Bang & Olufsen - Beosound A5

I'm on the hunt for the perfect portable speaker and unfortunately I'm asking for a lot. I want a design I personally enjoy, which integrates nicely into my home and I can easily pick up and take with me. I want all the connectivity, good sound and no weird issues. On paper the Beosound A5 is promising all that for a hefty pricetag, but since I got very curious if it can deliver on that promise I ordered one anyway. The build quality is incredible as expected, personally I love the design, others won't vibe with the picnic basket style. Setting it up was somewhat straight forward, the first few tracks left me speechless, such a dry, neutral, almost analytacal sound for such a compact box, exactly what I was looking for. If that is not your cup of tea, the B&O app offers plenty preset sound profiles or you can create your own. You can easily infuse some warmth. First impression, pretty awesome. And then reality set it and I encountered the first issues, bluetooth connection unstable at times, airplay not working, speaker automatically switching from airplay to bluetooth even tho there is a strong wi-fi signal. Updated the firmware, reset the speaker, tested endless options in the app, not able to fix it. Then I noticed something very odd, if you listen to dynamic music above \~60% volume, it automatically adjusts the volume. For example, you listen to a track that builds up, it starts with mostly vocal and few instruments, the speaker is very loud, as soon as the bass and more demanding instruments set it, it reduces the volume drastically. Tested with various tracks, bluetooth/airplay, plugged into a power source and without, all the sound profiles, it persists. If you listen to a track with lots of changes, like complex bass heavy parts, then it shifts to vocals only, back to bass, it sounds like someone is fiddling on the volume slider, annoying as hell. I tested back and forth with different tracks and compared with other speakers, it's an absolute dealbreaker and I assume (not sure) it's by design. It feels like theres some internal protection that either prevents overheating or exceeding a certain current. If it is by design, it's an incredibly weird choice. Sure it looks nice on the spec sheet with max db, but if it can't be sustained it shouldn't even go that loud in the first place. Every 30$ speakers can do that right. Contacted the support, mentioned everything to the last detail, their response: "Have you tried playing music from the B&O app directly". sigh Even if that would work, I don't care. I assume that the average targeted customer won't even notice because they use it to play chill/classic music on moderate volumes. However, a speaker that "premium" and expensive should be able to provide a consistent experience throughout all genres. Honestly, if those issues wouldn't persist, it would have been exactly what I was looking for, even tho it's overpriced, I was willing to invest that kind of money. But as it is, I'm going to return it, I doubt it will go somewhere with the support, reading experiences from other owners.

They say shipping to uk, but uk amazon doesn't list it. It's a shame, the most promising one is nowhere available. I fiddled around more with the A5, I lowerd the max volume in the app to a point where it doesn't adjust automatically anymore, it's loud enough for indoors and what I usually need 90% of the time. I really want to love this thing, but man only be able to actually use \~60% max volume is a tragedy. I wish I was a engineer and could just open it up and adjust it. Stupid B&O xD

Beolit A5 and Beolit 20 (Bang & Olufson) are the gold standard.

Bought at 10am and after one hour of testing, returned it. I have the same situation and feeling for portable speaker like you and was expecting that this choice will finally fullfil my needs. But i was really let down by that normalisation of sound… so i will still hold to my beolit 20 and wait for new model or new A5…

Beosound Level or Beosound A5. Pair for full stereo and better placement. Run all day on battery. Third party cases for Level, like a brief case. A5 has a carry handle like a basket. Wifi casting over uPnP, DLNA and Airplay 2. Not just Bluetooth. £3200 for a pair of speakers is a lot. At the launch price they were good, but the full price now is harder to justify. Level is on discount for the next couple of weeks before a September price hike. See Andrew Robinson's take on the Levels a couple of years back (YouTube). They have changed, software, since and have a low latency input for 3.5 mm to a single speaker, reduced latency over Ethernet and with the Theatre can be used as side, rear and height speakers in a surround sound set up. Using Airplay 2 they can be used with a Mac, iPhone or Apple 4K TV box to watch video/movies. And yes there is a Ferrari edition well an Atelier Limited Edition Beosound Level Frosted Green and was a limited *Beosound Level Lilac Twilight* edition..

I really don't like the beolit 20. I like the sound of my Vifa Helsinki much more even though it's an older speaker and a lot cheaper now. Check some B&O a1 series,each one has a different sound type,for small portable bt speakers For medium size, Devialet Mania,a reboxed unit was around 500€ in my country just recently. 500 or under it's a good price,not the 800-900€ or how much they ask for it on most sites. For bigger sizes, i dont think you have many options,in a reasonable amount of money. The b&o a5 but it can get quite expensive sometimes. *I wouldn't call these audiophile speakers, high quality Bluetooth speakers would be a more suited name.

Since you say price is not important... I have two B&O A1 Gen 2. They are very nice. Amazing sound, considering the size, as long as you are good with moderate volumes and fiddle a little with the EQ. Even better if you can stand it up against a wall or in a corner. Great battery life and small. Waterproof. Buttons for volume/next/back/pause, but not big and easy to use. Amazing for phone calls. I especially like my A1 for audiobooks, since they have nice EQ that can be used to enhance voice reproduction. I use my B&O A5 for loud portable music. And my AudioPro/WiiM multiroom setup for stationary music. Two are fun for stereo. I mostly use one as a bedside speaker and the other as a portable speaker. B&O A1 Gen 3 is out. A1 Gen 3 is said to be even better than A1 Gen 2. More bass. Longer battery life. If I didn't have my Gen 2 I would get one. At least one. [https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/int/speakers/beosound-a1](https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/int/speakers/beosound-a1)

B&O A1 is way better than UE Miniroll. I have two A1 Gen 2, they are great for portable audio as long as you don't need very loud sound and can keep them close. Perfect for smaller settings. My favorite speaker for audiobooks, by far. I gave my Miniroll away... For louder volumes and larger settings my B&O A5 is amazing. Portable but a bit bulky. Still very nice to use in the garden/patio/porch or on a picnic. Expensive... For larger prepared outdoor settings / parties my two UE Hyperboom are great! But even more bulky than the A5. Even if they are getting old, they are hard to beat. I think that there is a very strong correlation between size and sound quality at higher volumes or larger settings. If you want something that is loud and also sounds good over a larger area you need to go big. If you want nice stereo you need two speakers that are about as far between each other as from you. Two speakers also helps to cover a larger area.

BT speakers I can recommend personally: B&O A1 g2 or g3. Small. A pair for stereo. Nice for ambience. B&O A5. Expensive. Great sound and pretty. Hyperboom. A pair for off-grid partying.

What about Bang & Olufsen?

B & O or Sennheiser

I have to say that, for as much as I love the Bose speakers I own, battery drain is far more noticeable than with other brands I own. My Bang & Olufsen speakers have the absolute least battery drain while idle; JBL is great for power retention, too.

You could use the rca outs to a headphone jack and use wired headphones. No pairing required. The soundburger works great and sounds great overall. It seems to pair ok if you hold the bluetooth speaker super close…I haven’t tried AirPods though. I don’t DJ anymore so I’m not out actively mining for gold, but a soundburger would have been handy for that. I used to see some people 30 years ago with junky suitcase players or fisher price set ups to listen on the fly.