Bang & Olufsen - Beoplay EX

Bang and Olufsen Beoplay EX. Hands down.

I had the exact same issues with EX (loved the sound though)so it seems that they learned nothing. Connectivity was a disaster. Hoped they fixed things with eleven but nah.

True. I’ve owned EX’s sometime ago, sold after like 3 months. Beside the B&O sound which I just like it was a terrible experience. Constant connectivity issues, ANC was a joke. Even the guy who bought it from me wanted to return it lol. Switched to AirPods 2 pro and never looked back. Now rocking pro 3 and I would pay the hefty price for grace. If it a least match AirPods ANC and user experience. However I don’t even need the real reviews to know it does not.

Which is more important to you? The sound quality or the ANC? The reality is the best TWS earbuds for one aren't the best fit the other. And there are often clear tradeoffs. For example, the B&O EX had superb audio quality. But the Nothing Ear get really close while being lighter, having a better app, and being superior in most other ways for considerably less money. Just be aware of the compromises you're going to make when selecting the best sounding TWS earbuds.

Yeah absolutely, but I have never heard anything better than Ex's...

This week, the bang and Olufsen ex were on sale for $200. Pretty good earbuds.

Would love a comparison to other lesser known premium brands (e.g. Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EX)

Got it! I have the Beoplay myself and I'm quite happy with them. Never used any other earbuds though (aside from the cheap wired ones that came with phones in the past...)

Over here in Germany there's not that much of a price difference between the Beoplay EX and Airpods Pro 2.

I have the bowers Wilkins pi8, soundpeat H3, noble FoKus Rex 5, bang Olsen Beowolf ex, denon Perl pro, devalet Gemini 2, Sony xm5. Will be getting the geek fly vitas next.

I have the ex but the battery starts showing its age, am looking for cheaper alternatives 😅

My original comment was based on your first list. I've owned most of the earbuds in your edited list, and I'd consider them *all* among the best sounding earbuds out there. I'd probably say the Gemini, Denon, B&W, and B&O are roughly tied for "best sounding," and the winner comes down to personal preference. But if I had to choose only one set, I'd still probably go with the Sennheiser MTW4 or Technics (AZ100, which I like better than the AZ80). The Gemini and others may have slightly better sound but the Sennheiser and Technics still sound fantastic: they're not far behind, and you wouldn't be missing out on some mindblowing sonic experience. But I consider these two to be better overall, in terms of functionality, app, features, etc.

>If you don't mind, could you share your ranking list for best overall and one for sound quality? Thank you in advance! Of the ones listed in your post, my personal rankings would be: BEST OVERALL: 1. Sennheiser, Technics 2. Denon, Devialet 3. Bose, Sony 4. Pi8, BeoPlay BEST SOUND: 1. Devialet, Pi8, Denon, BeoPlay (in roughly that order if I *had* to rank them, but I consider them more or less tied, and my preferences might change from day to day or song to song) 2. Sennheiser, Technics AZ100 3. AZ80 4. Sony, Bose I've never used the EQ or the Eleven.

The Jabra are my favorites all around, but I have a lot of earbuds and there are a lot that beat them in one area or another, but none (in my opinion) that beat them *overall*. Comfort: no earbuds beat Jabra Elite 10 for comfort. Probably the next most comfortable would be Nothing 2024 / A or OnePlus 3/3Pro/2Pro or maybe Galaxy 2Pro/3Pro. But I find Technics, Devialet, Bose to all be reasonably comfortable. Sound: I love the Jabra 10 sound but plenty of premium earbuds beat them in sound. Technics AZ100/80, Sennheiser MTW4, Denon Perl Pro, and at a higher price point: Gemini 2, Pi8, BeoPlay EX (and probably Eleven but I haven't tried them). The Nothing 2024 in LDAC could potentially beat the Jabra in sound too but it's a close call. Most of these would be overkill if you're primarily listening to audiobooks and podcasts: in fact the Jabra are my favorites for spoken word, especially since the recent LC3 firmware update. ANC: Bose beats everyone. To my ears, the Jabra ANC is roughly tied for 2nd place ANC with Sony, Sennheiser, and Devialet. Some might argue that Sony is 2nd place and the others are tied for 3rd. Either way. I particularly like the Jabra ANC for flights, but the others are comparable. Microphone: I don't use earbuds much for calls so this is one area I never have much of an opinion on. My understanding is that Huawei buds have the best mics for calls but I've never tried them. Water Resistance: the Jabra 8 Active are the only earbuds I'm comfortable showering with. Beyond that I don't pay too much attention to IP ratings. My understanding is that Jabra generally leads in this area but that there are some (which I can't recollect) that are comparable. Physical buttons: nothing that I'm aware of beats Jabra in this area. I know the Status Between 4ANC (or something like that) has a physical button in addition to touch controls, but I only had these briefly and I don't remember how useful it was. Transmitter: Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 has a transmitter case (I think B&W were the innovators in this area). When using the USB-C transmitter, the Pi8 sound is *incredible*. I don't think I've tried the headphone/aux cable transmitter yet (the Pi8 comes with two separate cables instead of the Jabra version which has a built in adapter on a single cable). I think JBL Tour Pro 3 also have a transmitter option but I only had these briefly and I don't think I tried it. If your otherwise-perfect earbuds are missing the transmitter case feature, you can always get something like this: https://a.co/d/bbJW8Yn. I've used a similar device on a plane and it worked great, but I didn't do any side-by-side comparison of sound quality or anything. If all my Jabra earbuds disappears today, the Technics AZ100 or Sennheiser MTW4 would probably be my new daily drivers. Both have better sound than the Jabra and are probably 2nd-ish place in all the other areas: they're great overall earbuds. But this choice puts a lot of emphasis on music sound quality. For primarily audiobooks/podcasts, I'd probably choose the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro or Nothing 2024 (or Nothing A) as daily drivers. (Don't get me wrong, they both sound fantastic on music too). OnePlus would probably win out because of their controls and somewhat better ANC and battery life.

I mean if sound quality is the biggest concern above all else, the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EX can be had brand new in box for around $250 on eBay. While the Beoplay EX has amazing sound quality (top rated by many for that era of earbuds), the EX has bad ANC capabilities (that was always the biggest complaint for the price - and the biggest upgrade to the new B&O Eleven earbuds which retail for $600) Problem is, you're on an iPhone. Apple restricts their AAC bitrate protocol to only apple brands (Apple & Beats devices only). If you use any other brand of products, the AAC bitrate will be cut in half.

The B&O Beoplay EX is last-generation. It has epic sound quality, but it suffers from a poor ANC system compared to rivals at the same price point. The B&O Eleven is the newest generation - they took the EX earbuds and improved the ANC system, that's the biggest difference you'd notice between the two. However, one big elephant in the room is your iPhone. As you know apple likes to create a "walled garden" for their customers. And earbuds are no different. Apple *wants* you to stick with their brands (Airpods and Beats). So the software only enables max AAC bitrates when using Apple products within their ecosystem. Any other earbud you buy will have a limited streaming bitrate. So, in essence - what's the point of $500 earbuds if you can only stream at greatly reduced bitrates? You would either need to switch to an android phone (like a Sony, because Samsung is a b*tch about bluetooth protocols these days as well - AptX-adaptive is literally open source software, Samsung could easily integrate it into their flagship phones but they choose not to in favor of their own proprietary bluetooth protocol) With a healthy budget, you can get some better sounding earbuds and more comfortable earbuds with nice features like the ANC of the Quietcomfort Ultra, or the full transparency of the Quietcomfort Ultra-Open earbuds. But, just know that Apple once again sucks and they choose what you're allowed to play with. They'll let you use other bluetooth products, but not at the highest fidelity possible. For me with my Bose QC-Ultra earbuds and a Samsung Galaxy phone, I am buying a Creative Labs BT-W6 USB-C streaming audio chip so I can stream from phone in high definition

>premium earbuds >sub 300 dollar pair of earbuds Lol, oh. I think you're going to get a ton of different answers. My definition of Premium earbuds these days for top sound quality and noise cancelling would go to earbuds above the $300 mark. But I also consume 7-8 hours of music daily so I spend a lot more money on speakers/headphones/earbuds than I do on televisions haha (I still have an old samsung 1080p TV - haven't even upgraded to a 4k yet!) I was going to suggest something like the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Ex earbuds which you can currently buy for about HALF the original MSRP. They have some top-rated sound quality, but the biggest issue about them was always the noise cancelling. If someone is paying $500 for earbuds, they expect good ANC in addition to good sound quality, and they were mediocre. B&O's new Eleven earbuds fix that complaint, but those are crazy expensive. So the Beoplay EX at $250 is a great deal if you only prioritize sound quality. But given that you want both, I still think my personal suggestion would be to get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (or save money and buy the Bose Quietcomfort 2 earbuds new in box on ebay - they're basically the same thing minus AptX-Adaptive and immersion modes)

I mean, if it were me, in the pursuit of the highest fidelity, I personally prefer to go with last-years premium models and shop to find a heck of a good deal on them. If ANC and call quality were not important, the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Ex would by on my list if I could find them for a reasonable price. Back a few months ago when the Beoplay Eleven came out, the EX models were offloaded on eBay for around $250. But I'm sure that deal has passed haha. For me, ANC is a big priority so I'd grab the Bose QC Ultra, the gen1 QC-Ultra should be on deep sale right now since the Gen2 just came out this month. Biggest complaints you'll read about the QC-Ultra is the weak antenna (lots of people complain about signal interference, I don't have that issue in my rural setting, and only rarely encounter it when a bus of people drives buy, or if I'm in an airport - then sometimes the earbuds 'hop' to another channel once or twice while walking around the airport). Call quality is the other complaint - Bose QC-Ultra earbuds have pretty shitty call quality considering the price point. But in terms of ANC and sound quality - I'd say you get a pretty dang good product for the money if you can find gen1 for a good price. (Yes there are knockoffs of the Bose products - but none of the clones pair with the Bose app. So if you buy new-in-box on a site like eBay and they don't work with the official Bose App, you can file a complaint with eBay to get your money back). Right now Bose is selling the QC-Ultra on their official eBay page for $190 in refurbished condition. I say that's a heck of a great price for what you're getting (as long as call quality isn't a major priority)