Bang & Olufsen Removing Functionality from H9i Headphones

This is related to the functionality of the new Bang & olufsen app in iOS (I'm not sure about the other platforms)...

 

Here's my story shortly: 

 

I have been using the Beoplay E8 happily. And on top of the sound quality, I was sold about the ToneTouch feature, getting a wider sound stage really appealed to me on the E8. 

 

When I was later in life looking for bigger bluetooth headsets that I could also use with a cable (for my TV and other non-BT devices), My first choice was automatically the H9i.

 

Anyways, I now have been using my H9i very happily as well, with the complimentary Beoplay app. And of course there is the consolidation of the apps into the new Bang & Olufsen app and there is a warning the old Beoplay app will be closed in 2019. 

 

Here's the catch: I immediately noticed in the new Bang & Olufsen app, that the ToneTouch feature didn't allow me to pinch and widen the soundstage. I could move around the four EQ presets but no pinching. 

I wrote to the developers, thinking this was a bug. And some months later, I received this reply:

 

"Hey Berke, At this time our B&O app does not have the exact same features as our Beoplay app. However we are always working on adding more features and updates to our apps. Update: I'm afraid that the ability to widen the soundstage in ToneTouch has been removed from some of our products. This was due to the fact that it caused an imbalance between the left and right audio channels. Feel free to reach out to us at: https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/support Best regards, Bang & Olufsen support."

 

I feel a little bit played. Purchasing a product, only to have a piece of it removed afterwards is not the best customer experience! I really wish that this was an error and B&O would restore the ToneTouch functionality on the H9is!

By the way, this is still possible on the Beoplay app, I can still change the soundstage there and if I enlarge the circle, when I open the other B&O app, the circle is exactly where and how I left it, but I cannot manipulate it in the new app.

 

 

If I understand you right, there is no functionality ‘lost/removed’ in the 9i’s - it is just that the new app has not been updated to support this....yet.

MM

Disagree with that analogy, it’s lazy and annoying by them. They force you to do something and then don’t give you back what you had before.

It’s fortunately not the biggest deal, but i understand that it’s annoying for sure. I would say, keep emailing them and push the issue if you really want it back! Keeping the pressure on seems to be the only thing that works with b&o sometimes, that is if you care enough to get it back

Not only this has been removed but also the remote app for Avant, V1 and BV11 has been remade so that it’s not anymore possible to select stand, speaker modes or other settings without using the ridiculous virtual remote - which requires you too navigate on the screen of the tv.

Before settings would appear on your phone and you could select what mode you’d prefer, without any interactions visible on the TV. A truly awesome thing. Now gone :(

They explicitly say that it's been removed... I quote again: "I'm afraid that the ability to widen the soundstage in ToneTouch has been removed from some of our products."

 

I was literally amazed by the pinching the soundstage wide open on my Beoplay E8s, so that's what made me tip over to the H9i, over the competitors. There were of course other factors in favor, but I could've saved some money and bought something else. And now B&O keeps what I gave them and chips away their product from my hands... 

This is unethical in my perspective... If you launched a product, keep it that way and discontinue it in the next iteration. Disabling this through firmware (after a couple of years has already passed), just tells me there's more to this than only the "imbalance between channels"... 

 

Has somebody sued B&O for an artificial soundstage patent or something?

Beorke:

By the way, this is still possible on the Beoplay app, I can still change the soundstage there and if I enlarge the circle, when I open the other B&O app, the circle is exactly where and how I left it, but I cannot manipulate it in the new app.

I found that I can go to the Beoplay app, enlarge the circle, and then go to the B&O app, open the soundstage, and save the profile with the enlarged circle.   If I bring that profile up again, the circle is still large, and I can move the large circle around, save a new profile with it, etc.   So I saved profiles with a medium and largish circle I can pull up whenever I want to use or play with wider soundstage setting.  (This was while using H4 headphones)

Getting the new app to work with the E8 would be a start!

They removed this ability from the H5 too a while ago. I don’t remember the exact reason I was provided at that time, but what I know is that the ToneTouch settings on the H5 are no longer remembered after a product power off .... B&O recognized the issue but it will not be fixed. Client experience you said ???