the soundstage seems a bit closed in. I don't really own a lot of headphones like many people on this forum, but I do own the open AKG K701 which shine on the soundstage and acoustics (oh mama!), obviously, but are not travel oriented of course.




I think I could part ways with the H8 (on-ear/ANC) to have a happier experience with the H7 (over-ear/passive isolation). I DO wish they had these in the Gray Hazel though; beautiful indeed.




Also, FWIW, you can wax or treat the leather with waterproofing and most likely address the water issue.




Fine review.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I reviewed the H7 here http://www.head-fi.org/products/beoplay-h7/reviews/15807
 
And I must say, it scales amazingly well. I have been using it amped with my iDSD Micro and damn what a combination. The H7 is seriously an extremely well done signature. A slightly bigger driver and I would be in heaven, maybe 45mm would hit the sweet spot?

 

[Jazz1]

Sorry for reviving an older thread. But do firmware upgrades help with BT reliability with these headphones. Are any other features introduced?

 

[ubjuris]

Depends on perspective... I don't think they had much luck with the H8s, so I wouldn't trust it much.

 

[tunedless]

I've been trying the H7 for a week and they are much, much muddier than the Sennheiser Momentum M2 - a shame because the build quality on these is so much nicer. I really wanted to like them.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Sorry for reviving an older thread. But do firmware upgrades help with BT reliability with these headphones. Are any other features introduced?

My H7 Bluetooth has been completely rock solid stable. There were a handful of really, micro delays, less than a second and very rare. Those few hitches I experienced are more likely to have been OS related, or SD card related as in every case my Android phone was the source.