[pablohoney]

I returned mine in March, as the unbalanced left/right sound was too frustrating. At first I thought it was the Comply tips expanding differently in each ear, creating odd seals. I switched to the silicone tips/different sizes and nothing worked. They were great from January to February, then problems for the final month. I returned in my credit card's 90 day window. Now, if multiple people are saying the latest software update solves the left/right balance issue AND makes them louder, I'm willing to give them another shot. I never had many problems with drop-outs walking around Chicago - only when I walked into a store that had electronic theft deterrent posts near the doors.

Those on the latest update - has it solved all the little problems?

I bought mine on 23/5/2018. Updated to the latest firmware version of 5.6.0 and noticed imbalance when increasing the soundstage in the app i.e. more vocal/sound on the left earbud. Also, when watching Netflix or YouTube there was noticeable a/v sync issues.

 

[albau]

Good review, thanks.

I wouldn't trust B&O software team to develop me a clock. They are incompotent², every product I've had with them (which I paid a pretty penny for) are plagued with software issues, issues on features that products 1/3 of the price do not suffer. They will probably fix it by the time you no longer use the E8. Do they use offshore developers? It happens with every product of theirs. You can agure no product is perfect, but no product is so far away from perfect like the E8 on the software front.

True, but sadly it's expected. Like many famed, small and exclusive mechanical engineering firms, especially European ones (Swiss fashion watch firms come to mind), they struggle when their pure acoustic product suddenly becomes 80% software and electronics. Disco killed the radio star . Jabbra's software is better because they were in mass telecom business much longer with their intercom and BT headsets. For them it was always more about voice connectivity, user experience and functionality then about music and sound quality. But even their app, which is heads and shoulders above B&O's amateurish joke, has its ridiculous problems. For example, if you move something in graphical EQ there's no obvious way to reset it to flat or default! But still user interface of the phones themselves, not just the app, on the 65t is so much more polished than E8.

 

[FieldingMellish]

My only hiccup lately is needing 2 presses to make it pair, rather than 1 press. Otherwise, my apparently freak E8's have been operating well enough, and sounding rich enough, that I've not bothered looking elsewhere.

Also, for me it's all about listening on the go while bypassing wired entanglements. And I've already reconciled losing some sound quality by going wireless in the first place, in addition to going totally sealed and partially sealed; occasion specific (using the right tips for situational awareness or preferring to shut the world out). I'm struck that the sound is very good even partially sealed, especially bass.

Problems mentioned might be sample variation. Amazon reviews are widely disparate. Currently, 38% 5-star down to 20% 1-star. The rest middling 10% to 17% covering 2 though 4 star reviews.

I've seen these discussions in many photography forums. Aspiring pro and advanced amateur photographers can be as infinitely as demanding as audiophiles. In cameras, they argue sensors, raw file formats, raw interpreters, workflow, lenses, handling, battery capacity; and never-ending debates on raw versus jpeg, using filters or not, or whether primes are superior to zooms.

 

[TooFrank]

Just my few cents: I’ve had my e8 for around 7 months now. First I did was to make sure that I got a good seal using the comply tips. The sound is really surprisingly good. Only wireless I compared with was the Jaybird freedom. Use those for sports and love them because they are so tiny and well fitting. But he e8 has a much wider soundstage. They might hurt a bit if not sitting at the sweet spot in the ear. I never use the software except for the nice transparency feature, so no probs there. One very irritating thing is when switching between iPad and iphone. It sometimes is very cumbersome: first delete the e8 and then pair again. Few drop outs on the left, but so short that it doesn’t bother me much. Quality wise they are top notch and altogether I am very pleased.

 

[pablohoney]

I sent mine back after only having them since the end of May. Given the price point they should be flawless. It’ll be interesting to see how B&O handle my case as I’ve heard some poor reports about their returns process.

 

[Jajo]

Do Shure olives fit on the E8? I always liked them on my IE8’s (after some modification to the bore)

 

[sofastreamer]

Still best sounding true wireless? Looking for large and deep soundstage as my main priority. Do not need apps, eqs, no sports, just enjoying music on the go.
i come from high end iems in the over 1k usd range, so soundquality will be a hard trade off for me to go wireless, so i am looking for the best in this regard.
would you recommend me the e8, Philips Bass, jabra elite or anything else?

 

[pablohoney]

They sound great but there are issues with the codec that Beoplay need to address.

 

[nc8000]

The E8 is sufficiently good for me that I have not bothered to try any other true wireless

 

[dlorde]

I eventually sent my original E8s in for replacement, as the left bud volume level had dropped significantly. B&O replaced them by return, no quibbles. The new pair were on v.5.4.0 and had the regular drop-out and echoey channel misalignment, but I recently updated the firmware to 5.6.0 (which said it addressed these problems), and they've been much better since.

I also started using the Comply tips (originally just to keep earwax off the fabric covering the E8 sound tube) and discovered that they give a much better sound, isolation, and secure fit.

 

[albau]

Still best sounding true wireless? Looking for large and deep soundstage as my main priority. Do not need apps, eqs, no sports, just enjoying music on the go.
i come from high end iems in the over 1k usd range, so soundquality will be a hard trade off for me to go wireless, so i am looking for the best in this regard.
would you recommend me the e8, Philips Bass, jabra elite or anything else?

Man, if your point of reference is some $1k wired stuff then you came to the wrong thread . Best sounding wireless IEMs, which are currently E8 imho, will sound to you at best like $100 wired ones. See my review (and comparo to 65t) some pages up. And I'm coming from $400 Westone 4. Still for things on the run, gym, etc., having no wires is truly liberating! But to enjoy pure wireless IEMs they should be well designed, fluid to control and, most of all, reliable. All of which E8 are unfortunately not. That's why I finally sent E8 back and kept Jabra 65t, even at expense of some, not substantial, SQ drop. So instead of your $1K custom planars you'll get some $100 dynamic driver Monsters sans wires, but which you'll have to charge and to carefully finger to skip to the next track. Enjoy !

 

[hyperfuzz]

I got mine over the weekend to replace a busted pair of red Shure 535s. Some thoughts:

Firstly the negative - it took three goes (each fifteen minutes long) to update successfully to the new OS. Finally updated on the third try. Once setup, connectivity with my iPhone 6S has been pretty good so far. One instance of cutting out on a windy day (this was remedied by putting my phone in my right pocket), and a little bit of the left cutting out (on one occasion only, a few flickers over the space of a few hours)... so it's still not perfect with the new interface. The supplied silicon tips didn't fit my ears (the medium was too small and the large too big) - the Comply M is what I'm using but I've bought some Comply L for a bit more a snug fit. I don't like the touch interface for anything except pausing - the sensation of tapping on the buds in my ears feels yuck.

However, the sound is great, the package is nice and compact which is what I wanted and I think this is probably the best option for sound if you're looking for a wireless, compact, portable solution with great sound. The whole package very classy and sound quality really nice - very enjoyable to listen to. Most of what I'm using them for is listening to streaming content on the go, and this works really nicely. Overall, I am very happy with them despite those few minor issues. And they don't look nearly as dumb as AirPods.

 

[Iron-Buddha]

Latest firmware took a bunch of attempts to actually install itself. The balance issues seem to be better. It's actually nice, for once, for a manufacturer to admit there was an issue and actually fix it. While the E8 should have never shipped when they did, they are getting to their full potential months after launch.

I will test the audio delay a bit more. However, I will say that the previous firmware made playing games with the E8 nearly impossible due to the audio delay.

 

[nc8000]

Latest firmware took a bunch of attempts to actually install itself. The balance issues seem to be better. It's actually nice, for once, for a manufacturer to admit there was an issue and actually fix it. While the E8 should have never shipped when they did, they are getting to their full potential months after launch.

I will test the audio delay a bit more. However, I will say that the previous firmware made playing games with the E8 nearly impossible due to the audio delay.

Interesting. I’ve never had audio delay with youtube or playing iTunes movies on any fw version

 

[Iron-Buddha]

Interesting. I’ve never had audio delay with youtube or playing iTunes movies on any fw version

You are very lucky sir/madam! My audio delay was bad enough that I spent a good 5 minutes running circles in PUBG mobile until I realized those footsteps were my own.........