Bang & Olufsen's Beoplay H100 headphones are the new flagship personal audio product from the Danish masters. After thoroughly conquering the world of upscale hi-fi, B&O started making headphones in the late 1970s and only diversified into wireless systems in 2015 with the BeoPlay H8. With the new H100, the company was starting from an enviable position, with products that continue to be admired and coveted.
‘We are very much defining our own targets and challenges,’ admits Tiina Karjalainen Kierysch, Bang & Olufsen’s head of design, ‘comfort is a big focus, as is creating an immersive sound experience. But it’s also about modularity [of design].’ The latter, which allows components to be upgraded and replaced to prolong the life of the device, can be tricky to achieve with headphones and their tightly packaged electronics.
‘We started modular design with larger products like speakers,’ Kierysch says. ‘Now we have a couple of user-replaceable parts, like the inner headband, which gets a lot of wear and tear. This can now be removed and washed or even replaced. Likewise, the H100’s inner earcups are detachable, using magnets.’
The new Beoplay H100 certain maintain B&O’s high audio benchmark in addition to marking this milestone on the company’s route to circularity. With the modular design approach ensuring user-friendly replaceable parts and components, there’s also a software platform that’ll evolve and update over time. Throw in the optional five-year warranty and you have a pair of headphones that should endure for decades.
Another aspect of the modular design is the bond it brings between the company and user. ‘It’s a little bit captivating for consumers to be able to look inside the product,’ Kierysch says. ‘You’ll also find a little secret hidden message from our founder.’ Other key serviceable parts include the circuit boards, drivers and batteries.
Design-wise, the H100s continue the company’s rich tradition of quality and simplicity. The aluminium-framed headphones have a textile headband and lambskin leather earpads, with tech including Dolby Atmos and B&O’s own adaptive audio processing, EarSense. ‘We work with material circularity in many ways,’ says Kierysch, adding that B&O began its collaboration with the Cradle to Cradle Institute several years ago to help drive sustainable product development.
Relatively easily recyclable materials like aluminium are a start, but as Kierysch says, ‘we can always improve. It’s the same with plastics’. She continues, ‘There’s something interesting about the new biobased materials, for example. We love working with materials for their specific characteristics.’
Bang & Olufsen’s head of product circularity and portfolio planning, Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, explains that the company has ‘prioritised longevity, maintenance and repairability through modular design… the headphones can adapt and evolve with new technologies for a truly timeless design.' Hansen hopes the headphones will get approval on the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard, becoming the third B&O product to get the nod.
All this ties in nicely with a revival of interest in longevity, patina, and a less clinical, warmer relationship with our technology. ‘Natural materials often age very beautifully,’ says Kierysch. ‘The patina can tell a story about itself. The H100s are operated via a touch interface on each side, while there are no fewer than ten microphones to compute the noise-cancelling algorithm, along with a twistable dial to raise or lower the transparency effect. Finally, the H100s can detect when they’re being worn or removed so there’s no need to switch them on or off.
Finally, there’s format. A pair of headphones is format agnostic, of course, and B&O’s recent output has included remastered versions of classic record players (the Beogram 400 Series) and even the 9000c multi-CD player. Does the company track trends in how customers listen to music? ‘We pay attention, for sure,’ says Kierysch, ‘LPs are a very clear trend, especially amongst musical artists. Perhaps CDs are not there yet, but the 9000c was quite an unconventional icon. We changed the CD player from a black box to showing off CDs as art. Might there be a way of doing this for streaming? Maybe.’
Ultimately, the H100 headphones tap into a growing desire to preserve and maintain the best examples of technology for as long as possible. ‘I believe that over time, longevity will become more and more relevant,’ Kierysch says. ‘New materials will only be used if they last. At Bang & Olufsen, we want to move away from products becoming obsolete too quickly. Our products are made to last and keep.’
Beoplay H100 in Infinite Black, Hourglass Sand and Sunset Apricot, £1,299 / €1,499 US$1,549 / CA$2,199, from Bang & Olufsen stores or Bang-Olufsen.com, @BangOlufsen
