Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1 Wireless Multiroom Speaker
Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1
I was lucky enough to recently try out a whole host of speakers by Bang & Olufsen and boy do they make some crazy-looking stuff. Perhaps one of the better-known brands to consumers thinking about entering the premium sound markets the have designs that extend beyond just speakers and into decorative statement pieces. The Beosound 1 that I am reviewing today is undoubtedly a statement piece and certainly the wildest-looking portable speaker I have tested to date.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1 Pricing and Availability
First Impressions
The first impression I had when seeing the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1 was wow. This looks, unlike anything I have ever seen. The second was a spot of perplexion. You see I had never seen one in person, at the same time I kept thinking I thought this would be bigger and that I thought it would be smaller. The designation as a portable speaker with an internal battery made me think it would be far more diminutive. The pictures made it look like a big unit.
In reality, I got it, it’s transportable, not something I’m likely to travel with but perfect for moving around the house. My family has a lounge that is only used in December and January as the family starts to gather for Christmas. We also have an outdoor area which is not best suited to the northern weather and only sees use for a few months in summer. Neither of these spaces is used enough to dedicate a speaker too, especially one this expensive. So the Beosound would fit that need quite well. Keep it in the main living area for listening to music and move it around as necessary.
It’s a concept that works with the rest of the Bang & Olufsen speakers so it can also be used as a satellite system around the house where you may have a good main system but play music in multiple rooms.
Design
Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1
The Beosound 1 is a stunning-looking, statuesque piece managing to be eye-catching when placed in a room while at the same time not standing out as an audio system. It’s stealthy like that. Yet at the same time, a lot of the design is following integrated functionality aspects. It’s a big cone-shaped speaker that has a few tricks up its sleeve so let’s dive into it.
The very top section is a small metal puck with a black glass top on it. This is the perfect place to put, say a volume control. Well, the black glass is actually a touch capacitive screen that lights up when using google assistant and the like but that isn’t where Bang and Olufsen hid the volume commands. No the entire top puck section actually spins to adjust the volume giving you somewhat of a real HiFi volume pot. It’s so buttery smooth in its implementation that I found myself reaching for it again and again in the kitchen despite the fact that I could have just used google to alter the listening levels.
Just below there is another stylistic action that gives the effect of the top puck levitating. It’s actually connected but at the right angle, it makes the volume puck look like it’s floating in the space above Beosound 1. This space again is functional because if you look closely, you will see the cone that enables the speaker to play audio in 360 degrees.
Yes, a big part of the conical design is that the speaker is designed to create 360-degree audio. It doesn’t need to be set up directionally as you would do with a set of bookshelf speakers and it can simply be placed and played anywhere in a room. The 1.5-inch full-range driver fires down onto the coned top which then spills the sound out in every direction. It’s a fantastically beautiful concept and looks great up close.
The cone contains the small driver on the top section but the base is where you find the subwoofer along with the housing for the Class D amplifiers. Bass is controlled by the 4-inch driver firing downwards, and again it spills out 360 degrees for maximum impact in all directions.
Everything is very seamless, very clean, and very well thought out. Not only is this design very elegant but in its configuration, Bang and Olufsen have actually managed to efficiently space the internal components.
Other speakers like the stunning (and more affordable) Trettitre Tresound 1 comes close in looks but still as an overall package, the Beosound is just a class piece of equipment.
Functionality
Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1 - Stereo pairing via Beolink App
The big addition here over the outgoing Beosound 1 model is, of course, google assistant. You can now use this speaker to control your home, get news updates, or set reminders. It’s integrated with voice control and links with your Google account. In use I found it possible to work from any distance and volume I would be comfortable speaking to someone, I never felt like I was yelling so the microphones do a good job here.
At the heart of Bang and Olufsen’s speakers, you have the Beolink system of connecting multiple speakers throughout your house. This lets you connect multiple speakers from the B&O family and not just the exact same models. When conducting this review I was fortunate enough to be testing multiple different speakers at the same time. In the living room, I had the Beoplay A9 and my lounge had a Beosound 2 with the Beosound 1 in the kitchen. Using the app I was able to set up true multi-room wireless audio with sound quality Sonos can only ever dream of.
Should you not wish to connect via Wifi the only option available is Bluetooth. You can connect directly to the speaker this way but I was disappointed to learn they are still using the outdated Bluetooth 4.2 standard. Most new devices are onto Bluetooth 5.3 which fixes a lot of latency issues when watching videos.
There are no auxiliary inputs or RCA inputs to connect to your Hifi system and it seems the Beosound 1 has a solid focus on the wireless element of its design.
Unlike some other speakers from the company, this is actually a portable speaker. Therefore inside you will find a battery though I suspect, because of the hefty 3.5kg weight, not many will use it as a travel speaker. It’s more for the convenience of being able to move it around your house without being tethered to mains power. Bang claims a 12-hour battery life at 50% volume, I don’t know where they came up with that figure because our tests were consistently between 10 to 10.5 hours at that level and significantly less when increasing the volume.
Sound
Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1
Sound is subjective, but my gosh I was blown away with the Beosound 1. Of course when I say that I am taking into account both the size and use case for the speaker. No this will not compete in a way even close to a full HiFi system with dedicated stereo speakers for the same money. But for a wireless speaker of its size, few can replicate the sound.
The most noticeable trait of the Beosound 1 is that it sounds grand, the sound is full, meaty, and thick. It fills a room in a way that you can almost not tell where the sound is coming from. It’s powerful and authoritative and I’m not just talking about the bass.
Midrange stands out with detail, detail, and some warmth; it doesn’t sound cold or thing in any way. Strings of acoustic instruments float before decay and resonate with a lasting, lingering effect. Male vocals in this range carry gravitas and power, fitting well with the heavier voices of blues singers, and the such are matched beautifully in tone and weight.
The highs are somewhat muted its a safe and inoffensive tune to the upper frequencies. Smooth yet detailed, it may lack the punch to carry floating high notes to display a realistic soundstage but then that is offset by the 360 nature of the sound as a whole.
Bass is very hard-hitting as that 4-inch dedicated subwoofer gets to work. It hits hard and remains composed with no bleeding into the midrange.
Alternative Bang & Olufsen Speakers
Bang & Olufsen has a wide range of speakers an we have tested a lot of them this past year. Click the links below to see these product reviews in full.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2 - A smaller Multiroom Wireless Speaker
Bang & Olufsen Beosound Balance - A premium speaker for around the house
Our Verdict
The Beosound 1 by Bang and Olufsen is undoubtedly going to be out of range for a lot of people. This is a luxury product designed for wealthy individuals who can afford that unique blend of design, name-brand recognition, and sound. It’s therefore not one I can recommend based on value but if you have the money, then it is undoubtedly one of the better-sounding multi-room speakers for its size and nothing at all comes close to matching its looks.
