My AirPods Max vs Bang and Olufsen H95 comparison review

[Mr_Dobz]

Excellent in depth comparison and I agree with the OP that the H95’s outshine the APM’s in just about every respect.

I’m surprised no one has had any issues with the AirPod Max’s moisture buildup in the ear cups yet. I only came upon the BeoPlay H95’s after going through a 3 month experience with three (3), yes three, defective APM sets that all had major failures within the first 25 days of regular (6-7hrs/day) use. The failures I experienced seemed to be linked to the moisture buildup getting in through the air ports around the driver and onto the electronics inside. The first two pair had a failure where the transparency mode would constantly cycle on, off, on off, over and over nonstop and the other pair had an ear cup sensor failure where it wouldn’t recognize when it was on my ears. Btw, no amount of factory resets or soft resets resolved the issue and Apple Customer Service played dumb every time I called and wouldn’t acknowledge the moisture as being a design flaw or issue regarding the failures I experienced.

Long story short I’m glad I got AppleCare+ cause as soon as I got my forth pair I quickly sold them for a slight loss and scooped up the H95’s and it’s been bliss for the last month. Additionally, the BeoPlay H95’s are only getting better with each software update that gets pushed out that fixes bugs and adds features. FYI, no moisture build up issues with the H95’s since they wisely used high end plastic ear cups instead of heavy AF aluminum with the APM’s.

 

[bigshot]

The main advantages of the APMs are the features. The integration with the Apple ecosystem is a huge deal for those with iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. And the potential for the spatial audio DSP is only going to become more important as iOS and Apple Music supports it in updates. That alone can be a slam dunk for some folks.

There is no "one best set of cans". Everyone's ear canals and heads are shaped different. What may sound good and be comfortable to one person might not be to another. The B&Os are quite different in the bass and upper mids than the AirPod Max. Some will like one and others will prefer the other. Features like bluetooth and noise cancellation may be make or break for some people and completely unimportant to others.

I never pay any attention to star ratings or what a reviewer things is best. A good review shows me a response curve so I can tell if the sound signature would work for me. And a good review would list features and how they might be useful. If I know those two things, I know for myself which is best.

In general, the price of headphones is less dependent on the quality of the transducers, and more a result of tighter quality control. More expensive headphones will vary less from copy to copy. You're paying more because of the rejects QC pulls off the line before being shipped.

 

[Mr_Dobz]

The main advantages of the APMs are the features. The integration with the Apple ecosystem is a huge deal for those with iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. And the potential for the spatial audio DSP is only going to become more important as iOS and Apple Music supports it in updates. That alone can be a slam dunk for some folks.

There is no "one best set of cans". Everyone's ear canals and heads are shaped different. What may sound good and be comfortable to one person might not be to another. Features like bluetooth and noise cancellation may be make or break for some people and completely unimportant to others.

I never pay any attention to star ratings or what a reviewer things is best. A good review shows me a response curve so I can tell if the sound signature would work for me. And a good review would list features and how they might be useful. If I know those two things, I know for myself which is best.

In general, the price of headphones is less dependent on the quality of the transducers, and more a result of tighter quality control. More expensive headphones will vary less from copy to copy. You're paying more because of the rejects QC pulls off the line before being shipped.

Apple QC is total **** per your stated above standards. No matter what your desired “features” if they breakdown due to a design flaw then they are useless. Buy the APM’s and you’ll regret it when they fail and they will fail, I guarantee it. There is no way to avoid moisture buildup in the ear cups no matter what you do to try and prevent it. It’s a major design flaw issue not a temperature or use case issue. Until and unless Apple secretly updates the internals with some sort of conformal coating to protect them from the moisture it’s only a matter of time before you experience the failure that is the Apple APM’s and they become featureless expensive paper weights.

Regarding sound quality the sound of the H95’s is WAY superior to the APM’s. It’s not even close in my opinion and you can customize the equalizer whereas you can’t tune the APM’s at all.

 

[bigshot]

I'm talking about consistency of sound from one copy to another, not design. Most headphones have a manufacturing tolerance of between +/-3 to 5dB from copy to copy. In the upper mids, that can be a pretty significant deviation. Enough to make one set intolerable while another copy of the same make and model sounds fine. I've found Apple products in general to be very well designed. My AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are no exception. I don't get moisture build up. Maybe your ears are sweatier than mine. If you're having problems, it's because of the pads. You might try some aftermarket pads. Or stick with on-ear instead of over-the-ear headphones.

EQ is very important when the response of a particular set of headphones doesn't match your particular hearing. I prefer to choose models that don't require any equalization. The AirPods Max match my response curve close enough to not need much of an EQ tweak. It's good enough for use as is on the go with my iPhone. When I use iTunes on my iMac listening more seriously, I use a very slight roll off to the low bass and a slight boost around 1-2kHz and it's perfect. iTunes has an equalizer built in, and you can get an app for your iPhone that adds an equalizer too. I actually prefer equalizers as apps rather than built into one particular component.

 

[Mr_Dobz]

I'm talking about consistency of sound from one copy to another, not design. Most headphones have a manufacturing tolerance of between +/-3 to 5dB from copy to copy. In the upper mids, that can be a pretty significant deviation. Enough to make one set intolerable while another copy of the same make and model sounds fine. I've found Apple products in general to be very well designed. My AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are no exception. I don't get moisture build up. Maybe your ears are sweatier than mine. If you're having problems, it's because of the pads. You might try some aftermarket pads. Or stick with on-ear instead of over-the-ear headphones.

EQ is very important when the response of a particular set of headphones doesn't match your particular hearing. I prefer to choose models that don't require any equalization. The AirPods Max match my response curve close enough to not need much of an EQ tweak. It's good enough for use as is on the go with my iPhone. When I use iTunes on my iMac listening more seriously, I use a very slight roll off to the low bass and a slight boost around 1-2kHz and it's perfect. iTunes has an equalizer built in, and you can get an app for your iPhone that adds an equalizer too. I actually prefer equalizers as apps rather than built into one particular component.

Ok my bad, the APM’s are good in that regard for sure and I should know I went through three copies unwillingly. I would have loved to have kept them but if you google these issues I mention above you will clearly see that I am not the only one experiencing these issues.

Regarding the moisture buildup it’s impossible not to get condensation just based on simple thermodynamics. Your body heat is between 94-98 degrees fahrenheit approximately and the metal inside surrounding the ear will be hotter than the outer shell of metal creating a temperature difference of approximately 25 degrees give or take and that difference will cause condensation to occur. I will say that this is most likely only occur if you wear them for any extended period of time but how much time will depend on your surrounding room temperature, however, it’s specifically the all aluminum ear cup design that causes the condensation to form. Had they used plastic ear cups this wouldn‘t be an issue since plastic is a insulator (meaning it doesn’t react to temperature swings) whereas aluminum being a metal is a conductor.

But hey if you’re happy with the APM‘s and they haven’t failed on you yet then consider yourself lucky. Wear them for 2hrs+ and take them off and I promise that you will see condensation inside the ear cups (it’s science). Especially if you have the air conditioning running and you are wearing them indoors.

 

[bigshot]

Yeah, the APMs are definitely not for jogging or exercising with. For that, cheap earbuds are the best.

 

[Mr_Dobz]

Yeah, the APMs are definitely not for jogging or exercising with. For that, cheap earbuds are the best.

Agreed, but I never took any of my three pair outside ever. I just wore them stationary at my work desk everyday for at least 4+hrs/day (straight before lunch) and that was enough to cause them to fail. I hope Apple will secretly fix this issue by applying some sort of conformal coating on the internal circuitry since these failures are happening at a large enough frequency that it’s undeniably a design flaw related to the use of aluminum ear cups vs plastic.

I had heard a rumor they were originally going to go with glass ear cups (not sure how far they got with that design) but if they had used glass that would have prevented this issue since glass is an excellent insulator. Additionally, glass has great acoustical dampening properties compared to aluminum and plastic.

FYI: I am a hardcore Apple fanboy and way into the whole ecosystem and absolutely love the AirPod Pro’s for exercising etc. Anyway, enjoy your APM’s and hopefully you don’t have to experience the issues I experienced.

If you do encounter a situation where the APM’s fail the H95’s are the only alternative option that is comparable and they work well enough within the Apple ecosystem since they can be connected to two (2) devices simultaneously and the switching is flawless (just pause audio on one device and press play on the second connected device).

Cheers,
Chris

 

[bigshot]

There are lots of alternate options that are comparable. For $100 you can get very good bluetooth headphones with fast switching at Monoprice.