Last month, B&O PLAY announced the Beoplay A1, the latest portable Bluetooth speaker in its family of luxury home audio products. B&O PLAY is a brand subsidiary of Danish high-end audio and video manufacturer Bang & Olufsen, known for its principled attention to design (which some say inspired Apple).
We decided to take a look at the A1 Ultraportable Speaker to see if the device justifies its $249 price tag, which puts it at the premium end of the Bluetooth speaker market.
Design
Taking the A1 out of the box, the first thing that strikes you is the unit’s compactness relative to its weight. At around 1.3 pounds (600 grams), it’s by no means the lightest ultraportable speaker, but its beautifully minimalist ‘hockey puck’ design feels disarmingly small, thanks in part to designer Cecile Manz’s decision to embed power, volume, play/pause, and twin buttons around the rim. Controlled, attached leather straps add a touch of surfer appeal
The polymer base has a suede-like finish that ensures the 2-inch (51mm) tall A1 sits happily on most surfaces, and its 5-inch (133mm) diameter means it’s possible to grasp and lift the grilled dome from above. With one hand the unit sits in a large raincoat pocket, but trying to fit it into a light jacket pocket can be more of a challenge.
A small pinhole on the A1’s rim marks the speaker microphone, used for conference calls when the device is connected to a cellphone. There’s also a 3.5mm mini jack port and a USB Type-C charging port, along with a Type-C to Type-A charging cable included in the box.
The A1’s solid aluminum casing certainly feels like it can take a few taps, but its smooth finish is bound to attract if you jolt it or throw it in a backpack with other hard objects.
“Every scratch tells a story”, reads the B&O PLAY website, in a valiant attempt to market inevitable imperfections as a product feature. But many consumers will take pride in looking after the premium gear they paid top dollar for, so the lack of a protective pouch at this price point is a disappointing omission.
Holding down the power and pair button on the unit immediately shows up on the iOS and OS X Bluetooth screen. The connection was made without a hitch, and didn’t drop out as long as the speaker was within a reasonable range. The unit, indicated by the circle icon, also has a convenient button that reconnects the speaker to the last paired device.
The Beoplay iOS app is a free download that works with all of the company’s speakers and can be used to upgrade their firmware. You can use it to pair two A1 speakers next to each other and enjoy true stereo separation, but there’s no advantage to connecting the units in a larger multi-room setup.
In addition, the app lets you play with a handful of ‘tonetouch’ EQ presets designed for the A1, or you can manually adjust the EQ using a graphical pad divided into concentric quadrants titled ‘warm’, ‘bright’, ‘excited’. , and ‘relaxed’. They make an audible difference, but in the end I left the EQ in the neutral position, preferring the A1’s default sound signature.
Sound quality
Placed on a desk or even the floor, the A1 radiates sound in all directions with surprising confidence and ease. Its wide angle of projection is actually a bit confusing at first, and more than one person entered the room wondering where the speaker was hiding even though it was sitting in plain view.
The A1’s 3.5-inch aluminum driver and 0.75-inch tweeter (powered by two 30-watt Class D amps) effortlessly reproduced Jim Morrison’s baritone wail and Krieger’s sprawling freeway riffs throughout The Doors LA womanAlthough a few tracks from Django Django’s eponymous album soon bounced across the coffee table with a clarity and detail I’d never heard before on speakers of this size.
Switching to some dub techno and dialing in peak power (2×140 watts) from the internal amp using the A1’s onboard controls easily overrode the maximum output of the source device, but distortion at high volumes was almost impossible thanks to the B&O’s responsiveness. Proprietary digital signal processing.
This inevitably puts a limit on the A1’s output, and it’s not the loudest Bluetooth speaker on the block, but it can easily exceed listening levels in a medium-sized living room, and it sounds consistently good, especially in the midrange.
Achieving decent audio isolation on this scale is no easy feat, but the A1 copes with jazz and classical genres quite gracefully, with only a handful of deep doubles on instrumental tracks from time to time. The base notes are missing, which is totally forgivable for one. This is the unit of size and frequency response (60-24,000Hz).
I took the A1 out into the garden during a family barbecue and its detailed sound was just as confident, carrying over particularly well when hung from a nearby wall with a leather strap, giving it great projection across the lawn.
I used the A1 at average volume every afternoon over the course of a week, testing it in a variety of situations – in the kitchen (it’s dust and splash resistant), in the park, placed on a desk in a meeting room – with the unit drawing admirers on various occasions.
On the fifth day of use the unit’s LED lights up to indicate the battery is nearing its last 10 percent power. It still lasted the rest of the afternoon, though, and when I charged it via the supplied cable, the A1’s 2,200mAh battery reached full capacity in 100 minutes. Considering what I’ve paid, the advertised charge of “up to 24 hours” doesn’t seem that far fetched.
bottom line
Overall, the A1 is a very impressive-sounding Bluetooth speaker that matches its looks. Its thoughtful, stylish design easily puts it above speakers like the cheaper UE Boom 2, but its audio output is equally attention-grabbing and beats its potential premium rival, Bose’s popular SoundLink Mini II.
Achieving bass-rich clarity and sonic detail from such a small unit is a remarkable feat, and combined with its balanced dispersion and decent battery life, the Beoplay A1 truly lives up to the tired old adage that you get what you pay for.
professional
- Compact and stylish premium-grade design
- Rich, balanced sound and excellent dispersion
- Impressive battery life at moderate volumes
- Fast charging time
cons
- Not the loudest bluetooth speaker
- Splash-proof, not waterproof
- No carry pouch is provided in the box
- Quite expensive for an ultraportable
How to buy
The Beoplay A1 costs $249, is available in moss green or silver (‘natural’) and can be ordered on the B&O PLAY website.
Note: B&O PLAY provided MacRumors with free A1 speakers for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.
