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The Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay HX promises up to 40 hours of battery life, ANC, comfort and premium sound

The BeoPlay HX is mostly made of aluminium and leather, with B&O opting for memory foam ear cups. (Image source: Bang & Olufsen)
The BeoPlay HX is mostly made of aluminium and leather, with B&O opting for memory foam ear cups. (Image source: Bang & Olufsen)
Bang & Olufsen has unveiled a new pair of Bluetooth headphones that it claims should last up to 40 hours on a single charge. The BeoPlay HX should also deliver B&O's high-quality craftsmanship, along with active noise cancellation and premium sound quality.

The BeoPlay HX is the latest pair of over-ear headphones by Bang & Olufsen. The US$499 headphones combine aluminium with lambskin leather, and have memory foam ear cups for added comfort. The BeoPlay HX weighs 285 g, making them a touch heavier than the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and the Sony WH-1000XM4. However, B&O's latest headphones weigh about 20 g less than the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 3.

One of the BeoPlay HX's highlights is its 1,110 mAh battery, which B&O claims will last up to 35 hours with active noise cancellation (ANC) on, or 40 hours with the technology deactivated. B&O insists that the BeoPlay HX's four microphones will deliver improved noise cancellation compared to the third-generation BeoPlay H9, although this remains to be seen. Additionally, the new headphones should be able to automatically adjust the ANC settings depending on how loud the background noise is surrounding you.

The BeoPlay HX charge via USB Type-C and support up to Bluetooth 5.1. As far codecs are concerned, the headphones support aptX Adaptive, AAC and SBC. You can read more about aptX Adaptive here, which is designed to replace aptX and aptX HD. In short, the aptX Adaptive cannot reach the 576 kbps bitrate of aptX HD, but its peak 420 kbps relies on an improved codec that supposedly sounds as good as aptX HD.

The BeoPlay HX is available to order in black now. B&O will be releasing a white model at the end of April and a brown model in May, too.

(Image source: Bang & Olufsen)
(Image source: Bang & Olufsen)
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 03 > The Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay HX promises up to 40 hours of battery life, ANC, comfort and premium sound
Alex Alderson, 2021-03-25 (Update: 2021-03-25)