Bang & Olufsen has announced new and more future-proof versions of its Beosound A9 and Beosound 2 speakers.
The first Beosound A9 launched way back in 2012, with a memorably stylish free-standing circular design from Oivind Slaatto. We reviewed it back in the day, and found it to be pretty darned spectacular.
B&O’s new 5th generation model retains the classic look of the speaker, but adds in the company’s latest Mozart software to make it future-proof. The speaker now come with a replaceable module, which is “frontloaded with enough processing power to receive software updates and features for many years to come”.
The idea is that when these internal components do become obsolete, the module can simply be swapped out for a more up to date version. Other improvements include a new trio of finishes: Black Anthracite, Gold Tone and Natural Aluminum.
The Beosound 2 is the third generation of the company’s compact multi-room speaker, which originally launched back in 2016. Like the Beosound A9 (5th Gen), the Beosound 2 (3rd Gen) looks a lot like the original, with a familiar high-grade aluminium conical design that looks like it could have come directly from the Death Star.
Like its big brother, the key improvements with the new Beosound 2 are internal. Once again, B&O has implemented its Mozart modular software system, which can see its key internals swapped out at some point in the future when standards of performance and connectivity have sufficiently advanced.
There’s a new Black Anthracite finish to accompany the classic Gold Tone and Natural, too.
More consequentially, Bang & Olufsen has improved the Beosound 2’s user interface, while Active Room Compensation enables the speaker to detect its position in the room and distribute its sound accordingly. It’s a feature that makes it better equipped to fend off cheaper rivals like the Sonos Era 100 and the Apple HomePod.
Pricing for the Beosound A9 (5th Gen) starts at £2,899 / €3,299 / $3,699, and will be on sale in-store and online from March. The Beosound 2 3rd Gen starts at £2,649 / €2,999 / $3,199, and will be going on sale in April.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
