B&O Play, the standalone unit within Bang and Olufsen started in 2012 to reach out to a new generation of consumers, has a cool new Bluetooth speaker, the A1. This is a smallish, portable, good-looking Bluetooth speaker that puts out awesome quality music in all directions, and is powered by batteries that last all day.
The A1 is B&O Play’s smallest Bluetooth speaker. It’s quite hefty, though, for its size. I suppose the weight comes from the combination of quality build material, battery, and 30W Class D power amplifier.
There’s a built-in microphone in the A1, so you can use it to take conference calls. Not only is the A1’s speaker omnidirectional, its microphone is also uniformly sensitive all-around the speaker, so everyone around your conference table can equally hear and be heard clearly.
Of course, you don’t buy the A1 to take conference calls. It’s really all about portable hi-fidelity music that you can bring around with you. I’m really impressed with the sound quality from the A1. Music comes out effortlessly. It’s so clear that you’ll probably be hearing new bits of your music that other Bluetooth speakers wouldn’t produce. The bass extension is really good for a device of this size. If you didn’t see the A1, you’d think the music must have come from a speaker of more substantial size.
The B&O Play A1 is available in Moss Green and Natural (silver/grey as pictured in this post) colours at a suggested retail price of S$399 from Airport Duty Free, Apple Premium Resellers, Bang & Olufsen store in Hyatt, Challenger, Newstead and leading independent retailers.
I’ll be back with a more comprehensive review. Watch this blog or follow my Facebook page for updates!