Forget AirPods Max: Bang & Olufsen HX headphones blow it away on battery life

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The Bang & Olufsen HX headphones ooze luxury, and arrive to cast shade on Apple's AirPods Max

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay HX
(Image credit: Bang & Olufsen)

Bang & Olufsen just launched the Beoplay HX, its latest premium pair of wireless headphones with blisteringly good battery life. 

Launching in the black colorway today (March 25) for $499 (£449 / €499), these headphones don’t come cheap, battling it out with the AirPods Max to be the best headphones for those with money to burn. Bang & Olufsen will also launch a white model towards the end of April, plus a mixed white and brown version in May for a holy trinity of headphone goodness.

Taking the place of the much-loved Beoplay H9, Bang & Olufsen’s new headphones don’t stray too far from the H9 in terms of design. The Beoplay HX sports supple leather, while the upper headband is made of cowhide to handle the knocks and bumps of daily usage. 

The Beoplay HX doesn't skimp on features, either: active noise cancellation (ANC) and Bluetooth can run in tandem for up to 35 hours, and with ANC disabled that stretches to 40 hours.

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay HX

(Image credit: Bang & Olufsen)

You can easily pair the headphones to the best Android phones through Google Fast Pair and Apple’s Made for iPhone (MFi) offering compatibility with the best iPhones. The HX’s Bluetooth 5.1 quickly links up with your hardware, and it offers multi-point connectivity, which keeps things connected, hooking up to two of your devices at any one time. 

And the Beoplay HX's battery looks to offer a genuine threat to the AirPods Max: 35 hours of ANC playback eclipses the bulk of Bang & Olufsen's rivals, not least Apple's $549 AirPods Max, which only manages 20 hours' playback with ANC switched on.

Alternately, you could opt for the noise-cancelling delights of the Sony WH-1000XM4, which is easier on the purse strings at $350, and is only lightly pipped to the playback post with 30 hours of ANC runtime. There's plenty to choose from; however, the whopping playback time on the Beoplay HX surely make it one to add to the shopping list.  

More: The best Bluetooth speaker options

Luke Wilson
Luke Wilson

Luke is a Trainee News Writer at T3 and contributor to Tom's Guide, having graduated from the DMU/Channel 4 Journalism School with an MA in Investigative Journalism. Before switching careers, he worked for Mindshare WW. When not indoors messing around with gadgets, he's a disc golf enthusiast, keen jogger, and fond of all things outdoors.