I just skimmed through the thread. It's really funny to see people who are presumably Apple users using the same rhetoric about B&O that Windows and Android users always use about Apple products.😉
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Review: $399 Beosound A1 Portable Speaker Shows Why Bang & Olufsen Commands a Premium
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An American credit card - Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Yep, that's the problem here. An outdoor, portable bluetooth speaker designed to dump in a bag and hang on things. You can pay $40 or $400. Yes, the $400 dollar speaker is better than the $40 speaker, but is it really ten times better for the use cases it's designed for?
It's not going to replace a decent home audio setup, but it's not meant to. It's not going to replace decent headphones, but it's not meant to.
So it's hard to see why anyone needs to spend $400 rather than $40. If someone wants to spend ten times more, then great. Bt it's hard to see why someone needs to. This is not a speaker that is meant to be carefully placed in optimal acoustic surroundings. It's a "grab and go".
The price point doesn't match the use case, even if the price point is reasonable for what you get for it.
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I have one of these, the V2 version. Love it and happily suggest it to others as a recommendation if I think this would fulfill their requirements.
However, anyone using 2,100 precision-milled holes as a way to impress, is really searching in the void to find marketable benefits.
However, anyone using 2,100 precision-milled holes as a way to impress, is really searching in the void to find marketable benefits.
I know it’s highly unusual for anyone to admit they’re wrong on the internet, but I’ll concede. B&O was indeed around first so the names are just my own personal frustration. And regarding car audio, I admittedly was comparing apples to oranges—the B&O stereo is a roughly $1000 upgrade that comes a part of a tech package vs an over $4000 upgrade for just the B&W sound system, which has way more speakers, way more amplification, and along with all of that, a much better and clearer sound stage.
At least give me credit for limiting my irrationality to non-political stuff
I wouldn't hold my breath for Airplay, the A1 has been out for quite some time now.
I went with a filthy Sonos portable speaker just because of this.
I went with a filthy Sonos portable speaker just because of this.
Nobody “needs” to pay anything for a Bluetooth speaker. You can just listen to music coming out of your iPhone speaker. 40$ is infinity more than nothing, how do you justify that?
For me, a bad speaker is annoying and stressful to listen to, and I would not do it for free. I prefer silence. I look at it the other way round: 400 (well, 250 as it used to cost) is my price of entry, because I haven’t found a cheaper speaker that I want to use. So to me, it doesn’t matter what the price of cheaper alternatives is, because I’m not going to use it. It is irrelevant to me if the crappy alternative is half the price or a tenth of the price.
I don’t think the value of a product diminishes just because the price of a lower quality alternative diminishes. It’s irrelevant.
Full credit from my side, none of us are experts on everything 🙂I know it’s highly unusual for anyone to admit they’re wrong on the internet, but I’ll concede. B&O was indeed around first so the names are just my own personal frustration. And regarding car audio, I admittedly was comparing apples to oranges—the B&O stereo is a roughly $1000 upgrade that comes a part of a tech package vs an over $4000 upgrade for just the B&W sound system, which has way more speakers, way more amplification, and along with all of that, a much better and clearer sound stage.
At least give me credit for limiting my irrationality to non-political stuff
(Sorry for flashing, but the argument requires it
My kitchen speaker, with Airplay, drops out all the time. If I use Bluetooth, it doesn’t. Airplay isn’t all that great, by any measure.
If you were blindfolded and heard the same song played on different systems one airplay and one on gold plated $20,000 cables with a fancy vacuum tube system you wouldnt be able to tell the difference.
All audio gear is placebo
Cannot speak for the Era, but they sound better than the roam and look/feel much better. Sonos’ bigger speakers are a different kind of animal though. Always keep in mind that these are mobile speakers, any comparison to real speakers will not work, they are just small travel speakers.
It most certainly is not, but some is. My 20.000$ system has 100$ worth of cables. You’re barking up the wrong tree. The money in my system is primarily into speakers, subs and active crossovers with manual room EQ. If you think you can’t hear the difference between that and Sonos speakers, you’re the delusional one.
I literally argued that Bluetooth is good enough.
