Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSpeaker reviews are almost completely useless. That being said
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2014
Speaker reviews are almost completely useless. That being said; here's mine.
The reason it's hard to glean useful information from a speaker review is the mostly subjective quality of sound and the huge number of variables that affect the audio reaching the listener's ears (and the actual frequency receptiveness of those ears).
You'll see lots of vague statements like "the bass became distorted one volume step above midway" which means nothing since there's no way to know the level of battery charge in the speaker, the bit rate (quality) of the audio track, the output fidelity of the audio device, the possible electromagnetic environmental influences (including unstable power supply to the audio device) and on and on.
Watching/listening to a video on Youtube provides you with all of the above unknown variables in addition to Youtube's compression algorithms, your own computer speaker fidelity and on and on.
Ultimately, you're going to have to get your hands on one of these and set it up in the environment in which you intend to use it and with the audio sources you intend to use with it to have any real world idea whether or not this is the right solution for you. That's what I did.
I set up the speaker quickly and easily, paired it with my Galaxy Note 3 and Windows 8.1 PC and then carried it through every room in my home and out to the lake. I played a wide variety of music tracks in multiple bitrates and all major formats. In every circumstance, the A2 exceeded my expectations and requirements for an all-in-one portable Bluetooth speaker system. It would have been unreasonable for me to expect this small speaker to crank out more dB's than my home system since that's obviously not the purpose for which it was designed or purchased. What it does is provide really clear audio especially in the mid and mid-highs, very balanced audio across music genres, long battery life, 30+ feet of Bluetooth range and an easily portable form factor.
I recommend that you try one out at a B&O retailer near you or purchase one online (since you can always return it if it doesn't suit you for the nominal cost of return shipping). As soon as I heard mine, I knew I wouldn't be returning it and that first impression was reinforced by its subsequent performance.
It reproduced my audio with enough precision and balance that I wanted to play every track I own just to hear all the subtle details I've been missing through my BMW's audio system, my Bose home theater system and my Harmon Kardon computer speakers. The A2 doesn't beat any of them in the watts and dB departments, but for clarity of reproduction it's far superior.
I'll leave you with one final subjective assessment of the A2. I took it to the lake today and even in 20 knots of wind, its sound quality drew a crowd of kitesurfers who wanted to see how such a small speaker was producing such amazing audio. Most had never heard of B&O, but many were saving the name on their smartphones. If something this small can reproduce music in an open air environment (no structures to act as sounding boards) with enough volume and clarity to draw a crowd from 50' around in a 20 knot wind, B&O has done quite a lot right.
B&O have built their audio reputation upon creating balanced, well-tuned components and speakers for customers who appreciate precision audio and have enough discretionary income to acquire it, but who aren't audio engineers. Similar to Apple, B&O produces products that are part design status symbols and part high-end technical tools - both fairly closed systems that don't play well with other manufacturer's components. Basically, they make turn-key solutions that appeal to those whose consumption follows an inelastic demand curve.
If you listen to simple (blunt) music, any speaker that can crank out dB's without too much distortion will probably satisfy you, but if you prefer complex compositions that make use of the subtleties afforded by a wide harmonic frequency range then you'll prefer a more sophisticated audio system capable of reproducing that effect. The greater the complexity and/or subtlety of your music choice and the more discerning your ear, the more you'll appreciate B&O.
The Play line of products carries on B&O's tradition of sonic excellence, but takes advantage of manufacturing economies to reduce consumer prices and open up a broader market. The BeoPlay A2's relatively simple design aids portability while reducing manufacturing costs, but the real cost savings are achieved by outsourcing the manufacturing process to China.
Some see "Made in China" and instantly conclude that the product is of inferior quality and should only command a low price. Similar misconceptions were directed toward Japan in the 1960's and 70's and Korea through the 80's and 90's. Now, "Made in Japan" or Korea is usually perceived as representing high quality - especially in electronics. The same will be true of China in the near future.
When brand holders outsource manufacturing to developing nations, they typically use a bid process which encourages manufacturers to cut corners in order to win the business. Those cut corners add up and result in an inferior product. When enough such inferior products come from one country or region, consumers tend to associate that country or region with low quality. The fact is that China is capable of producing products on par with the quality of any other industrialized country when Chinese manufacturers aren't required to economize all the quality out of their work product in order to win the bidding process. Look at some of the Chinese owned company products that aren't subject to a bidding process to see China's quality potential. Nitecore flashlights are good examples. Their lights are made with gold-plated contact points and Cree XM-L2 LED's and stand up as well or better, in terms of quality and function, than the flashlights produced in France, Germany and Switzerland.
B&O decided to manufacture the BeoPlay A2 in China to realize the cost savings from China's drastically less expensive labor force. The final product isn't the result of a low-bid manufacturer and that's readily evident to anyone who's actually held and listened to the A2.
If you're in the market for a high quality, portable, Bluetooth speaker solution that will impress you with its sound reproduction and acoustic quality then I suggest you gain access to one of these and let your ears guide your from there.
