Bang & Olufsen’s new HX headphones offer 35 hours of battery life for $ 499

The latest pair of headphones from Bang & Olufsen is the Beoplay HX. They’re on-ear, noise-canceling and offer up to 35 hours of truly impressive battery life. The headphones are launching in black today for $ 499 (£ 499 / € 499), but there’s a white model coming in late April, which will be followed by a white and brown version in May.

At $ 499, the Beoplay HX are some of the most expensive wireless noise canceling headphones available. But that’s not unfamiliar territory for Bang & Olufsen: previous Beoplay H9 headphones cost the exact same price – and it’s the company that also sells a pair of Bluetooth headphones for $ 800.

Thirty-five hours of battery life beats just about any competition (and it increases to 40 hours if you turn off the ANC). The $ 549 AirPods Max is rated at just 20 hours with ANC enabled, while our $ 350 top pick Sony WH-1000XM4 can last up to 30 hours. Others, like the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless or the Shure Aonic, are rated for 16 hours and 20 hours respectively.

Image: Bang and Olufsen

Beyond battery life, the other thing your $ 499 gets you is build quality. The Beoplay HX’s ear cushions are made of lambskin with a memory foam interior, while the headband uses cowhide and knit in its construction. The ear cups themselves feature an aluminum disc surrounded by a recycled plastic casing, and the arm sliders are also made of aluminum.

Other specifications of the Beoplay HX are typical. There’s a USB-C port for charging, a 3.5mm jack for wired connections, buttons on the left and right ear cup, as well as touch controls on the right side. The headphones support Bluetooth 5.1 and for codecs you get aptX Adaptive, AAC, and SBC. Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair are both included for easy pairing with their respective platforms. And yes, the headphones come with a 3.5mm cable in the box, unlike the AirPods Max.