B&O doubles the battery life of its true wireless earbuds

Bang & Olufsen has updated its true wireless earbuds, giving them a big boost in battery life as well as a more compact design. The new third-generation Beoplay E8 earbuds now provide a total of 35 hours of listening when used with their charging case, up from the 16 hours you’d get with the second generation, while the buds themselves can now go for seven hours without needing to charge.

This is Bang & Olufsen’s third attempt at a pair of true wireless earbuds, so at this point, it’s got all the basics down nicely. The earbuds’ case can be charged over USB-C and supports wireless charging, which are features that were introduced with last year’s model. New for this year is support for Bluetooth 5.1 and the AptX standard. Bang & Olufsen also says that it’s reduced the size and weight of the earbuds to make them more comfortable to wear.

Unfortunately, active noise cancellation is still missing from B&O’s true wireless earbuds, which Apple finally included in its $249 AirPods Pro last year. That said, Apple’s earbuds can’t match the battery life of the new Beoplay E8: the AirPods Pro offer a running time of just 4.5 hours from the earphones and up to 24 hours total when used with their charging case.

The price of the Beoplay E8s hasn’t shrunk in quite the same way as their form-factor. Bang & Olufsen says the earbuds will retail for $350 (£300) which, in the US at least, is the same as the $350 (£260) you had to pay for last year’s version. That’s not cheap, although at least you’ll be getting plenty of battery life for your money when they release on February 14th.

Update January 15th, 11:45AM ET: Added US pricing details.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/1/15/21067061/bo-beoplay-e8-true-wireless-earbuds-price-features-sound-bluetooth-aptx