Beoplay EX

[Emilos88]

A new set of earset Beoplay EX is on the FCC list,

Maybe a sport version?

[Csaba]

That’s what I think as well. The E8 Sport has been around for a while now. It would make sense now that the regular earphones have been updated from E8 to EQ. Although I won’t be rushing it, very happy with both my EQ and E8 Sport. The EX will be more appealing to those that specifically need their first pair for sports. To me the E8 Sport has always served a specific secondary purpose and it has checked the right checkboxes, while the regular model has been more important to upgrade due to it being my primary use case.

[Stan]

Since I just bought a pair of EXs, this would make sense :D.  Hopefully, it’s just the new very expensive, limited edition colored ones.  Not sure why a different color would require a new FCC license, but who knows.

About the EX, I think they are amazing.  They seem to fix everything I grew to dislike about my e8 and e8 sports.

First, they are much more comfortable for me since all the weight of the earphone is not supported by the ear canal.  That is, the heavy part of the earphone rests in your ear (in the concha, according to ear anatomy diagrams), outside your ear canal whereas the e8s are pushed into your ear canal and that’s what holds them up.

Even with the “wings” on the e8 sport, I still found I need to reposition them quite often when working out.   The wings, while adding support, also increase weight which, in turn, requires more support (at least in my ears). So far, this hasn’t been the case with the EXs.

Also, they seem to be more comfortable for long term wear, again, since the seal in your ear canal is not the only thing supporting the earplug.  I say “seems” because I haven’t yet actually worn them for hours straight, but the e8s would start bothering after an hour or two.

I like that they’re easier to grab without hitting the touchpad.  This was a bigger problem with the e8s vs. e8 sports (as rubber on the e8 sport makes grabbing them easier), but unless I am really careful, when I repositioned the e8s in my ear, I tend to bump the touchpad which would pause the payback or skip ahead/back. Now, I can just grab the stem.

I also find that I don’t get as much thumping in my ears when walking/running. That is, there is a thumping noise created by the vibration from walking/running.  There’s a thump with each step when the earplugs are well sealed into the ear canal.  This was a bigger problem with the earlier e8s, but it’s still there in the e8 3rd gen and e8 sports 2nd gen.  Makes walking with these much improved.

They sound much better with phone calls.  Still not as good as earpods, but better than the e8s.

I like that they pause playback when you take one out of your ear…which I tend to do when I need to talk with someone while wearing them.

Haven’t had the opportunity to do much with the electronics…  ie. noise cancelling and transparency mode.  I did notice that the noise cancelling did a decent job with blocking out the air conditioning noise in my office so I image it should work pretty well on a plane (my main purpose for NC).

Audio-wise, they sound great… but so did the e8s.  I don’t think sound quality alone would be worth upgrading.

I haven’t really discovered any negatives yet.  Aside from their price, of course, and that they’ll probably release an updated model in a few weeks :D.

In summary, I think B&O knocked it out of the park with these, and I can see why they discontinued the EQs and e8s.

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