Bang & Olufsen A8 Headphones
"We accept that ours is not a mass market. For example, we have to say goodbye to those who prefer to see their technology 'on display'. To those who are willing to manipulate five or six buttons to get music, when one is enough. To those who are happy with anonymous stereotypes. But then our goal has never been to please everyone"
Image from Beoworld
Bang and Olufsen (B&O) has been in the business of making superbly designed media equipment since 1925. I have personally been a fan of B&O for a great many years myself. My first Bang & Olufsen purchase was the beautiful Beocenter 8000, back in 1992.
Image from Beoworld
From Beoworld:
Beocenter 8000 gave you a powerful receiver - with CD player and cassette recorder hidden under covers which glided to the side when you wished to use them. Bang & Olufsen's high quality and distinguished design made a dexterous duo with this Beocenter. Grace and simplicity emphasised Bang & Olufsen's basic principle that technology exists for the sake of humankind - and not the other way around!Easy Operation: Light touches on Beocenter 8000 gave you free access to the simple operation. The illuminated display led you through all the functions by showing you what to do at every step. If you preferred, you could also use Beolink 1000 which controlled all the functions from a distance.
My second B&O purchase was the Beocom 2400 telephone. I saw it for the first time in the B&O store on Union Square in San Francisco in 1994.
Image from Beoworld
What made the Beocom such a unique and outstanding telephone (and well worth the $240 I paid for it) was that B&O used the same speakers in the telephone headset you'd find in their excellent headphones...the sound quality was outstanding.
Flash forward to the present and it had been a long time since I owned a B&O product. While I still love the aesthetic look of their products, they were slow to get to the MP3 marketplace...and so far (2 years now) the Sonos is simply the finest music system I've ever owned (and I've owned a lot of them).
Well last year all that changed when I invested in a pair of B&O A8 headphones.
Before the A8 I had a tendency to purchase in-canal headphones. When walking around this noisy city, I prefer to have the world around me closed off...and in-canal headphones generally seem to have better bass response. I originally started with a pair of $20 Sure headphones I'd found at Target, but decided to move up to the $50 Sony MDR-EX71SLA.
The sound was very good and the bass response was excellent. They were relatively comfortable in my ear (for short periods) and blocked out the ambient noise around me. However, the cords tangled too easily (they feel sticky) and the rubbery material that insulates the wires essentially disintegrated and started to dissolve and fall apart, leaving the wires exposed. At $50 I don't expect a lot, but I do expect the cords to be durable.
So I started to look into something that would not only be comfortable over a long period of time, but would be durable as well. The A8 headphones from B&O fit that description to a "T."
The cords are strong and flexible. They don't tangle easily...but when they do, they are easy to unwind.
The headphones themselves are remarkably comfortable as they have three points of adjustment. The metal is strong, and not only has a durable feel, it has a beautiful "milled" look to it.
The sound quality is very good, but the compromise you'll no doubt encounter is that since these headphones rest in-ear, not in-canal...there is a bit of ambient noise that leaks through, which means you sometimes have to turn the volume up to compensate. So for noisy environments...probably not the best choice. However, for general daily use, walking the dog along the beach, etc...they work great. And after months and months of heavy use and stuffing them into pockets and duffle bags...they have withstood a lot of abuse with no visible wear.
Buy Now at Amazon...or head to Apple.com/store for a lower price.
