Bang & Olufsen's $500 Beoplay Eleven earbuds have replaceable batteries but there's a caveat

Bang & Olufsen is a brand known for premium audio products that are heavy on the pocket, so it's no surprise that its latest earbuds, the Beoplay Eleven cost a whopping $499. That's just $50 less than the price of two pairs of Apple's AirPods Pro 2 earbuds (curr. available on Amazon for $153.99).

Like the AirPods Pro 2, Bang & Olufsen's Beoplay Eleven have protruding stems. Each earbud weighs 6 grams while the charging case weighs 53 grams. According to the spec sheet, the earbuds and case are made of a mixture of materials that include aluminum, specialized toughened glass, polymer, and silicone. The earbuds are rated IP57 for dust and water resistance.

Bang & Olufsen says the Beoplay Eleven have their best noise cancellation technology in an earbud to date. They are reportedly two times better than that of the Beoplay Ex (curr. available for $279 on Amazon). They also have a transparency mode that is 1.8 times better than that of the Beoplay Ex.

The Beoplay Eleven earbuds have a 9.2mm driver in each earbud, a total of six MEMS omni-directional microphones, touch controls, and a feature called Wind Guard (activated within the app) for filtering out wind noise for clearer calls. The earbuds have Bluetooth 5.2 with support for Bluetooth Multipoint, Google Fast Pair, and Microsoft Swift Pair. They also have a Made for iPhone (MFi) certification. Supported codecs include aptX Adaptive, AAC, and SBC.

Bang & Olufsen claims the Beoplay Eleven will provide up to 6 hours of playback with ANC on (20 hours with the case) and 8 hours with ANC off (28 hours total with the case). One neat future of the earbuds is that they feature replaceable batteries. However, they cannot be replaced by the user but by a service center.

This feature was added to meet the EU's sustainability goals for 2027 that requires consumer products to have replaceable batteries. The charging case supports charging via USB-C as well as Qi wireless charging. Buyers get four sizes of silicone tips and a USB-C charging cable in the box.

The Beoplay Eleven is already available to buy now for $499/€499 on the manufacturer's website. It is available in Natural Aluminum, but a second color called Copper Tone will be available starting December 17.