Description
B&O BeoPlay A1 2nd Gen Bluetooth Speaker (Grey Mist)
Item details:
Brand new in retail box
Sold by VAT registered UK company
We are a high rated retailer with a track record of excellent service
We only sell high quality products
B&O BeoPlay A1 2nd Gen Bluetooth Speaker (Grey Mist)
£299.00
Out of stock
Additional information
| Product code | CA54154 |
|---|---|
| Barcode | 5705260083835 |
| Weight | 0000000000001 |
| Brand | Bang and Olufsen |
20 reviews for B&O BeoPlay A1 2nd Gen Bluetooth Speaker (Grey Mist)
You must be logged in to post a review.
Kristani –
This is the best portable Bluetooth speaker Ive used, but it is very expensive for what it is. It looks and feels good quality (as you would expect from Bang and Olufsen). The aluminium grill and polymer base is great, with the difference between the two materials not obvious.On the side of the speaker there are 6 buttons: play/pause, volume up, volume down, power on/off, Bluetooth and Alexa. The buttons work well, with it being easy to set up for the first time via Bluetooth with my phone and laptop. The sound is great, having a nice amount of bass for playing music, but also sounding great for speech or videos. One speaker is mono, but if you buy two you can connect both at once in stereo mode.Because this is waterproof I can use this while having a bath. Another positive is that the battery lasts a very long time. So far Ive been using this for hours, but it’s only dropped to 80% capacity. I can imagine this being great for parties or park gatherings as you know the speaker will last.The Bang and Olufsen app comes with different settings for different uses (optimal, ambient, party, speech and favourite). I find that the default optimal mode works just fine for me, whatever Im using the speaker for, but perhaps audiophiles will have a different preference for different contexts. ‘Party’ seems to add to the bass, for example. The app also provides a battery meter, which is handy.I tested out the ClickElectronics Alexa functionality, and it was responsive to my voice commands. I asked for directions, and for various facts, which Alexa gave me. I also asked for the device to play music, in response to which Alexa asked me if I wanted to sign up with their music service. I tried the free trial which worked well enough. However, I cant imagine actually using Alexa with this device, other than as a novelty. If you sign up to the ClickElectronics music service, or perhaps Audible or something similar, then voice control could be useful, but I found the Alexa experience too restrictive. Another issue was that I needed to keep my phone connectedthe speaker doesnt have a wifi connection, so it needs to connect to a bluetooth device which can connect to the internet. But I found this a hassle, especially if my Bluetooth got disconnected. Alexa also needs to be running in the background on your phone, which can drain your battery.These are cheap compared to many other Bang and Olufsen speakers, yet expensive compared to alternative Bluetooth speakers with a similar size and spec. The sound quality and the quality of the materials is obvious, so if you are looking for a great sounding and waterproof, high quality speaker, which you can use at home, or out and about in parks or at friends houses, then this is a great choice. If you are looking for a speaker which works well with voice control, there are better options. And to be honest, the price is steep for what this is, which is why Ive given this 4 stars.
Fèlix E. F. –
Superb sound
Hayden Tobias –
Wow, what a great sound this small, modern Bluetooth speaker gives out. (A1 2nd generation)The quality of this product is certainly impressive, it does come at a premium, if the price is in your budget then this is a great portable speaker.Not a lot of literature in the box, however I watched the instructional video on ClickElectronics, this gives you all the information you need, it is easy to setup.I downloaded the Bang & Olufsen app from google play to use with my android phone, there is a registration process that you have to go through, name, E-mail & E-mail confirmation. You do have to turn on your location when using the app, (you can turn this back off once you are paired with the device). The app gives you various pre-set listening modes (optimal, ambient, party etc), battery health, information etc.I am now hearing music with great sound and clarity using my phone, the type of quality that you would expect from a high end HiFi system.I tested the speaker to make calls, the sound is amazing especially when compared to my phones speaker and microphone, so clear, even when I left my phone downstairs and I walked upstairs, the other person said my voice was vibrant their end too.The product is intended as a mobile speaker, yes it ticks the box for this, I can hang this in the garden using the leather strap, have my music outside when friends visit rather than turning my HiFi on full blast inside the house so we can hear it in the garden. It states on the box it is IP67 waterproof.Functions can be controlled by your phone or with the buttons on the device itself, play, pause, skip, answer calls, hangup etc, the device can also be paired with another to give you stereo speakers even though the one is adequate.You can also use this device as an ClickElectronics Alexa. The on/off for this is controlled by the Bang & Olufsen app, software updates are also available through the app also. The app itself is available from the Apple App Store, Google Play or bang-olufsen.com/app.A well made, premium device.
cyrilb –
The sound from this Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 speaker is very good. It produces a good range of frequencies, allowing individual instruments to be heard. The sound is warm yet vibrant, making the listening experience very satisfying. Its coped really well with the classical, jazz, rock and spoken works Ive played through it. At its maximum volume its loud enough to easily fill a living room, though those seeking a very loud speaker might be dissatisfied.So far, the signal seems pretty persistent. I have noticed a couple of interruptions and glitches lasing about a second. Its barely noticeable and hasnt impacted my listening enjoyment, though it is not something I have ever experienced with another Bluetooth speaker I use.Unfortunately, in most other aspects, I am far less satisfied with this speaker.Setting it up was, frankly, a pain. Only very minimal instructions are included. As I found with another B&O product I own, to set this up with full control, or get more instructions, or troubleshoot, you ideally need to connect it to the B&O app on your phone or tablet. But if you have any problems connecting it, you cannot access those instructions and troubleshooting tips in the app. Catch 22!The on/off light on the speaker cuts out after a few minutes while the speaker is being used, so its sometimes difficult to tell if the speaker is on or off. The electronic babblings the speaker emits when buttons are pressed are not very intuitive, and I find the control buttons to be awkwardly placed around the base. I own a cheaper rival brand speaker, which although it does not quite match this B&O speaker sound-wise, is far easier to use (I also prefer the narrower shape of that speaker, which is easier to carry and place in narrow shelves, compared to the B&O’s round design).After many frustrating minutes trying to set up the speaker, I eventually managed to connect it to my phone app, which notified me that the speaker needed a software update. This took three goes and practically a full day, as the B&O app kept sticking for hours on a 10 more minutes to complete message.My experience of using Alexa with this speaker has also been one of frustration. I could only get the Alexa connection to work for a couple of minutes when I first set up the speaker. It stopped connecting with my Alexa account after that, and I have not been able to establish the connection since. Alexa seems dead as far as this speaker is concerned. The Alexa app tells me the speaker is connected, but the B&O app reports differently. All my efforts to play around with the settings, troubleshoot and reinstall have yet to resolve this.The battery seems good. Even so, other than the slowly charging indicator light, there is no indication on the speaker itself of how the charging is progressing, or how much charge is left (though the app does show this).Verdict: I really like the sound quality, but I find this speaker frustratingly awkward to use, and I havent managed to get the Alexa integration working reliably. In spite of the sound, I cant help but feel disappointed with this speaker.
shrinder tumber –
Class
Matthew Dodd –
Very good sound, but little else impresses
Mr D Houltby –
The quality of the product and sound
Joy Lovering –
Great quality but expensive
Mr. P. Taylor –
Let me first start off by saying I had high expectations of the B&O A1 portable speaker. I had set my goals high and I wanted to love this product.Which is why I’ve been left a little disappointed. You can check out my video review to see the speaker in action and experience my thoughts live, but I’ll give you the basis of my disappointment here.What you’ll get in the box is the speaker, and a USB-C to USB-A charging cable. Nothing else, like a travel pouch maybe which might have been useful for a product designed for being out and about. The speaker is quite large for a portable device, and being round in shape is rather awkward to find a home for in a pocket. It’s unquestionably a stylish design and pleasant to look at, but misses the portability brief a little. It does make up for it a little with a premium leather (maybe, I think?) carry cord which the product description will have you believe you’ll drape over the handlebars of your bike. The problem with the cord is that if you’re not carrying the speaker by it, it gets in the way. It doesn’t come off either. It’s threaded into the body of the speaker so you’re stuck with it if you like it or not. Which wouldn’t be a total problem, if it wasn’t sticking right out of the front. Assuming that you may want to use the speaker at home you’ll put the speaker on a table with the function buttons and display lights at the front, and charging point at the rear, and then you’ve got 9 inches of cable draped in front of it. I may be being harsh, but sooner or later you’ll be actively considering taking a pair of scissors to it. On the subject of those function buttons, I really didn’t like them. They’re entirely flush, build into the chassis of the speaker. There is no tactile way of knowing what the buttons are without looking at them. They’re not illuminated either, so forget trying to turn this off easily when you’re playing music in the garden late at night.Before you get started with using the speaker, you have to download the Bang & Olufsen app to your phone/tablet. Without this app, you’ll get nothing. I paired the speaker to my iPhone before realising this, played some music and…got nothing. It would only play the music once the B&O app was installed and I’d registered an account with B&O. There are no other ports on the A1 to be able to use it as an auxilary speaker, it can only be used by bluetooth. It’s not AirPlay either. If you have an iOS device it’ll pick it up as a pair of Headphone, and will only play music while connected to your device. Which leads me nicely to my next point…Alexa integration. The main selling point of this 2nd generation A1 is Alexa integration. Does it work? Yes with a big but. If you haven’t already got it, you’ll need the Alexa app on your device as well as the B&O app before it’ll work. Once all paired up, the speaker will use your phone/tablet as its means of getting an internet connection. It isn’t a Wi-Fi enabled speaker like an Echo or Sonos One. It will only work with Alexa while connected to your phone. So, unless you want your phone permanantly connected to the A1 speaker (so all sounds go to the external speaker, regardless of where you are and what the sounds are), you’re going to need to actively connect your device to the A1 every time you want to use Alexa. This might be me, but that kinda takes the hands-free ease of Alexa away somewhat, wouldn’t you agree?In practice though, when connected, Alexa does indeed work. Just, not as well as it does when using an Echo device. Firstly, there’s a noticable delay between saying “Alexa” and the speaker waking up to listen to you. With an Echo device it seems to be always listening to you, and you can usually ask your command in a continuous request. “Alexa, play Guns and Roses” etc. With the A1, you have to introduce a brief pause. “Alexa……play Guns and Roses”. Again, it may seem like I’m being trivial, but no end of times I was half way though asking the A1 something before it woke up and had missed an important part of the command.Additionally, I also noticed that an Echo device took precedence if an Echo and the A1 were in close proximity. I show this on my video review, but if you say “Alexa, play Guns and Roses” when both speakers are listening the sound always comes out of the Echo. I don’t know why that is.For me, the Alexa integration is nice if you don’t have any other Alexa-enabled speakers. But if you already have an Alexa ecosystem then I wouldn’t buy it just for the Alexa feature.So, let’s ignore Alexa. What is it like as a speaker in its own right? Well, at least there I can be positive. It does sound good. For a small device it has a nice meaty sound to it, certainly better than an Echo Dot. Is it 5 or 6 times better than the Echo Dot, as the cost of the A1 suggests? No, no it isn’t. When pushed, it still sounds a bit tinny at high volume. I also found that the microphone for Alexa would be more likely to miss my commands at high volume than an Echo device. But, it’s still a better sound than you’d expect from something of this size. It’s also waterproof too, so you don’t need to worry about a sudden downpour when jamming in the local park.So, as a stylish speaker portable speaker, it has a place. But it’s such a niche place. If you’re the kind of person spending £200 on a speaker, I’m pretty sure you’ll already have a better sounding speaker in your house. I can’t see many people using this as their main, default speaker. Which means that it’s £200 for a speaker you will only use outdoors, so it’s an occasional product. That leaves me struggling to justify the cost. If I was to recommenend an outdoor speaker, I’d go with the Anker Soundcore everytime. The latest version is around the £40 mark, and the older version, which I have, is usually less than £30. It might not be absolutely as great sounding as the A1, but it’s not far behind. It’s shape means it’s also more likely to fit in your pocket, and for £30-40 you’re going to be less upset when someone makes off with it while you’re loading up at the BBQ.It pains me to hate on a B&O speaker, it really does. I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile, but I do appreciate good audio/visual equipment. In this house is 7 Echo dots Gen 3 and two Gen 2s. There’s 2 Sonos Ones. A Bose sound bar under one telly and another connected to a Denon amp and a Wharfedale 7 speaker+woofer Dolby Atmos system, a couple of AirPod Pros and of course that Anker Soundcore. I really thought the A1 would compliment our current speakers, but I know it’s just going to gather dust. I’m sorry B&O, I just know you can do better.
Christine Stringer –
This speaker looks lovely – its smooth curves and mesh top make it look every bit the premium product (although I am less convinced by the little piece of leather for hanging it up but that’s just my personal taste). There is a minimalist indicator light within one of the mesh holes which changes colour depending on what is happening. It’s fairly intuitive once you’ve used it a couple of times.Pairing is relatively easy but I find that pairing and playing when the battery is really low is iffy, to say the least. Once you have paired, however, I was not impressed at being prompted to download an app to use the device. The app allows you to do a few sound adjustments, check the battery etc but I don’t think it adds a lot of value, it’s 100MB of clutter on your phone and, of course, you have to sign up and provide your data to use it! Fortunately, if you ignore the prompt, you can just use it like a normal Bluetooth speaker.You have a number of buttons around the edge of the speaker – play/pause, volume up/down, Bluetooth pairing and microphone for voice commands. The buttons are responsive and generally do what you want them to do.The sound is obviously the main reason why people consider B&O products and it is definitely very good. Rich and warm with plenty of bass, you can see why B&O are highly thought of. I haven’t tried the Sonos Move (which seems like the most obvious premium competitor) but I have other Sonos devices and the quality is definitely comparable.Price-wise, I have a number of Bluetooth speakers to compare this with including the amazing Megaboom 3 which is around £50 cheaper than the B&O. I would say that it’s probably not worth paying extra for the B&O name as the Megaboom 3 does an equally excellent job. However, the B&O definitely looks more “grown up” and would fit in more discreetly in a contemporary home.In summary, this speaker has great sound and looks very nice. I am not interested in the app or using voice commands / Alexa and so I can’t really comment on those aspects. Would I pay £200 for this? Probably not, I think you can do just as good for cheaper.