Shure SRH440 (2004) vs Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8 (2018)

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) and the Shure SRH440 (2004) are decent Closed-Back Headphones at their respective price points, but don't manage to stand out from their direct competitors in any meaningful way. We suggest that you also look at some alternatives that can be found for around $220 or $95.

If you're still interested in learning a bit more about the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) and the Shure SRH440 (2004), however, read on for a summary of what we could gather about them:

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) hasn't managed to earn a top spot in any roundups from sources that conduct trustworthy hands-on testing. Nevertheless, reviewers from sites, such as Techradar, PCmag, and Wirecutter (NYTimes) all gave it a spot on their list.

As for the Shure SRH440 (2004), 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 Head-fi, Rtings, CNET, 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 Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) got its highest, 9.4, rating from Lifewire, while the Shure SRH440 (2004) earned its best, 8.3, score from Head-fi.

Lastly, we averaged out all of their review ratings and observed that the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), with its 8.5 average, performed considerably better than most Closed-Back Headphones - the mean score for the product category being 7.4 out of 10 - while the Shure SRH440 (2004) managed an average of 7.1.

There's one caveat here - it might not be entirely justifiable to do a direct Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) vs. Shure SRH440 (2004) review average comparison since they aren't priced the same and more expensive products tend to get higher review scores from some sources.