Bang & Olufsen continues to dish out premium quality audio products for audio enthusiasts in India, and we’re loving them. The company has a slew of headphones and speakers selling right now, and this time we managed to grab hold of one of the BeoPlay speakers that is bracketed as portable by B&O.
For around Rs 22,900, you need to have carefully finessed audio tastes to be convinced to shell out big money on a speaker. Should you? Read on to find out.
Pros:
- Beautiful design and construction
- Rich sound out with balanced sound delivery
- Good for mild-tuned music lovers
- Really long battery life
Cons:
- Priced on the higher side for Indian consumers
- Heavily built for a portable speaker
- Inconvenient to carry the power adapter
What’s Good?
The first thing you’ll notice about the B&O BeoPlay A2 is how gorgeous it looks for a portable speaker. One must say that B&O has fine taste in design.
The BeoPlay A2 has a unique flat design with two rugged polymer shells and a rock solid aluminium core, as highlighted by the company, and there’s not much to complain about.
The durability of the speaker is very much a strong point with the BeoPlay A2.
In terms of the sound, the BeoPlay A2 is a two-channel speaker – with two channels on each side that work to good effect. B&O claims that the BeoPlay A2 gets the world’s first omni-directional sound solution for a flat speaker, which becomes evident once you start testing its audio prowess.
What we really like about this speaker is the no-nonsense approach to sound delivery that adds a different flavour where the music is being played. The balance of treble with not-so-heavy emphasis on bass ends up giving us a delightful audio experience that’s worth listening to for everyone.
However, one must remember not to expect the sound quality of a 4.1 level speaker with small-size sounds drivers from this product.
B&O promises 24-hour battery life support with the BeoPlay A2. While we can’t vouch for that entirely, on average we managed to get the speaker running for more than 18 hours on a single charge, which is still not bad.
What’s Bad?
The B&O BeoPlay A2 is strongly built, and for a Bluetooth speaker we don’t like that it weighs around 454 grams – almost half a kilo. Even with the leather strap around, carrying the speaker around in your bag isn’t the most comfortable thing do to.
In addition to the weight of the speaker, we also would to state our view about the bundled charger. For a company that prides itself on design, the power adapter could definitely have been given a different touch.
While we do understand that the power output along with the size of the battery on the speaker matters, for this price we expect convenience of the highest order.
And of course, like every other B&O product we have featured, the BeoPlay A2 will not be at the top of the purchase list for everyone. Others might just look at the Bose Soundlink Mini, the Creative SoundBlaster or the Harman-Kardon Esquire.
Why Buy It?
It’s simple. If you like to have a portable speaker that is capable of filling your room with quality sound and are not averse to spending big, then the B&O BeoPlay A2 is a go. It’s got a clean design language and simplistic body contours that will look good on your table. The battery life is worth a mention as well.
However, you might find it heavier than the usual portable speakers in the market. If that and budget is not a problem, then the BeoPlay A2 is worth your money.
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