Verdict
Yes , the looks are divisive and yes , it ’s price on the north side of affirmative . But that the Beosound A5 has it where it count can not be denied .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
How much purpose is too much innovation ? If you ’re intimate with Bang & Olufsen , you ’ll know the fellowship ’s solution to that question is something along the lines of “ you may never have too much design ” .
Which bring in me to the Beosound A5 portable wireless speaker . It ’s orders of magnitude more expensive than its most expensive rivals , and there ’s no two way about it : it has been designed , and then some . But it takes more than a lofty request price and some premium materials to make a lasting stamp …
The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5 is on sale , and in the UK it sells for £ 899 . It goes for $ 1099 in the USA , and in Australia it will cost you AU$1649 . You wo n’t be staggered to learn this makes the A5 not quite the most expensive battery - powered wireless portable speaker you’re able to corrupt .
The most expensive is also the Beosound A5 – the dark oak version ( which has spline or else of the weave of my review sample , and bleak anthracite aluminium rather than silver ) is an even more noteworthy £ 999 / $ 1199 / AU$1799 .
Design
I do n’t really want to toil the point . Bang & Olufsen has delivered a premium portable wireless speaker that look very much like a picnic hoop .
If you listen to B&O , you ’ll hear all about how there ’s a direct line , in pattern terms , from vintage product like its Beolit 607 , 800 or 1000 models from back in the 24-hour interval . If you listen to GamFratesi Studio , designers of the Beosound A5 in conjugation with Bang & Olufsen , you ’ll regain the spirit is partly breathe in by Panama hat .
Naturally , this being Bang & Olufsen , the Beosound A5 is the most lavishly designed , solidly construct , and beautifully fetch up breeze basketful around . The newspaper character weave that constitutes most of its control surface is hard - wearing and ornamental . The anodised aluminium that makes up the top- and bottom plates of the speaker are thin-skinned - feely , and expertly fitted and finished .
The physical ascendency on the top aerofoil are recessed behind a layer of pleasingly rubberised fabric . The smooth oak tree handgrip that ’s pinned to the body of the speaker using casually stigmatise hinge - pin , is perhaps the most pleasant part of the total thing as far as feel is concerned . If there ’s a more tactual wireless speaker available , I have n’t had the opportunity to touch it .
Those physical restraint continue off fun / pause , volume up / down , hop-skip forrader / back , power on / off , and Bluetooth couple . There ’s also a Qi charging temporary hookup on the speaker ’s top open , so you could charge your smartphone even as it ’s streaming tune . And there are four predetermined buttons , the function of which can be specified in the Bang & Olufsen Music control app .
Features
As well as let you select your four shortcuts ( to favourite wireless stations , possibly , or pet playlists ) , the app has plenty of other functionality . The brilliant Beosonic computer graphic EQ adjuster puts in a welcome appearance , and there is also the power to deform loudness on or off , check for software update , integrate yourDeezer accountand use either the Bang & Olufsen Radio feature or TuneIn to reach the satellite ’s wireless stations .
you’re able to make a stereo system pair ( with another A5 ) or a multi - room scheme ( using other Bang & Olufsen speakers build on the company ’s Mozart platform – more on that afterwards ) . It lets you swap ‘ omni ’ audio ( which is how Bang & Olufsen identify 360 - grade sound ) on or off , and it lets you lead a routine to calibrate the Beosound A5 to the specific position it finds itself in . Comprehensive is not too strong a word .
you may also control the A5 usingGoogle Assistant . But despite its native compatibility , the speaker ’s mic ( for reasons only Bang & Olufsen can explicate ) is n’t able-bodied to go for Hey Google commands . You ’ll demand to practice your smartphone to make out your vocalisation commands .
So yes , the Mozart platform . The Beosound A5 , like most late Bang & Olufsen speaker unit , is build up on it – and it means the A5 is about as simple to service and to touch on as possible . It also means the streaming module can easy be changed should such a thing become necessary . And it let the company to make sound on its desire for the A5 to have an existence beyond first life , by supporting reuse , recycling and even remanufacturing .
The Beosound A5 has a sum of 280 watts of Class D gain , power four number one wood : a 130 mm bass driver , a span of 50 millimeter midrange drivers and a 20 mm tweeter . As with the society ’s much more expensive Beolab loudspeakers , the driver are beam - forming – and that ’s how the A5 manage to give up ‘ omni ’ sound . ‘ Omni ’ , by the way , is not to be jumble with spacial audio of theDolby Atmosvariety – such gimmickry is not indulged in Bang & Olufsen - land .
The A5 uses Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi - Fi 6 for wireless connectivity . The later meansApple AirPlay 2,Chromecast , Spotify Connectand Tidal Connect are all uncommitted , while the former is ( again , for cause only Bang & Olufsen can make sense of ) compatible only with SBC and AAC codecs . you could expend a tidy sum less than this on a wireless talker and bask some in high spirits - quality aptX orLDAC Bluetoothstreaming .
An IP65 ratingmeans the Beosound A5 can stand up to a lot of what the British weather can chuck at it , and a battery living of 12 time of day or so means it has endurance in this respect too . Naturally , the battery will drain more apace if you ’re play at top volume or charging your smartphone on the Qi patch ( or both ) – but two hours on the mains gets you back to 80 % capacity and three will top the barrage fire up fully .
It ’s not strange for Bang & Olufsen to be coy about the aboriginal resolve of the DACs fitted to its equipment , but it ’s peculiarly disagreeable in this instance . After all , someone with the money to spend on a Beosound A5 in all probability has the money to compensate for a hi - res music streaming service subscription – and are likely to want to experience their novel speaker can make the most of it .
Sound Quality
At a pretty compact and discreet 187 x 285 x 130 mm ( HxWxD ) , the Beosound A5 is far from the largest portable speaker around . The sound it make , though , is considerably larger than the cabinet it comes from .
Where square scale is concerned , the A5 is never less than impressive . The mind it can create immersive 360 - degree sound is fanciful – but that should n’t detract from the undeniable deepness and breadth of its strait . It ’s not the only wireless speaker able to scat its forcible boundary , but it does so to an almost startling degree .
And this bountiful sound is made up of a lot of expertness in the small surface area . Tonality , for case , is convincingly born throughout the frequency scope – there ’s next - to - no coloration of speech sound , just a close and exact rendering . And from the top of the frequency range to the bottom , the Beosound A5 is balanced and deft – it transitions from high frequence to the midrange and then to scummy absolute frequency with no discernable hand - over and no change of graphic symbol . Nothing is underplayed , nothing sticks out – it ’s an entirely even - handed performer .
I streamed a data file of BC Camplight ’s The Last revolution of Earth to anApple iPhone 14 Provia AAC Bluetooth and the Bang & Olufsen ’s talents are made plain . It ’s a somewhat hazy , radio - friendly recording , but the A5 can open it up , lie it out securely on its liberal , well - organised soundstage , and make each element strong in a space . Despite the disparate nature of the instrumentality , key is convincing – and the unity , the togetherness of the way the A5 demonstrate the song name it no attempt whatsoever to heed to .
The loudspeaker dig deep into the frequency range and hits hard , but it gives bass sounds both quite a little of detail and an awful lot of restraint . This straight - border way of life with the low-down oddment means rhythmic expression is secure , and momentum is considerable . There seems little fortune of this speaker unit ever becoming bogged down by its own low - frequency mien .
It ’s a interchangeable story of particular and control at the polar goal of the frequency grasp – triplex sounds are clean and bright , let in plenty of detail , and remain composed when you ’re listen at heavy book ( and believe you me , the A5 is subject of big volumes ) . In the midrange , meanwhile , the speaker communicates articulately – it allow a vocalist to amply express their mental attitude and purpose and allow them just a little sac of blank in which to manoeuvre without estrange them from the rest period of the execution .
Dynamic power is good too , both where the obvious still - to - garish transitions and the consonant variations in a solo instrument are concerned . And the A5 ’s ability to organise a soundstage and a recording think even the most complex , constituent - lowering recording around are undecided and expressed .
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Should you buy it?
And as long you do n’t care what it look like or how much it ’s going to be you .
She had a snap basketball hoop too , did n’t she ?
Final Thoughts
It does n’t do to pre - judge a product . But it ’s difficult not to when that product is a ) at least twice the price of the beneficial and most expensive of its rivals , and b ) it demo up depend like the Beosound A5 looks .
No , it ’s not twice as good to listen to as a DALI Katch G2 or aSonos Move , say – but that it ’s the well - sounding portable wireless verbaliser around is not really up for interrogative sentence .
Trusted Score
How we test
We quiz every wireless verbalizer we review thoroughly over an extensive period of time . We habituate industry received trial run to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to reexamine a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
There ’s no fast institutionalise support as such with the Beosound A5 , but charge it for two hr and it can recover up to 80 % of its battery cathexis .
