Bang & Olufsen Presents the Beoplay H100 Headphones

James Cusworth / 4 months ago

Renowned Danish audio brand, Bang & Olufsen, has unveiled its latest addition to the headphone market, the Beoplay H100. This new release aims to bring the company’s signature blend of premium sound quality and elegant design to a wider audience with a focus on everyday use and affordability.

The Beoplay H100 boast a comfortable over-ear design, active noise cancellation for immersive listening, and a long-lasting battery to keep the music going. While the official price hasn’t been announced, industry insiders speculate it will be a more budget-friendly option compared to other models in Bang & Olufsen’s lineup, potentially opening up the brand’s appeal to a new generation of audio enthusiasts.

Design that moves beyond comfort

Beoplay H100 has been crafted from the finest quality materials to give fuller, finer sound, wherever needed.

Beoplay H100 features a silky smooth, scratch-resistant and hardened glass touch interface on the side of the headphones. Together with precision haptic dials and tactile buttons, all essential controls are easily accessible. The new detachable inner headband, finely wrapped in knitted textile, has been ergonomically designed to provide all day breathability and comfort. Even the earpad cushions covered in soft lambskin leather have been adapted to provide an experience that feels as good as it sounds.

Beoplay H100 comes in three timeless colourways: Infinite Black, Hourglass Sand and Sunset Apricot. The Infinite Black shade references Bang & Olufsen’s classic design aesthetic where the deep black leather contrasts against the natural toned aluminium. The colour of Hourglass Sand has a Scandinavian tone on tone approach while Sunset Apricot features a light copper aluminium which pops against the warm peach tones of the leather.

“Designing an immersive sound experience with ultimate comfort has been key in the development process when creating Beoplay H100,” says Bang & Olufsen Head of Design, Tiina Kierysch. “We wanted to utilise high quality materials and colours inspired by fine jewellery to create a timeless and sophisticated design. With the solid sheen of aluminium, softness of leather and cold-to-the-touch glass, Beoplay H100 doesn’t just champion sound excellence, it feels like design excellence,” she continues.

The lightweight and luxurious leather case provides easy and stylish portability while travelling. When Beoplay H100 is outside the pouch and not being worn, it enters a low-power mode, extending standby time up to 90 days while remaining ready to activate when worn. If stored in the pouch, the headphones power fully off, enabling more than a year of standby time.

To appreciate great sound, you need silence

With 40 mm custom-made titanium drivers housed behind elegant aluminium grills, Beoplay H100 delivers Hi-Res sound, tuned by renowned Bang & Olufsen tonmeisters. Elevating the sound experience, the team leveraged their expertise and principles to create a headphone inspired by the Danish audio brand’s statement loudspeaker Beolab 90.

“Beoplay H100 is the best pair of headphones we have ever created. Whether you are listening to your favourite music, having a phone call in a noisy environment, controlling the effect of the surrounding environment with active noise cancelling or audio transparency, H100 always delivers exceptional audio performance,” says Bang & Olufsen Director of Technology Neo Kaplanis and explains:

“To appreciate great sound, you need silence. In a peaceful environment, you will experience how effortlessly Beoplay H100 brings you the sound clarity and dynamic performance that you normally only hear on high-end loudspeakers. When commuting or travelling, you want to be able to control the impact that noise has in your experience. To achieve this, we have developed an advanced microphone system that delivers crystal clear voice even in very demanding situations, doubled the performance of our active noise cancellation (ANC) from Beoplay H95 and developed EarSense technology that tailors the sound to the wearer’s unique fit in real time while you are listening to music on the go.”

Technology made simple

Beoplay H100 comes with a range of new innovations and features setting benchmarks within wearables:

Unbelievable sound: Beoplay H100 delivers Hi-Res sound up to 96 kHz / 24 bits. The introduction of Bang & Olufsen’s new adaptive audio processing EarSense delivers a personal and unrivalled listening experience by tailoring the sound to the wearer’s unique fit in real time.
Make things natural with Spatial Audio: Optimised for Dolby Atmos, state-of-the-art spatial audio processing and headtracking, Beoplay H100 delivers a more natural listening experience.
Chaos off, the moment on: Beoplay H100 features 10 carefully configured studio-grade microphones, delivering Bang & Olufsen’s most advanced noise cancellation and transparency mode yet.
Automatic On and Off: Beoplay H100 automatically detects when they are being worn. Slip them on, and you are ready to go. No need to find the power button.
Switch things up with ease: Move from music to the outside world in a twist by using the carefully crafted haptic dial to enable TrueTransparency, as though you weren’t wearing headphones to begin with.
Quick listen: Lift an earcup or cover with your palm on either earcup to switch from fully closed and immersed to open mode, allowing you to hear your surroundings as clearly as if you weren’t wearing headphones
Customise controls: customise the user interface to your own taste by using the Bang & Olufsen app.
Quick charging: Get 5 hours of playtime with 5 minutes of charging. When fully charged, Beoplay H100 will deliver 32 hours of playtime.

Design based on cradle-to-cradle principles

Bang & Olufsen’s commitment to product circularity, repairability and longevity is evident in Beoplay H100. The new headphones have been designed based on cradle-to-cradle principles, and the company expects Beoplay H100 to be officially certified during 2025.

“We are excited to bring our modular design thinking to Bang & Olufsen’s wearables category for the first time, and it is the right step towards our on-going journey to improve product circularity across our entire portfolio. For Beoplay H100, we’ve prioritised longevity, maintenance and repairability through modular design. We have also developed our software with the future in mind so that the headphones can adapt and evolve with new technologies for a truly timeless design,” says Bang & Olufsen’s Director of Product Circularity and Portfolio Planning, Mads Kogsgaard Hansen.

The longevity factors incorporated into Beoplay H100 to set a new precedent in wearables include:

User replaceable parts: The most exposed areas to wear and tear are the ones facing inwards towards the user. The inner headband and earpad cushions have been designed for easy detachability, so users can exchange these parts by themselves.
Serviceable components: A significantly revamped headphone design means quick access for Bang & Olufsen’s service team to replace key components such as the batteries, glass surfaces, drivers and circuit boards for easy repair and extension of lifetime.
Evolving software platform: Beoplay H100 marks the dawn of Bang & Olufsen’s new software platform for wearables. Inspired by the company’s Mozart software platform, the software on Beoplay H100 is upgradable, so the headphones won’t be surpassed by new technology. Bang & Olufsen will be bringing new capabilities to Beoplay H100, notably wireless hi-res audio and 3-Device Multipoint.
Up to five-year warranty: Standing by quality and care, Beoplay H100 comes with an extended five-year warranty when joining Beocare – Bang & Olufsen’s extended warranty program.

Beoplay H100 comes with a three-year warranty, which can easily be extended to a five-year warranty when joining Beocare, Bang & Olufsen’s extended warranty program. See more information and applicable terms and conditions on Bang & Olufsen’s webpage.