Bang Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen

Introduction

The Beosound A1 2^nd Gen portable speaker was one of my favourite efforts, an outdoor speaker that had plenty of substance to go with the style.

So when the sequel was finally announced (five years later), this is the one product where I’m hoping for more of the same; and judging by the specs, it looks as if Bang & Olufsen have made some smart changes.

Out goes Alexa support, in comes longer battery life and a deeper bass performance. But the price has gone up considerably. If there’s anything that could scupper the A1 3^rd Gen from reaching the same heights as the previous model, it’s that the price might be too high.

Design

• Virtually the same looks
• Slightly heavier
• Waterproof

Like previous models in the Beosound A1 series, this 3^rd gen model resembles an oversized hockey puck with small holes drilled into a pearl blasted aluminium top surface, while the underside is a waterproof leather base. It’s the same designer in Cecile Mainz – and it remains a terrifically minimalist and elegant speaker.

In the hand it’s slightly heavier – up from 558g to 576g – while there’s the leather strap for carrying around. Mind you, the inclusion of leather is likely to irritate animal lovers.

The buttons are located around the base of the speaker, with playback controls; power, Bluetooth and microphone with a ‘clicky’ sound that confirms it’s been pressed.

Around the rear is a USB-C input for charging (as well as for streaming and microphone use), and on the top and hidden when the speaker is not on is an LED indicator that’s bright enough to be seen from a distance, although less so if you’re spying the speaker from its side.

There’s no change in the water resistance at IP67, so the Beosound A1 3^rd Gen is fully dust resistant and waterproof. You can take it to the beach, leave it next to the pool or even hang it up in the shower.

Colours include natural Aluminium, Honey Tone, Eucalyptus Green, Warm Granite. The Honey Tone sample I have is slightly subdued – more autumnal tones than summer, but this speaker isn’t playing in the same sandpit as JBL. It can get dirty but it’s nothing a damp cloth couldn’t wipe away.

The A1 3^rd Gen has Cradle to Cradle certification – the first Bluetooth speaker to receive it – which basically means it’s designed to be service. Especially helpful is the battery is replaceable.

Features

• No Alexa support
• Bluetooth multipoint
• Stereo pairing across generations

Bang & Olufsen have ditched Alexa support, which I’m not fussed about. It was a cool feature but relied on your mobile’s data connection to work. Imagine using it overseas…

Bluetooth connectivity is the 5.1 version. There’s multi-point Bluetooth support for connecting to two devices at once; while the strength of the connection is solid. Placing the speaker at one end of my garden and walking away, the sound only conks out towards the end.

Bluetooth equals AAC (mostly for iPhone) and aptX Adaptive (only on Android); while there’s Made for iPhone (MFi) support, along with Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair to quickly connect to devices. You could use the speaker for calls with its three-mic away tucked inside.

Stereo pairing is supported, and interestingly, you can even pair speakers across generations – if you’ve got an A1 2^nd Gen, it’ll play nice with the A1 3^rd Gen. Buying two A1 3^rd Gen speakers is expensive – £598 / $798! Like with the previous model, B&O don’t seem interested in enticing you with a reduced price.

The Bang & Olufsen app is nice and responsive, with room to customise the performance. There are five sound modes (or EQ options), and you can create your own sound through the visual preset.

You can also listen to radio stations that are built-in to the B&O app, though for whatever reason I couldn’t get this to work. Volume and audio playback can be done through the remote; and firmware updates and battery life can also be done/viewed in the app. It’s not the most feature packed but it’s simple to use.

Battery Life

• Up to 24 hours
• Replaceable battery

Battery life was a little weak with the original but it’s been boosted with each speaker. The A1 3^rd Gen arguably sports the best of the lot.

Battery life is up to 24 hours at “typical listening volumes” according to B&O, but I reckon you can get a lot more than that from the speaker. With the speaker in its ‘Optimal’ sound mode, and streaming a Spotify playlist at about 50% volume; the battery only drained 7% in three hours. That is about 2.5% battery loss each hour, which is closer to 40 hours.

You might think to yourself that it’s worth boosting the volume to get a louder sound and still have good battery life, which you could do. But one thing I noticed about the A1 3^rd Gen is that it’s not particularly loud at full volume. It actually sounds rather meek.

Sound Quality

• Warmer, richer bass than before
• Spacious sound
• Very good vocal clarity

The Beosound A1 2^nd Gen was one of the best outdoor speakers for sound at its price and I wasn’t alone in thinking that. So given that Bang & Olufsen has increased the size of the woofer for a bigger bass performance, does the A1 3^rd Gen sound better?

Without an A1 2^nd Gen alongside to compare to, I can’t say with absolute certainty. But judged on its own, it sounds as good, but in a slightly different way to its predecessor.

Let’s start with the bass. From memory, I remember the previous model being quite punchy and weighty for a portable speaker of its size. The A1 3^rd Gen’s low frequency performance sounds warmer from the off, weightier and richer in tone, but does it dig deeper into those lows than the 2^nd Gen model? I find myself liking the punchier bass of the older model.

That said, for a speaker of its size and shape, the bass output is good. With Warren G’s Regulate the Beosound A1 3^rd Gen is confident at describing the bass in this tricky track, though it unsurprisingly lacks the muscle to deliver the sub-bass performance bigger portable speakers could.

There are times when it can falter in reproducing the bass with tracks where it’s an essential cog. With Maye’s La Cancion there’s some distortion and with Kingdom’s Bank Head the speaker really feels like it can’t truly extend the lows. There are times when a track’s bass depth is beyond it and the speaker sounds hollow.

But for the most part, bass is delivered well, and it’s done without affecting the rest of the frequency range.

What I find most impressive about the Beosound A1 3^rd Gen is how spacious it sounds with every track I play. Despite its circular appearance, there’s never a feeling that music sounds cramped with instruments and vocals sitting on jump of each other. Its sense of space is most impressive despite the soundstage not being the widest.

The clarity of vocals is also very good; the Bang & Olufsen puts in a very natural-sounding performance with both male and female singers; while the midrange is clear with decent to solid levels of detail to bring instruments to the fore.

There’s a rich sense of brightness and clarity to the highs – perhaps not the most defined but those highs stand out from the rest. The lack of crispness can affect hi-hats/cymbal crashes, the resulting smoothness of the speaker does rob it of some detail in that area of frequency range.

There are decent levels of dynamism but don’t expect the swings from quiet and loud to be dramatic. Its sense of dynamism is on the smaller scale, so while rhythmically the Beosound A1 3^rd Gen is solid, the levels of energy aren’t on the same level as the Bose SoundLink Max.

While some snap and punch is missing from this speaker’s smoother tone, nudge the volume above 50% and the speaker’s performance elevates itself. There are gains with both treble and bass in terms of detail and presence – though I found with GoGo Penguin’s Ascent, bass could be a bit boomy – it remains a controlled and measured performance with a listen to DJ Zinc’s 138 Trek. Music flows well, rhythmically it impresses, there’s more energy, and bass has more extension.

If you’re not initially impressed by this Bang & Olufsen speaker, dial the volume up. I’m pretty certain you’d stop rolling your eyes at the price and start enjoying a very impressive sound for a small portable speaker.

Should you buy it?

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