Bang & Olufsen Beosound Balance Review

[napfkuchen]

Looks like an air purifier

I actually think it looks pretty appealing, but that's a matter of taste of course.
My bluetooth speaker of choice is a LG Xboom 360. The product name already is ridiculous, I simply call it "bluetooth miner's lamp" due to its looks. It does have fancy light effects though. It cost 170 Euros and is good enough for background music.

- This thing makes a Naim Muso look cheap (YIKES!!!!!) and if it's available in the US, I'd like one of these (either type) properly tested if possible after the dealer-hype we've been subjected to - they look and the control 'feels' nice as well and well up to the feel of 'Beoproducts' of old.

A friend of mine has (due to his wife's veto) no option to get a proper dedicated stereo system. Instead he frequently tries out new wireless speakers and owns a range of them in different price classes and sizes, also a Naim Muso Qb 2. To me it looks really cool but the sound is meeh. So far I have never been impressed by the sound of these "smart speakers" regardless of their pricing.

 

[Brian Hall]

The Studios are wired, not wireless? I wonder how many others get used that way.

They are wifi based, but will also accept a 3.5mm stereo cable. I bought some 3.5mm to dual RCA cables for it.

 

[WOLFAGRAM]

If this was a 330$ speaker, I would rate it as fine (perhaps for a kitchen or a dorm room of a non-musical person).
This being a 3300$ speaker, I cannot rate it other than poor (there are way cheaper ways to decorate room and fill it with sound simultaneously).

I wonder what is the point of one tweeter besides two pairs of full-range drivers? More potential for hiss and sibilance?!

Perhaps I am missing something here???

Still, scratching my head about 3300$ speaker doing auto EQ-ing without at least attempting to use phone microphone and an app.
I mean, KRK Rokits G4 (tested here) at least offer some basic measurement with an app, provided one owns one of the newer iPhones (there is a microphone calibration) at a fraction of the price.

I guess this is extreme example of "lifestyle luxury" product, definitely not a proper Hi-Fi device.

 

[IAmAlwaysSerious]

Can you think of another omnidirectional speaker that sells for a fraction of the cost that goes down to 30Hz and has the same build quality? If you can name one, I will change my vote from "Great" to "Poor".

I've got a Devialet Mania. Does that do it?

And my measurements look nowhere near as insane as the Rtings ones.

 

[Wolf11Man]

Amir, the considerate reviewer, desparetly tried to make it look good. I don't know of only one person in the probaple customer list I could write, that would be able to measure it in his room, start an equalizer function of any streamer and do a curve that fixes the subnormal sound quality of that thing. That is something educated audio engineers are needed for or a highly in audio involved person. What is not the person who would pay that money for such a strange object.
To call it 30Hz capable is, even with room gain, something most would not do, because even at 65 Hz the output is more distortion than signal. Must be a very special type of "bass".

 

[caught gesture]

Klippel doesn’t care how much a speaker costs when evaluating performance. Should we? The cost of a product is relative to wealth. Rating performance with cost is unscientific due to the unknown wealth variable.

 

[AudioSceptic]

They are wifi based, but will also accept a 3.5mm stereo cable. I bought some 3.5mm to dual RCA cables for it.

Thanks. I should have put that better. I asked because it never occurred to me that they would *not* be used over Wi-Fi. It's handy that they also have analogue inputs.

 

[AudioSceptic]

As the officially most superficial user in here I have to agree.
130dB THD+N and 23-bits of Multitone measurement won't cut it for me if it looks or feels cheap,or multicolor,or,or...

I prefer a naked PCB instead!

Who's the unofficially most superficial user? Was there a vote for either? ;-)

 

[Sokel]

Who's the unofficially most superficial user? Was there a vote for either? ;-)

The ones that hide it but secretly crave for it

(no vote,just no opposition as it seems so I sat on the empty seat )

 

[Brian Hall]

Thanks. I should have put that better. I asked because it never occurred to me that they would *not* be used over Wi-Fi. It's handy that they also have analogue inputs.

I have an Echo spot in the bedroom that is used for Alexa duties. I just use the Echo Studios as powered speakers now.

 

[rank]

This makes some of the Devialet products an absolute bargain price wise!

+ Devialet is nice.

 

[IAmAlwaysSerious]

If this was a 330$ speaker, I would rate it as fine (perhaps for a kitchen or a dorm room of a non-musical person).
This being a 3300$ speaker, I cannot rate it other than poor (there are way cheaper ways to decorate room and fill it with sound simultaneously).

I wonder what is the point of one tweeter besides two pairs of full-range drivers? More potential for hiss and sibilance?!

Perhaps I am missing something here???

Still, scratching my head about 3300$ speaker doing auto EQ-ing without at least attempting to use phone microphone and an app.
I mean, KRK Rokits G4 (tested here) at least offer some basic measurement with an app, provided one owns one of the newer iPhones (there is a microphone calibration) at a fraction of the price.

I guess this is extreme example of "lifestyle luxury" product, definitely not a proper Hi-Fi device.

The Devialet Mania does the room correction with four mics built into the speaker, and seems to do an okay job.
Measured mine in a fairly challenging room:

That deep nuls are reflections from windows, so nothing the room correction could really fix.
It's pretty sad that the Mania does this for... a lot less of my money than the B&O would have.

On the other hand, the visible woofers on this thing freak my friends out when they really move. The B&O doesn't do that, so the B&O has that going for it...

 

[Robbo99999]

Klippel doesn’t care how much a speaker costs when evaluating performance. Should we? The cost of a product is relative to wealth. Rating performance with cost is unscientific due to the unknown wealth variable.

I think it's reasonable (& correct) for people voting in the poll to factor in cost of the item if they want to - afterall it's a fairly quick way to see what the community thinks of the item being reviewed & oftentimes that can be swayed by how competitively priced the item is or if it's way overpriced, I think it's fair that people are influenced by the cost in the poll. Cost & value is important to people.

 

[testp]

we should evaluate performance(unbiased) + cost(biased), if we didnt i could sell this product cheap in one country, and ultra expensive in another.,
this seems only fair to evaluate both - it elevates consumer awareness and kind of aims to show the truth (like science)

 

[caught gesture]

we should evaluate performance(unbiased) + cost(biased), if we didnt i could sell this product cheap in one country, and ultra expensive in another.,
this seems only fair to evaluate both - it elevates consumer awareness and kind of aims to show the truth (like science)

But cost is not biased, it is relative. It cannot be measured in absolute terms like distortion, frequency response, etc. Plenty of products are priced differently from country to country. That is also relative based on many factors irrespective of the qualities of the product. In Singapore you’ll pay 2.86 USD/Litre for gasoline, in Saudi Arabia, 0.62 USD/Litre. Both litres will be equal at driving my car a certain distance.

 

[testp]

But cost is not biased, it is relative. It cannot be measured in absolute terms like distortion, frequency response, etc. Plenty of products are priced differently from country to country. That is also relative based on many factors irrespective of the qualities of the product. In Singapore you’ll pay 2.86 USD/Litre for gasoline, in Saudi Arabia, 0.62 USD/Litre. Both litres will be equal at driving my car a certain distance.

what it costs where can be biased...

i still like to know that gas is expensive here and cheap there, and i still like it being judged as well

 

[caught gesture]

what it costs where can be biased...

You prove my point. This is a scientific forum. Whereas the study of bias is scientific, using bias to make a judgement as to performance is what gets us $1000 power cables. Cost should be irrelevant as it is a variable based on individual purchasing power. It also reflects desirability, appearance design, exclusivity, etc, all of which are irrelevant to performance as measured scientifically.

 

[testp]

You prove my point. This is a scientific forum. Whereas the study of bias is scientific, using bias to make a judgement as to performance is what gets us $1000 power cables. Cost should be irrelevant as it is a variable based on individual purchasing power. It also reflects desirability, design, exclusivity, etc.

you are free to have your own opinion as do i. i prefer measurements(unbiased) with cost(biased) evaluation period.

 

[sealman]

The way I see it is the more expensive a product is it should perform better than something much less expensive that does the (amp vs amp etc) same job.
The bigger the price difference the better the expensive product better perform and offer something the cheaper product does not offer.
How much that sways my opinion is just my opinion.

While I consider this product borderline fine the price imo puts it squarely in not terrible category.

This conversation has brought up something I have thought of multiple times. I "kind of" would like to see some more options when grading products.
Something like this below (just off the top of my head) would allow a more accurate representation of what someone actually views the products score is
Another way would be to have 2 separate scoring categories (same as we have now) where one is performance only and the other could take into account price.

1. \
2. - Poor
3. /

4. \
5. - not terrible
6. /

7. \
8. - fine
9. /

10. Great

Anyway sorry for going off track a bit.

 

[caught gesture]

The way I see it is the more expensive a product is it should perform better than something much less expensive that does the (amp vs amp etc) same job.
The bigger the price difference the better the expensive product better perform and offer something the cheaper product does not offer.
How much that sways my opinion is just my opinion.

A plastic spoon will perform the same as a gold one! Telling your friends about your gold spoon will get a different response than telling them about the plastic one. For some people that is important.