Side By Side Comparison - AirPods Max, B&O H95, Dali iO-6, B&W PX8, ML 5909, M&D MW75, Focal Bathys and more

[Rat Tomago]

Can we please move on from the attacks and critiques against the Noble rep. He reached out to me a while ago with an apology for what he considers a mistake. He's also apologized in this thread more than once. He assured me that it was not his intention to put down other manufacturers. He has permission from me to answer questions about his product as I'm not able to monitor the thread 24/7. B&O, Dali, and any other manufacturer who's product is mentioned in this thread has the same permission/freedom, as well as forum members like Angelom and mainguy who have a similar experience to myself when it comes to experiencing multiple wireless anc headphones. One of the many reasons I started this comparison thread was to encourage peaceful, open minded, non fanboyish discussion of many great wireless anc headphones. It would be nice if we could get back to that.

Understood, and I also apologize. I was out of line.

 

[Rat Tomago]

This has already been addressed by me many times over, and an apology already issued a long time ago. We are staying out of posting about products.

Understood. I apologize for a needless fanning of the flames. It's obvious you've done your best to handle the situation as well as advocate for a product you believe in. Best of luck with it. I look forward to learning more about the headphones.

 

[Noble Audio]

Understood. I apologize for a needless fanning of the flames. It's obvious you've done your best to handle the situation as well as advocate for a product you believe in. Best of luck with it. I look forward to learning more about the headphones.

We're all human here. No worries

 

[Blinxat]

Which one of these headphones has the most treble air above 10khz and overall best resolution in the treble? I currently have the APM and Bose Ultra.

 

[yrstruly]

Posted without comment

 

[Bahnhof Zoo]

Posted without comment

Further proving the law of diminishing returns.

 

[AcademicBarzo]

Further proving the law of diminishing returns.

Or, how one person's opinion on You Tube is just that. An opinion.

 

[ubs28]

I'm pretty new to head-fi but why is it fair game to have a company rep making statements about the competition? To me it just degrades the objectivity of the discussion to have a lot of back-and-forth with a company rep. Not to mention the criticism of the H100 being very expensive. I would suggest just letting the product speak for itself and leave the quarreling to the forum members.

Companies make comparisons to the competition all the time. And Noble is right, B&O even said themselves they artificially jacked up the prices for no reason because they want to be viewed as a "luxury brand." Even the 5-year old B&O H95 got jacked up in price because now B&O sees themselves as "luxury" and you need to pay more for no reason at all.

 

[Rat Tomago]

Companies make comparisons to the competition all the time. And Noble is right, B&O even said themselves they artificially jacked up the prices for no reason because they want to be viewed as a "luxury brand." Even the 5-year old B&O H95 got jacked up in price because now B&O sees themselves as "luxury" and you need to pay more for no reason at all.

I withdrew my remarks in response to the Nobel gentleman and would largely like to consider them expunged.

As for B&O, I have expressed my own concerns elsewhere about the statements of the B&O CEO indicating that he is catering to people who like conspicuous consumption.

Beyond that, I don't entirely agree, or follow, the logic of your remarks. The price of a years-old-item like the H95 do not "get jacked up" in some kind of artificial manner -- it's supply-and-demand and capitalism. And I think the factor of "luxury" largely goes out the window when we are talking about the H95. People who flaunt wealth or want the "latest-and-greatest" will immediately gravitate towards the H100. There's no real social statement to be made via purchasing an H95.

It's actually fairly remarkable that the H95 held its value after the Bathys and PX8 came out. That's a lot of competition at lower price points.

The CEO comments have contributed to a certain amount of questioning of the price of H100. But on reflection, and now having the headphones, it seems reasonably fairly priced. Of course, what do I know. But, to me it sounds much better than the Bathys. I think it probably outstrips the IO-12 in sound, and its form factor, in my view, radically outguns the IO-12s or the Bathys.

The H100 strike me as a feat of engineering. It's a shame that the CEO has overshadowed the work of his engineers by implying that this is a luxury rather than audiophile product. It has plenty of luxury attributes, but the headphones are not grossly ostentatious in appearance either.

The IO-12s seem to be showing some signs on downward price pressure, but not by much. Ditto the Bathys, and the PX8 has shown a ton of downward pressure. I haven't seen that with the H95 unless I'm missing something.

 

[ubs28]

I withdrew my remarks in response to the Nobel gentleman and would largely like to consider them expunged.

As for B&O, I have expressed my own concerns elsewhere about the statements of the B&O CEO indicating that he is catering to people who like conspicuous consumption.

Beyond that, I don't entirely agree, or follow, the logic of your remarks. The price of a years-old-item like the H95 do not "get jacked up" in some kind of artificial manner -- it's supply-and-demand and capitalism. And I think the factor of "luxury" largely goes out the window when we are talking about the H95. People who flaunt wealth or want the "latest-and-greatest" will immediately gravitate towards the H100. There's no real social statement to be made via purchasing an H95.

It's actually fairly remarkable that the H95 held its value after the Bathys and PX8 came out. That's a lot of competition at lower price points.

The CEO comments have contributed to a certain amount of questioning of the price of H100. But on reflection, and now having the headphones, it seems reasonably fairly priced. Of course, what do I know. But, to me it sounds much better than the Bathys. I think it probably outstrips the IO-12 in sound, and its form factor, in my view, radically outguns the IO-12s or the Bathys.

The H100 strike me as a feat of engineering. It's a shame that the CEO has overshadowed the work of his engineers by implying that this is a luxury rather than audiophile product. It has plenty of luxury attributes, but the headphones are not grossly ostentatious in appearance either.

The IO-12s seem to be showing some signs on downward price pressure, but not by much. Ditto the Bathys, and the PX8 has shown a ton of downward pressure. I haven't seen that with the H95 unless I'm missing something.

The B&O H95 got jacked up back to $999, it's not due to supply and demand, but simply because of "price control" to have a more "luxury image". And the B&O H95 sucks. I just got the Bose QC Ultra for $250 and it has:
- more neutral sound (B&O H95 really has an annoying treble)
- much better ANC
- much better comfort
- much more portable

How is this headphone even $999 again in 2024? It doesn't hold its value at all in todays market. Yes, it is price control.

And the H100 fairly priced? Again, my $250 Bose QC Ultra has all the same feature (Spatial Audio, top tier ANC). Where is the $1250 price difference coming from? If you say sound quality, we are talking about bluetooth headphones. Sound quality cannot be top tier. I can buy a M3 MacBook Air with this price difference and still have money left.

Funny thing is, B&O wanted me to pay $200 to demo the H100 because they were afraid I would buy it cheaper from an online store after I demo them. So that's how I know these things are not priced due to "supply and demand" as they are really desperate for money. If these things were selling like hotcakes due to popular demand, B&O wouldn't be so afraid that I would buy them from an online store cheaper.

I have listened to $500.000 speaker systems and nobody asked me to pay money up front, except for B&O, for a simple bluetooth headphone. These guys are crazy.

 

[DrSeven]

Hi guys, thinking about getting wireless headphones for Christmas on black Friday. There are some great offers on the Dali io12 (935€). I see the Mark levinsons are currently available for around 699€ (same as Bathys). Just the p+t is still 1200€-1300€. Would you guys recommend any of these to complement my focal clear (on the go AND at home for some variation in sound). Would you go with one of the cheaper ones or the highest priced? I think the price is really great value for most but I'm curious about the experts opinions. And what would be the best to complement the clear. Thanks so much in advance!

@Dalmonegrig thanks so much for suggesting to post here!

 

[Rat Tomago]

The B&O H95 got jacked up back to $999, it's not due to supply and demand, but simply because of "price control" to have a more "luxury image". And the B&O H95 sucks. I just got the Bose QC Ultra for $250 and it has:
- more neutral sound (B&O H95 really has an annoying treble)
- much better ANC
- much better comfort
- much more portable

How is this headphone even $999 again in 2024? It doesn't hold its value at all in todays market. Yes, it is price control.

And the H100 fairly priced? Again, my $250 Bose QC Ultra has all the same feature (Spatial Audio, top tier ANC). Where is the $1250 price difference coming from? If you say sound quality, we are talking about bluetooth headphones. Sound quality cannot be top tier. I can buy a M3 MacBook Air with this price difference and still have money left.

Funny thing is, B&O wanted me to pay $200 to demo the H100 because they were afraid I would buy it cheaper from an online store after I demo them. So that's how I know these things are not priced due to "supply and demand" as they are really desperate for money. If these things were selling like hotcakes due to popular demand, B&O wouldn't be so afraid that I would buy them from an online store cheaper.

I have listened to $500.000 speaker systems and nobody asked me to pay money up front, except for B&O, for a simple bluetooth headphone. These guys are crazy.

The term "price control" refers to a form of governmental action relative to a market sector. What do you mean by it in this context?

 

[Tolarian]

Hi guys, thinking about getting wireless headphones for Christmas on black Friday. There are some great offers on the Dali io12 (935€). I see the Mark levinsons are currently available for around 699€ (same as Bathys). Just the p+t is still 1200€-1300€. Would you guys recommend any of these to complement my focal clear (on the go AND at home for some variation in sound). Would you go with one of the cheaper ones or the highest priced? I think the price is really great value for most but I'm curious about the experts opinions. And what would be the best to complement the clear. Thanks so much in advance!

@Dalmonegrig thanks so much for suggesting to post here!

All of them are good (tried them all), but to me the Solitaire T are the best package of sound quality and ANC if you can deal with the smaller earcups.

I wouldn't get the ML since the battery isn't replaceable and the ANC has that oldschool cabin pressure.

If you want to spend less, i'd get the Dali. You can also find it cheaper if you look (899€ online atm) or if you have patience (630€ sealed recent sale on head fi). But you must know that you will probably only use it indoor (same goes for ML and Bathys) because of the weaker ANC and the fact that you'll look ridiculous to other people with that huge thing on your head.

 

[Gerry Grigore]

All of them are good (tried them all), but to me the Solitaire T are the best package of sound quality and ANC if you can deal with the smaller earcups.

I wouldn't get the ML since the battery isn't replaceable and the ANC has that oldschool cabin pressure.

If you want to spend less, i'd get the Dali. You can also find it cheaper if you look (899€ online atm) or if you have patience (630€ sealed recent sale on head fi). But you must know that you'll only be able to use it indoor (same goes for ML and Bathys) because of the weaker ANC and the fact that you'll look ridiculous to other people with that huge thing on your head (= Cyberman).

Don’t forget about Noble FoKus Apollo, they are fabulous.

 

[Tolarian]

Don’t forget about Noble FoKus Apollo, they are fabulous.

I haven't forgotten, i'm just not a fan and i disagree with most of what Maukey wrote about them.