Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsthis was a massive disappointment, and an even bigger frustration
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2015
We bought the second generation Beoplay A9 from the B&O Retailer in Oslo, Norway, in February 2015. After only three days, we got in touch with customer support. Though connecting the device to our wifi was not a problem, we quickly experienced connectivity problems. The problems we experienced were across Bluetooth, Airplay and Spotify Connect. Essentially, we found it impossible to switch from one source to another, and the various applications kept freezing, whilst the music dropped out completely.
The only solution we found was to unplug and re-plug the unit in order to reconnect with a streaming source. Needless to say, this was a massive disappointment, and an even bigger frustration. When paying a premium price, one expects a premium product. B&O customer service were very quick to respond, and let us come to their store and pick up a replacement unit. This turned out to be the wrong model, so in the end, an employee from the B&O Retailer came to our house with yet another unit. The person made sure that the stereo was correctly set up, and working.
I guess we were hoping that our first unit was somehow faulty, as we loved the sound when it was working, and – of course – the design. Sadly, this has not been the case. On and off over time the unit kept freezing, and we had to unplug and re-plug to get connectivity back. Sometimes it even started playing German digital radio if you hit play by touching the unit. From what we could tell from the Beomusic app, the German feed came from the streaming app TuneIn to which we do not even have access. For those particularly curious, the channel in question was "Kulturradio rbb". Moreover, we tried all different frequencies on our wifi, and tried connecting with various iPhone models, iPads, HTC phone, Macs and PCs. Sometimes it worked. A lot of the times it didn’t. In the end we tried with an AUX-cable, and even this did not work.
After more than six months with frustration over not being able to just put on some music when we want, we contacted customer service yet again. Thankfully, B&O agreed to refund our purchase in accordance with Norwegian law and our customer rights. We are pleased with their customer service – it has been as expected from a premium retailer. Nevertheless, when the product itself is such a massive disappointment and source of frustration, B&O come in short here. Friends, don’t buy it.
