When it’s a Bang & Olufsen piece, it’s a distinct pleasure to listen to the music flow. The B&O Play H2, bears all the ‘earmarks’ of a well crafted and highly stylish set of headphones and with the company’s signature sound, finely tuned to cover a full range. Its delivery of acoustics makes it a worthy accessory for your mobile or portable media player.

The design hasn’t quite strayed from the path set by its forerunners; however, it has managed to make it comfortable, robust and easy on the ears and eyes. The headband and outer shell of the H2 are built from an adaptive composite material that looks and feels very sturdy. The headband’s upper and inner portion features a soft rubberised cushion that sits slightly raised from the smooth contour of the curve of the band. That, coupled with the durability of the soft, plush lambskin leather ear covers make for a product that’s lightweight (150g), strong and comfortable for longer use. The covers also help ensure that you are listening to the music and just the music; the outside world just fades away. There’s zero audio leakage from the H2 — perfect to enjoy those private moments while commuting while taking in the surroundings.

Low notes All that said, the lambskin can be a slight problem for those living in humid places such as Mumbai. Perspiration is something not everyone can deal well with. The provisioned cable (1 m) features an inline three-button control module with a built-in microphone for calls. It’s great with Apple products and allows control of the volume, pausing/resuming, skipping tracks and taking/ending calls. The H2 doesn’t play well with Android or Windows devices. Other than for calls and playing/pausing music, there’s no other function — even the volume buttons seem redundant.

The audio quality is crisp, clean and balanced proportionately across the entire acoustic range that high-end players are equipped to dish out. The definition of the audio is, in a word, sublime. The H2 handles deep bass with panache and delivers a solid grounding sound stream. B&O have fitted the H2 with two 40 mm drivers and thrown in a bass port with each earcup to make sure that all audio passing through these headphones is tuned to perfection. The highs and mid-range levels are almost precision-perfect but can seem just a little hidden behind the lower tones. Over all though, it’s like standing in the sweetest spot in an auditorium. Even at extreme volumes (and we do not recommend that) the B&O Play H2 comfortably handles the output with not so much as a squeak or sharp tone.

The Bang & Olufsen H2 headphones, priced at ₹15,000, will be available in an array of colours Carbon Blue, Silver Cloud or Feldspar Green and textures of the rugged textile used by designer Jakob Wagner. The headphones are just a rung away from perfect but are so close it’s hard to tell. Given that there’s no Bluetooth functionality, some might contest that the price is not justified, but if you are an audiophile who’s always on the go and you’re looking for a trendy option, it’s not going to be easy finding a product to beat the B&O Play H2.

Dhiram Shah is the Mumbai-based founder of Luxurylaunches.com

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