Earlier this month, Bang & Olufsen revealed a monstrous 90th anniversary wireless speaker called the BeoLab 90 costing US$40,000 and capable of throwing out 8,200 watts via 18 drivers. The company has now followed this with something a whole lot cheaper, a good deal smaller and a touch more personal. B&O says that the BeoPlay H7 premium over-ear headphones offer users gesture-based touch control of music playback and will deliver its Signature Sound whether the wearer opts to listen over Bluetooth or via the supplied cable.
The newest member of B&O's headphone range isn't just numbered to slot nicely between two of its premium siblings, it's stylistically similar to the company's BeoPlay H6 circumaural headphones, but offers the wireless freedom of its H8 on-ears – and is priced somewhere inbetween, too.
The 280 g (10 oz) BeoPlay H7s feature 40 mm electro-dynamic drivers that have been designed to deliver a sound as true to the source material as possible over a 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency range, with 102 dB sensitivity and 20 ohm impedance.
Catering for music on the move are Bluetooth 4.1 with support for aptX and AAC audio codecs for the promise of CD-quality audio and a user replaceable 770 mAh Li-ion battery. The latter is reported to offer 20 hours of wireless playback for every 2.5 hours on charge (via USB), with the H7s auto powering down after 15 minutes of inactivity.
The headphones also come supplied with a 1.2 m (4 ft) audio cable, so if the battery does die mid-playlist, users can keep the private party going by plugging into the source device's headphone jack.
An anodized aluminum touch interface on the right earcup allows users to control playback and take calls, and B&O says that the surface will even be responsive to glove wearers.
The BeoPlay H7 wireless headphones are available direct from B&O from today for $449.
Product page: BeoPlay H7