audiosplitz

B&O Beoplay P2 - Summary

April 28, 2017

27 Apr - News Release - B&O Play launches the ultraportable Beoplay P2 wireless speakers. Below is its corresponding press release.

Update (17 July 2017)
Here's our review of the B&O Beoplay P2.

And if you don't have time to read it, here are 3 points to summarize what the P2 is about:

1. Fits in the Palm of Your Hand
If you wanted a smaller footprint than the BeoPlay A1 and A2 Active, then the Beoplay P2 (140 x 80 x 28mm) weighing 275 grams might just do the trick. Ideal for music on the go.

2. One Button. Tap and Shake Controls.
The one button on the bottom is for power. All other playback controls to play and skip tracks can be activated by tapping / shaking and if you want more customization, you can check out the Beoplay app.

3. Affordability
This is B&O Play's smallest speaker yet and its most affordable too at USD 169 / SGD 259.

==Press Release==

Double tap on the anodized aluminum grill to play or pause music. Shake to skip a track. Beoplay P2 is an intelligent and unapologetically beautiful portable speaker that easily slips into your bag or pocket to take anywhere – always ready to amplify moments with goosebump-inducing Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound.

B&O PLAY continues to empower the transformation of everyday moments with the introduction of Beoplay P2. Beoplay P2 is the smallest and most intelligent member of the B&O PLAY range of wireless Bluetooth speakers and is designed by award-winning Cecilie Manz for a spontaneous and spirited approach to life. It comes in premium materials such as pearl-blasted aluminium and real leather, with customizable and intuitive control features via Beoplay App and, despite its minimal footprint, renowned Bang & Olufsen sound engineers have packed Beoplay P2 with power and stamina to punch out the rich, clear and crisp sound that you would expect from a B&O PLAY speaker.

“Music plays a big part in amplifying everyday moments, so we made a personal speaker that you don’t want to leave your home without. Beoplay P2 is a stunning piece of Danish design, a study in stupendous craftsmanship and the accumulation of 90 years in sound and acoustics with a sound quality that is second to none in this category”, says Director of Concept and Design in B&O PLAY Matthias F. Ørum-Hansen.

“We decided to remove all switches and buttons for a beautiful exterior and a simple and magical user experience that can be customized in Beoplay App. With just a double tap or shake, you can play, pause and skip track, launch your favourite personal assistant, change sound profile in ToneTouch and you can set up Beoplay App to wake you up with the same music that concluded a beautiful evening - reliving your latest goosebump moment as you wake up and get ready to chase the next”.

A highly tactile and refined appearance
Like a pebble you find on the beach, the appearance of Beoplay P2 is rounded, smooth and desirable and fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. A basic geometrical shape with a defined rim separates the pearl-blasted anodized aluminum top from the soft and warm polymer that make up the underside. The curvature of Beoplay P2 has undergone endless fine tuning to give it a highly tactile and refined appearance. The perfect shape to slip easily into a pocket or bag with a genuine leather strap to add an extra layer of portability.

“The closer a product gets to the body, the more refined and detailed it should be. Beoplay P2 is smooth and desirable, a compact with great sound and a companion wherever you go”, says designer Cecilie Manz.

Leveraging learnings from Beoplay A1

The sound character in Beoplay P2 is rich and spacious with a 360-degree dispersion that provides listeners with the same beautiful sound experience wherever they are located. Beoplay P2 builds on more than 90 years of Bang & Olufsen sound expertise and the engineers have leveraged the learnings from its award-winning bigger brother Beoplay A1 that set new standards for portable Bluetooth speakers in 2016:

• The Bang & Olufsen acoustics looked to Beoplay A1 for the reproduction of bass out of such a small product. They elaborated on Beoplay A1’s mid-woofer and designed a new one for Beoplay P2 using an anodized aluminum cone structure.

• The tweeter in Beoplay P2 is the same ¾” fabric soft dome used in Beoplay A1 assuring excellent detail and smooth reproduction of the highest frequencies.

• The DSP is advanced, highly capable and enables the use of high slope filters and advanced character control to facilitate the excellent personal sound amplification experience in Beoplay P2.

• Two 15W RMD Class D Amps are used with a peak power of more than 2X50 watts do drive it all – to assure you get the beautiful sound always associated with a B&O PLAY product.

Built-in microphone

Beoplay P2 has a built-in microphone for taking calls out loud, and the rimmed design on the speaker’s bottom edge enables the microphone to provide uniform 360 speech sensitivity. This enables the person listening to recognize voices perfectly, no matter where people are speaking in proximity to the microphone.

A leather sleeve for extra protection

As an extra accessory to protect Beoplay P2, you can purchase a black lambskin leather sleeve. The Beoplay P2 sleeve provides a layer of protection to keep your Beoplay P2 safe when you are on the go, while still maintaining the beautiful and authentic B&O PLAY design.

Price and availability

Beoplay P2 comes in Black, Sand Stone and Royal Blue and is available at USD 169 / GBP 149 / SGD 259. In the US / UK, it will be available on www.beoplay.com/P2. In Singapore, the Beoplay P2 will be available in Bang & Olufsen Grand Hyatt and Takashimaya stores from May 12, 2017 onwards. You can buy the P2 from Amazon via this affiliate link.

The Beoplay P2 Sleeve is available for a suggested retail price of USD 39 / GBP 29 / SGD price is to be confirmed.

The Beoplay P2 is also available on Amazon for USD 169.

Update (17 July 2017)

Read on for our review of the B&O Beoplay P2.

Bluetooth

KEF Porsche Design GRAVITY ONE - Review

April 25, 2017

What do you get when you blend a British audio company with German product design?
That's where the KEF Porsche Design trio of products come in. Late 2016 saw the launch of three such collaborations - the SPACE ONE headphones, MOTION ONE neckband buds and GRAVITY ONE portable speakers. Out of these, we take a closer look and do a full review of the GRAVITY ONE.

Origins -
For those who aren't too familiar with KEF, it was founded in the 1960s with origins in the
loudspeakers business in none other than the grounds of Kent Engineering & Foundry (yes, that's how the name was derived). As for Porsche, the 911 supercar comes to mind but its Design Group was founded in 1972 as a premium lifestyle brand.

KEF Porsche Design GRAVITY ONE portable speakers

Type - Wireless Portable Speaker
Price - USD 380 / GBP 329 / SGD 599

I had the chance to review a unit which I duly brought along on a staycation with my family in KSL Hotel & Resort in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and spent quite a few weeks just being absorbed with it. That done, here's a full review!

Gravity One packaging - Outer box

Pros (+): Premium product feel; Loud and clear sound delivery; Classy industrial design.
Cons (-): Bass response somewhat lacking; Tight layout of ports.

In The Box
The KEF speakers come in a single SKU - a premium looking Titanium variant.

For some products, you can already begin to understand the philosophy behind a brand just by checking out the unboxing process. We had the impression that this was true for the GRAVITY ONE.

To illustrate this, sliding off the outer layer exposes a very solidly built black box with the words 'Porsche Design Sound, KEF' in black emboss.

Popping this open, you get access to the GRAVITY ONE that sits nicely on a foam deck. Beneath is another layer that contains the accessories and user guides laid out nicely compartmentalized.

So popping everything out, the packaging contents are as follows:

KEF Porsche Design GRAVITY ONE speaker
Charging cable (USB to micro-USB)
AC adapter
3 x Country power adapters
Carrying pouch
User guides

Design
The KEF Porsche Design GRAVITY ONE (56 x 215 x 63mm) looks undeniably sharp - just try gliding your finger down the top edge to have a gist. These KEF aluminum speakers brim with a premium look that very easily complement equally 'edgy' Apple products like the MacBook Air. Tipping the scales at 780g, it is slightly heavier than the Bose SoundLink Mini II (670g). The speakers are actually upward facing due to KEF's desired omni-directional sound reach. The aluminum sides finished with titanium are smooth and unblemished while the necessary ports are hidden at the base for connectivity purposes.

Carrying Pouch:
The drawstring pouch does its part in protecting the GRAVITY ONE from scratches but note that it provides minimal protection. It is not meant to withstand drops at all.

Before we move further, here's a video of what the GRAVITY ONE has to offer:

Features
Bluetooth Pairing:
Powering on/off the speakers gives a melodious tune that kinda worked for me. Pairing is very straightforward - when powering it on for the first time, the Bluetooth button pulsates white. Just turn your music device's Bluetooth on, link them and you are good to go. The speakers can support up to 2 devices at any one time, useful if you have a tablet and smartphone to toggle.

Notifications:
The playback controls lie on the right side - two volume switches flanking the play button while the buttons on the left (Power / Bluetooth / Mute) have a corresponding LED notification. Holding Power allows you to view one of the 4 different LEDs that indicate the battery percentage remaining. When you plug in an auxiliary input, there will be a green LED at the Bluetooth button. Overall, they come in very handy.

Taking Calls:
The KEF speaker appears geared for taking conference calls as the there is a dedicated Mute button to turn the microphone off. You can voice dial a smartphone contact by holding the Call button and speaking 'Call xxx'. Should you want privacy, hold the Call button again and you can talk through your smartphone.

Connectivity:
Most portable speakers these days include two ports - an auxiliary-in for a wired connection to your music player and a charging port, usually in the form of a micro-USB. The KEF GRAVITY ONE does have both and adds one more - a USB port for the practical purpose of charging your smartphone while music is in play. You may want to take note that the ports only support plugs that are not too thick due to the design of the enclosure holding the ports.

Performance
Sound Quality:
KEF built a signature point source driver they term as Uni-Q, which in a nutshell allows sound to be projected in an omni-directional manner (ie. 360 degrees around), with the objective to optimize the listening area within a room. Having a listen to instrumental tracks like Kitaro's inspiring Sozo is a very calming experience that I could immerse in. The sound intensity comes through equally as long as you're in the same radius.

Their marketing talks about tight, clean bass and I'm going to have to agree here after listening to bass-inclined portable speakers like the Bose SoundLink Mini II. The KEF GRAVITY ONE does not deliver the overwhelming type of low frequencies that drown out the highs but instead attempts to focus on a fine balance between the articulation of treble and bass which a sample of U2's stonking Vertigo reinforced.

Charging:
The Lithium-Ion battery can last a very decent 10 hours on a full charge. I got a good 8-9 hours when used in a living room setting though it will of course fluctuate depending on your usage (An outdoor setting would likely require a higher volume).

Overall
The KEF Porsche Design GRAVITY ONE speakers are one classy looking pair of speakers. Sure they may be a tad pricey but KEF has undoubtedly done a great job attempting to focus on an optimal audio experience for folks listening within the same radius. If you're considering a speaker that has a more premium feel in a compact frame, the stylish GRAVITY ONE is one that fits the bill.

Where To Buy
The KEF GRAVITY ONE is available world wide at the following price points - USD 380 / GBP 329 / SGD 599. If you are in the US, you can purchase from KEF Direct. If in Singapore, they can be found in KEF's flagship store at The Adelphi.

You can also purchase the GRAVITY ONE from Amazon via this affiliate link.

Credit to KEF for an evaluation unit.

Bluetooth

Bose SoundLink Revolve Speaker - A Summary

April 17, 2017

When you think of Bose portable speakers, the SoundLink Mini likely comes to mind with its signature rectangular prism frame. This week, Bose now introduces one in a different shape - that of a conical tower in the form of the Bose SoundLink Revolve (5.97" x 3.24" x 3.24"). We summarize what the big deal is about.

Type - 360 Omnidirectional Wireless Portable Speaker
Price - USD 199 / SGD 329

Trivia 1 - Practically every smart speaker (like Amazon Alexa, Google Home) takes a similar tower form factor and is a 360 omnidirectional wireless speaker.

Trivia 2 - The SoundLink Revolve (1.46lbs) is actually lighter in weight than the SoundLink Mini II (1.47lbs).

In A Nutshell
Aside from the usual tech specs, here are 5 points that tell summarize the Bose SoundLink Revolve Speaker's capabilities

1. 360 Omnidirectional Sound
Smaller speakers tend to have directional sound waves, resulting in a very obvious difference when you listen right in front of the speakers (as intended) or behind. By contrast, the SoundLink Revolve uses omnidirectional sound that aims to immerse a listener with the same sound experience within a similar radius.

2. Controls / Voice Prompts
There's the full array of accessible buttons lined on the top like Power, Bluetooth (for pairing) and volume controls. The multifunction button (circled below) serves in playing music, taking calls and holding it will activate Apple Siri / Google Now. There's even a new button for input source toggling - this includes switching from Bluetooth to AUX-IN to even USB Audio (Just plug your USB device eg. laptop to the micro-USB port).

The voice prompts, like most other Bose products, are useful especially during device pairing.

3. App Support / Speaker Pairing
With two units of SoundLink Revolve, they can be combined through the Bose Connect app. They can gel to increase the overall sound loudness or to provide a fuller stereophonic sound. Even when used as a standalone speaker, the Bose Connect app gives you information like battery life, support from 18 languages (Ok, Bose has somehow increased this from 11 languages) and firmware updates.

Pairing through Bluetooth can be done more conveniently with the app. Two devices can be connected to the SoundLink Revolve at any one time. If you want to pair via NFC, that's also possible though you don't actually need the app for this.

4. Water Resistant
The SoundLink Revolve is splash-resistant (IPX4 rated to be precise) so there shouldn't be any worries when drizzles come. Be warned - Just don't dunk them your swimming pool 'cos splash resistance is NOT the same as water resistance! So do take caution on what you read when you see the term 'water resistant'.

5. Connectivity
The SoundLink Revolve includes an understandably sparse AUX-IN for a wired connection to a music player and a micro-USB port for charging the speaker. This is probably the most common set of ports for portable speakers unless sometime in future, every music player is wireless (no 3.5mm jack) and full wireless charging is supported. Perhaps this ain't so far away if you think of the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S8.

User Guide
Click here to check out the user guide.

Packaging Contents
All out, you get the:

Bose SoundLink Revolve
AC Adapter
Charging Cable (USB to micro-USB)
AC Power Adapters

Target Buyers
Those who want a 360 wireless speaker, flexible to bring to the great outdoors or to park at home.

Pricing and Availability
Now, there are actually two models in two colors (Lux Gray / Triple Black) currently available in the US and an optional charging cradle so you don't need to touch any cables. Singapore availability will be confirmed by their distributor, Atlas SV.

Let's break them down:

SoundLink Revolve (USD 199.95)
- 5.97" x 3.24" x 3.24" / 1.46lbs / 12 hour battery life

SoundLink Revolve+ (USD 299.95)
- 7.25" x 4.13" x 4.13" / 2lbs / 16 hour battery life / Includes carrying handle

Update (24 Apr 2017) - In Singapore, the Revolve (SGD 329) and Revolve+ (SGD 499) are available for pre-orders at atlas-sv.com.

Bose SoundLink Revolve speaker vs Revolve+

SoundLink Revolve charging cradle (USD 29.95)
- If you use the default micro-USB charging cable, you need to insert and remove this everytime you charge. With this cradle, you can conveniently dock the speaker and lift it off once done. It would have been great if they had actually included the charging cradle (like the Bose SoundLink Mini II) instead of selling seperately. Oh well. Anyway, it fits both SKUs.

Where To Buy
The Bose SoundLink Revolve can be purchased from bose.com.
Alternatively, if you feel this review helped in your assessment of this product, you can buy it from Amazon through these affiliate links.

Bose SoundLink Revolve (USD 199)

Bose SoundLink Revolve + Charging Cradle bundle (USD 228)

Apple

BeatsX - Review

April 11, 2017

Beats is a company that needs little introduction to the MTV (or now YouTube) generation. If somehow you have been living under a rock, the quick summary is that record producer Jimmy Iovine teamed up with rapper Dr Dre in the 2006 to come up with the brand that now manufactures the best selling headphones in the world thanks to a whole string of tie ups with big time celebrities. With Apple acquiring them in 2014, they came up with a trio of headphones in late 2016 of which the BeatsX headlines the range. Being the company's first neckband headphones, we eagerly put the BeatsX through the paces with a thorough review!

Type - Neckband Headphones (Wireless)
Price - USD 150 / EUR 150 / SGD 198

Trivia - The BeatsX is the first Beats headphones with a Lightning connector.

Read - Beats and Apple's 2016 Audio Lineup

Pros (+): Excellent ear fit; Comfortable neckband; Compact carrying case.
Cons (-): Cable needs to be adjusted to reduce microphonics; No voice notifications.

In The Box
The BeatsX comes in 4 colors - Black, Blue, Grey and White. For the purposes of our review, we got the Black variant.

The packaging is quite similar to their Powerbeats range. You need to tear a strip from the bottom of the packaging and pop open the lid like a clamshell to get access to the BeatsX.

Unveiling the packaging contents, you'll get:

BeatsX neckband headphones
Charging cable (USB to Lightning)
Carrying case
4 x Silicon tips (S / M / L / M double-flange)
2 x Wing tips (M / L)
User Guides
Warranty Card
Apple Music Card (3 months free)

BeatsX neckband headphones - Packaging Contents

Design
The BeatsX are neckband headphones (did we already mention that?) and are characterized with a malleable portion, called Flex-Form cable, that is designed to wrap around your neck, quite unlike the traditionally solid collar neckbands like the LG TONE or Bose QuietControl 30. Punctuated by two elliptical plastic protrusions at either side, these function as stabilizers and serve as the charging point (on left) and hold the power button that incorporates an LED for notifications (on right). The flat-type audio cables (non-retractable) lead out from the stabilizers to the earbuds. When not in use, the earbuds can magnetically latch together but if music is playing, well the beat goes on.

Lightning Port:
The clearest indicator that we are dealing with the first new Beats headphones under Apple's wing is the Lightning port on the BeatsX. Why so? Sure there were two other Beats products launched on September 2016, namely the Powerbeats3 Wireless and Solo3 Wireless. However being legacy Beats products with internal upgrades, the overall aesthetic of these two remains the same so that explains why they are still using the micro-USB interface. Is having the Lightning port a big deal? Well, if you're an Android user, that's one more cable to carry around. If you're an Apple, that's one less :)

BeatsX neckband headphones - Lightning cable

Carrying Case:
The compact rubberized carrying case is undeniably well designed. While the oval shape looks similar to the Powerbeats case, that's where the similarities end. The BeatsX case has a small slit at the top where you have to wind the neckband once to slot it nicely within. It's very convenient as you no longer have to zip the casing (as what is done for the Powerbeats) while juggling the earphones.

BeatsX neckband headphones - carrying case

Features
The in-line remote, marketed as RemoteTalk, sits on the left audio cable. The 3 buttons for playback / call and volume control click firmly upon actuation. You have to double and triple press the center button to skip tracks forward and backward.

Bluetooth:
The pairing process is straightforward -

For iPhones running iOS10 / Macs with Sierra (10.12), just hold the BeatsX power button and a pop up confirming the BeatsX pairing appears.
For other devices (Android phones, for example), turn on your smartphone's Bluetooth, hold the BeatsX power button until it flashes white, select 'BeatsX' from your phone and you're done.

Note that the neckband headphones only link to one device at any one time.

Notifications:
There are useful LED notifications that indicate power (white), pairing in progress (blinking white) and low power / charging (red). Sound notifications are basic as you'll only hear power on/off and when the battery is low while voice notifications are unfortunately non-existent.

App Support:
Interestingly, there is NO app support for the BeatsX hardware. It's quite surprising given quite a few manufacturers have forged ahead in this domain and that the Beats Pill+ app had been developed previously. In a sense there is app support but from Apple Music - Apple / Beats throw in a free 3 month subscription to Apple Music that can be found on a card within the packaging.

Performance
Let's talk about the different ear and wingtip experiences first:

Eartips and Wingtips:
Beats provides a decent range of 4 eartips (S / M / L / M double-flange) and 2 wingtips so you can customize the fit to your ear accordingly. After some fiddling, I found the default M eartip and L-size wingtip worked best in terms of fit and noise isolation. Frankly, if used by themselves, the eartips were actually sufficient for my purposes as they lodge in the ears snugly.

BeatsX neckband headphones - Eartips and Wingtips

The wingtips are interesting 'cos other manufacturers usually use a single material but for the BeatsX, they use a rubberized texture for the wing while the circular portion is made of hard plastic. While inserting them, do make sure you are slotting them to the correct side else you'll have some difficulty removing them. If you want that added layer of assurance, well, that's what the wingtips are for.

BeatsX neckband headphones - Fitting the ear and wingtip

How To Wear:
It may seem like a no brainer. It's simply a matter of slinging them around the neck and you're good to go? Wrong. It's not complicated though you realize what the issue is after attempting to run for the bus. The audio cable linking the neckband to your ears should be twisted AWAY from your neck as opposed to toward. The reason is the microphonics (or cable rustle) is blatantly apparent when this same cable brushes against your neck. To prevent this, do a simple twist of the cable away from the neck and you're good to go.

In case we didn't emphasize this earlier, this is NOT a solid collar neckband but a malleable one. There is an excess of wires stemming from the relatively long audio cables. If you don't like cables, the BeatsX may not be for you. That said, do try it out to see if the speed of wearing them suits you.

Sound Quality:
In true Beats style, the BeatsX is a bass hitter with decent treble clarity, completely unlike the Powerbeats2, with it's overwhelming low frequency emphasis. A sample of One Republic vs Alesso's If I Lose Myself (EDM) reinforces this notion. Even taking a slower paced electronica track, the build up in Disasterpeace's beautifully creepy Detroit (from It Follows OST) give the impression that the highs and the lows are able to gel quite seamlessly.

Charging:
The BeatsX delivers an 8 hour battery life on about at 90 minute full charge and if you simply can't wait, then a 5 minute charge gives you a very healthy 2 hour playback time. Compared to its neckband headphone peers such as the Sony MDR-XB70BT (9 hours) and the Bose QC 30 (10 hours), this is actually an decent but average figure.

One of aims of the W1 chip that Apple has been talking about is to provide an increased battery life for its wireless devices. While there is no benchmark for the BeatsX (being a new product), the Solo3 Wireless and Powerbeats3 have indeed seen a battery life boost from their predecessors.

Overall
The BeatsX neckband headphones do add a spark of color to the range of Beats / Apple portable audio gear. Sure, there are no voice notifications and the audio cables may be little long. However, if you get to the basics of what you may need, the ear fit is more than comfortable for train journeys to work and a more than decent sound profile to engage.

Where To Buy
The BeatsX is available from Apple Stores worldwide at the following price points - USD 150 / EUR 150 / SGD 198.

Alternatively, if you think this review has been helpful, feel free to purchase from our Amazon affiliate link.

Credit to Beats, Apple for an evaluation unit.

Bang & Olufsen

B&O BeoPlay H4 - Review

April 06, 2017

We took a first look at the B&O BeoPlay H4 over-ears back in February. Among the B&O Play range of portable audio gear, the H4 is its most affordable wireless headphone. We dive into a review to find out how it fares!

Type - Wireless Over-Ears
Price - USD 299 / EUR 299 / SGD 399

Pros (+): Comfortable fit; App support; Good sound delivery.
Cons (-): Basic feature set; No pouch; No voice notifications.

In The Box
There are 3 colors available at present - Sand Grey, Tangerine and Charcoal Grey. For our review, we were provided the Charcoal variant.

The unboxing is quite straightforward - pop up the solid B&O box which gives you the headphones. You then pull up this layer to get the rest of the accessories packaged in 2 thin cardboard boxes. The packaging contents include:

B&O BeoPlay H4 headphones
USB Charger (micro-USB)
1.25m Audio Cable (3.5mm to 3.5mm)
Quick Start Guide

Design
The Jacob Wagner designed headphones weighs an average 235g taking reference to its peers in the over-ears category such as Bose AE2 SoundLink (198g) and the Sennheiser URBANITE XL (300g). It is characterized by very plush ear cups made of lambskin leather that I wore for 2 hours at a stretch without any discomfort. The cable supplying the audio runs through a braided textile cord, a shoelace like material very much reminiscent of the BeoPlay H5.

Check out our First Look at the BeoPlay H4 for our initial thoughts on these over-ears.

Features
The feature set is very much like what B&O Play touts: pure essentials. To illustrate the general differences between the H4's brethren (namely the H7 and H9):

1. No Touch Controls
The H7 and H9 touch controls consist of swiping to adjust playback and volume. For the H4, there are 3 physical buttons on the right earcup that you can actuate, which can be a relief for folks who are comfortable with reassuring feel of button feedback.

2. No Active Noise Cancelation
Yup, no ANC for the H4, but of course you can still depend on the noise isolation provided when the cups envelop your ears.

3. No Pouch
You have to probably hang them around your neck else get a separately purchased pouch 'cos there's none provided.

Ok, now that we've gone through the differences, let's see what other features the H4 has.

Playback Controls:
There are 3 buttons - a multi-function button at the centre flanked by two for volume adjustment. The central button is for play / pausing music and taking calls while double tapping will skip tracks. A notification LED lies right in line with the buttons.

Bluetooth Pairing:
Pairing can be done either directly using your music player or through the Beoplay app that you can download from the App Store or Google Play. When directly connecting, turn your smartphone Bluetooth on, hold the headphones' power button and select the Beoplay H4 to complete the pairing. Running on Bluetooth 4.2, there's a 10 metre operating radius and pairing is to a single device at any one time. During pairing, there's absolutely no voice notifications so you'll have to rely solely on either the sound blips or LED for confirmations.

App Support:
The Beoplay app (iOS and Android supported) provides options to personalize (change the headphone name / color) while the main feature is probably the Tonetouch, a simple user interface where you choose an area spanning quadrants named Warm, Excited, Bright and Relaxed to adjust bass / treble intensity. If you are short of ideas, there are 4 selectable presets too. Personally, the area between Warm / Excited sounded ideal.

Performance
You can experience the BeoPlay H4 in two modes - wireless and wired.

Wireless:
Using a Sony Xperia XA, directly connecting through Bluetooth was straightforward though using the Beoplay app, the app mentioned it was still connecting even though I was already going through the motion of playing music wirelessly.

Wired:
You can plug in the provided audio cable for flexibility to connect to your traditional music devices (here's looking at you, iPhone 7). Just insert the audio cable to the right earcup and you can play music indefinitely. A thing to note is the playback controls will not function in this mode. When you swap from wireless mode, there will be just a short pause in the music while you auto-disconnect and a single white LED flash will confirm this.

Sound quality:
We sampled EDM, classical and rock to check out how the H4 fares. On wireless mode, Calvin Harris vs Alesso's pounding Under Control (EDM) brings lots of bass though never overwhelms while Theo Hutchcraft's vocals come through distinctly. Arctic Monkey's hard hitting I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor is received by the H4 with little distortion even at higher volumes while the vocals and orchestration in Sarah Brightman's version of Dust In The Wind flow well together.

Now when jumping to wired mode, the vocals are even clearer and high / low frequencies are separated for an overall balanced sound. If the default wireless sound profile doesn't work, there's always the Beoplay app to change the sound and spatial range to your comfort level.

Charging:
According to B&O, you get 19 hours of playback from around a 2.5 hour full charge to the 600mAh Lithium-ion battery. This is an average number when compared with its over-ears peers like the Bose AE2 SoundLink (15h) and Sennheiser URBANITE XL (25h). You just need to plug in the micro-USB point to the right earcup and the LED will flash orange.

Overall

The B&O BeoPlay H4 is not the top of the line headphone that Bang & Olufsen offers. It is what it is - a no frills wireless over-ears that delivers just the essentials. There's no pouch, touch controls but if you just need a good sounding headphone that you can wear for long stretches, this is one worthy consideration.

Where To Buy
The BeoPlay H4 headphones go for USD 299 / EUR 299 / SGD 399.

You can visit the B&O Play online store or if you are in Singapore, you can visit Bang & Olufsen Grand Hyatt Showroom. Alternatively, if you felt this review helped you in deciding what headphone to purchase, you can buy it from Amazon via this affiliate link.

Credit to B&O for an evaluation unit.