Fine tuning: Bang & Olufsen’s luxurious H8i and H9i headphones

When it comes to home audio systems, there are few better luxury brands than Bang & Olufsen - and the company’s latest addition to its premium headphone line-up prove it.

The B&O Play H8i and H9i headphones debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. Both models feature a more streamlined look than their predecessors, with slightly less padding around the speakers.

The two new models can be wirelessly paired to devices through Bluetooth, and come with active noise cancelling as standard, limiting exterior noise using tiny integrated microphones and speakers. The H8i features a more compact on-ear design, while the H9i sits over your ears.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

With Bluetooth and noise cancelling switched on, The Verge says, users can expect a “laudable” 30 hours of battery life from the H8i, and 18 hours from the H9i.

The smaller model comes with physical buttons on the outside, the website says, while the H9i is controlled exclusively through a touch sensor. Both are also equipped with proximity sensors, which pauses music when you remove the headphones.

Danish audio specialist B&O - which launched its Play sub-brand in 2012 - has also created a free smartphone app that allows users to tweak the headphone’s sound characteristics. Users can manually adjust the tonality of the sound via the software, and select from a range of pre-set audio profiles enhanced for activities such as working out or listening to podcasts.

The new headphones go on sale on 25 January, with the H8i priced from £359, and the H9i from £449.