Artifact 066 · Sound & industrial design
Bang & Olufsen · Beoplay H100 headphones
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100: The Art of Personal Sound
Titanium drivers, a listening system that responds to fit, and controls worth reaching for. An unusually complete idea of what headphones can be.
The object in focus
A small listening room.
A remarkably considered one.
Beoplay H100 are Bang & Olufsen’s flagship wireless over-ear headphones, combining titanium drivers, active noise cancellation, EarSense fit compensation and spatial audio with a serviceable physical design.
Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay H100 overview introduces the model. This article explores why its acoustic, material and interaction decisions belong together.
A pair of headphones has a wonderfully intimate assignment. It has to turn a recording into moving air a short distance from your ears, stay comfortable against your head, respond to your hands and coexist with whatever is happening around you. That is a substantial amount of engineering to wear while pretending you are simply enjoying an album.
Beoplay H100 interests me because Bang & Olufsen has treated those requirements as related. The listening experience includes the fit of the cushions, the way environmental sound is managed, the movement of a dial and the possibility of replacing parts that wear. Each detail influences how the object fits into a person’s life.
The most compelling luxury here, to my mind, is careful attention. A familiar song deserves it. So does the person who wants to pause that song, answer a question, return to the music and keep using the same well-loved object years later. Those are small moments, but they are where product design becomes personal.
I do not own these headphones and have not tested them. This is a researched design appreciation using Bang & Olufsen documentation and technical references. My personal passages explain their appeal without claiming listening results.
A longer conversation about sound
The history behind
the headphones.
Bang & Olufsen’s history gives H100 a useful context: audio equipment has long been something the company expects people to live with, touch and look at. The current headphones bring that tradition into an object whose acoustics and software can respond while it is being worn.
- 1925
Make radio easier to live with.
Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen founded the company in Denmark. Its origin story centers on the Eliminator, which enabled radio use from household electrical power without the usual battery arrangement. The important design theme is practical: change the conditions around listening so the experience becomes easier to enjoy. Bang & Olufsen’s founding story tells that early story.
- 1978
Headphones become part of a design language.
B&O identifies Jacob Jensen’s U70 as its first headphones and includes them in its account of the 1978 “Design for Sound” exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. That places personal listening within a broader tradition of industrial design. The object’s appearance and use were worthy of the same attention as the technology inside. B&O’s history of Jacob Jensen’s designs provides the historical context.
- 2013
Beoplay develops the personal-audio story.
The company’s 2013 launch record documents Beoplay H6 and H3. This milestone matters because it shows headphones and earphones becoming an explicit part of the Beoplay portfolio. It is a useful bridge between the earlier design heritage and the increasingly connected personal-audio products that followed. B&O’s 2013 product-launch record (PDF) records the introduction.
- 2024
H100 brings the pieces together.
Beoplay H100 launched in September 2024, as documented in B&O’s report documenting the September 2024 H100 launch. Its significance in this story is the combination of adaptive listening technologies, tactile interaction and a construction intended to accommodate maintenance. The product gives the company’s material heritage a contemporary technical expression.
I find this continuity appealing because the category has changed so much. The modern headphone is simultaneously an acoustic device, a wearable interface and a small connected computer. There is room for an old design discipline to become newly useful.
Inside the listening system
Sound begins with movement.
H100 uses 40 mm electrodynamic titanium drivers with neodymium magnets. The job is physical: convert an electrical signal into controlled movement, then into pressure variations in the air.
Signal
A recording supplies changing information about the sound to be reproduced. The headphone’s electronics handle the incoming audio and the selected processing.
Motion
The electrodynamic driver turns the electrical drive into diaphragm movement. That movement is the mechanical step between recorded information and audible sound.
Pressure
The diaphragm creates changing air pressure near the ear. Frequency describes the rate of repetition; a musical passage combines many changing components.
Driver construction is specified in B&O’s H100 technical sheet (PDF). OpenStax on waves and sound pressure explains the pressure-wave principle behind loudspeakers and headphones.
Why the material deserves a closer look.
A driver has to move in a controlled way across a wide range of signals. Its diaphragm, suspension, magnetic system and acoustic surroundings work together. Naming titanium is the beginning of the explanation: the meaningful engineering is how the complete assembly behaves when asked to reproduce a voice, a sharp percussion attack or a sustained bass note.
I like that H100 connects a visibly refined object with a specific acoustic component. There is something substantial to investigate underneath the finish. B&O’s own B&O’s account of materials and acoustic craft places its driver work alongside tuning and adaptive processing, which is a useful way to understand the product as a system.
The listening question I would bring to it is equally concrete. Can I follow the shape of a note, the entrance of a second instrument and the space around a voice without constantly thinking about the equipment? Those are the musical details that make me interested in the engineering.
EarSense / The listener is part of the acoustics
A headphone meets
a different head every day.
A cushion resting around an ear creates a small acoustic space. Its fit is part of the listening conditions, and those conditions change with the person wearing the headphones. Head shape, positioning and the way the cushions settle make this a more personal problem than simply placing two drivers inside two cups.
EarSense addresses that relationship. B&O explains that the microphone inside the earcup also senses the music, allowing low-frequency sound to be adapted to the fit. The same inner microphone participates in managing the occlusion effect, the altered perception of your own voice when the ears are enclosed. B&O’s explanation of EarSense and the inner microphone explains why the microphone has several jobs.
What I find especially interesting is the direction of attention. The product listens to conditions close to the listener, where the result actually matters. That makes adaptation a response to a physical situation rather than an abstract personalization label.
It also gives the cushions a more important role in the story. They establish contact, influence the enclosed space and affect how the product sits. Electronics can respond within that arrangement, while the physical fit remains the sensible starting point. Getting the headband position comfortable is still a worthwhile first step.
From a design perspective, this is a small example of a much larger idea: when real use changes the conditions, a product can be designed to notice. The appealing part is the specificity. H100 is responding to something directly connected to the listening experience.
The science of quieter surroundings
Sound can
reduce sound.
Active noise cancellation uses destructive interference: a carefully timed pressure variation can reduce another pressure variation at the listening position.
Sound waves combine. If their pressure variations align, they can reinforce one another; if they oppose each other, they can reduce the resulting variation. Noise-cancelling electronics measure unwanted sound and generate an opposing contribution. Real environments are complex, so the practical result is reduction across changing conditions rather than a universal absence of sound. OpenStax on sound interference explains the underlying physics.
H100’s technical documentation lists ten microphones assigned to voice and noise-management functions, including feedforward and feedback microphones. That division is informative: sensing outside the cup and checking conditions inside it serve different parts of the problem. The system needs information about the environment and the result near the ear.
The idea delights me because the headphone becomes an active participant in its surroundings. Its acoustic work includes what it reproduces and how it manages competing sound. That is a much richer assignment than the appearance of two earcups might suggest.
The useful distinction: passive isolation comes from the physical enclosure and seal. Active cancellation adds controlled sound. Transparency uses microphones and playback to bring the surrounding world into the experience. These are different tools for managing the same boundary.
The interface you can feel
One hand for the music.
One for the world.
The H100’s two dials give separate physical controls to two frequently changing parts of listening. The right dial adjusts playback volume. The left moves progressively between active noise cancellation and TrueTransparency. B&O’s ANC and TrueTransparency guide explains that second adjustment and the way it manages environmental sound.
Right earcup
Adjust the music.
A rotating volume control gives a familiar movement to a continuous choice. The action and the result have an understandable relationship: turn until the level suits the moment.
Left earcup
Adjust the surroundings.
The other dial gives environmental sound its own place in the interface. This is an appealing way to make the transition between concentration and awareness feel deliberate.
I appreciate the symmetry of the idea. Music level and outside-world level are related in daily use, yet they deserve separate decisions. A person may want quieter music while retaining cancellation, or a little more awareness without changing the song’s volume. The interface acknowledges that distinction.
Glass, gestures and a quick return to conversation.
B&O’s default controls include tapping the glass surface to play or pause, swiping to change tracks and covering it with a palm for Quick Listen. Lifting an earcup can pause content and enable transparency. B&O’s H100 control guide documents those actions and notes that available gestures depend on the connection and configuration.
The palm gesture is the detail that makes me smile. It gives a brief interruption an appropriately brief action. Someone has asked a question; the answer should not require a small expedition through phone menus. The control belongs to the physical moment.
There is an aesthetic argument here too. The glass can remain visually calm while functioning as an input surface. The dials provide a different tactile character for adjustments that benefit from rotation. Together, they give the hands more than one kind of interaction without turning the exterior into a crowded instrument panel.
Position, movement and the musical scene
Spatial audio changes
the frame of reference.
Stereo headphones deliver separate left and right signals close to the ears. Spatial processing changes the presentation to suggest a listening scene beyond those immediate driver positions. On H100, the available modes are Off, Virtualise and Immersive. B&O provides B&O’s spatial audio explanation to explain their intended roles.
| Mode | Intended source | What the setting does |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Ordinary stereo listening | Disables the headphone’s spatial processing. |
| Virtualise | Stereo content | Presents a virtual stereo loudspeaker arrangement. |
| Immersive | A source configured for Dolby Atmos | Uses the mode optimized for that spatial presentation. |
The mode is selected by the listener; it is not automatically chosen from the source configuration. Device, service and content support matter. B&O’s guide to matching spatial modes to content gives the platform-specific setup paths.
Head tracking adds your movement to the calculation.
With tracking enabled, H100 monitors head orientation and adjusts the virtual presentation so sound can appear anchored in space as you turn. Without tracking, the presentation moves with the headphones. B&O also describes recentering after a sustained change in direction. B&O’s head-tracking explanation explains this behavior.
The distinction is worth understanding because spatial presentation and tracking answer different questions. One concerns where sound seems to be arranged. The other concerns what should happen to that arrangement when the listener moves. They can work together, but they are separate choices.
For a film, I can see the appeal of keeping a perceived acoustic scene associated with the screen while turning slightly in a chair. For music, I would be interested in the relationship between the presentation and a particular mix. A carefully arranged recording offers more to investigate than a generic promise that everything will sound bigger.
This is also why I like the availability of a straightforward stereo mode. An album can be enjoyed in the presentation that suits the listening occasion. Curiosity about spatial sound does not have to become an obligation to process every recording the same way.
The fascinating part is how many kinds of engineering have to agree before a song feels effortless.
Material, contact and continuity
A beautiful object
with a working life.
H100 brings aluminium, leather, fabric and toughened glass into a wearable object. Each material creates a different point of contact or visual effect. My interest is in how those choices support the experience over time, as well as how they establish the product’s initial character.
Aluminium:
shape and finish.Bang & Olufsen’s broader aluminium tradition includes milling, shaping, polishing and anodising at Factory 5. Anodising transforms the surface by developing an oxide layer, allowing the finish to serve appearance and protection. B&O’s Factory 5 aluminium story explains that company craft tradition; it is context for the brand’s material vocabulary, rather than a claim that every H100 component is made at that facility.
What I admire is the attention to how a surface catches light. An audio product becomes part of the room even while it is silent. A thoughtfully finished metal form can make its presence feel intentional on a desk, beside a chair or in a travel case.
Glass:
an active surface.The toughened glass interface is an especially coherent material choice. It supplies a continuous surface for touch interaction and gives the exterior a clear visual plane. The point that attracts me is the combination of restraint and usefulness: the same area contributes to the appearance and accepts the listener’s gestures.
It also creates an interesting contrast with the dials. A smooth touch surface and a rotating control communicate different actions through their physical character. The product can remain visually simple while the hands discover a more detailed interface.
Soft contact:
parts you can renew.The ear cushions and inner headband are magnetically attached and user-replaceable. B&O specifies left and right cushions and matching alignment marks. B&O’s cushion and headband replacement guide provides the replacement guidance. This makes the places that repeatedly touch the wearer accessible for renewal.
That is a particularly satisfying decision for headphones. The soft contact parts and the longer-lived structure do different jobs and can experience wear differently. Giving the contact parts a clear replacement path respects that difference.
Serviceability is a design feature
Keeping the object
is part of the appeal.
H100’s technical sheet identifies serviceable parts, including its batteries, and explicitly assigns battery replacement to Bang & Olufsen professionals. That distinction matters: changing the magnetic cushions is a user task, while internal battery service belongs to the service process.
I find that separation sensible and interesting. An owner does not need to become an electronics technician for repairability to be meaningful. The design needs an accessible route for appropriate maintenance, and the user needs to understand which route applies to which part.
A luxury object asks for a lasting relationship. Serviceable construction gives that idea a practical expression. When a cushion needs attention or a rechargeable battery ages, the relevant question can be about caring for a part within the product. That is a more substantial design proposition than simply hoping every component will age at the same rate.
B&O’s B&O’s battery-care guidance recommends charging as needed, storing at normal room temperature and keeping the product out of direct sunlight. Those are useful habits for a rechargeable device. They also illustrate that longevity involves construction and ordinary care working together.
Software belongs in this picture too. The company provides updates through the app, with installation and restart instructions in its B&O’s software-update instructions. For an object with processing and connectivity built into its purpose, ongoing software maintenance is another part of its working life.
Seen through the lens of manufacturing and product communication, these details give the story substance. A magnetic attachment, a service route and a documented update process are specific things a company can explain. They make an intention about longevity understandable.
The connections behind everyday listening
Three ways to bring
the music in.
| Connection | Useful role | Detail worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth | Wireless listening and moving between paired devices. | The technical sheet lists SBC and AAC codecs. |
| USB audio | A wired digital connection with high-resolution playback support. | Hi-Res mode supports up to 24-bit/96 kHz with suitable source content and settings. |
| Analogue source | Connecting a source with a compatible 3.5 mm audio output. | Use the supplied USB-C-to-3.5 mm cable; the headphones need to be powered on. |
High-resolution playback is a complete signal-path question. The source file or service, the device output, the cable connection and the headphone setting all participate. B&O’s high-resolution USB audio guide explains enabling the Hi-Res option and selecting an appropriate output on the source device. This is a useful feature to understand precisely because “wireless headphones” does not describe every way the product can receive music.
The line-in path solves another practical situation: a source may have an ordinary analogue output. B&O’s B&O’s line-in connection instructions explains the supplied cable arrangement and the requirement for a charged battery. Knowing the actual connection method makes the feature understandable before a trip or a listening session.
For wireless use, two-device multipoint allows simultaneous connections to two devices, such as a music source and a phone for calls. B&O’s multipoint explanation describes that intended behavior. I like the everyday logic of it: the product acknowledges that listening and communication often live on different devices.
Small conveniences, repeated often
The ordinary day
is the real test.
Manufacturer runtime figures depend on listening conditions, settings and volume. B&O’s battery-runtime guidance explains the assumptions.
Runtime is useful because it describes how easily a rechargeable object can fit into a routine. B&O lists up to 32 hours with ANC at moderate volume, or up to 30 hours with spatial audio and head tracking. Those are manufacturer figures, not measurements from this article.
The charging detail is equally practical. With the battery below 50 percent, B&O says a five-minute charge can add up to five hours of playback when the charging requirements are met. Its B&O’s charging requirements specifies a suitable USB-C PD charger for fast charging. That is the kind of feature whose value becomes especially clear shortly before leaving the house.
H100 can also switch on when worn and switch off after removal, with the behavior configurable in the app. B&O documents manual alternatives and separate automatic play/pause options in its B&O’s automatic power and playback guide. This makes the interaction adaptable to different habits instead of assuming everyone puts headphones down in the same way.
The lesson I take from those details is that responsiveness has several meanings. There is the acoustic system responding to conditions, and there is the everyday object responding to a person putting it on, taking it off or returning to a recording. Both deserve design attention.
Why it interests me
Give the recording
a little more attention.
The appeal of H100 is ultimately musical. These are the listening situations I would be curious to explore, rather than experiences I am claiming to have had with this pair.
The album
Let a familiar song
become the main event.
I would begin with recordings I already know well: a voice with a sparse accompaniment, a guitar part whose phrasing I enjoy, then something with a busier arrangement. Familiar music gives curiosity a useful anchor. I know where I naturally pay attention.
The attraction is the possibility of following musical relationships more closely: the response of one instrument to another, the way an arrangement opens up, or the pause that gives a phrase its character. A good listening session can make an old favorite feel newly worth the time.
My ideal outcome would be forgetting the feature list halfway through the first album. That would be a very respectable use of all this engineering.
The workday
Concentration with
a graceful interruption.
I can imagine appreciating the separate controls for music and environmental sound when moving between focused work and conversation. The interesting design question is how naturally the transition happens.
Quick Listen suggests an especially thoughtful answer for brief exchanges. Someone can remain more important than the next track.
The film
A scene that holds
its place.
A supported film soundtrack would be a useful place to explore spatial presentation and head tracking. I would pay attention to how the perceived sound scene relates to the screen as I move slightly.
The appeal is a coherent audiovisual experience in a personal listening space.
What makes the design worth studying
The details agree
with one another.
H100 brings together several kinds of intelligence. The acoustic system accounts for the listening conditions. The controls make frequent adjustments physical and accessible. The materials give the object character. Replaceable contact parts and professional battery service acknowledge that a product has a life beyond its first unboxing.
That is the sort of innovation and ideation I enjoy writing about: a recognizable pleasure improved through specific, connected decisions. The interesting claim is supported by the details themselves. You can point to what each part is trying to accomplish.
For me, Beoplay H100 belongs in Things Worth Wanting because it treats listening as something worthy of craft. Music, touch, appearance and continued use all receive attention. A pair of headphones becomes an unusually thoughtful place to spend time with a recording.
Clear answers
Beoplay H100 FAQs
What are Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100 headphones?
Beoplay H100 are flagship wireless over-ear headphones combining titanium drivers, active noise cancellation, EarSense fit compensation, spatial audio and a serviceable design. They support wireless and wired listening.
When did Beoplay H100 launch?
Bang & Olufsen launched Beoplay H100 in September 2024. The company documents the introduction in its report for the first half of the 2024/25 financial year.
What does EarSense do?
EarSense uses sensing inside the earcup to adapt aspects of music reproduction to the headphone’s fit. B&O specifically describes low-frequency compensation using the inner microphone.
How does active noise cancellation work?
Active noise cancellation measures unwanted sound and generates an opposing sound contribution to reduce pressure variations at the listening position. It works alongside the physical isolation provided by the earcups and cushions.
What is TrueTransparency on H100?
TrueTransparency uses the headphone system to reproduce surrounding sound. The left dial progressively adjusts between transparency and active noise cancellation, while the right dial controls playback volume.
What is Quick Listen?
By default, covering a glass touch interface with your palm lets you quickly hear your surroundings and pauses media content. Consult the app and control guide for the functions available with your connection.
What is the difference between Virtualise and Immersive?
Virtualise is intended for stereo content and suggests a virtual loudspeaker presentation. Immersive is optimized for a source configured for Dolby Atmos. Select the mode to match the content being supplied.
Can head tracking be turned off?
Yes. Head tracking can be enabled or disabled with spatial audio. When enabled, it adjusts the virtual presentation in response to head orientation so the sound can seem anchored in space.
How does H100 play high-resolution audio?
High-resolution playback uses USB audio, with support up to 24-bit/96 kHz. Suitable source content, output settings and the Hi-Res option in the B&O app are part of the setup.
Can H100 connect to two devices?
Yes. H100 supports two-device multipoint connectivity. B&O gives the example of listening to music from one connected device and making calls with the other.
Can H100 use an analogue audio source?
Yes. Use the supplied USB-C-to-3.5 mm audio cable with a compatible source. B&O states that the headphones must be switched on and have battery power for this connection.
How long does the H100 battery last?
B&O lists up to 32 hours of music playback with ANC at moderate volume, or up to 30 hours with spatial audio and head tracking. Actual runtime varies with conditions and settings.
Which H100 parts are replaceable?
The magnetic ear cushions and inner headband are user-replaceable. B&O also identifies serviceable internal parts, including batteries; battery replacement is performed by Bang & Olufsen professionals.
Has Rob Urban tested Beoplay H100?
No. This article is a researched appreciation of the product’s design and engineering. Personal passages describe its appeal and listening situations Rob would explore, rather than reporting ownership or measured performance.
Explore the engineering
Sources & further reading
Manufacturer documents establish the features, history and operating details. OpenStax supplies the independent wave-physics references. The interpretation of those choices and the imagined listening scenarios are my own.
- Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay H100 overview
- B&O’s H100 technical sheet (PDF)
- Bang & Olufsen’s founding story
- B&O’s history of Jacob Jensen’s designs
- B&O’s 2013 product-launch record (PDF)
- B&O’s report documenting the September 2024 H100 launch
- B&O’s account of materials and acoustic craft
- B&O’s Factory 5 aluminium story
- OpenStax on waves and sound pressure
- OpenStax on sound interference
- B&O’s explanation of EarSense and the inner microphone
- B&O’s ANC and TrueTransparency guide
- B&O’s H100 control guide
- B&O’s spatial audio explanation
- B&O’s guide to matching spatial modes to content
- B&O’s head-tracking explanation
- B&O’s high-resolution USB audio guide
- B&O’s line-in connection instructions
- B&O’s multipoint explanation
- B&O’s automatic power and playback guide
- B&O’s battery-runtime guidance
- B&O’s charging requirements
- B&O’s cushion and headband replacement guide
- B&O’s battery-care guidance
- B&O’s software-update instructions