BEOPLAY APP COMPATIBILITY BLUETOOTH
The Portal sports Bluetooth 5.1 and multipoint Bluetooth. B&O typically accessorizes their headphones with a luxurious carrying pouch of some sort, but not here. Oddly, the Portal does not come with any sort of carrying case. If you’re on a call or using the Portal in conjunction with Zoom or Teams, tapping twice mutes/unmutes the call. Tap twice quickly on either ear cup to pause and twice again to play. B&O told me the company used a proprietary anodization technique it first developed for its Beosound One NY Edition loudspeaker.Īs with previous-generation B&O headphones, the discs have a functional aspect too. In low light or gaming environments rich with color LEDs, you’ll be drawn to the eye-catching effects the materials create. Light seems to dance across them and on closer inspection, you’ll notice that the light spreads into a subtle colored gradient. The aluminum discs on each ear cup exemplify B&O’s focus on form and function. Whether you use it for gaming or music listening, the Beoplay Portal is a luxurious headset. Let the arms go and voila, they lock solidly into place like pure magic. There’s no clicking, no stuttering of any kind. The Beoplay Portal’s brushed-aluminum arms expand-no, glide-with a smoothness that I’ve not experienced with any other headphone. I spent hours and hours wearing the Portal-including falling asleep while wearing it-with no discomfort whatsoever. In fact, when you look at the headband, you’ll see the offset as a slight V-shaped notch at the headband’s midpoint.
The Beoplay Portal features a unique offset padding to relieve any pressure on the top of your head. Gone are the days when a B&O headphone would cause me fatigue or pain from the top of its headband. B&O wrapped the underside of this headband with a bamboo-fiber textile that is both durable and breathable. I’ve been constructively critical of past generations of B&O headphones for being uncomfortable to wear for long listening sessions, but that’s not the case here. They’re also tapered and provide an extra tight seal all around your head. The ear pads are thicker than I’ve seen on other B&O headphones I’ve reviewed, creating a deeper cavity for your ears. The top of the headband is covered in a gorgeous, durable cowhide, while its memory-foam earpads are wrapped in genuine lambskin. The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal headphone pulls double duty as a gaming headset that’s particularly effective when used with Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console.Įverything about the Beoplay Portal screams high end. Your eyes see an aluminum and leather-wrapped headphone that you know from experience should have density and weight but your tactile senses hold something that is impossibly light at a mere 282 grams (9.95 ounces). Lifting the Beoplay Portal out of the box is a sensory-confounding experience.