It’s been five years since Bang & Olufsen lanch the Beosound A1 2nd Gen, so you could say with a hint of understatement that we’ve politely waiting for the Beosound A1 3rd Gen to appear.
We’re in the process of reviewing the Beosound A1 3rd Gen yet, so look out for that. But, considering its predecessor scored a five-star rating and earned a place on our best Bluetooth speaker list, the new speaker has plenty to live up to.
What’s the difference between the two wireless speakers? We’ve compared the specs of the 3rd Gen to the 2nd Gen below.
Price
The Beosound A1 2nd Gen launched back in 2020 with a pretty high RRP of £259. As it’s five years-old now, it’s possible to pick up the speaker for much less. In fact, at the time of writing, the A1 2nd Gen was available on Amazon for just £159.
As it’s the newest model, the A1 3rd Gen currently sports a much higher price tag with an RRP of £299 / $299. Even so, that’s more expensive than the previous model went for when it first launched.
The A1 3rd Gen goes bigger on bass
Bang & Olufsen explains that the A1 3rd Gen has “the largest woofer in its class” which the 2nd Gen claimed for itself back in 2020. Not only that, but the brand promises the 3rd Gen will deliver 2dB more Bass SPL (sound pressure level) than its predecessor, with a high of 64dB.
Considering we were seriously impressed with the bass on the 2nd Gen for a speaker of its size, and hailed its “weighty, defined, and well-judged” performance, that the 3rd Gen promises to improve on this is an exciting prospect.
The A1 3rd Gen has more battery life
While the 2nd Gen saw a huge boost to its battery life, going from a measly four hours with the 1st Gen up to a whopping 18 hours, the 3rd Gen takes it one step further.
In fact, the 3rd Gen boasts up to a huge 24 hours of battery life on a single charge. Bang & Olufsen doesn’t promise any fast charging speeds to accompany this and, instead, says you should expect a full charge in about three hours.
Cross generation stereo pairing
If you already own a Beosound A1 Gen 2, you’ll be happy to know that the two generations can be stereo paired together.
Doing so is simple and just requires the Bang & Olufsen smartphone app to get started.
Both can be used as a speakerphone
Similar to the Sony ULT Field 1, the A1 3rd Gen can be used as a speakerphone or for taking conference calls. This, however, isn’t a new feature.
In fact, Bang & Olufsen retained the three-microphone array of the 2nd Gen within the 3rd Gen.
There’s no Alexa support this time around
The A1 2nd Gen was the first portable Bluetooth speaker to support Alexa voice control, which it performed through your mobile device. This time around, Alexa is no where to be seen.
We suspect that’s due to the lack of interest in voice control as it’s not the first speaker has declined to keep its smarts. Bang & Olufsen haven’t given a reason why. If you were interested in having Alexa smarts, it’s no longer supported. If you don’t care about Alexa, you’re probably more than fine with the omission.
The A1 3rd Gen bags Cradle to Cradle certification
The A1 3rd Gen is the first in the world to be Cradle to Cradle Certified (Bronze) which reflects how sustainable the product and brand are.
Bang & Olfusen have also promised the A1 3rd Gen is designed for a 10-year lifetime and applies circular design principles. B&O believe the speaker should be serviced and not replaced, with a replaceable battery on offer and up to a five-year warranty included too.
Early Verdict
A retweak rather than a complete overhaul, the Beosound A1 3rd Gen looks set to be a solid successor to the 2020 A1 2nd Gen.
If you already own an A1 2nd Gen, there’s the argument that you may not be worth splurging on the newer version unless you want a second speaker or want to enjoy stereo sound with your existing model. That said, you could always just buy another version of the 2nd Gen if that’s the case.
Bang & Olufsen has stated to be proud to lead the way towards “reducing e-waste in the consumer electronics industry”. With this in mind, the fact the 3rd Gen is designed to be serviced and can be paired with the older model, the speaker should last for a long time.
