Bang & Olufsen introduced its new $499 premium earbuds, the Beoplay Eleven, again in November, touting amongst different issues their replaceable batteries “for sustainability” and alignment with the EU’s impending system repairability necessities. However an iFixit teardown tells a extra sophisticated story about really changing these batteries, describing the method of simply getting the case open as “a really onerous and labor intensive process… even for a skilled technician.” And inside, the battery is affixed to different parts in ways in which require warmth to take away it, which in itself wouldn't adjust to the EU's upcoming guidelines. Given all of the work concerned, the earbuds scored an abysmal 1/10 on iFixit’s repairability scorecard.
Bang & Olufsen mentioned the earbuds’ design “permits for battery substitute by service,” which, as iFixit notes, means that this isn’t meant to be a restore you are able to do your self at dwelling. It did finally develop into attainable to take one of many earbuds aside with out damaging any of the electronics inside, however the laborious teardown calls into query how possible — and sustainable — battery substitute can be even when carried out at a B&O service middle. After opening up the case and discovering “a plastic weld mark barring entry to the battery,” iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari notes within the video that, “at a minimal, any battery substitute service would want to get rid of the plastic housing fully.”
“I’d like to see B&O’s course of for altering these batteries out,” Mokhtari wrote within the weblog publish. “I’m keen to wager it’s neither low cost nor waste-free however I’d like to be confirmed fallacious.” The teardown additionally revealed the Beoplay Eleven to be a “carbon copy” of the 2022 Beoplay EX internally. “Even the peel-away movie on the rear of every earbud says ‘Beoplay EX’ — not ‘Beoplay Eleven,’” Mokhtari wrote. Yikes.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/bang-and-olufsens-new-earbuds-with-replaceable-batteries-dont-seem-to-be-very-repairable-174949894.html?src=rss