Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2 Wireless Multiroom Speaker

Wireless Speakersspeakersactive speakersMulti Room SpeakersReview

Jul 23

Before we get all the way into this review of the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2 I think we need to talk a bit about the price. Listed at $3000 RRP by the company themselves they are certainly positioning themselves at the top end of the wireless speaker market. Yes, you can have a full home audio system, yes, you can have an insane-sounding HiFi system, and yes you could probably do both at the same time and spend less than a single Beosound 2. What Bang & Olufsen are at this point are not the best sounding for the money, they aren’t a value play. They are focussed on blending art, performance, and functionality. They make statement pieces, trade on the brand’s name value, and create a lot of speakers that don’t look like speakers. This is just one reason why Bang always lists the designers and artists in the spec sheets.

To look at the Beosound line and dismiss would be wrong. We live in a world where a Casio G-Shock with its quartz crystal is infinitely more accurate than a Rolex. Where a Ford Fusion will get you to your destination at the same time as a Ferrari was given speed limits. Both these products and many more we attach value to are still worth it. I’m not going to sit here and tell you the Beosound 2 is the best sounding, best value speaker because it’s not. But it does sound fantastic, it does look amazing and it is very easy to use. Now let’s get on with the review.

Design

The design is striking, it looks nothing like a speaker in the conventional sense. We have the silver version for this review but there are 4 colors available which I have seen in person, all are very handsome pieces but for me, with black furniture in my house, I would have to choose the bronze.

It’s a conical design, the same ethos as the Beosound 1 I reviewed last week. This unit though is bigger and there is a quite noticeable addition of vents at the top. Still, on the very top of the unit you get the amazing dial control, this has an inbuilt proximity sensor so that it detects your presence and lights up the capacitive buttons. This section also works as a volume pot allowing you to adjust the listening level to your preference. The dial turns buttery smooth with just a hint of resistance, it feels, premium to say the least.

Under the volume and controls sits a section with a tweeter. It’s the same one used in the Beosound 1 but is retuned to handle the mid and high frequencies only. The full range duties are from the two 2-inch woofers that sit behind the grills. This is a big upgrade from the Beosound 1 and it adds more weight and fullness to the overall sound.

At the base of the cone, you have a huge (for a speaker of this size) subwoofer. It has a 5.25-inch diameter and fires downwards and out to create a true 360-degree audio experience.

Trapped between the subwoofer and the mid-range woofers sits the electrical components. The amplification is all handled by high-quality class D amplifiers. There are three inside to handle the different drivers.

All of this is wrapped in the beautiful brushed aluminum case. On the hand I saw just how well made it is, it just feels like they went all out, no rough edges need deburring, no gaps in the way it was put together. Refined and classy is the best way to describe both the looks and the build quality.

Connectivity

There are only four ways to connect your audio to the Beosound 2. Wifi, Auxillary, Ethernet, and Bluetooth. There are no Hifi RCA inputs, not a Coaxial connector. The speaker is designed to be used with your phone or computer providing the source material so plugging in Hifi components is not an option. Nor would it be practical because as far as I am aware there is no way to bypass the internal amplification thus rendering many source components redundant.

The unit can be controlled via the Beolink application which allows you to link other speakers in the Bang & Olufsen family together to create a true wireless home audio system. This doesn’t need to be the same speakers and I had no issue pairing together a Beosound one and a Beoplay A9 speaker in the same house. It makes using the system very seamless, the app is fantastic and just works without making you have to think too much about it. To many manufacturers overcomplicate things but Bang has gone and made the whole pairing process very intuitive.

Sound

Now I got all the caveats about sound out the way at the start of this review. Expectations must be tempered. This is not a replacement for a Hifi system, it is a semi-portable 360-degree mini speaker system with integrated amplification. Therefore I think it’s only fair to evaluate its sound against similar-sized systems. In that regard, the unit I used for comparison was the Devialet Phantom II

The sound performance from the Beosound 2 is really something special given its size. Striking clarity and a clear definition of notes was the first thing I observed. It plays wonderfully with almost any genre but really excels when listening to rock, classical, and jazz tracks. The imaging leads to the ability to clearly define areas of tracks, isolate sections, and focus on passages with extreme focus.

The bass hit hard and is extremely punchy it is refined and tighter than I would say impactful. Testing as always with Two Feet “Quick Musical Doodles” showed that even under extreme sub-bass load it doesn’t lose composure or integrity. It’s not the hardest-hitting sub-bass in the category, that, of course, goes to the Devialet which we will discuss in a second, but it strikes a nice balance between impact and detail.

The mids were unbelievably clear, really class-leading in this area and the way it presents the 360 audio is almost holographic. Notes float in the are and seem to hang or linger. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s “Tamacun” is as good a test as any for stringed noted decay and wow this speaker impressed. I could hear the notes dissipating when I concentrated and but at the same time plenty of micro detail from fretboard slides was also presented.

Male vocals display strong performance with Gregory porter sounding good although I think a bit more weight could be added here. It was really when you get into the range of female vocals in lower octave such as Miley Cyrus’s cover of “Jolene” that you start to notice where its strength lies.

Highs are clear and detailed. By freeing up the tweeter from full range duties and focusing on the treble it had much more detail than on the Beosound 1. This clarity and openness of the top end also aided in opening up the whole sound and making it sound quite spacious even though it is not a stereo speaker.

Compared with the Devialet Phantom II there was no real comparison for me. The refinements of the Beosound made it a more rounded and pleasing speaker to listen to. Going back and forth the one area I think the Phantom excels is in the sub-bass extension and quantity. The Dvialet sounds more fun on EDM tracks but that’s only when listening to both speakers side by side. With either or I don’t think you would feel either is too much or too lacking. Highs and mids are far cleared and more detailed on the Beosound and for this reason, I’m giving it the win.

Positives

Unmatched Design and Aesthetics
Midrange Clarity and Detail
Can be paired with other speakers to create a multi-room wireless audio system
Stellar build quality, finishing, and materials

Negatives

Extremely expensive
Amplifiers cannot be bypassed
Bluetooth standard is outdated

Our Verdict

I think I outlined pretty well at the start of this Beosound 2 review that sound is not the only factor at play here. The sound is fantastic but maybe not worth multiple of the other speakers in class when discussing dollars. The design though I think is unmatched, it’s such a beautiful design, and the fact that it blends in and provides the ability to fill a room with sound makes it very hard to complain. Still, for many people, the price will be a hard pill to swallow and I get that. This is an exclusive speaker for people that appreciate the design and the weight the brand name carries. I spend insane amounts of money on audio equipment (turntables, amps, DAPs) so how can you critique this. I think it’s great, with fantastic sound, cool design, and maybe some bragging rights to boot.

Official Website of B&O Beosound 2: www.bang-olufsen.com

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