Bang & Olufsen is no stranger to either the design-driven approach or the high price. But the company may have done even better with the new Beosound A5 wireless speaker. Not only is the A5 much more expensive than any other battery-powered portable speaker on the market, but it also looks like a picnic basket, from its oak handle to its Nordic Weave paper fiber case. Bang & Olufsen says that the design of its classic Beolit 607, 800, and 1000 models inspired the design of the A5, but we all know that’s not true.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5: Description
GamFratesi Studio, a Danish-Italian design company that worked with B&O to make the A5, says that the woven material reminds them of the Panama hat, which is often worn outside on sunny days. This is another red herring. This is a basket for a picnic.
If picnic baskets aren’t really your thing, you can always spend more money on the Dark Oak finish instead. This is made of black anthracite aluminum instead of silver aluminum. It also has a dark oak handle and dark oak slats instead of a paper weave. Even though it seems strange to spend more money on something that looks a little less like a picnic basket.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Unique looks and finish
- Expansive, full-scale and engrossing sound
- Future-proof engineering
Cons
- Extremely expensive
- Design will be divisive
- Not the strongest 360-degree sound
Specification Table
| Brand | Bang & Olufsen |
| Model Name | Beosound A5 |
| Speaker Type | Multi Room |
| Connectivity Technology | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi |
| Special Feature | 360 Sound, Portable, Multi Room Audio, Active Room Compensation |
| Official link | Visit Website |
Design and Usability
Bang & Olufsen wants to make a direct link between the Beosound A5 and some of its older products, like the Beolit 607, 800, or 1000. The Danish-Italian company GamFratesi Studio, which worked with Bang & Olufsen to design the A5, thinks that the woven paper fiber material makes people think of the Panama hat because of how it looks and feels. But they are both wrong, and it’s likely on purpose. The Beosound A5 looks like a small basket for a picnic.
You can be sure that Bang & Olufsen products have unique designs, and you can also be sure that the quality of their construction is very high. The paper fiber weave that goes around the A5 is done perfectly, and the aluminum plates on the top and bottom of the speaker are smooth and nice to touch. With its brand-named hinges, the oak handle feels great in the hand. The physical controls are small, pushable holes in a softly rubberized material on the top surface. Even though none of this really makes up for the high price, it does show that your wireless speaker was designed and built without obvious compromises.
The A5 is easy to use to get what you want. On the top plate, there are physical buttons for “power on/off,” “Bluetooth pairing,” “play/pause,” and “volume up/down.” There is also a Qi charging patch and four “preset” buttons that make it easy to get to your favorite radio stations or playlists.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5: Features
Bang & Olufsen’s “Mozart” platform is used to make the Beosound A5. It means that the A5 is easy to fix and easy to service, and that the streaming module can be easily replaced if needed (or if new technology makes it necessary). B&O also wants the A5 to last longer than its “first life” by promoting reuse, recycling, and remanufacturing, which the company calls “circularity.”
A 130mm bass driver, two 50mm midrange drivers, and a 20mm tweeter make up a four-piece array that gets 280 watts of Class D power. They are beam-forming drivers, which Bang & Olufsen was the first to use in some of its much more expensive Beolab speakers. The goal is to create 360-degree sound, which B&O calls “omni.” This isn’t the same as the spatial sound that the Sonos Era 300 makes. Dolby Atmos and all the other clever spatial sound algorithms aren’t supported here.
Bluetooth 5.2 lets you connect wirelessly, and Wi-Fi 6 lets you use Apple AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect. The A5 has an IP65 rating, so it should be able to handle a little rain if you decide to take it somewhere other than the bottom of your garden.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5: Performance
The A5’s ability to handle low-level dynamics helps a lot with how well it fits together and how well it works. It can find the tiny differences in a solo piano’s notes that are hidden in the back or on the edges and put them in the right place. And it’s almost a given that the big changes in dynamics that can be seen when a whole symphony orchestra builds up to the final crescendo are also given the right amount of expression.
What’s great about all of this is that the Beosound A5 doesn’t change its personality or attitude even when it’s playing at a high volume (and believe me, it can play at a high volume). It stays calm and never sounds tense or overdone. Instead, it just gets louder. And the fact that the soundstage it creates is so much bigger than the chassis it comes out of adds to the feeling that it is a reliable, high-quality speaker.
Price and availability
The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5 is now on sale, and it costs £899 in the UK. That’s the same as $1099 in the US and AU$1649 in Australia. Just as important, this makes the Beosound A5 the most expensive portable wireless speaker that runs on batteries, and by a long shot. Even the most expensive version costs less than this.
If you want the “dark oak” finish, which has oak slats and black anthracite aluminum, you’ll have to pay £999/$1199/AU$1799. Our review sample has the “nordic weave” paper fibre finish and silver aluminum.
Final Words
The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5 has a lot going for it. If you like this kind of thing, you’ll like how it looks. You’ll be proud to own it because of how well it’s made and finished, and it’s without a doubt the best-sounding wireless, battery-powered, portable speaker on the market right now. It’s a very open question whether it’s the best pound-for-pound, but there’s no doubt that it’s the best in general.
But, of course, pound-for-pound is what really matters. If you want a Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5, you have to be able to explain to yourself why it’s worth spending £899. You also have to ignore the fact that high-quality, high-performance portable battery-powered speakers from brands like DALI and Sonos (to name just two) cost less than half as much as this B&O. If you can do this, though, the best picnic you’ve ever been to is right around the corner.
FAQs
Both the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 Gen 2 and the Sonos Roam are speakers, but their strengths are different. The Bang & Olufsen has better directivity, which makes it sound like it is farther away. Also, it has lower Bluetooth latency with iOS and Android devices, which makes it better for watching movies and videos.
Both the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 Gen 2 and the Bose SoundLink Revolve are speakers with very similar sound quality. Depending on how you listen, you might like one better than the other. The Bose lasts longer on a single charge. But the voice assistant on the Bang & Olufsen works better.
