Beosound A5 Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Nordic Weave

I’ve owned quite a few premium speakers over the years, including the Bang & Olufsen Beolit 20 and Devialet Mania, Beosound Level, and I can confidently say the Beosound A5 is one of my favorite portable speakers I’ve ever owned. Before purchasing it, I was honestly worried it would sound too similar to the Beolit 20. After all, they’re both portable speakers from Bang & Olufsen. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The A5 is a substantial step forward in build quality, industrial design, software, and most importantly, sound quality. The first thing you notice is just how beautifully it’s made. The combination of real aluminum, genuine wood, and premium materials makes it feel more like a piece of Scandinavian furniture than a Bluetooth speaker. It’s the type of product people notice immediately, and I constantly get compliments whenever friends see it. One of the biggest reasons I justified the purchase is Bang & Olufsen’s Cradle to Cradle Certified design philosophy. Unlike many modern electronics that are essentially disposable, the A5 was designed to be serviceable and upgradeable for years to come. I tend to buy expensive things once and take care of them, so knowing this speaker was built with longevity in mind made the premium price much easier to accept. It feels like something I’ll still own and enjoy a decade from now. Sound Quality The sound is simply superb. What impressed me most wasn’t just how powerful it gets, but how refined everything sounds. The bass is deep, controlled, and incredibly satisfying without overwhelming the rest of the music. The midrange is exceptionally clear, vocals sound natural, and the treble has a smooth refinement that never becomes harsh or fatiguing. Compared to my Devialet Mania, I’d actually give the edge to the A5 for overall clarity. The midrange and treble are noticeably cleaner and more detailed. The Mania may have just a touch more bass slam, but it’s surprisingly close. Overall, I find the A5 to be the more balanced and enjoyable speaker to listen to across all genres. Another thing I really appreciate is how customizable the sound is. You’re not stuck with a factory tuning. The Bang & Olufsen app lets you adjust different sound profiles, so you can tailor the presentation to your own preferences rather than relying on a basic bass/treble slider. The speaker also performs an automatic room compensation/calibration, using built-in microphones to analyze its surroundings and optimize playback based on where it’s placed. It’s a subtle feature, but it helps the speaker sound consistently excellent whether it’s sitting on a shelf, a countertop, or outside on the patio. Features The feature set is exactly what I’d expect from a premium modern speaker. It includes: • AirPlay 2 • Spotify Connect • Bluetooth • Multiroom compatibility with other Bang & Olufsen speakers • Built-in streaming capabilities • Excellent companion app with intuitive controls and EQ adjustments One feature I particularly like is the ability to swap out the handles and front grilles, allowing you to customize the speaker over time if your style changes. It’s a small touch that reinforces the idea that this product was designed to last rather than be replaced. Portability Let’s be realistic. This isn’t the speaker you’re tossing into your suitcase for vacation. It’s fairly heavy, and honestly I think that’s part of why it sounds so good. The weight contributes to the premium feel and acoustic performance. That said, it’s incredibly easy to move around the house. I regularly carry it from room to room, onto the patio, out by the pool, or into the garden. It’s portable in the sense that it goes wherever you do around your home, not necessarily as a travel speaker. If you plan on transporting it often, I’d highly recommend investing in a carrying case. With its aluminum, wood, and premium finishes, it’s worth protecting. Final Thoughts Yes, it’s expensive. Objectively, it’s a luxury purchase. But after living with it, I don’t regret it for a second. The combination of beautiful craftsmanship, thoughtful sustainability, upgradeability, outstanding software, and genuinely exceptional sound makes it feel less like another Bluetooth speaker and more like a piece of audio furniture you’ll enjoy for years. For me, this isn’t something I’ll replace in two or three years. It’s something I plan on keeping for a very long time. If you’re deciding between the Beolit 20, Devialet Mania, and the Beosound A5, I’d choose the A5 every single time. It delivers a level of refinement, versatility, and longevity that’s difficult to find in a portable speaker. I absolutely love it.

The B&O Beosound A5 exceeded my high expectations for an aesthetically beautiful product that could deliver full bodied, nuanced sound in a portable fashion whether indoors or outdoors. It is unquestionably a luxury audiophile quality product targeted at the unusual niche customers seeking exceptional sound quality from a portable, wireless, bluetooth, weather reisistant device that can move effortlessly from room to room, or to the patio or a picnic in the great outdoors. That is what I was hoping for, and that is what I got. I'm a member of two audiophile listening groups and really don't tolerate poor sound quality in any environment, even on the patio for so-called casual listening. I really only want to hear top quality sound or, second best, perfect silence. I felt this unit would deliver a good casual listening experience for entertaining audiophile friends on my patio on summer evenings. However, I didn't really expect that it in would deliver a critical listening experience to my patio or to virtually every room with so little compromise from the quality of my primary, far more elaborate, stereo system. Amazing volume, too. This unit is better than most high quality bookshelf speakers on the market with surprising bass and great separation of voices along the full spectrum of any genre of music. The B&O app also includes an equalizer for fine tuning sound to the user's preference, but I just selected optimal and feel I'm getting optimal. I hesitated before laying out $1,000 for this somewhat gimmicky looking picnic basket styled speaker, but now find it tastefully elegant in person and wonder if I should buy a second for a full stereo experience that could easily serve as a primary stereo system for most critical listeners. It aesthetically pleasing finish is like a piece of nice furniture that you don't want to knock around, but in a refined envronment with respectful treatment, it's perfect. This product is very, very good. And even the app is reasonably organized allowing me to stream from Tidal and Qobuz very quickly after an easy setup, and with striking fidelity. I'm sold on it and will probably buy a second one to add the stereo dimension as soon as I can massage the budget enough to pay for it.

This is my third Bang and Olufsen product and some days its my favorite speaker in my collection and other days I want to throw it out a window. I'll start with the great. First this is a very premium product and the quality of materials is outstanding. No plastic, just all wood and metal. Feels great and even more importantly it looks great, by far the most stylish speaker I own but not in a flashy way which I appreciate. It is a heavy speaker though so keep that in mind if you want to carry it around everywhere. Sound quality is also excellent with its biggest advantage being how balanced it is. There is deep punchy but controlled bass, clear mids and excellent highs. It does a great job of keeping everything seperated without any range overpowering the others. Battery life is just okay, it will get you through a listening session but I would keep the charge cord handy. If your using this at home I strongly suggest keeping it plugged in. The wireless charger built into this speaker is a nice touch I really love but it does drain the battery quite a bit faster. Now for the bad, the software is half baked and is full of bugs. When I first started using this speaker I almost returned it because there was this unpleasant scratching sound from the bass if you turned the volume past 40%. It also disconnected randomly and I would have to turn the speaker off and on again to get it to connect to my bluetooth again. I ended up factory resetting the speaker again and going through the setup process a second time. Same steps I took the first time but this time the speaker sounds way better, gets way louder without distortion and seems to have resolved its disconnecting issue. But for a product this expensive the software needs to be perfect as well, if the budget brands can do it than Bang and Olufsen certainly could put more effort into this. I'll end with this final though, if you need a portable speaker or a cheaper one in the Bang and Olufsen line up the Beolit 20 is a much better choice. Its about the same size as the A5 but much lighter and easier to carry around. Sound quality is still excellent with it being about 80 to 85% as good as the A5 but at half the cost.

I been buying B&O products for a while. Great sound but very poor quality. This speaker broke after a week. Does not turn on. For this price I would not buy it again. Thanks god was still able to return it.

The battery life and sound so far are outstanding. The only issue is connectivity through the app. Some features are only accessible through the app, but several FIOS DACs I have could not be connected, even though they were relatively new, and my S26 samsung phone also had issues connecting through Wi-Fi with the speaker. The app uses WI-FI, so some features are unavailable if you cannot connect. However the sound, clarity, volume and battery are so good, I would still give it a 5 overall, just outstanding.

The Beosound A5 is absolutely stunning in every way. The design esthetic is gorgeous and the sound blows me away with each and every song I throw at it. I listen to a lot of instrumental, jazz, lo-fi, alternative, electronic music and the speaker is so crisp with a powerful low end to help give warmth and body when listening. While the speaker sits on the counter plugged in mostly, the fact that the speaker can be portable is an added bonus. And boy can this speaker get loud! The build quality is also impeccable, as is everything I’ve purchased from B&O. The only issue I ran into initially was getting the speaker to connect to the B&O app and synced up with Apple HomeKit. After a quick and easy factory reset of the speaker, everything synced right up and I was on my way enjoying hours of beautifully crafted music.

It looks great and sounds great. Drawback mag charger doesn't work well if you have a case on your phone like most people do.

I bought this to use as a backup garage gym speaker whenever my Sonos 5 speakers aren’t working. Because it’s portable I have used it in other rooms of my house as well just for fun. First of all, this little guy gets really loud without distortion, however it does struggle with bass as the volume goes up. It’s able to fill my garage with loud midrange and treble, but the bass is a bit lean when you turn up the volume. My garage is very large, so I’m not surprised the bass isn’t that loud given how small the speaker is. I compared the sound to the 2 Sonos 5 speakers in my garage. Obviously the Sonos 5 sound overall better, especially in the bass, but thats comparing 2 Sonos 5 speakers to 1 B&O speaker, and they’re much bigger speakers and not designed to be portable. I also compared the sound to an Apple HomePod and small non-portable Sonos speakers around my house. I can’t say this B&O speaker is any better or worse than the smaller Sonos speakers and HomePod, it really just depends on the music. I think the B&O speaker is overall more accurate, but I prefer the Sonos and Apple speakers more often than the B&O speaker. If you need a loud portable speaker, I think this is a good purchase. If you don’t need portability, I would get Sonos, Apple HomePod or maybe other B&O products.

Awesome product & great design. Sound is great on its own.

I’ve been using the B&O Beosound A5 for a few weeks now, and it’s easily one of the best speakers I’ve ever owned. The sound quality is incredibly rich, detailed, and with a strong, deep bass that doesn’t overwhelm. Even at high volume, everything stays clear and balanced. It fills the room effortlessly and sounds great from any angle. The build quality is premium, as you’d expect from Bang & Olufsen. It looks stunning in person – minimalist, elegant, and solid. The handle makes it easy to move around, and I’ve used it both indoors and outside without any issues. Battery life is solid, and the wireless charging pad on top is a nice bonus. I love the picnic basket design, I got the dark oak colour. I also love that it comes with smart features like AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Bluetooth. The app is easy to use and lets you tweak the sound just the way you like it. It even has memory for different sound presets, which is a great touch. If I had to nitpick, there were a couple of times early on where the Bluetooth connection took a moment to sync, but it’s been stable since. Also, it’s definitely a premium-priced speaker, but once you hear it and see how it’s built, it feels worth it. Overall, if you’re looking for a portable speaker that sounds amazing and looks beautiful in any space, the Beosound A5 is a fantastic choice.

Was Qualität von Verarbeitung und Wiedergabe angeht, ist das Gerät absolut überzeugend. Ob es einem den Preis wert ist, muss jeder für sich entscheiden. Einbindung in die B&O App ohne Probleme, Wiedergabe über Bluetooth und WLAN ebenfalls problemlos. Die Ladefunktion für Smartphones auf der Oberseite ist ganz nett und funktioniert einwandfrei. Einen Stern Abzug gibt es für das Batterie Management. Im ausgeschalteten Zustand, also nicht im Standby Betrieb, entlädt sich der Akku. Nach spätestens 14 Tagen ist er bei Null Prozent. Es gab zwar ein Software Update, aber viel besser ist es dadurch nicht geworden. Da ich mir die Box für die Verwendung im Sommer auf der Terrasse und im Garten gekauft habe, ist es ärgerlich, ständig den Akkuzustand zu prüfen. Bei anderen B&O Geräten hatte ich dieses Problem nicht. UPDATE: Nachdem ich tatsächlich einmal die Anleitung gelesen habe, hat sich das Problem mit dem Entladen des Akkus gelöst.

It’s surprising how this small package delivers such a punch. Clear sound with punchy bass.

3/5 stars because: Sound quality deserves 5 stars. Sound is even better than the incredible Beolit 20 speakers, although not by as much as the premium price suggests. However, stereo pairing is a disaster, regardless of the connection type, so the stereo mode doesn’t even deserve one star. The main speaker’s sound is OK, but the paired “slave” speaker sounds distorted every couple of seconds (in average). I bought a pair of these, and because of this buggy sound, they’re not worth it at all!