Portable wireless speakers that live up to the expectations of discerning audiophiles – or anyone who values good sound for that matter – are hard to come by.
Most sound muddled or unbalanced – with too much bass or too much emphasis on the highs – for anyone to appreciate the audio fidelity that musicians and engineers have worked so hard to achieve in their recordings.
Thankfully, the BeoPlay A2, the first Bluetooth speaker by Danish audio house Bang & Olufsen (B&O), isn’t one of those.
At first glance, the A2 looks like any other portable speaker with an enclosure the size of a clutch bag – it even comes with a leather strap for lugging the speaker around.
The A2 can be hung in the bathroom if you need to immerse yourself in music while in the shower, though the unit isn’t waterproof so make sure you place it in a no-splash zone.
Weighing 1.1 kg, the A2 feels a tad heavy, partly because of its aluminium core that packs a 3/4-inch tweeter, three-inch driver, and 3-inch passive bass radiators on each side of the speaker.
That means you can expect room filling sound, or what B&O calls “true 360 omni-directional sound”.
In my tests, the A2, which is powered by a pair of 30-watts Class D amplifiers, lived up to that claim, belting out full-range tunes on either side of the speaker.
In Mexican-American guitarist Luis Villegas’ Bienvenidos, guitar tones sounded crisp, and not too screechy even when I cranked up the volume. The bass tones from the drums in the same track maintained their composure too.
In another number involving Japanese O-Daiko drums – a demanding piece that stresses the bass radiators – the A2 kept up with the paces without sounding distorted.
Neither did the A2 disappoint in jazz pieces featuring vocalists such as Norah Jones and Brazilian singer Maria Rita. Their vocals sounded warm and full-bodied, without being overwhelmed by accompanying instruments.
That said, as with nearly all portable speakers, you won’t get precise placement of sounds on the soundstage, or any form of stereo imaging. You will need a pair of speakers for that.
Then again, the A2 isn’t built for showroom listening, where you sit on a couch and try to pinpoint the location of musicians and instruments on a stage or in a recording studio.
It’s for livening up parties at home and outdoors, and for that, the A2 lets two people take turns to be DJs with its ability to pair two Bluetooth devices concurrently.
There’s even a USB port for you to charge your smartphone or tablet if you run of the juice in the middle of the party.
Retailing at S$549, the A2 will burn a hole in your pocket for sure. But if you’re after the best Bluetooth wireless speaker in the market, this is the one to get.
Dear Aaron. We took your recommendation and purchased BeoPlay A2. It is fantastic but only when paired with our android phone. When we tried to pair with the Bluetooth to our mobile workstation, it could not be paired even though the workstaition detected the speaker. We could not pair it with a system using Windows 7 but could pair it if the system is using Windows 8. We cannot change the workstation using Windows 7 to Windows 8 because there will be compatibility issues with our other operating softwares for 3D works. We have sent the query to B&O but have not received any response for more than a week. Can you advice.