Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Impressions

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by HHS, May 17, 2022.

  1. HHS

    HHS Almost "Made"

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    252
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    United States
    [​IMG]

    I've been using the B&O Portal as my only full-size headphones for about 2 months now, so I thought I'd post some quick impressions for anyone looking for some wireless headphones. These are actually marketed as gaming headphones, designed specifically for Xbox, so they have dual-mode wireless, Bluetooth and 2.4ghz.

    That dual mode wireless is actually what lead me to these. My wife and I are currently traveling around the US, staying in airbnbs. Everything we needed to bring with us had to fit in four suitcases, loaded into our SUV with two dogs. Hence the need to find one headphone I could use for everything.

    I'm still working remotely during the week, so I needed something that could be a headset for Teams calls. My phone is my music source, so I needed Bluetooth. I have my personal laptop also, so I wanted multipoint Bluetooth for seamless switching between it and my phone. I wanted ANC in case I needed to fly back East at all for work.

    Needless to say, there weren't many choices to fit these requirements. But the Portal does it all, just needed an Xbox wireless adapter for Windows to use with my work laptop, which doesn't allow Bluetooth headphones.

    The control set-up is simple, if maybe little unorthodox. Each earcup has touch sensitive sliders on the edge behind your ear and a button. The slider on the right controls volume. The one on the left controls ANC/transparency or game/chat balance depending on the mode. The button the left switches wireless modes, and the one on the right is the power button. You also have one additional function that you can customize on each earcup used by double tapping on the outside of the earcup (I use play/pause on the left and next track on the right).

    All-in-all, the Portal works well for what I need. On Bluetooth the switching between devices is seamless and when I'm getting a call on my work laptop I just hit the button to switch wireless modes. I'd probably be satisfied with them for the duration of our road trip (another 2-3 months to go) even if they didn't sound very good.

    But they do sound good for wireless headphones. They don't best the Audeze Penrose, which are probably the best sounding closed wireless headphones I've heard, mainly because they lose out on resolving detail to a noticeable degree, but they're fairly well balanced and a step above the other Bluetooth ANC headphones I've owned.

    Being gaming headphones, I was expecting much more bass out of the box, but they're actually pretty well-balanced. For me the high-mids/low-treble region was a little hot, but their app lets you dial that in pretty well (unfortunately not a full EQ). I'm not much of a gamer, very casual, but these are probably a little bass-light and narrow compared to the target for most gaming headsets. They seem more tuned for music and there they work well.

    They support AptX Adaptive over Bluetooth, in addition to your standard AAC and SBC. If you don't want to do wireless they have a 3.5mm input and can also do audio over USB-C, though both sound inferior to the Bluetooth implementation in my opinion. No complaints about the mic quality, and I use them for calls all the time. Comfort is good, a little clampy out of the box but they've loosened up after daily use. Earcups are snug and maybe a little shallow, but not to the extent that it's an issue. Build feels solid, but they're still lightweight. ANC is good, but not to the level of top-tier ANC headphones.
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2022

Share This Page