B&O blends sleek design, rich sound for Bluetooth speaker

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A1

By Yoon Sung-won

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) has maintained its reputation as a provider of luxurious design and sound, even if it means a heavy price tag.

But more recently, the company is pushing to extend its horizon to portable Bluetooth products with relatively affordable prices.

The Beoplay A1, which is priced at 360,000 won ($324) in Korea, is one of B&O’s least expensive Bluetooth speakers. For this reason, it is already considered as a contender to Bose’s SoundLink Mini II, which has been one of the most popular Bluetooth speakers in this price bracket.

Still, the A1 is capable of embodying its uniquely sleek design and crisp, quality sound during a test by The Korea Times on one provided by B&O Korea. And this was enough to live up to the reputation of the Danish audio device maker.

Created by Danish furniture designer Cecile Manz, the A1’s dome-shaped body pushes sound 360 degrees. Its weight ― 600 grams ― cannot be said to be light but it is still portable enough.

One bothersome point was that the body, made of anodized aluminum, does not seem durable enough to survive portable use without ugly scratches and dents. For this reason, it is highly recommended to get a protective pouch, which is not included in the package, to carry the device outdoors.

Though it is not large, the A1 can produce up to 280 watts of sound output through its 3.5-inch midrange woofer and 0.75-inch twitter. This is loud enough for outdoor use but can be too much for indoor environments.

Besides the volume, the quality of sound is flat in general. But considering the recent sound-tuning trend in the portable audio device market, the A1’s sound has strengths with its robust midrange and crisp treble voice.

The A1 has a 2,200mAh embedded battery and this runs 24 hours at moderate volume level, which is much longer than most of portable Bluetooth speakers in the similar price and size in the market. Also, the device is one of the first Bluetooth speakers that accepted the latest type-C universal serial bus port and this allows users to quickly recharge the device.