Premium, truly wireless in-ear earphones with outstanding Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound and an intuitive touch interface that gives you control over music, calls and voice commands; designed to fit snugly and comfortably in your ear, Beoplay E8 comes in a genuine leather charging case so you can recharge them on the go.
In full honesty, I can say that the Beoplay E8 is the most sophisticated pair of earphones (wireless or not) I’ve ever tested out. I wore them for 2 hours straight and didn’t find myself wanting to remove them at all. Even when I needed to have a short conversation, using their touch controls made it easy to do so without needing to take my phone out of my pocket.
Design
In true B&O style, the E8 looks stunning. The earphones have simplicity to them, sporting a matte black look while the aluminium ring around the touch interface pops out. Both ear pieces fashion the B&O Play logo and actually sit quite nicely in your ear. Even though they do stick out just a tiny bit, it doesn’t look as awkward as the Sony WF-1000X. The muted colour does help keep the earphones hidden behind your hair as well.
The E8 comes in two colours – Black and Charcoal Sand. While there isn’t much variety, you have to admit that both versions look very classy.
Features
Here’s where the E8 truly impresses me. Both ear pieces have an intuitive touch interface that allows you to control your music.
With simple taps on the earphones you can switch between tracks, take calls, and activate Transparency Mode and voice commands – all without taking your smartphone out of your pocket.
The aforementioned Sony earphones severely lacked volume controls and forced you to whip out your phone whenever you needed to adjust the volume. The E8, however, is a complete hassle free experience. I didn’t have to reach out for my phone even once!
To increase the volume, all you need to do is touch and hold the right ear piece and the left one to decrease the volume. This does take some time to get used to because there needs to be a certain amount of pressure applied to each piece and if you accidentally tap instead of a gentle touch & hold, you could accidentally stop the music or switch off the earphones completely. It took me a few tries to get comfortable but once I did, I was extremely satisfied.
There is a designated app for the E8 that allows you to play around with the sound quality. With ‘ToneTouch’, you can move the circle around to different sound settings and test what sounds the best to you. I’ve found that placing it in the middle of the Warm setting allows for a more balanced sound with a subtle bass.
The Transparency Mode that lets you tune into your surroundings without needing to remove the earphones. The Ambient setting completely shuts off your music (but doesn’t pause the track on your phone), Social plays your music at a low volume and projects the sound around you into your ears and the Commuting setting plays the music at a slightly higher volume than Social while still projecting your surroundings into your ears. To activate this, all you have to do is tap the left ear piece!
Performance
I took the E8 on a test drive in public transport and was stunned to find that I couldn’t hear anything around me – not even a baby crying just two feet away from me.
The sound quality is pretty excellent too. Sure, I had to adjust the tone through the app but only because I’m very particular about the bass. The first track I listened to was Soundcheck by Catfish and the Bottlemen and I was in awe. When the track got to the guitar solo, I was astonished and my ears were happy. The sound is crisp and balanced, playing all the notes with no distortion and it leaves you wanting more.
Similarly with Summertime by Stromae, you feel as though you’re transported to a different reality. The E8 allows you to listen to every genre with such ease and excitement that you never want to stop using the earphones. I found that with this track, the vocals weren’t drowned out by the accompanying beats and it flowed elegantly.
As for battery life, you can get 4 hours of playback if you charge the carrying case for 2 hours. I used the earphones for around 2 hours and found that the battery only reduced a quarter of the way, which leads me to believe they could possibly last longer than 4 hours in one go.
Verdict
Are these the best wireless earphones I’ve ever tried out? Yes. Not only have B&O Play managed to deliver superb sound quality in such a tiny device, but they’ve made the experience extremely hassle-free which is an automatic win for me.
The Beoplay E8 sells at AED 1, 199!
