Bang and Olufsen Beoplay H4 Review

When I heard about a wireless, affordable, Bang and Olufsen headphone I was ecstatic. Let’s check out if their latest make is worth all the hype in our Bang and Olufsen Beoplay H4 Review.

Bang and Olufsen Beoplay H4 Review

Beoplay H4 Review – Packaging

The H4 is shipped in B&O’s new white boxes, like the new over-ear, wireless, and active noise cancelling-enabled H9. The headphones are nestled in a black fabric-lined molding on top of the manual, detachable textile-covered cable, and micro USB charging cord.

Beoplay H4 Review – Build

Let’s talk about how I’m very impressed with Bang and Olufsen’s ability to recreate the luxe look and feel of their uber fashionable headphones in a more affordable chassis. The ear cups swap out the hard-grade material for cheaper plastic. The signature swirly metal decor on the front of the cups are still there, but it is made in a low-cost fashion, built into the cup rather than a finish on top of it while retaining the signature look. My vice is the regulations logo peeking out from under ear cushions. It is not very noticeable, but noticeable enough to me. Honestly B&O, it didn’t need to be in that spot and/or in that manner. The ear cushions, on the other hand, are oh so soft. They do not feel like they are made of the same lambskin leather in the H6 or H7, but they are made of lambskin leather nonetheless. These ear cushions are stuffed with memory foam and feel like perfect, plush pillows resting around your ears. My ears fit perfectly inside of the cushions and subsequently there’s a small bit of passive noise cancelling. Outside noise is muffled a little bit – not enough to completely block out my coworker or the noisy idling truck outside of the glass door, but enough to turn down the volume on them. Paired with some tunes the aforementioned’s audible noises are finito’d. The extenders are still made of aluminum, but feature a much thinner slider that’s just as smooth as the ones you’d find on the over-ear H6 or the over-ear wireless H7. The frame is not collapsible, but the ear cups rotate. The headband is lined on the top with a layer of hard-grade durable leather – not as strapping as the H6, but it’s going to last. The underbelly of the headband is padded with memory foam and lined with fabric. It is also very comfortable and well built to iterate the chassis of the H6. However, I’ll admit for a $300 pair of headphones, can we hide the FCC labels and mabes get hard-grade material over plastic. I just fear over the course of a week or so it’ll scratch too easy.

Beoplay H4 Review – Features

Unlike the wireless headphones that have come before it, these headphones feature physical buttons around the ear cup rather than smart touch controls on the metal swirl finish. These three buttons perform the basic functions any wireless headphone would do, power on, pair, adjust the volume, and navigate back and forth between tracks. You can also answer calls. Phone calls sound surprisingly good on my end. My coworker sounded clear and not far away. I did have the volume turned all the way up. On my co-workers end, he said my audio sounded a little compressed and shaky, but he could make out what I was saying just fine. Take from that what you will!

Beoplay H4 Review – Specs

The Beoplay H4 uses Bluetooth 4.2 and AAC codecs to provide a quality connection with CD-like quality audio. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery yields up to 19 hours of play and talk time while taking about  2.5 hours to fully recharge. Each ear cup houses an electro-dynamic driver measuring up at 40 mm and reaches a frequency response between 20-20,000 Hertz.

Beoplay H4 Review – Sound

The bass is present and a little bit boomy on the border of the lows and mids. At higher volumes the bass can sound a tad uncontrolled, but it still delivers on giving your music some oomph – which I heart! At higher volumes though, vocals, treble claps, and synths can get a bit tinny. I’d also like the mid-highs and highs to be a tad more forward while retaining their lushness with more balance. For example, Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” is steeped in layers, from thumping bass lines to screeching electric guitars, and of course the King of Pop’s soft to clarion high-pitched vocals. Overall the song sounds great. The deep lows showcase a bit of depth, but moving into the low-mids, some accuracy is lost. The mids sound pretty great, with strings blending sweetly. But when the electric guitar starts to hit the higher register, it doesn’t sound forward at all – rather floating behind the mids – which leads me to amp the volume in my cans to obscene levels because I want that electric guitar to pulse some electricity through my veins and these cans just haven’t done that as yet. In doing so, as Michael starts to hit his high-pitched wails of  “C’mon,” my earbuds are barely able to handle it because that along with the treble claps are a little too much. Listening at moderate volumes give you moderate audio quality – with some flair in the bass, rich mids, but slightly covered highs.

Overall, these headphones are giving you all the fashion over function at a $300 price tag. Don’t get me wrong, these babies can perform, but like any $300 headphone that’s trying to deliver on wireless capability, something else is going to take a hit. In this case, there’s a sacrifice in sound and a tad in build quality in comparison to their $499 wireless brethren (H8, H9). But, its $200 less. So, yeah… If the Beoplay H4 is giving you all the feels you can grab it at the Bang and Olufsen Shop at Audio 46 with a percentage off at checkout using discount code “majorhifi.”  Also check it out at  Amazon for a competitive price from authorized retailers.

Do you have any other burning questions? If so, let us know in the comments section below.