Bang & Olufsen beoplay HX vs Apple AirPods max: Which over-ear headphones come out on top?

Buy now £449, Bang-olufsen.com

• Noise cancellation: Adaptive ANC, transparency mode
• Weight: 285g (headphones only)
• Battery life: Up to 35 hours with ANC, 40 hours without
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1, 3.5mm jack, multiple device connectivity
• Colour options: Black anthracite, sand, timber

Gone are the days of clunky cans that stick out like you’re trying to bring in a plane using your own portable radar. It now pays to have the best-looking headphones on the market: after all, you might be indulging in your Cheeky Girls back catalogue, but if you’re wearing the right set of cans, you could just as easily look like you’re listening to Beethoven’s Fifth (not that we have anything against the Cheeky Girls).

Bang & Olufsen simply makes beautiful headphones, and the HX look and feel every inch the connoisseur’s choice. There’s a luxuriousness to the headphones that sets them miles ahead of competitors: a slimline sophistication, amazingly lightweight feel and smooth, aluminium finish that make the HX a premium product for any wearer. It’s almost become a bit of a cliché to like B&O’s Scandinavian design aesthetic, but it’s a cliché that will persist as long as the brand continues to make some of the most attractive audio products in the world.

The memory foam ear cushions really do make a difference to comfort – we would be confident of keeping them on for a long haul flight without any readjustment – and the headphones in general have enough weight to them to feel sturdy without becoming an issue for your neck after a few hours of listening. Battery life comes in at 35 hours with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) switched on and 40 without, comfortably outstripping the 20-hour AirPods max.

Noise cancellation, especially ANC, is a notoriously tricky thing to get right. ANC works by recording ambient sound, noting its pitch, and playing an “anti-pitch” through the headphones, matching the surrounding noise and thereby cancelling it. However, any audio you play from the headphones will include the pitch your headphones are trying to block out: to find the right balance between blocking out ambient sound while leaving the audio coming out of the headphones unaffected is a skill that very few brands have managed to master.

Read more: 11 best wireless earbuds for quality sound

The HX offer impressive adaptive ANC, meaning that the headphones automatically adjust to your surroundings. When switched on however, the HX’s ANC, while improved when compared to previous models, leaves a larger amount of ambient noise unblocked than in the max.

This is a deliberate decision from B&O: the brand’s audio output is so intricate that designers chose not to risk its quality being altered too negatively by ANC technology. What this leads to is more interference from the outside, but a supreme sound. The HX’s passive noise cancellation is some of the best around, too, with that comfortable cushioning forming a solid barrier between you and the outside world.

The HX’s sound profile is one of considered quality, something we’ve come to expect from B&O. There’s a delicate handling of treble, mids and bass that keeps each element distinct while melding them together to create a characteristic sound that remains impressively faithful to original recordings. It’s classic B&O, and we love it.

Even when ANC is switched off, the cans seem to completely envelop you in your music, and the Bluetooth 5.1 keeps the audio consistent, with no instances of breaking up or distortion. The corresponding B&O app is the best in the business, with a clean, simple layout and plenty of options for sound EQ and connectivity. You can also choose between noise cancellation modes, including a handy transparency mode, letting you hear both your professional conference call and the ice cream van around the corner.

Buy now £549, Apple.com

• Noise cancellation: ANC, transparency mode
• Weight: 384.8g
• Battery life: Up to 20 hours, with 5 minutes of charge providing 1.5 hours of listening time
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
• Colour options: Green, pink, silver, sky blue, space grey

The max are an attractive, unassuming pair of headphones, with a rounded silhouette and smooth, sleek lines. There’s a fun range of colours to choose from, each sticking to the Apple pastel effect, and the fit is more comfortable than most, thanks to the bouncy mesh headband and soft cushioning of the cans. They could be accused of being a little weighty, and don’t feel as comfy as the HX – there would be more risk of needing a break after a long listening session – but they’re more than easy enough to wear for a morning’s work.

The headphones themselves are classically Apple, without even a single piece of branding over the entire product, lending a subtle, understated approach that would help them fit in any setting. However, someone, somewhere in the brand’s Cupertino HQ should be having a long hard look at themselves for designing the case.

We don’t know what’s gone on here: it’s flimsy, feels quite cheap, doesn’t fit snugly around the headphones, and feels like an afterthought or freebie you should get when upgrading your iPhone. The headphones do neatly drop into low power mode when put in the case (the max don’t actually ever switch off, unless they run out of battery), but this should’ve been a feature of the much more solid, impressive case that the headphones really deserve.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy buds+ vs Apple AirPods Pro

We were intrigued to hear the max’s sound quality, especially in the context of the AirPods Pro. The Pros are still one of the best in-ear options available, and will continue to be so for some time to come, but it’s not a given to be able to transfer this technology to an over-ear model.

We weren’t disappointed. The audio performance of the AirPods max is one of the most impressive we’ve ever heard. It has pretty much everything you need: richness, warmth and weight when necessary, to be replaced by intricate upper registers dancing above a subtler bass, or a supreme vocal clarity when listening to podcasts.

The max’s ANC is impressive, managing to create a serene listening atmosphere while giving the sound output the space to reach as close to its full potential as you can enjoy on the market. Apple’s tech team has done itself proud in finding this balance.

Most of the tech from the AirPods Pro is seen here, from the adaptive EQ to refreshingly easy connection to Apple products. The max’s spatial audio is a huge draw for anyone using the headphones for both music and TV, creating a soundscape that becomes a full-on surround sound system situated around your head. It can’t be beaten.