By Brian Barrett for WIRED.
Bang & Olufsen
Bang & Olufsen makes very good speakers, very expensive speakers, and very good, very expensive headphones. Now it makes very expensive wireless earbuds that ... may be very good.
The Beoplay H5 are a first for the Danish brand, and the first "neckbuds" that don't look cheap. The braided textile cord that loops lazily behind your head is handsome enough. Instead of the lame yoke that so many wireless buds use to keep them close at hand, the Beoplays have a small magnet in each earpiece. Pull them out, put them together, and your fancy earbuds look like a necklace. They shut down on their own, saving your battery.
Beyond the styling, everything is as you'd expect: Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, a bunch of ear tips to for your ears, yada yada. You can get them in black or pink, and an app (of course there's an app) lets you set up a profile and adjust the levels just the way you like it.
This being B&O, the clever design should be marched with stellar sound. The one downside? The five-hour battery life, which is made all the more painful by the fact these things need two hours to charge. You may also balk at dropping $250 for a pair of wireless earbuds. But, like we said, Bang & Olufsen makes very good, very expensive stuff.
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