[jthomp72]

Okay so…see the link below. Any thoughts? They look interesting. I loved the EQ’s until they uh…just didn’t feel good in so these which have a bigger driver and better shape might be the trick. Expensive, yeah, but might be a decent AirPods Pro alternative with better sound.


https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/us/earphones/beoplay-ex?variant=beoplay-ex-anthracite-oxygen

 

[Cheradenine]

Its a little generic looking for a brand that cultivates a premium image. I imagine it is from a Shenzhen OEM and there may be people wearing the same or a similar product but, paid a very different price for it.

 

[tombrisbane]

My pair should arrive tomorrow / Wednesday- will post thoughts against the EQ (and/or others, I have quite a few TWS)

 

[jthomp72]

My pair should arrive tomorrow / Wednesday- will post thoughts against the EQ (and/or others, I have quite a few TWS)

Yes please do! I had the EQ’s and loved the sound, but they just wouldn’t stay in my ears and I found them a lot uncomfy after an hour or so. Hopefully these tick more boxes and with bigger drivers, better sound and louder performance. I’ve been begging for a truly excellent pair of TWS’s forever.

 

[fenjen]

I just got them and I must say, coming from he H95, I'm a bit unimpressed. The sound signature is "similar" but it lacks a bit of smoothness and detail in my opinion. There is a pretty noticeable peak around 7,5-8khz (checked with just a simple frequency generator) causing a bit of harshness. Don't get me wrong, I like the sound generally, but to me it doesn't touch the H95. The anc is super underwhelming as well, sometimes it even cause more sound. Compared to AirPods Pro for example, the ANC is negligible. On the bike there is a a lot of wind noise, and if you turn off the ANC, the sound signature changes quite a bit. The transparency mode is also pretty useless to me.

Overall underwhelming for the price and I'm pretty sure I'll return them.

 

[jthomp72]

I just got them and I must say, coming from he H95, I'm a bit unimpressed. The sound signature is "similar" but it lacks a bit of smoothness and detail in my opinion. There is a pretty noticeable peak around 7,5-8khz causing a bit of harshness. Don't get me wrong, I like the sound generally, but to me it doesn't touch the H95. The anc is super underwhelming as well, sometimes it even cause more sound. Compared to AirPods Pro for example, the ANC is negligible. On the bike there is a a lot of wind noise, and if you turn off the ANC, the sound signature changes quite a bit. The transparency mode is also pretty useless to me.

Overall underwhelming for the price and I'm pretty sure I'll return them.

Mine should be here in a few minutes so I will see if I agree or not. I’m convinced that good ear canal shape and good seal…is as important as the quality of the earphones itself. But we will see. The thing I’ve always liked about B&O is the way the EQ works, it’s easy and I know precisely where I like it.

 

[fenjen]

Mine should be here in a few minutes so I will see if I agree or not. I’m convinced that good ear canal shape and good seal…is as important as the quality of the earphones itself. But we will see. The thing I’ve always liked about B&O is the way the EQ works, it’s easy and I know precisely where I like it.

Yes I agree, a good seal is everything with in-ears. I feel like I have a good seal, though I tried really pushing them in to see if that helps, but I haven't found anything I can do to improve the anc.

 

[jthomp72]

Yes I agree, a good seal is everything with in-ears. I feel like I have a good seal, though I tried really pushing them in to see if that helps, but I haven't found anything I can do to improve the anc.

ANC is less important to me than absolute sound quality, though I take your point. I just can’t do the apple, Bose, or Sony sound signature. I like what I like. And it’s bright and thumpy. So far the eq’s were the only ones that got me there, but they just didn’t feel good in my ear. I will say, I do have pretty much perfectly shaped ear canals for L sized comply tips and/or L sized regular silicone tips. That helps tremendously.

 

[fenjen]

ANC is less important to me than absolute sound quality, though I take your point. I just can’t do the apple, Bose, or Sony sound signature. I like what I like. And it’s bright and thumpy. So far the eq’s were the only ones that got me there, but they just didn’t feel good in my ear. I will say, I do have pretty much perfectly shaped ear canals for L sized comply tips and/or L sized regular silicone tips. That helps tremendously.

Alright, let us know what you think of them! Don't get me wrong though, they sound good, but I was just hoping to get a bit of the magic of the H95, which I'm not getting. If you like bright and thumpy though, you might like the H95 as well.

 

[jthomp72]

Alright, let us know what you think of them! Don't get me wrong though, they sound good, but I was just hoping to get a bit of the magic of the H95, which I'm not getting. If you like bright and thumpy though, you might like the H95 as well.

I love them. The headband is incredibly uncomfortable on my oddly shaped and sensitive noggin. I have the Mark Levinson No. 5909’s and I absolutely adore them, but I can’t be walking downtown with those giant beasts on my head lol

 

[fenjen]

I love them. The headband is incredibly uncomfortable on my oddly shaped and sensitive noggin. I have the Mark Levinson No. 5909’s and I absolutely adore them, but I can’t be walking downtown with those giant beasts on my head lol

I had a similar experience with the H95, but with the ear cups. After a while they would get super irritating on my ears, which is why I didn't keep them in the end. I feel like the H95 is the pinnacle of the B&O sound signature though. Super tight, pretty flat in the mid range, very well extended in the bass range, but no exaggerated upper bass like typical consumer headphones, and a bit of exaggerated treble, but only in the very top end.

 

[jthomp72]

I had a similar experience with the H95, but with the ear cups. After a while they would get super irritating on my ears, which is why I didn't keep them in the end. I feel like the H95 is the pinnacle of the B&O sound signature though. Super tight, pretty flat in the mid range, very well extended in the bass range, but no exaggerated upper bass like typical consumer headphones, and a bit of exaggerated treble, but only in the very top end.

Out of the box I agree with your assessment. But, I’m just not one to care about neutral. I play with the B&O circle till it sounds best to my ears and I go with that. Signature, neutrality, everything else be damned. No idea what that actually looks like on a graph because B&O is incredibly vague about their tuning

 

[jthomp72]

Okay so! I’ve had them for an hour so take that for what you will…here’s some impressions.

They are infinitely louder than the eq’s which is what I wanted. Thank goodness. They get proper loud.

They look awesome, materials are great etc. you know by now what a b&o product is meant to look like.

Really really really good comfort, stem design is exactly what I wanted. Barely even notice they’re in.

Sound is great. At the default they are flat, neutral, as expected. I tuned them exactly how I wanted them and they are pretty much everything I need. Are they as good as my Mark Levinson’s? Ehhh no but they are 95% of it for half the price and no weight lol.

I don’t know what you’re on about on the anc…they are perfectly acceptable. Here’s the caveat. Get comply tips that fit your ears right. It was a massive night and day difference between the comply and the regular silicon tips. Like, holy holy.

 

[tombrisbane]

Get comply tips that fit your ears right. It was a massive night and day difference between the comply and the regular silicon tips. Like, holy holy.

Yeah I noticed this from testing mine out. Comply tips are much better, couldn’t get a great fit with the silicone ones. I’m really enjoying them, I had to go away for work for a night and thought I’d packed these but hadn’t, had the EQ’s - the EX’s are certainly more resolving with a wider soundstage.

 

[jthomp72]

Yeah I noticed this from testing mine out. Comply tips are much better, couldn’t get a great fit with the silicone ones. I’m really enjoying them, I had to go away for work for a night and thought I’d packed these but hadn’t, had the EQ’s - the EX’s are certainly more resolving with a wider soundstage benefit for me

Yeah I noticed this from testing mine out. Comply tips are much better, couldn’t get a great fit with the silicone ones. I’m really enjoying them, I had to go away for work for a night and thought I’d packed these but hadn’t, had the EQ’s - the EX’s are certainly more resolving with a wider soundstage.

They’re also noticing louder which is the biggest benefit to me. I’m in a Dave and Busters typing this and the music+anc is totally drowning out the chaos.