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Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 2nd Gen review: A luxurious audio hamburger
It's pricey, but B&O's second-generation A1 is a fantastic little speaker
When a product is priced significantly higher than its competition, there are two potential reasons: either A) it's a legitimately superior option, or B) the company that makes it knows its target demographic will pony up regardless of how much it costs. Most luxury goods are some combination of the two (think Apple or Tesla). Bang & Olufsen's second-generation Beosound A1 also fits that bill: at $250, the Bluetooth speaker hardly reinvents portable audio — but it does everything it does so well, I'm inclined to put it more in column A than column B. I love this thing.
Bang & Olufsen unveils Beoplay E8 Sport, premium true wireless earbuds designed for exercise
With a long-lasting battery, IP57 certification, and wireless charging
Bang & Olufsen today unveiled its latest pair of truly wireless earbuds, the Beoplay E8 Sport. While it's not the company's first venture into the sports market, it hopes to carry over the signature sound profile that's kept consumers loyal to the Danish brand, in the form of truly wireless earbuds. They retain the design aesthetic of previous Bang & Olufsen wireless earbuds, but introduce some key features that make them a suitable companion for professional athletes and casual runners alike.The Beoplay E8 Sport tackles three problems that active consumers tend to face — comfort, durability, and sound quality. Along with each pair comes a set of five removable ear tips, and three fins so the earbuds can fit comfortably in all ear sizes. They also feature an IP57 certification which keeps them running under water up to one meter for 30 minutes (great for swimmers). You can expect around seven hours of battery life from the earbuds themselves, and another 23 thanks to the accompanying charging case. That should be more than enough to play through a five mile run. With Bluetooth 5.1, AAC, and aptX codecs, we don't expect the earbuds to experience any issues with connection and playback.
B&O's new Beosound Balance speaker has Google Assistant and a $2,250 price tag
Yes, the same Google Assistant that runs on the $50 Nest Mini
Audiophiles have long been happy to spend what most of us would consider obscene amounts of money on speakers, and these ultra-premium products are slowly adopting "smart" features like Google Assistant. Bang & Olufsen has a new Assistant-powered speaker called the Beosound Balance. It'll cost you $2,250, but it probably sounds pretty good.
Famed manufacturer of stylish and very expensive audio gear Bang & Olufsen is now selling an improved version of its super-luxe H9i noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones. The new H9 (no i) are strikingly similar to their predecessor, but now sport a dedicated voice assistant button and longer playback time.
Not long ago, the only Assistant-powered speakers you could get were Google's own. The selection has since expanded with the likes of Sony, Harman, LG, and Anker. Now, Bang & Olufsen has announced some Assistant speakers. The cheaper of the two costs $1,750, which is more than four times the cost of a Google Home Max. On the plus side, they don't look like speakers.
Bang and Olufsen (B&O) makes some high-end audio products. Some would say overpriced, some would argue that the design, materials, and audio quality justify the premium price tag. B&O's latest venture into streaming speakers is reminiscent of Sonos, but the company is being more open about its connectivity standards. As an example, the newly announced Beoplay M3 speaker supports Chromecast (thus Google Assistant/Home), Airplay, Bluetooth, and Beolink Multiroom, so you can choose whichever protocol works best for you.The M3 is the most compact speaker in B&O Play's Connected Audio line-up. It follows the design language of the M5 by featuring premium aluminum and fabric with exchangeable front covers. The color choices aren't exotic though, you get a natural (light grey) or black base and either a textile dark grey or aluminum grill (light grey). That ought to cover the different greyscale shades for you. And if you're a materials nerd, you can read B&O wax poetic about its wool and fabric here.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q1w05uMJLE[/EMBED_YT][EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRERe3OaJUI[/EMBED_YT]Sound-wise, expect a built-in 3.75' woofer and 0.75' Tweeter, 40W power amplifiers, and a 65-22000Hz frequency range. The M3 measures 11.2 (W) x 15.1 (H) x 14 (D) cm and weighs 1.46 Kg. It also has a 3.5mm line-in, a mains input, and MicroUSB for some reason that I don't clearly see (sound input?). As for connectivity, it uses Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac - 2.4/5 GHz. It works with the Beoplay Android app to let you choose sound profiles and set up multiroom with the Beoplay M5, A6, and A9 if you own those.The $299 price (€299 in Europe) is in line with B&O Play's current products. It's not something I would ever pay for a compact speaker, but I have to say that the different connectivity options make this a lot more interesting than Sonos.Source: B&O Play (1), (2), Amazon
The over-ear headphone market is a competitive place, with Bang and Olufsen (B&O), Bose, Plantronics, and Sony all vying to make the best cans money can buy. B&O's latest set, the Beoplay H9, are up for pre-order at Amazon with a shipping date of December 8.The Amazon listing says the H9 are lightweight (although I wonder if that means they're lighter than the Bose's QC35, which are ridiculously light, as Rita said in her review) and, interestingly, has an intuitive aluminum touch panel, located on the right earcup. This allows changing music, volume, turning noise cancelling on or off, and answering or declining calls. I've always had issues with buttons on headphones - I can never find the button I want when they're on my head - so it'll be fascinating to see if this works. Other features include B&O's signature sound profile, and fourteen hours of battery life - six hours less than Bose's QC35 twenty hours.
When I published my review of the LG G5, my personal take on the device itself was positive and divergent from David's more criticizing review. However, there is one aspect both David and I agree on almost to the letter: the Friends. They are, in my opinion, fun to try, but you can tell they were rushed, with a poorly executed mechanism, and some highly doubtful usefulness factor. Well, all but the 360 Cam. That one is pure awesome bundled in magic and wrapped in 360 degrees of cool.
LG is still cheekily announcing bits and pieces of its G5 flagship before the phone itself. After hinting at the always-on display and unveiling a fancy touch cover for the phone, it's now ramping up expectations about the audio performance of the G5 by announcing a collaboration with B&O PLAY, a sub-division of Bang & Olufsen, the well respected Danish audio and video company.