[matteventu]

Love Gymcaddy's reviews. He points out that there is significant difference in sound quality when ANC is ON vs it being off on the HX. This is not the case with H95 btw.

Also that ANC is much weaker on HX than it is on H95 :-/

 

[tommat]

I just got a pair of H95 and I absolutely love them. I am experiencing an issue and wonder if it is normal. They have the normal hiss in transparency and it is controlled enough for me. However, if I press play, just a moment before music starts, a higher pitch whirring sounds starts and continues until about 5 or 10 seconds after I pause. While music is playing, it is fine because the music drowns it out, but in videos (like YouTube) the whirring is constant and very distracting.

Do any other H95 owners experience this? Is it a defect?

I confirm this happens on H95 when the transparency is set to the maximum and it is a major annoyance.
It should not be happening on £700 / $849 (price bump!) headphones and is a deal-breaker for me - they are going back.
As some people stated before, the plasticky control rings feel cheap and do not fit the otherwise excellent build quality - if B&O introduced some resistance like e.g. in lenses and/or add tactile feedback (maybe discrete stops corresponding to the levels of transparency-ANC ?) it would be much better and would help justify the high price tag.

Compared to APM I found H95 to be slightly better sounding overall with more forward midrange, better clarity and soundstage but APM with Headphone Accommodations set to Balanced Tone/Slight sound very similar (although still slightly worse). However, compared to APM, although H95 has less bass, its sub bass control is worse and the bass tends to get muddy on bass-heavy tracks. Contrary to what some people reported, I thought that the sound was affected by ANC with bass becoming more boomy and less well controlled with ANC on.

If H95 price was closer to APM the decision would be much more difficult but as it stands the overall package does not justify the £700 / $849 price tag in my opinion

Looking at the thread above I will not be surprised if angelom responds contradicting all the points above

 

[garethr]

Love Gymcaddy's reviews. He points out that there is significant difference in sound quality when ANC is ON vs it being off on the HX. This is not the case with H95 btw.

I’d not say there is a massive difference between ANC on or off at all - at least no more so than the H95, and you’d not expect there to be either because it’s the same (Qualcomm) hardware platform as the H95 so the using same ANC hardware and algorithms.
The H95 does have a slight advantage with better passive isolation with the oval ear cups which better full encompass the ear.

Gymcaddy’s reviews are mostly pretty good but given his preference for ‘banging bass’ I tend to take his opinions on audio quality at least with a pinch of salt.

 

[angelom]

I just got a pair of H95 and I absolutely love them. I am experiencing an issue and wonder if it is normal. They have the normal hiss in transparency and it is controlled enough for me. However, if I press play, just a moment before music starts, a higher pitch whirring sounds starts and continues until about 5 or 10 seconds after I pause. While music is playing, it is fine because the music drowns it out, but in videos (like YouTube) the whirring is constant and very distracting.

Do any other H95 owners experience this? Is it a defect?

I never had that issue.

Is the same for me, I never having this problem, and I using transparency mode a lot.

 

[tommat]

Is the same for me, I never having this problem, and I using transparency mode a lot.

So either there are variations in hardware or software with some H95 not showing the issue, or some people are insensitive to it or do not pay attention to it.

The sound is similar to a coil whine and does not change volume regardless of the headphones volume set.
It can be clearly heard for about 10 seconds after you pause music or video, or in the beginning of a song or video if it starts with a quiet passage (so it is problematic for e.g. classical music).

 

[cashmonee]

So either there are variations in hardware or software with some H95 not showing the issue, or some people are insensitive to it or do not pay attention to it.

The sound is similar to a coil whine and does not change volume regardless of the headphones volume set.
It can be clearly heard for about 10 seconds after you pause music or video, or in the beginning of a song or video if it starts with a quiet passage (so it is problematic for e.g. classical music).

You are the third person I have heard with the same issue I have. All of them have purchased the H95 in the last few weeks. I suspect that there is a bad batch of headphones or they switch suppliers to a poorer performing part. Coil whine is exactly the right description. Mine are being sent back today.

I agree with your overall assessment of the H95. I found it to sound better with music overall and likely would have kept it if not for the noise. The noise makes them unusable for video.

As for those commenting on the ANC changing the sound in the HX and H95. I can say that my HX exhibited very noticeable change in sound between ANC, Neutral, and Transparency. You could hear it in music and it was obvious in video. The H95 also did have different sound though you really had to listen for it. I am wondering if the current H95 is actually different than the original. Perhaps they have moved to cheaper parts or a different mix of parts.

 

[Verificateur]

Had the above described coil whine issue / buzzing noise on both pairs I tried, purchased in Jan and Feb... so doubt it’s a one batch issue.
More likely people’s sensitivity is different... unfortunately it was very noticeable to me and hence I ended up with the AirPods Max.

 

[thersites]

You are the third person I have heard with the same issue I have. All of them have purchased the H95 in the last few weeks. I suspect that there is a bad batch of headphones or they switch suppliers to a poorer performing part. Coil whine is exactly the right description. Mine are being sent back today.

I agree with your overall assessment of the H95. I found it to sound better with music overall and likely would have kept it if not for the noise. The noise makes them unusable for video.

As for those commenting on the ANC changing the sound in the HX and H95. I can say that my HX exhibited very noticeable change in sound between ANC, Neutral, and Transparency. You could hear it in music and it was obvious in video. The H95 also did have different sound though you really had to listen for it. I am wondering if the current H95 is actually different than the original. Perhaps they have moved to cheaper parts or a different mix of parts.

I guess this is an audiophile group, because it seems that contributors here pay great attention to audio quality (important!), but seemingly less to the ANC itself. I state this because there appears to be very little discussion of the quality of the ANC itself on these headphones (H95 and HX), which I find to be quite mediocre. One huge difference IMHO between the APM and the B&O headphones is how much more effective the ANC is in the former

 

[cashmonee]

I guess this is an audiophile group, because it seems that contributors here pay great attention to audio quality (important!), but seemingly less to the ANC itself. I state this because there appears to be very little discussion of the quality of the ANC itself on these headphones (H95 and HX), which I find to be quite mediocre. One huge difference IMHO between the APM and the B&O headphones is how much more effective the ANC is in the former

I would agree. The HX and H95 are sufficient in ANC and transparency to me but not the same level as the ANC focused headphones. And I was ok with that because the sound quality was better. However they do have a constant hiss which APM do not exhibit at all and then of course the coil whine issue.

 

[behemothkat]

Had the above described coil whine issue / buzzing noise on both pairs I tried, purchased in Jan and Feb... so doubt it’s a one batch issue.
More likely people’s sensitivity is different... unfortunately it was very noticeable to me and hence I ended up with the AirPods Max.

I tried again, nothing…
My pair is a silver and I have bought in Denmark B&O on Black Friday sale..

 

[angelom]

The anc of the h95 is clearly better than hx, hx anc is only ok. H95 anc isn't so good like AirPods max (AirPods max anc is the best of ALL anc headphones) but is only little behind sony xm3 that until recently is king of anc (I have xm3 still). The h95 anc is not mediocre AT ALL, and this is one reason I keeping this headphone apart from other excellent features and great sound.

 

[thersites]

I agree with you that the APM have the best ANC of all the ANC headphones -- and I've tried them all. Would people agree that the APM probably have the best balance between faithful music reproduction and the effectiveness of the ANC?

 

[Verificateur]

I agree with you that the APM have the best ANC of all the ANC headphones -- and I've tried them all. Would people agree that the APM probably have the best balance between faithful music reproduction and the effectiveness of the ANC?

If you ask in the APM thread, you will see 189 pages worth of such agreements.

If you ask in this thread, you will see a few such agreements mostly from people who had H95 and switched to APM (like me).

Me, personally, they are great - don’t feel like I am compromising on anything with the APM while getting all the tech benefits that work great with my iOS devices. I have grown to like the slightly darker tuning of the APM versus the more midrange-forward signature of the H95. A matter of taste.
Also, black noise floor was a must for me (perhaps I have sensitive ears?) so the APM were a no brainer in this regard.

 

[TooFrank]

Is the same for me, I never having this problem, and I using transparency mode a lot.

+1

 

[epaludo]

Also that ANC is much weaker on HX than it is on H95 :-/

How so? B&O seems to claim the ANC system is identical, unless I am terribly wrong. If you refer to the influence of a potential better seal due to the oval shape of H95 versus round shape on HX, it would make sense I suppose. But then again, I have never tried any of these headphones. All I did was read and watch some reviews