B&O's new true wireless earbuds totally crush Apple's AirPods in battery life
Bang & Olufsen is a Denmark-based manufacturer of high-end audio products that closely followed Apple in the then-fledgling "hearables" market back in 2017 with the first-gen Beoplay E8 true wireless earbuds.
The company, also known simply as B&O, actually managed to beat the Cupertino-based tech giant to the wireless charging punch with the second Beoplay E8 edition in early 2019. One year later, the aptly named Beoplay E8 3rd Gen headphones are (almost) ready for primetime, but somewhat surprisingly, Active Noise Cancellation functionality is not part of an otherwise impressive list of upgrades.
Slapped with the same seemingly excessive $350 price tag as their forerunners, the third-gen Beoplay E8 in-ear earphones have an incredible 35 hours of battery life going for them as a key selling point. We're obviously talking about the combined endurance of the headphones themselves and their accompanying Qi-certified wireless charging case, but that's still a massive improvement over the 16 hours of total playtime touted by the E8 2.0 alongside its very similar and stylish case made from leather.
Said improvement is made that much more impressive by the weight loss and reduced overall size of the new Beoplay E8 edition compared to the previous generation. Somehow, B&O managed to make its upgraded true wireless earbuds smaller and lighter than their predecessors while boosting their advertised battery life from four to seven hours on a single charge (case endurance not included).
In contrast, the $250 AirPods Pro can keep the tunes going for a modest 4.5 hours before requiring a boost from a wireless charging case capable of bringing that number up to around 24 hours in total.
Designed to feel "less intrusive" than ever and create a "better fit for a variety of ear shapes and sizes", the refreshed Beoplay E8 earphones also come with "signature" Bang & Olufsen sound technology for an "authentic" audio experience, transparency mode for easily connecting and disconnecting from the outside world, as well as "double the amount of microphones" (i.e. four instead of two) for crystal clear voice calls.
That all sounds great, but the $350 price point certainly limits the mainstream appeal of the B&O Beoplay E8, which are set to start shipping sometime next month.
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