Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) vs Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8 (2018)

The Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) makes for a good, if unremarkable, Closed-Back Headphone for people with a $65 budget.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), however, is merely mediocre at its $303 asking price, when compared to similarly priced products, and won't satisfy the needs of most people.

In either case, we suggest that you first take a look at some other options at the $65 and $220 price points before committing to one of these - it's likely that you'll be able to find some better alternatives.

If you're still interested in learning more about the Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) and Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), however, we wrote a summary of what we could find about them:

The Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) was loved by reviewers at Rtings, a highly trusted source that performs reliable in-depth testing. It did great in its "The 5 Best DJ Headphones - Winter 2021" roundup where it was named its "Best Budget DJ Headphones", which, in itself, makes it a product worth considering.

As for the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), it wasn't able to earn a top spot in any roundups from trusted sources that conduct their own hands-on testing. Nevertheless, it managed to impress reviewers at Techradar, PCmag, and Wirecutter (NYTimes) enough to make it onto their respective shortlists.

We couldn't find any sources that tested both of these Closed-Back Headphones, so we only analyzed how they performed in reviews from different sites.

We first examined which sources rated each of these best and found that the Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) got its highest, 5.2, rating from Rtings, while the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) earned its best, 9.4, score from Lifewire.

Finally, we calculated their average review scores from all of the data we could find and compared those to Closed-Back Headphones in general. It turns out that the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), with its 8.5 average, got reviewed considerably better than most of its competition - the overall average for Closed-Back Headphones being 7.4 out of 10 points - whereas the Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) performed worse than most, with an average review score of 5.2.

However, it's worth pointing out that a direct Audio-Technica ATH-M20x (2014) vs. Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) comparison might not be entirely fair, because some sources have a tendency of not taking value for money into account when reviewing products.