B&O has further extended its BeoPlay range with a new set of premium headphones, the H6. The over-ear cans are designed to bring maximum comfort and audio quality while providing a decent level of sound isolation.
Our quick take
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The key here though is that they mix BeoPlay, the company's mobile orientated products, with B&O's premium headphone range. In practice they sound and look as good as you might expect. Priced at €400 ( around £329) they aren't exactly cheap, but then they deliver audio quality that can compete with the best.
The first thing you notice when you pick up the H6 is the leather work. They use cowhide from New Zealand, which is about as good as it gets when it comes to leather. The champagne and silver coloured model we tested looked good, but the black set we saw at the H6 launch was even better.
Another design highlight has to be the Asus-style concentric circles etched into the aluminium on each headphone. It looks absolutely fantastic and is subtly marked with a small B&O logo. Put together by Danish industrial designer Jakob Wagner, this is a set of headphones you will feel good about having on your head.
We also like that the H6 are fairly compact. Often pricier over-ear headphones tend to be great big, hefty things that make you look like a sonar operator. These being part of the BeoPlay range, they are designed to be compact enough for you to take them about with you.
As you might expect, audio quality is top-notch. While we can't say it competes with some of the other stay-at-home audiophile grade kit, for a set of headphones you can listen to daily, they certainly deliver. Sound is nicely balanced with plenty of detail and not an overly punchy bass. The set of 40mm drivers and the internal bass port just keep everything as clean and simple as possible. This is a set of headphones for those more interested in classical music and less into dance or rock.
On either side of the H6 is a 3.5mm headphone jack. This allows you not only to replace cables should you accidentally break them, but also means you can daisy chain headphones together. Say you want your friend to listen to the same music or watch a movie on the same tablet, you just hook one headphone into the side of the H6 and then plug yours into the source.
For us, the comfort factor is about the best thing on the H6. Having slightly odd-shaped ears, which err more on the side of Dumbo rather than a mouse, we find most over-ear headphones get uncomfortable after a while. We are yet to test the H6 on a long-haul flight, but imagine they might not cause us quite the usual discomfort.
All in all, a decent addition to B&O's BeoPlay range. We have to say though, the Bowers and Wilkins P5s and P3s look and sound just as good and aren't priced anywhere near as high. If money is no object and it's the name you have to have, the B&O is a great choice, otherwise save the cash and pick up some P5s.