Bang & Olufsen’s audio products prioritize style and function just as much as sound quality. The company’s latest Beoplay EQ noise-cancelling true wireless earphones combine strong, accurate-leaning audio with solid noise cancellation in an exceedingly classy design. We also like their Qi-compatible charging case and useful companion app, though we wish the on-ear controls could be configured to handle track navigation. The price is certainly higher than most competitors, including Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earphones, which offer the best noise cancellation in the category for $279.99. But if the luxurious aesthetics of the Beoplay EQ earphones speaks to you, their audio quality won’t disappoint.
Premium Design, Limited Controls
The Beoplay EQ earphones are available in black, blue, sand, and a limited edition lavender color called Nordic Ice that costs an extra $20. The earpieces have a matte rubberized body with aluminum outer panels that feature the Bang & Olufsen logo and are a bit chunky, but like most larger earpieces, the result is a more secure fit (they feel pretty light, too).
The earpieces ship with four silicone eartips in various sizes (the color of the eartips match the earpieces), as well as one pair of Comply foam eartips that offer a superior fit, passive noise reduction, and, according to some users, a slightly enhanced bass response.
Internally, 6.8mm dynamic drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz, with a 17-ohm impedance. The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.2 and support the AAC, AptX Adaptive, and SBC codecs. The high-end LDAC codec is notably missing from this list, something that both the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the Technics EAH-AZ60 offer.
The outer parts of the earpieces function as touch-sensitive control panels. Double-pressing the right earpiece’s outer panel controls playback and call management, while a double press on the left earpiece cycles between ANC modes (ANC On, Transparency On, and All Off). Double-pressing and holding on the panel adjusts the volume (left earpiece for down, right for up). If you’re on a call, a double press on the left earpiece switches between ANC, Own Voice (which allows you to hear more of your voice on calls), and Neutral modes for phone call audio.
Unfortunately, you can’t navigate between tracks via the on-ear controls, which is a surprising limitation. The app doesn’t let you customize the controls either, another unfortunate surprise. Many competing models also take this route, but we would have at least liked the option to switch one of the existing functions out for track navigation controls.
The aluminum, roughly pill-shaped charging case (the top and bottom panels are flat) sports a two-tone sheen. A flip-top lid reveals the charging docks—a status LED sits on the front panel and a USB-C port on the rear panel enables charging via the USB-C-to-USB-A cable that arrives in the package. The case also supports wireless charging via the Qi standard. The interior is so roomy that it’s easy to accidentally place the earpieces on the wrong side of the charging dock, but if you do, the lid won’t fully close.
An IP54 rating might seem high, but in terms of water resistance, it means the earpieces can withstand light splashes, but you shouldn’t submerge or clean them under a faucet. If you need a pair of fully waterproof earphones with ANC, consider the $199.99 Jabra Elite 7 Pro, which have a higher IP57 rating. Bang & Olufsen’s $350 Beoplay E8 Sport earphones also carry an IP57 rating, but they don’t have active noise cancellation.
Bang & Olufsen estimates that the earpieces can last roughly 6.5 hours with ANC or 7.5 hours without, while the case holds approximately 13 hours of charge. Of course, your volume levels will determine how close you get to those estimate.
App Features and EQ
The Bang & Olufsen app (available for Android and iOS) features a graceful design and is easy to use. Beyond firmware updates for the earphones, it provides on-screen controls for switching between ANC, Transparency, and Off modes, as well as playback, track navigation, and volume controls. You can also adjust the intensity of the ANC and Transparency modes with an in-app fader (more on that in the next section).
The app’s adjustable EQ offers presets and lets you tweak the sound signature to taste. We found its overly simplified design annoying, however—you must drag your finger toward “bright” or “warm” to increase treble or bass, for example. We expected Bang & Olufsen to put a little more care into this section of the app, and prefer more traditional five-band EQs that allow for more precise adjustments.
Beoplay EQ Noise Cancellation and Sound Quality
The earphones dial back powerful low-frequency rumble (like you hear on an airplane) with ease. They also tamped back noise of dishes clanging and boisterous conversation from a recording of a busy restaurant in testing, but the highest frequencies seemed to pass through the circuitry with more ease. This is a common issue with ANC, which is far more effective against deep lows than the highest frequencies.
Compared with Sony’s class-leading WF-1000XM4 earphones, Bang & Olufsen offers similar performance against low frequencies, but isn’t as effective against high ones. Sony’s earphones dial back much of the high-frequency content that gets through here. In any case, the ANC thankfully doesn’t affect audio quality.
In the app, you can opt for the Adaptive ANC mode that picks the optimal ANC setting based on surrounding noise, manually adjust the ANC level via a fader, or select neutral to turn the ANC off. Here, you can also customize the transparency mode (that lets you hear your surroundings) via a three-level fader, which worked well in testing,
As for audio quality, we tested the earphones in the optimal EQ mode (you can’t turn off the EQ altogether). On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” they deliver powerful low-frequency response, with a solid sense of rumble along with pleasant highs. At top, unwise listening levels, the drivers don’t distort on this track.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Beoplay EQ’s sound. The drums on this track sound clear and accurate—we note some additional thump, but nothing that’s wildly exaggerated. The focus here is more on Callahan’s baritone vocals, which receive a solid balance of low-mid richness and high-mid clarity. The higher-register percussive hits and acoustic strums are crisp—the sculpting here is relatively subtle—and we hear a bit more tape hiss than typical.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, allowing its attack to retain its punchiness—but again, the vinyl crackle and hiss step forward here (usually they remain in the background). The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat come across with a strong sense of depth. The lows don’t overwhelm the mix like they sometimes can on heavily bass-boosted models, but they still sound powerful. The vocals on this track also sound clear, with perhaps a hint of additional sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound bright through the Beoplay EQ. Lower-register instrumentation shines with a wonderful richness without sounding exaggerated, and the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain tons of detail. Audiophiles may wish that the in-app EQ was a little more standard in its design, but the default EQ mode delivers an excellent balance.
The mics are surprisingly average. We could hear every word of a recording from the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, but the signal was somewhat low and Bluetooth audio artifacts garbled the audio to a degree. Calls shouldn’t be an issue, but the mic isn’t as capable of crisp or full-bodied transmissions as many competing models.
High-Class Earphones for a Sky-High Price
Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay EQ earphones look and sound like a luxury product—and they’re priced accordingly. For that price, we’d like to see on-ear track navigation, as well as a more customizable EQ. For $229.99, Shure’s Aonic 215 (Gen 2) earphones offer similarly strong audio performance along with a far better in-app EQ. For the best active noise cancellation, meanwhile, Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earphones can’t be beat. If the B&O aesthetic appeals to you, however, there really isn’t anything about the Beoplay EQ earphones that should prevent you from buying in—as long as you can afford them, that is.
