Bang & Olufsen launches its first pair of noise-canceling true wireless earbuds

Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay EQ are the Danish audio brand’s first pair of noise-canceling true wireless headphones. Two microphones on each earbud handle noise cancellation duties alongside an extra mic for making calls, for a total of six across the two earbuds. They’re releasing globally on August 19th in black and gold.

At $399 (£359 / €399), the Beoplay EQ are around $50 more expensive than B&O’s non-noise-canceling Beoplay E8 earbuds were at launch. They don’t feature the third-generation E8’s formidable battery life, which tops out at 35 hours of total charge from the earbuds and case combined. Instead, the Beoplay EQ can run for around 20 hours when used with the charging case. Battery life from the earbuds themselves is about the same, however, at around six and a half hours with ANC on, or seven and a half with it off. Charging is handled over USB-C or Qi wireless charging.

Rounding out the specs, the Beoplay EQ support Qualcomm’s AptX adaptive standard, which is able to make various adjustments to optimize your wireless audio depending on your environment or the content you’re listening to. The earbuds also support the AAC and SBC codecs, and there’s an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance.

Like all of Bang & Olufsen’s devices, the Beoplay EQ aren’t exactly cheap. They’re $150 more expensive than Apple’s AirPods Pro and around $120 more than Sony’s WF-1000XM4 — our current pick for the best noise-canceling earbuds available. But what else did you expect from a company whose Xbox headset costs about as much as the console with which it’s designed to be used.