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Overall, I think the Bang and Olufsen H95 ANC headphones are a pair of fine headphones. They perform very well and they have exceptional build quality. But they retail for an eye water $800. Now personally I think paying $800 for any pair of ANC headphones is insane… but naturally we’ve gotta see how the H95’s stack up to the Sony 1000XM4’s, Bose NC 700’s and the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s.
Now first off we’re going to have to address the case and included accessories here. The H95’s come included with this aluminum case that just makes taking your headphones out and putting them back in feel super special. But… I don’t think this is the best case if you plan on constantly commuting with your headphones. The H95’s case is rather thick, its pretty heavy, and it is a scratch magnet. For traveling you want a case thats durable and compact like the cases the Sony’s and Bose’s come included with. But if you are thinking about picking up the Momentum 3’s and you plan on traveling a lot with them… personally I would think twice cause these headphones don’t ave the best case for commuters. Its definitely durable and it feels premium but it is compressible. So over all both the Bose and Sony’s have great cases for commuting… where as the Aluminum case on the H95’s is definitely beautiful and it is a major flex… but its not the logical choice in my opinion.
However something that I really like about the H95’s are their included accessories. The H95’s come included a with super premium fabric audio cable, usb c to usb a charging cable, and an airplane adapter. Now this is really nice cause these days all of these companies are really trying to get away with giving you the cheapest audio cables that they can. And even some headphones these days don’t eve come with audio cables. But given the fact that the H95’s retail for $800 they better come with premium cables.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves. It goes without saying that the H95’s are the most premium feeling headphones here. The H95’s have machined aluminum arms that also collapses. When you extend this head band it slides in and out, the top portion of this headband has a hit of cow hide leather, underneath we’ve got padded fabric, and when we make our way down to the ear pads themselves we’ve got lamp skin leather. So definitely these headphones are pulling out all the stops when it comes to materials. Now if we were to look at the Momentum 3’s these headphones are also using premium materials. Both the headband and ear pads are wrapped in lamb skin leather but the arms on this headband are stainless steal which is more common. But over all the build quality on the Momentum 3’s is still better than the type of build quality that you would expect to see on a pair of more main stream headphones like the Bose NC 700’s or Sony 1000XM4’s.
Now if we were to take a closer look at the Bose NC 700’s these headphones have plastic ear cups which are then attached to this single piece of exposed stainless steel and underneath this headband we’ve got some super padded silicon. Now over all yes the Bose do have good build quality… but something that ive noticed over the course of ownership on these headphones is that these ear cups don’t glide as effortlessly as when I first got them. So this new mechanism is starting to show wear and tear. Now its not a huge but I did want to point it out. But then there are the Sony’s. Now the Sony’s definitely do have good build quality… but these headphones are mostly made out of plastic and their leatherette does feels very syntactic. However the nice thing about the Sony’s is that they do have this slate and soft touch body so they still feel good when you have them in your hands.
But more importantly lets talk about fit… now one of the advantages about having a mostly plastic body like on the Sony’s is their light weight. The Sony’s weigh in at 254 grams which is great cause these headphones aren’t super noticeable when you’re walking around with them on and you do forget that you have them on. Now the Bose are also fairly light weight weighing in at 264 so just like the Sony’s they aren’t super noticeable when you’ve got them on your head. But then there are the Momentum 3’s and H95’s. Since these headphones are using finer materials that also means they are heavier. The Momentum 3’s weigh in at 310 grams where as the H95’s weigh in at 323 grams. So these headphones are fairly noticeable when you’re walking around with them on and you never really forget that you have them on even if you’re sitting at your desk. However since the H95’s are weighing in at 323 grams they are entering neck strain territory. So after a like an hour of wearing these headphones you do feel a little something on the back of your neck. Where as neck strain on the Momentum 3’s isn’t a problem. But besides the H95’s being the heaviest headphones here… they also have the most clamping force. Now they’re still big head approved cause they don’t feel like they’re squeezing you’re head… but all of these headphones do have a loser fit to them.
But now lets address the ear pads on these headphones. Now all of these headphones have spacious ear pads that should be able to accommodate most ear types. But the ear pads on the H95’s are technically the least comfortable here cause they aren’t as deep as all of these other ear pads. Now yes this fabric on the H95’s does push down a little bit… but it still feels like your ears are getting pressed down on. So over all both the Sony’s and Meomtum 3’s should be able to fit most people just fine but if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot then you’ll still want to do with the bose NC 700’s. But one last thing to address here is going to be the feel of these ear pads. Now like I mentioned earlier the H95’s are using lamp skin leather on their ear pads… but this leather does feel stiffer and courser than the lamb skin leather on the Momentum 3’s which feels softer and supple. And personally I do prefer the feel of the leatherette on the Bose NC 700’s over the leather on the H95’s… And I know this might sound crazy but I actually prefer the feel of the leatherette on the Sony 1000XM4’s over the leather on the H95’s. But overall when it come to comfort both the Bose and Sony’s are significantly more comfortable than the H95’s specifically cause of their lighter weight, less clamping force, and roomier ear cups… so you can easily wear either of these headphones for hours on end. Where as the Momentum 3’s are also more comfortable than the H95’s cause of their less clamping force and roomier ear pads.
But now lets talk about tech specs… just as you’d expect all of these headphones charge via a USB C port, but when it comes to battery live all of these headphones are veer different. Even though I really love the Momentum 3’s their battery life is a draw back. These headphones have an advertised battery life of 18 hours… and I general these are a pair of headphones that I have to constantly charge. And then there are the Bose NC 700’s which aren’t all that much better with an advertised battery life of 20 hours.
But if we were to move over to these other two headphones… the Sony’s have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on which is above average. And if you use them with the ANC turned off you can stretch them out to 38 hours. But then there are the H95’s which kick up a notch with a battery life of 35 hours with their ANC turned on and 50 hours with their ANC turned off. So definitely battery life is something these headphones have going for them.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity all of these headphones can be connected to2 device at them same time so you can easily hot swap from one device to another. Which is always very nice… and when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone, all of these headphones have zero latency across the board whether youre using an iPhone or an android device.
But when it comes to audio codecs all of these headphones are very different from one another. The Bose NC 700’s only have support for SBC and AAC… now if you’re an iPhone user this is perfectly fine cause these iPhones top out at AAC anyways. However the Momentum 3’s have support for SBC, AAC, APTX, and APTX Low latency where as the H95’s have support for SBC, ACC, and APTC Adaptive. But then there are the Sony’s which have support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC which is Sony’s on high res audio codec.
But something thats really cool about both the H95’s and Momentum 3’s is that you can use their USB C port as a wired connection. Where as you can’t do that with either the Bose or Sony. But all of these headphones at least still have an audio jack which is good cause some companies are starting to remove the audio jacks on some of their headphones. Apple did it with the Beast Solo Pro and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same thing with their fabled studio pods… which by they way I think they look horrendous.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones. Now like ive mentioned in the past the Sony’s are the people pleasers here. Thanks to their fully customizable EQ you can make them sound however you want. If you like a neutral or vocals focused EQ you can that or if you like a more bass heavy EQ you can also do that. But the really important thing to keep in mind here is the type of bass that you’ll find on the Sony’s. The bass on the Sony’s has a good physical kick to it so if you like to physically feel your music and if you’re looking for a pair of headphones that will rattle your head then the Sony’s are the way to go here. However the major draw back here with the Sony’s is that their instrument separation and sound stage is as impressive as all of these other headphones. The Sony’s still sound good, but if you want that better detail and more openness then you are better off looking at these other headphones. Now the Bose NC 700’s have better instrument separation and a wider sound stage than the Sony’s and they also have an adjustable EQ. But the bass on the bose is strictly the resonating kind. And no matter how much you raise their bass they aren’t going to physically rattle your head all that much. So overall these are better suited for people who like a neutral or vocals focused EQ. Next up are the H95’s and just like the Bose these are better suited for people who like a neutral EQ. But when compared to the Bose NC 700’s the H95’s do sound a little more open and the bass on these headphones has a little more physicality to it than the Bose. And with the H95’s if you want a little more physicality in your bass then you can go and move this dial a little into the High Bass territory.
But the problem with the H95’s EQ is that you don’t have full control over how these headphones sound. If you were to move this dial too deep into high bass then these headphones end up sounding super shallow cause they’ll push the mids down. Or vis versa if you wanted to bring the vocals out on these headphones they’ll end up sounding flat cause they’ll also reduce their bass. So like I said in the full review I wish B and O would just give you full control over these headphones EQ… But for the most part ill just use these headphones with their stock EQ cause I like their balanced nature… But if I do want a little physicality out of them ill move the dial a little into the High bass range. But ultimately these are better for people who like a neutral EQ.
But then there are the momentum 3’s and these are my favorite sounding headphones. Now just like the H95’s these headphones have great instrument separation and a wide sound stage so these headphones sound way more open than both the Sony’s and Bose. But like the Bose and H95’s the bass on the momentum 3’s is the resonating kind. Its not a physical kick like on the Sony’s. But the thing about the Momentum 3’s is that they recently got a new EQ interface. So unlike the H95’s you can independently adjust the Bass mids and highs on these headphones. So if you’re someone that likes well defined mids but still wants hard hitting bass you can easily do that with the Momentum 3’s. But for the most ill just use these headphones with their stock EQ… but when I want to physically feel my music ill just up the bass on these headphones. So over all the Sony’s are the people pleasers here and they should make most people happy… But personally I do prefer the Momentum 3’s over both the Bose and H95’s cause the momentum 3’s sound more open then the Bose, and the Momentum 3’s give you more freedom to adjust your music then the H95’s.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones… now everything that I said about the sound on the H95’s was with their Active noise cancelation turned off. With their ANC turned on they do get narrowed up a little bit and their bass doesn’t resonate as deep. Its very subtle difference and I feel you average user won’t notice or care but I do. However with all of these other headphones their ANC doesn’t change how their music sounds. Now from a performance standpoint the ANC on all of these headphones has very little cabin pressure which is great for comfort. But when it comes to the amount of noise blocked… one is not like the others but so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen the momentum 3’s block out significantly less noise than all of these other headphones. The amount of noise the Momentum 3’s block out is more akin to a pair of mid tier ANC headphones. So with that being said lets focus on these other headphones. Now all three of these headphones are blocking out a lot of noise. But when it comes to blocking out constant low frequency sounds like road noise the Sony’s do have a weird high pitch tone to them where as both the Bose and H95’s don’t. And when it comes to blocking out chatter, both he Bose and Sony’s are neck and neck but the Sony’s continue to have that weird high pitch tone them in the background. However… the H95’s don’t have that weird high pitch tone to them and they also do a noticeably better job of blocking out the lower frequency sounds during the chatter portion of this test. Now I don’t know if its the higher quality materials on these headphones offering better passive noise isolation giving these headphones an advantage… But I gotta say these headphones are blocking out the most amount of noise here. Now it not a huge performance difference and I wouldn’t say that the H95’s are the new king of ANC cause their ANC does affect how their music sounds… But I think Bang and Olufsen is up to something.
Now all of these headphones also have a decent ambient mode but the Sony’s do have the best ambient mode here for two key reasons. First off the microphone array on the Sony’s does the best job of blocking out wind noise which is super helpful for when you’re walking out doors… and the ambient mode on the Sony’s is the active kind meaning that they’ll actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises saving you from jump scares.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now the microphone on the Momentum 3’s H95’s and Sony’s are all decent for phone calls but they’ll might not sound super clear. They all do an okay job of blocking out low frequency sounds… But with all of these headphones you do want to take phone calls with them in a quite room.
However the microphone on the Bose NC 700’s is a whole other story. In a quite room my voice sounds much better…
And the microphone on these headphones does a really impressive job of blocking out chatter. Cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter. But if we were to switch over to the Bose NC 700’s you don’t hear it as much.
So with all that being said… I think paying $800 for any pair of ANC headphones is insane. But I aint mad at the H95’s cause they actually deliver. They aren’t a cash grab like lets say Louis Vuitton earbuds which retail for twelve hundred dollars but they’re really just a pair of re-skined Master And Dynamic MW07’s which retail for $300. The H95’s have spectacular build quality, they’re using premium materials, and they come with just as premium feeling cables and they have that aluminum case. But in my opinion they aren’t the most practical. Since their aluminum case is bigger, heavier, and is a scratch magnet it isn’t the best choice for commuting. And since these headphones are using more premium materials they are a little on the heavier side making them not the most comfortable. But from a performance stand point these headphones have an above average battery life, they sound great, I love their intuitive media controls and they have a decent ambient mode. But the biggest takeaway here is that the active noise cancellation on these headphones does put both Bose and Sony on notice cause these headphones are blocking out a lot of noise. Now I don’t know if thats cause the H95’s more premium materials are offering more passive noise isolation but Bose and sony watch your back. But nonetheless if you’re not part of the one percent and you’re looking for a great pair of ANC headphones you still can’t go wrong with either the Bose NC 700 or Sony 1000XM4’s. However, if you are looking for the best sound here than you still are better off going with Momentum 3’s.