Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Headphones Review

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal are simple, sleek over-ear headphones with a similar design to the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H9i Wireless. They have a high-end design with premium materials. You can purchase them in 'Black', 'Grey', and 'Navy' color variants.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal are comfortable. They're lightweight, and they don't clamp too tight on your head, which is nice. However, if you have glasses or long hair, the ear cups may not sit flush against your head. Also, there's a slight creaking noise when you move your head around, which can be annoying.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have great controls. You can tap either ear cup twice to play/pause your audio or mute the mic while you're on a call or gaming. The left slider lets you adjust ANC and Talk-Through while in Bluetooth mode, and it controls channel mixing when in Xbox Wireless Connection mode. You can also swipe the right slider to adjust the volume. The controls are responsive and easy-to-use; however, they can sometimes accidentally register a command. There's audible feedback for most commands, but there aren't any voice prompts. All of the beeps are the same, so it can be hard to know which feature you've adjusted.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal are decently breathable. These over-ear headphones trap some heat under the ear cups, so they probably aren't ideal for physical activity. However, they aren't designed to wear to the gym, and they shouldn't make you sweat more than usual if you wear them while gaming.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal aren't very portable. Their over-ear design is big and bulky, and you can't fold them into a more compact format. On the upside, you can swivel the ear cups to lay them flat to help fit them into your bag.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have an impressive build quality. They're made of a mix of aluminum, with leather and fabric padding and polymer and rubber materials. The cable is silicone, which seems solid. These materials feel quite premium and durable, but there's a slight creaking noise when you move your head, which can be a bit annoying. Also, like most gaming headphones, they don't have an advertised IP rating for water resistance, though we don't test for this.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal are adequately stable. They should stay on your ears during casual gaming sessions. However, they aren't really designed to wear during your workouts, and they may fall off with higher-intensity head shakes.

• Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal headphones
• Manuals
• USB-C to USB-A audio and charging cable
• 1/8" to 1/8" TRRS cable

When using Xbox Wireless, the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have a somewhat warm sound profile out-of-the-box. They lack a bit of low bass, so sound effects aren't very thumpy or rumbly. However, they're also a bit boomy, which can slightly muddy vocals and lead instruments. Those same instruments can also sound a bit honky and harsh due to the overemphasized high-mid and low-treble ranges. When using these headphones via Xbox Wireless, you can access a five-band graphic EQ and presets to help customize their sound.

These headphones have a slightly different sound profile when connected via Bluetooth. You can see a comparison of their Bluetooth vs Xbox Wireless sound profile using the respective default presets here. They have a bit more bass to their sound, which is nice if you want extra thump, rumble, and boom in your audio. However, they also sound muddy, and vocals, as well as instruments, are bloated. Luckily, on Bluetooth mode, there are some EQ presets available to help you adjust their sound.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have fair frequency response consistency. Their treble delivery is inconsistent, so they may sound a bit different depending on their fit, seal, and positioning on your head. You have to readjust them on your head to get consistent treble delivery each time you use them.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have reasonable bass accuracy. They struggle to reproduce a thumpy low-bass, so you don't feel the deep rumble in action-packed scenes. However, there's a slight overemphasis in the high-bass, which adds warmth and boom to the mix, although some listeners may find that it sounds a bit muddy.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have great mid accuracy. The range is quite flat and balanced, so vocals and lead instruments are present in the mix, though they can be a bit muddy due to the overemphasized low-mids. The peak in the high-mids can also make these instruments honky and harsh at times.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have decent treble accuracy. The overemphasized low-treble makes vocals and lead instruments harsh and painful. Sibilants like S and T sounds may also be a bit dull. However, these headphones have an inconsistent treble delivery, and these results represent the average of our tests, so your experience may differ.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have fair peaks and dips performance. The low bass is a bit uneven, so it lacks some deep rumble, but you can also alternately feel an extra thump in the mix. The peak in the high-bass to low-mid ranges adds a boomy quality that can muddy vocals and lead instruments. The dip in the mid-mid nudges those same instruments towards the back of the mix, while the peak in the high-mid and low-treble makes them sound honky, harsh, and piercing. There's also a slight peak in the mid-treble that can make sibilants like S and T sounds piercing.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have a decent imaging performance. While most of the weighted group delay falls below the audibility threshold, the peaks in the bass range may indicate loose bass reproduction. Also, our test unit's L/R drivers have some phase mismatch, so there may be some inaccuracies in stereo image reproduction at certain frequencies. That said, amplitude and frequency are well-matched, so objects should be mostly accurately placed and localized within the stereo image. Our results are only valid for our test unit, so your real-world experience may vary.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have a disappointing passive soundstage performance. The soundstage is perceived to be large but not very open or natural. Audio seems like it's coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed all around you.

These headphones have a Dolby Atmos virtual surround feature, though we don't test its performance. To access it, you have to register your headset in the B&O app and then link your headset to the Dolby Access app.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have a decent WHD performance. There are some peaks in the bass and treble ranges at normal listening volumes, though this can be hard to hear with real-life content. However, most frequencies fall within good limits, resulting in mostly clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings we used to test the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal. Our results are only valid when using these settings.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have an okay noise isolation performance. With their ANC feature turned on, they still struggle to block out bass-heavy background noises like bus and plane engines. They perform better with higher-frequency ambient sound, like chatter from people nearby and the hum of AC units. However, they isolate against more high-pitched background noises passively than with their ANC feature turned on, which is a bit disappointing.

Note: We tested these headphones via Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth, and our noise isolation results were the same. We also confirmed the results with subjective listening.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have a satisfactory leakage performance. Even at higher volumes, the amount of audio leakage is below the noise floor of an average office. You can listen to music at loud volumes without really bothering people nearby unless you're in a very quiet setting like a library.

The integrated microphone has an adequate recording quality. Your voice sounds natural and understandable to teammates on the other end of the line while you game, but it can also sound a bit thin.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal's mic has an okay noise handling performance. It struggles to separate your voice from background noises, even if you're in a moderately noisy environment. These headphones are better suited for taking phone calls from quiet settings.

Update 05/10/2021: Thanks to user feedback, we have updated the results of the 'Passive Playback' test from 'Yes' to 'No'. Even though they can be used wired with their 3.5mm TRRS cable, they have to be powered on otherwise, they won't work. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have a good battery performance. With Xbox Wireless, Bluetooth, and ANC turned on, these headphones last for over eleven hours off a single charge. They're advertised to last 24 hours with just Bluetooth and ANC turned on, but we don't test for this. They also have an auto-off feature that shuts them off after fifteen minutes without activity to help conserve battery life, which is handy. Battery life can vary depending on usage, so your real-world experience may vary.

The Beoplay app is amazing. On Bluetooth mode, you can use the app to control playback, volume, and the ANC feature, and also access some EQ presets to help you customize their sound. On Xbox Wireless mode, you can adjust the volume, the ANC, channel mixing, and also access a five-band graphic EQ with presets to help you customize their sound.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal come with a 4.1-ft 1/8" TRRS audio cable that offers full audio and microphone compatibility with Xbox and PlayStation consoles. They also come with a 5.8-ft USB-A to USB-C cable, which offers audio and microphone compatibility with PlayStation consoles.

There's some latency when using the USB connection. However, the headphones are performing analog-to-digital conversion, which adds audio lag. You can use the USB cable to connect to your Xbox One or Xbox Series X console, but it only charges the headphones.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal have good Bluetooth connectivity. They support multi-device pairing, which is handy if you like to switch between your laptop and smartphone's audio. However, you won't be able to connect to a Bluetooth device and your PC or Xbox console simultaneously. You can still use two Bluetooth devices for audio and calls at the same time, though. They also support both Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, for seamless connection to your Android and Windows devices.

They have high latency while using SBC and aptX, meaning there will be some lag between the visuals and audio when streaming video. While aptX Adaptive (High Quality) also has high latency, this codec automatically adjusts to your audio content, so if you're streaming video or gaming, it can offer a much lower latency performance via aptX Adaptive (Low Latency). Some apps compensate for latency differently, so your experience may vary with real-life content.

The Xbox/PC version of the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal support Xbox Wireless technology, but you can also connect them wirelessly to your PC by using an Xbox wireless adapter. However, its latency falls outside of good values. It may not be a deal breaker for everyone as the audio and visuals won't be completely out-of-sync, but there's enough latency that could cause you to lose your competitive edge during intense gaming sessions. Other headsets, like the Steelseries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless, also offer lower latency. There's a version of these headphones designed for PlayStation consoles, which connects via a USB-C dongle.

The Xbox variant of these headphones can connect to PlayStation consoles via analog or wired USB with full compatibility. However, if you're looking for wireless support, the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal come in a PC/PlayStation variant with a wireless USB dongle.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal come with a 1/8" TRRS cable that allows for full audio and microphone compatibility when plugged into your Xbox One or Xbox Series X controller. You can use the touch controls when using this connection too. They also support Xbox Wireless, so you can wirelessly connect them to both consoles. You can also connect them to your Xbox consoles via USB, but this just charges the headphones, and they stay connected to the console via Xbox Wireless.

Update 06/01/2021: We incorrectly listed the Base/Dock type as 'No Base/Dock'. We have corrected this to 'Wireless Built-in' and updated our review.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal don't have a base or dock. However, they have Xbox Wireless built-in.