In the rarefied air of luxury audio, Bang & Olufsen has long been a name synonymous with exquisite design, meticulous craftsmanship, and a premium price tag. With the launch of the Beoplay H100 over a year ago, the company reaffirmed its commitment to the high-end, positioning these over-ear wireless headphones as the successor to the acclaimed H95. However, a series of recent, quiet changes from the Danish brand has left early adopters and audiophiles questioning the very value proposition of one of the world's most expensive consumer headphones.
What began as a steep initial price has escalated into a staggering new cost, all while a key promised feature has been silently scrubbed from the product's future, leaving the H100 with a surprisingly limited Bluetooth audio toolkit.
The Already High Stakes Get Even Higher
When the Beoplay H100 first debuted, its price was a central point of discussion. With an initial MSRP of $1,549 in the US, £1,299 in the UK, and €1,499 in the Eurozone, it comfortably sat above its predecessor, the Beoplay H95, which can still be found for around $1,068.
However, fast forward to 2025, and Bang & Olufsen has implemented not one, but two significant price increases. As first noticed by sharp-eyed followers, the US price first jumped to $1,850 in May, before settling at a new, eye-watering $2,200 in early June. Similar hikes were rolled out across Europe and the UK, bringing the cost to €1,700 and £1,450, respectively.
For a product that has seen no public hardware revisions or major new feature additions, this 40%+ price increase in the US market alone raises immediate questions about its positioning. But the price hike is only half the story.
The Disappearing Promise: Goodbye, Hi-Res Audio
At launch, a key point of criticism for the Beoplay H100 was its lack of high-resolution Bluetooth codec support out of the box. Unlike the older H95, which supports Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive, the H100 launched with only the standard SBC and Apple-friendly AAC codecs.
To mollify concerned audiophiles, Bang & Olufsen made a public promise: support for the hi-res LDAC codec, and potentially others, was coming via a future firmware update. This promise was a beacon for those who invest in high-end audio, ensuring that their $2,000 headphones would one day be able to receive a higher-quality wireless signal from compatible devices.
That promise has now vanished.
As recently spotted and discussed on Reddit, Bang & Olufsen has systematically removed all mentions of forthcoming LDAC support from its official marketing materials and product pages. The company's official Beoplay H100 product page now makes no reference to the codec, and the official product sheet has been updated to reflect the current, limited state of play.
This leaves the Beoplay H100 in an awkward and arguably indefensible position for its price. With no aptX support and no LDAC on the horizon, the headphones are permanently limited to basic Bluetooth audio codecs. For comparison, countless headphones under $500, and even many under $200, now offer superior codec support like LDAC or aptX HD.
A Pattern of Quiet Rollbacks
The removal of the LDAC promise appears to be part of a broader pattern. The same updated product sheet also omits another key promised feature: the addition of 3-device multipoint connectivity via a software update, which was originally slated for 2024.
While the H100 currently supports connecting to two devices simultaneously, the promised expansion to three now seems to have been quietly abandoned without any official communication from Bang & Olufsen. This has led many in the community to suspect that the company is backing away from its software roadmap for the H100, leaving early adopters with a product that is not the one they were sold on.
The Bottom Line: A Crisis of Value and Trust
The situation with the Beoplay H100 creates a two-pronged problem for Bang & Olufsen.
First, there is a severe crisis of value. Justifying a $2,200 price tag for a pair of wireless headphones is a monumental task. It requires not only exceptional build quality and sound but also best-in-class features and performance. By being locked to AAC and SBC, the Beoplay H100's wireless performance is objectively inferior to that of headphones a fraction of its price. Potential buyers looking at the still-available Beoplay H95 on Amazon may find the older model to be the more feature-complete and sensible purchase, despite its own premium cost.
Second, and perhaps more damaging, is the crisis of trust. Removing promised features without a formal announcement or explanation is a surefire way to alienate a brand's most loyal and vocal customers. It breaks the implicit agreement between a company and its early adopters, who pay a premium with the expectation of a product's future potential.
For now, the Beoplay H100 remains a beautiful, luxurious, and undoubtedly well-engineered piece of audio hardware. But Bang & Olufsen's silent decision to renege on its promises has cast a long shadow, leaving a $2,200 pair of headphones stuck in the audio past and its customers feeling left behind.
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