Beoplay Eleven Review (First couple of days of use)

[Tavast]

I have now used Beoplay Elevens for about 4 days. I ended up selecting the black and silver colour version. I need to mention first that this is actually my first pair of ANC earbuds, as I have previously used non-ANC Apple Airpods (gen.3), but have been testing a few ANC buds and use Beoplay H100 everyday.

I usually wear my pods while walking out (I listen to music e.g. heavier rock, blues and some other music styles, movie scores etc.) and sometimes have telephone calls.

First impression (Case etc.)

When opening up the package, I find the quality impression to be very good and up to B&O standards. Selection of ear adapters is wide and I can actually find two suitable sizes (S and M) that fit my ears. Case has a nice and smooth coating and it also has a thin rubber surface in the bottom that prevents to some extent the case to slide on the table – this also helps in the charging pad in my car, as Apple pods slide a lot in the wireless charging pad of my car.

One slightly negative remark is that the case seem somewhat easily scratchable, after a a few days in my pocket the case shows some wear and stains. Some are removable dirt stains, but I can see some micro-scratching and I can tell you that I am such a delicate user and do not keep any hardware tools in my pockets. Most likely keys, coins etc. may have caused some stains so watch out for this!

Generally, the headphones themselves have a firm feeling and and I love how they look and feel. The magnetic grip of the case is firm, but easy to take hold of buds when they are placed in the case. I did shake test the case while it is open and after a while I was able to shake one bud off the case, I feel that the grip is very suitable in everyday use anyway.

B&O App

Elevens work in similar fashion in the application like H100, which means that you can adjust e.g. ANC (three levels) and you can easily see the battery level of earphones and the case. I find the connection between iPhone and Elevens is relatively quick. Apple pods naturally beat them especially when you use iPhone, but I can very quickly start to listen to e.g. Apple Music with Elevens.

When walking out, I open the case, fit the elevens and music is usually ready to go, so I cannot think of any faster way though at times there may be some delays, as Apple pods were more like instantly ready always. But Elevens do well speedwise to my experience!

Everyday use

In these few days I have been very happy with Elevens, battery life seem easy to live with, connection is stable both with my Windows PC and iPhone. Having telephone calls work well, but I still need to adjust in hearing my own voice in a different way in ANC buds, but this probably evolves with time.

Sound

I love it! I think it is very close to the sound capabilities of H100 budswise. Bass is extraordinarily strong if you want it that way.. however I had to soften it a bit, so that part may need user equalizing in the settings, but treble work pretty well in all modes to my liking. The adjustment of the present mode in the B&O app is actually very easy when I first found out that you just need to press long the present mode and you’re able to adjust it on the go.

Active noise cancelling works well, in a way that it is efficient, but not too canned/pressurised. It still grants you the feeling that you are a part of this world 🙂 and in a similar way the sound just seem to have that B&O’s warm feeling, i.e. when I listen to Youtube music from my PC, I feel the Elevens just add something indescribable quality that is hard to hear with other headphones (it may be that it is all in my head but anyway 🙂 )

Overall

I have had a good start with Beoplay Elevens and to me they feel like a right choice for ANC buds. However, if I had EX before I cannot say how different they are and if there is really value for higher price of Elevens. To my use, they seem like a very good pair of headphones and I cannot find anything too drastic to complain about them. I have read that some reviewers would have liked even more grandious finishing details etc. but I feel that these are solid quality (not going in too much in techy details and difference between EX and Eleven).

I hope you find this review useful and please ask questions if you think there is some aspects that could be covered still!

• This topic was modified 2 days ago by Tavast.

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

And just a repeat of what other have said about this sketchy update:

When we got the whole thing open, we were in for an even bigger surprise: turns out the Beoplay Eleven is an exact copy of the three year-old, $400 Beoplay EX! There are some key software changes and the microphones have been upgraded to better deliver ANC performance—but that’s it. Everything else inside these buds is a carbon copy. Even the peel-away film on the rear of each earbud says “Beoplay EX”—not “Beoplay Eleven.”

This last point is for you hardware nerds. You might be surprised (or not), but the hardware inside the Beoplay Eleven doesn’t scream premium. Quite the opposite, from the control board to the wiring, a side by side comparison of the Beoplay Eleven buds and the Airpods 4 buds show how far behind the Beoplay Eleven is in terms of hardware design.

https://www.ifixit.com/News/107756/did-bang-olufsen-finally-make-repairable-earbuds-not-even-close

Location: Toronto, Canada

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