First of all, yes it does. And I work for a competitor.
Second, if what you get for 50 dollars counts as “other high quality speakers”, your perception of value is severely skewed.
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Bang & Olufsen Unveils Beosound A1 3rd Gen Bluetooth Speaker
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Second, if what you get for 50 dollars counts as “other high quality speakers”, your perception of value is severely skewed.
Speakers are a very fragmented market. Even with all those brands, Harman/Samsung is not even close to a quarter of the market. Stereo electronics is similar.
That said, it’s interestingly not that long ago that Sound United’s attempt at buying Pioneer/Onkyo was declined. I guess that was too many major AVR brands under one roof.
I appreciate that feedback, it certainly makes me interested in trying them. lol although not buying them.
As I said in my last post, what EricInBoston wrote really nailed my thoughts on this topic, so I feel like that’s pretty much the sum of what I would say.
Have a very old and beaten up v1, still an amazing on-the-go-speaker. Although the buttons could be less, er, discreet. Heard that v2 lost some of the bass, maybe they brought it back for v3. Doesn’t sound like much of an upgrade, imo. I sold most of my b&o these last year and switched to either old Braun and Sonos, but the A1 remains a favorite.
Fair - but agree to disagree. It’s like stating that MacBook Air is overpriced because you can get a Chromebook for 200 bucks. I don’t believe in products being overpriced simply because something cheaper exists. I believe in products being overpriced if you can buy the SAME quality for less. If you can, I don’t know about it (and I own two JBL Go’s).
Stereo, when you don’t sit in a spot where stereo makes sense, is highly overrated. I have a stereo system with a retail price around 20.000 Euro in my living room, with somewhat optimised acoustics. It delivers a 3D soundstage to most music that most people don’t even know is possible. Every time someone listens, they discover things in their music they didn’t know existed. And in my line of business, that’s not a particularly expensive system.
But my kitchen speaker is a 500 Euro mono speaker. When I’m cooking, with music in the background, I don’t need or care about stereo imaging. I care about “basic sound quality”. I want the singer to sound natural, I want cymbals to sound recognizable, and I want to be able to follow a bass line in the music. But stereo isn’t really relevant. That doesn’t mean I could live with music coming out of my iPhone’s speaker. I want to be above a certain baseline where it’s good enough to not draw my attention to it being bad. That threshold is different depending on your exposure to good sound.
This B&O speaker is not good enough for my kitchen, but I am strongly considering one for travelling, because my company doesn’t make one this small. My kids use JBL Go’s, but they don’t pass my personal threshold, so the result is that if I carry one, I don’t use it because it’s not good enough. I always end up just using the AirPods.
Damn right. Not when I could buy a BYD luxury Seal for 1/8 of $350,000
thank you for joining in commenting with us regular plebs on MR.
it's almost like there's not a Cost of Living crisis hurting many people.
Certain they will be comforted with neither a $350000 car nor a $349 mini speaker...
how tied down were the hotel ones? and how many go "missing"?
didnt the Luxor in Las Vegas have pyramid clocks that disappeared so often they stopped replacing them?
Even if I have one of these (and not two for stereo output…), I am completely with you on this one. This is of course not my only speaker setup, and have two rooms with installed two channel setups apart from this little nugget.
But yes, it is maddening for me how mono has suddenly become all most people need. It is mind-boggling, when screens, phones, computers and pretty much everything else should just be maximised and continously better. But sound? Naah, back to mono.
When you manufacture a luxury product, you don’t care about “many people”, or even “most people”. You care about people buying luxury products, which is a minority.
And before you call me an arrogant prick, this in no way whatsoever hurts the people who can’t afford it. All you have to do is not buy it, look the other way, and not give a ****.
I'm not used to write reviews but I love this device so:
I have the 1st gen and still carry it around the appartment and even when going vacations. It's the best sounding portable speaker I've heard and material is also outstanding when grabbing it. I also own a Sonos Roam which is not bad but not comparable to the awesome sound from the A1.
The leather strap is super convenient to hang anywhere.
I'm glad to read that you can stereo-pair the 3rd gen with a 2nd gen unit, something I'm not able to do with my 1st gen. I also like that they keep this same format in newer versions. I'm sure I will buy another when the one I have dies.
The 1st gen also had a minijack input.. I'm not sure if 2nd or 3rd gens can output audio from a usbc to minijack converter and whether this would introduce some latency..
The only downside I see is that it has no AirPlay. I'm not sure if this is to have a longer battery duration. My Sonos Roam for instance is discharged way more faster than my older A1 1st gen even when they are shut down. It's way more probable that the Roam has no battery when I occasionally grab it than the A1...
I have the 1st gen and still carry it around the appartment and even when going vacations. It's the best sounding portable speaker I've heard and material is also outstanding when grabbing it. I also own a Sonos Roam which is not bad but not comparable to the awesome sound from the A1.
The leather strap is super convenient to hang anywhere.
I'm glad to read that you can stereo-pair the 3rd gen with a 2nd gen unit, something I'm not able to do with my 1st gen. I also like that they keep this same format in newer versions. I'm sure I will buy another when the one I have dies.
The 1st gen also had a minijack input.. I'm not sure if 2nd or 3rd gens can output audio from a usbc to minijack converter and whether this would introduce some latency..
The only downside I see is that it has no AirPlay. I'm not sure if this is to have a longer battery duration. My Sonos Roam for instance is discharged way more faster than my older A1 1st gen even when they are shut down. It's way more probable that the Roam has no battery when I occasionally grab it than the A1...
hahaha.
i've bought designer things before.
thing is, most arent what they used to be.
once it was unique craftmanship and long times to build.
not so much now. if at all...
we've outsourced so much manufacturing to China and cheap labour and the quality control has improved so much.
look at Nike shoes. they still retail at higher end of market. Made in China for $10 to manufacturer. $200 on shelves.
this is where tariffs are stupid. the same manufacturer can make the same quality shoe and sell it direct (minus branding) to you for $20 and double their profit. you can pay the tariff (on the $10 or less declared item cost) and get it for less than $30. same materials. same build quality.
all tariffs are going to do is move people away from the middle man distribution model.
a speaker isnt a luxury item.
there's nothing unique or valuable about it.
there's no rose water scented tanned hide of an endangered species performed on one moon alignment with Jupiter...
it's simply tuned bits of metal and audio drivers and speaker.
packaged nicely. at a high price.
we owned a Porsche Macan. the basic model was extremely plasticy (we had a loan one during a service). every option was like $500 or $5000. sure the leather trim interior package made it feel so much better. and the sales and aftersales experience is great. the car even performed well. but later we bought a VW Tourareg. same drive platform. the top model was almost the same interior feel.
there's nothing miraculous about a $350000 car. except they arent common.
and that's fine if that's all you care about.
same with wine.
i can taste the difference between a $5 bottle and $20 bottle. after that... it gets marginal. i prefer the $20 champagne-style Aussie bubbles to Moet (who own the Aussie winery).
the days of luxury brands are nearly over. so 90s.
kids here are wearing cheap no brand stuff from shops their grandparents shop at.
they inhabit a different world with different values.
they cant afford to buy homes.
they buy differently with different value systems.
a speaker made with recycled aluminium is more likely to be bought by them.
i doubt the leather makes the strap better. a strap of any material would still function...
When you say “a speaker isn’t a luxury item”, how do you define “luxury”? (I am likely going to disagree regardless, but I’m curious what you base that on).
The luxury market is not about whether something works, but about how something feels. Most people don’t understand this market, and that’s fine.
i understand exactly how the luxury market works... price things high and market them well so a few people think they are better than most other people. it plays to insecurity mostly.
so 90s "greed is good".
for a long time Apple products were seen as luxury or aspirational items.
as a teenager I wanted an Apple II but could only afford a Commodore 64.
the computing power was the same but the Apple had the name.
Ive managed to keep Apple design and materials high while bringing them in the more affordable range.
and a strap is a strap. there are plenty of non-leather options these days. more people dont believe something needs to die for their consumer products. look at Alcantra material. nice high quality premium item. manufactured.
look at the woven paper straps on Apple bags. clever material use. feel great in the hand.
i recently bough some LED lights off Amazon. $29. simple elegant design, two colour lights, decent battery life, magnetic bases. gunmetal grey. swivel light. at least as elegant and well made as some $100 lamps friends bought.
Look at some of the Chinese EVs these days. no wonder they have other car manufacturers worried.
Smart design, plenty of included features, range of price points. Even Tesla should be worried. Soon as their motor efficiency catches up they will be unbeatable. Another 2 to 3 years and they will be unbeatable probably.
Maybe yes they are subjectively better. And the increment in price might be fair if you consider the longevity and quality of support.
That’s different in saying my $80,000 Rolex is better than your $10 Timex.
My $30 "Rolex" looked the part with it's Timex guts... but it didnt last either. LOL
There is some better quality control on high end brand stuff for sure.
But mostly it is about stroking egos and pandering to exclusiveness.
Good design is good design. No matter the price point.
Putting users first is the key.
Even people commenting positively on these speakers highlight V2 lost some bass and moaned about no AirPlay function and the buttons in V1 device. Obviously the portability, good sound and replaceable battery - not to mention the leather strap - were big perceived pluses.
No one is saying the speaker isnt good.
Years ago I went to a B&O showroom in Hong Kong. The tv designs were awesome. But the prices were eye watering. They had some very cool looking headphones too. Retro futuristic design. Same thing.
But are they 10 times better than similar sized speakers?
I have rather a lot of Bluetooth speakers. Too many some would argue.
But even within the many Sony speaker range they have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Over time they've evolved to sound better. Occasionally they gone backwards or had a speaker that didnt sound as good that cost more. I like the volume of the SB43s but the SB33s sounded more natural and easier to move around.
I have small Bose Soundlink V1. It's still loud and clear sound.
A $10 soundburger expandable tiny speakers almost defies physics for the sound volume and bass it manages.
Throw a small speaker in a large plastic bucket and sometimes the effect is dramatically different...
End of the day, the small form factor of this speaker will always limit the sonic punch.
You can defy physics only so much. No matter how much you pay.
My point about the watch is that an 80k Rolex doesn’t tell time better 8,000 times better than a $10 timex. Maybe more solid engineering.
But you could make a subjective case about why picking AirPods Pro max over less expensive headphones that MAY seem to be “better”.
But Ive heard B&O equipment I understand why they are top-shelf.
“A strap is a strap” shows me everything I need to know about your so-called knowledge about luxury items. As I said, it’s not about whether the strap works or not. A 100$ lamp is not “luxury”. A Tesla is not “luxury”. Whether Apple is “luxury” is debatable.
Sure, luxury items are higher margin products, and sure you can find many examples of overpriced standard products. But GOOD luxury items - which do exist! - are higher quality items, with a “luxury” feel, at often exorbitant price. You may be able to argue that the exorbitant price is not worth the difference, but that there is no difference is something people who can’t afford actual luxury items are telling themselves. It’s not true. You don’t get Bentley quality feel* in a BYD, you don’t get Gucci quality at target, you don’t get Rolex build in a Timex. And you don’t get Bang & Olufsen quality feel in a JBL. Sorry to burst your bubble. If you don’t see the difference, you either haven’t tried them in real life, or you just don’t care. Which is perfectly fine. There’s nothing wrong with “good enough”. Just don’t kid yourself that you are getting the same for less, because you are not. You are getting “good enough for you”.
*Note the difference between whether it works or breaks down, and “feel”. Yes, luxury cars usually are less reliable than a Toyota. And a Rolex is worse at telling the time than your iPhone. That’s not the point.
But here is the problem. Simply put, If the program material is originally in stereo, when it is summed to mono there are issues of phase cancellation and anything being in the "center" becoming louder as its being doubled up by being combined.
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