[DJ Walker Smith]

the h6 are very nice and very expensive as well

 

[hidaven]

Just demo these.........they sound great! Well worth the price. Very comfortable, great soundstage, nice deep base. Maybe a tiny and I mean tiny bit on the bright side but on most recordings it helps to open the soundstage. Lots of extended treble Removable wire with controls and a mic in line.

Remember these phones are not broken in yet so bass should tighten up a bit more. A VERY neutral sounding set of cans. My guess is that with a nice tube amp these will really shine but on my galaxy s4 they sounded great. Very detailed. The mods were not recessed in my opinion just neutral and natural sounding with no real humps anywhere. Pads totally surround your ear and are very comfortable. Acoustical instruments just sound amazing and clean, Very open sounding for a closed design.

I pre ordered the tan skinned ones. I'm impressed.

 

[xkgamez]

Quote:

Just demo these.........they sound great! Well worth the price. Very comfortable, great soundstage, nice tight deep base. Maybe a tiny and I mean tiny bit on the bright side but on most recordings it helps to open the soundstage. Lots of extended treble. Seriously, these headphones compare to phones double the cost. Removable wire with controls and a mic in line.

 
Thanks for the review. Never thought the word "value" would come to my mind when reading about B&O products.
Now I can't wait to try these...too bad the B&O shop in my neighborhood closed recently

 

[hidaven]

Yes, 399.00 isn't cheap but I heard quite a few headphones under 500.00 and these absolutely compete. Some might say they don't wow you or don't sound alive but I disagree. Usually when a headphone sounds great in a particular area its been tuned to emphasize a particular frequency. The h3 has a pronounced bump in the mids.

The h6 is very detailed and neutral slight v curve but SLIGHT. Since most recordings bump the mids in the recording a slight V curve is welcomed. Diana krall sounded better through these cans then she did in person.....the definition is astounding to my ears and much better than the v moda 100's I just reviewed.

Definitely check them out......one minor gripe is that these phones are NOT sensitive. I'm at 3/4 vol. on my s4 so they need some juice. I'm sure a nice headphone amp would really make them shine but the s4 sounded fantastic at the upper vol. level.

 

[pwodarz]

Thanks for some info on these! I've been seriously considering them
Quote:

Usually when a headphone sounds great in a particular area its been tuned to emphasize a particular frequency. The h3 has a pronounced bump in the mids.

The h6 is very detailed and neutral slight v curve but SLIGHT. Since most recordings bump the mids in the recording a slight V curve is welcomed. Diana krall sounded better through these cans then she did in person.....the definition is astounding to my ears and much better than the v moda 100's I just reviewed.

 

Was it the pronounced mids that mad Diana Krall sound better or just the fact that a recording was most likely edited whereas in person, not so much?
Quote:

Just demo these.........they sound great! Well worth the price. Very comfortable, great soundstage, nice deep base. Maybe a tiny and I mean tiny bit on the bright side but on most recordings it helps to open the soundstage. Lots of extended treble Removable wire with controls and a mic in line.

Remember these phones are not broken in yet so bass should tighten up a bit more. A VERY neutral sounding set of cans. My guess is that with a nice tube amp these will really shine but on my galaxy s4 they sounded great. Very detailed. The mods were not recessed in my opinion just neutral and natural sounding with no real humps anywhere. Pads totally surround your ear and are very comfortable. Acoustical instruments just sound amazing and clean, Very open sounding for a closed design.

I pre ordered the tan skinned ones. I'm impressed.

Are you in the U.S.? Where and how did you manage to get ahold of them?

 

[hidaven]

I'm in the US and my local shop had a few samples so I brought my galaxy s4 in. Krall usually bumps up the mids in her recordings so these cans ever so slightly brings her back.....sounds fantastic. Like I said it has a very mild V curve in the frequencies which is a good thing as a lot of my 1500 CDs actually bump the mids a tad especially vocals.

The instrument separation is nothing short of amazing and the air and sound staging is as good as it gets for closed cans. I heard picks on guitar strings that I haven't heard before. The bass was just fine for me, natural and deep on my Christian McBride cd where he and his friends play double bass. No veiling whatsoever with these cans. Blew my Westone 3umx out of the water in that dept. I can't even listen to them anymore after hearing these h6s.

Now don't get me wrong, they may not compete with cans over 1000.00 in some respects but as always its the law of diminishing returns. I haven't heard a sub 500.00 set of headphones that surpass these. And mind you these were not broken in yet!

By far the lightest and most comfortable over ear cans I have worn. And the sound isolation was pretty good! If I really had to nit pick I'd probably take a fraction of the treble out as on some recordings it seemed just a tiny bit on the bright side. But again only on a select few recordings. But for the majority of recordings that extended treble just opens up the space and clarity to a whole new dimension.

 

[pwodarz]

Wow thanks for that!

 

[a_recording]

Local B&O store has these in. I can see them through the window so I'm going to walk in for a long demo

 

[alpha10]

I've heard the H6 several times now, they sound very nice and a very comfortable, I actually prefer these to the Momentum, but I think still think the price is too high, a 25% reduction would make them worth the money.

 

[a_recording]

So I spent something like an hour in the Sydney B&O with a very nice chap and the H3/H6. Here are my impressions.
 
H6
 
The H6 is a really nicely built headphone. I've read some reviews complaining about the use of plastic in some parts of the headphone, but the parts that actually need to be metal (the headband and the driver capsule) are milled out of solid pieces. The result is a headphone that weighs similarly to the super light weight Sennheiser Momentum but has bigger earcups, which would make some people happy. Environmental noise isolation isn't fantastic though, the leather seems lightweight and somewhat porous.
 
In terms of sound the H6 was really kind of surprising. I was expecting B&O to take the same route that B&W and Sennhieser took with their 'lifestyle' headphone and aim for rich bass / mids, but it seems B&O took a different tack and went with a leaner sound. The H6 is still slightly warm in the midrange and has quite linear bass, but it has a very distinct broad emphasis in the treble that adds a sheen to everything. It wasn't a hard S sibilance but more of a softer peak somewhere above or below the 8khz 'S' range (I'm not really sure what). As a result the H6 is a detailed and sprightly listen but not the most transparent thing I've ever heard. It actually somewhat reminds me of the Audio Technica CK100Pro in terms of treble.
 
I thought the H6 was good, but perhaps should be priced somewhere nearer to the Sennheiser Momentum. One concern would be that the treble emphasis combined with the low isolation make the H6 a less than portable potable.
 
H3
 
The H3 is also beautifully machined, seemingly out of a aluminium capsule and a plastic part for the nozzle. Given the FXD80 and the Westone ADV are both made almost completely out of a metal though I would have liked to see the H3 to be a metal one-piece for the price. The cable is on the thinner side with slight microphonics, and the earphone can only be worn cable down.
 
In terms of sound the H3 is very different from the H6, with a much richer sound. It is still leaner then something like the Shure SE215. It actually had a really nice tuning to my ear, with just a warmth and a peak in the highs that brings colour but not too much harshness. What is most impressive about the H3 is the soundstage - probably a product of the many, many vent holes on the H3, it sounds very spacious. The flip side is that the H3 has very poor noise isolation. It is possible to carry a conversation with someone even with the H3 on, provided the music is at a low volume.
 
I was actually impressed enough by the H3 to buy a pair to take it home for a review and longer impressions, so expect that eventually (but not too soon haha). I think the US price for the H3 (249) is par for the course, not great but not overpriced either.
 
One thing real nice is that both the H3 an H6 come with a 3 year international warranty, which means that you could probably resolve any problems by popping into a B&O store (I have no idea how rare they are but there are 3 in Sydney).

 

[hidaven]

I agree with your review...........My only addition would be that since these are dynamic drivers there might be some break in required. The highs usually mellow out a bit with other headphones such as these. I guess time will tell but I found the attack and extension pretty amazing on the H6s. The bass was linear as you stated with no bloat at all. Agree that these should have been priced around 300.00-350.00 but then again its B&O mark up......

 

[a_recording]

Just wanted to flesh out my impressions of the H3 a little.
 
So far I'm really liking what I'm hearing. With stock tips the H3 is somewhere between the Sony MDR 7550 and Shure SE215 in terms of tonality. The H3 avoids sounding harsh / nasal on vocals like the 7550 sometimes does, and yet isn't as laid back as the 215.

I switched to Sony foam hybrid tips on the H3, which improves the seal I get quite a bit and improve isolation a little. They also smooth out the sound a little because the hybrid's aperture is a bit smaller in diameter.
 
I really like the natural sound of the H3, and the nice open soundstage. Everything sounds pretty much right.
 
Now I have to figure out where to buy more Sony foam hybrid tips...

 

[pwodarz]

I demoed a pair of the H6 and actually ordered them. Can't wait to get them and break them in.

 

[Beagle]

Does anyone know where you can actually purchase the damn things?

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Does anyone know where you can actually purchase the damn things?

 
I believe that they are actually trying to meet demand at this point (for the H6 anyway). The B&O twitter feed seems to be updating people on stock allocation as time goes...
 
In some cities there are actual B&O retail stores. Otherwise I think they are selling in Apple Stores as well?