Our quick take
Bang & Olufsen A8 Earphones - 4.0 / 5
Measuring 35 x 59 x 14mm, the earphones are about as compact as they can possibly be, given their design. Each earphone weighs just 8g, while the complete set weighs 22g overall, so you’ll barely notice that you’re carrying them and they shouldn’t overheat your ears or begin to feel heavy after prolonged use. Several elements can be adjusted to find the perfect fit. Firstly, the curved black bar that sits around the back of the ear is hinged at the top so that you should be able to fit each ear unit fairly closely to your ear and adjust the bar to make sure that they’re secure. Secondly, the actual earphone slides up and down so even if your lugholes are little on the large (or small) size then you should be able to find a setting to suit you. Thirdly, the earphone rotates 360 degrees so that you can find an angle that feels comfortable and makes sure that the majority of the sound goes straight in your ear, rather than being leaked out around the sides.
If you are planning to take the earphones on a trip away with you then the supplied leather pouch will provide a safe place for them when they’re in your bag. You can also get yourself one of B&O’s inflight adaptors if you fancy using them on the plane. According to B&O the earphones “contain many of the same acoustic competences found in our larger loudspeakers, just miniaturised”. The audio quality is certainly impressive, with music taking on a confident and rich tone, while the bass performance is satisfyingly strong for a set of earphones. The sonics are even surprisingly stable at higher volumes although the bass does drop off somewhat when the volume is lowered, but that’s not unusual with earphones.
To recap
There’s no denying that these are earphones are expensive, but the slick design and good audio help to sweeten the pill
