For all the cultural transcendence and universality that music possesses, it is deeply personal, shaping our emotions, memories and identity. Our musical preferences function like a private diary. Selecting an artist, specific album, or track becomes intentional and is a physical act of putting pen to paper. Each time we hit play, we record a specific emotional state or chapter of the day. In that respect, your personal audio device acts as the pen that writes those entries. Just as rollerballs, fineliners, or fountain pens provide different experiences, so too do wireless earbuds, in-ear monitors, and headphones, to name a few. To dismiss these choices as one would say, “a pen is just a pen,” is a discredit to yourself because, for all the good looks and status affinity a personal audio device holds, it is a self-care tool to optimise your auditory environment. There are many brands in the market that know a thing or two about that, but only a select group can lay claim to a hundred years of audio manufacturing experience, like Bang & Olufsen.

​The luxury Danish audio manufacturer is revered for their sculptural, minimalist designs and high-fidelity audio across speakers, sound bars, and personal audio devices. The brand’s sound-as-furniture Hyperbo 5 RG Steel from 1934 paved the way for today’s Beoplay A9, while the iconic Beosound 9000 from 1996 is a sought-after gem in an increasingly digitised world. Our focus this time round is on the flagship Beoplay H100, which was launched to coincide with the brand’s 100th anniversary. If the modern-day headphone archetype is defined by a Venn diagram of sound quality, noise cancellation and design, then after spending months with it, the Beoplay H100 is comfortably perched in the middle.

With luxury as a cornerstone of the Beoplay H100, Bang & Olufsen has taken the necessary steps to ensure it excels in the look-and-feel department. These days, anodised aluminium is the de rigeuer material for most brands out there, but throw in titanium, toughened glass, and lamb and calf leather, and you have yourself a pair of otherworldly headphones.

As you pull the Beoplay H100 out of its calf leather pouch, you are greeted by a responsive soft cushion foam wrapped in knitted textile on the bottom of the headphone’s frame. A leather upper runs across the entirety of the anodised aluminium frame’s upper before revealing the exposed adjustable arms that gently flow into the ear cups with tempered glass touch-sensitive panels. Precision haptic dials that control the volume and active noise cancelling (ANC), and tactile buttons provide all the essentials for a pleasant wearing experience, while swipe/touch commands on the panels are kept to a minimum. Instead of mesh cushions or faux-leather ear pads, Bang & Olufsen opted for pillowy-soft lambskin leather that feels comfortable even after sitting through a two-hour film. A word of note, however, the frame’s clamping force may feel a tad overzealous for some, myself included. The Beoplay H100 is available in Hourglass Sand, Sunset Apricot, and Infinite Black. It is joined by two other iterations in Century Brown and the other being the Fragment Edition.

​Once the Beoplay H100 is paired with your mobile device via the accompanying B&O app, the headphones connect and power on almost instantaneously the moment you slip them on. Two-device multipoint automatically connects the Beoplay H100 to two sources and switches seamlessly without toggling Bluetooth settings. This lets you pick up a call with a tap while watching a video on your iPad. A single tap on either glass panel gets the music going, while swiping forward or backwards controls the track selection. Cupping the surface enables quick listen mode, which is especially useful if someone comes up to you for a quick chat. Alternatively, lifting either ear cup pauses your content and turns on transparency mode. ANC and volume are controlled via the left and right dials, respectively, with each satisfying click offering precise adjustments. The crystal clarity of TrueTransparency™ and the almost eerie void of ANC is supported by 10 carefully configured studio-grade microphones. If a plane engine’s low rumble is the final boss of ANC testing, I can personally attest that the Beoplay 100 delivers a fatal blow even without any content playing. Peak-hour commute chatter, or worse, loudspeaker-blaring phone calls, are a cakewalk for the Beoplay H100. If you happen to be a bespectacled individual like me, there is no running from the fact that headphones just do not fit perfectly. However, EarSense™ mitigates this to a great degree, although not perfectly, by measuring the acoustic fit of the wearer and compensating for any sort of bass or audio leak and ANC in real time.

​All of these lay the foundation for an optimal listening experience, driven by 40mm titanium drivers to deliver High-Res sound. I am not the most qualified person to discuss audio quality,, but I know for a fact that the difference in quality is stark compared to my other audio wearables. Sonically detailed and warm, the bass, mid, and treble feel wonderfully balanced as neither competes to outdo each other. Across various genres ranging from electronic to rock to folk, and even YouTube videos or Netflix films, the Beoplay H100 aces them with no noticeable lag. While the audio input quality should not matter since we are just casuals, there is a strong case to make the jump to Tidal (I know, not another subscription) for higher-bit-rate streaming. You end up hearing more (fuller and finer sound) as a result. A bevvy of innovations play an active role in ensuring every moment with the Beoplay H100 feels immersive and enveloping. These include Dolby Atmos optimisation, state-of-the-art spatial audio processing, and head tracking. Bang & Olufsen advises using Virtualise mode when listening to stereo content to hear a virtualised pair of stereo loudspeakers and Immersive mode when streaming Dolby Atmos content.

Battery life is in line with industry standards, delivering 32 hours of playback with ANC or 30 hours with Spatial Audio and Headtracking. It takes approximately an hour to charge it fully; five minutes of quick charging with the included USB-C cable and a compatible power adapter deliver five hours of playback.

Since it is only natural that products fail over time, the Beoplay H100 comes with an extended five-year warranty in line with Bang & Olufsen’s long-term approach to product life. A further Cradle to Cradle Certified® program ensures the Beoplay H100 is engineered for longevity and modularity, as the battery, headband, and magnetic earpads can be swapped out or serviced. All that is left is to leap over the final hurdle: its eye-watering price tag. The Beoplay H100 is undeniably expensive, yet reducing it to a price tag alone misses the point. Think of the Beoplay H100 as the distillate of a century of acoustic expertise and designed for permanence in an age of disposability. If music truly is the soundtrack to our lives, then perhaps the device through which we experience it deserves the same level of thought and investment as any other daily luxury.