Sitting beneath the Beolit 15 (£400) and BeoPlay A2 (£300) in B&O's range of portable speakers, the A1 has an aluminium dome-like design that resembles a smoke detector, comes with a real leather strap and is splash- and dust-resistant. In other words, it's both portable and rugged. Heard enough? You can jump straight to our full B&O BeoPlay A1 review.
Bang & Olufsen claims its design team was given a brief to come up with something roughly half the size of the A2, which could easily fit in a bag and didn't have protruding buttons that could be accidentally pressed. The B&O A1 is the end result.
A 3.5mm input and a USB type-C socket for charging share the A1’s waistband, alongside push-button controls. One of the controls will instantly reconnect the speaker to the last used device - and play the last song you listened to.
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Like the Beolit 15 and BeoPlay A2, the A1’s rechargeable 2200mAh Li-Ion battery offers a generous 24 hours of music playback from a single charge.
Underneath the grille is a custom-built 20mm tweeter and a 9cm driver, as well as a built-in microphone for taking calls B&O claiming that the patent-pending rimmed design on the speaker’s bottom edge aids vocal dispersion when taking calls.
Multi-room functionality is also onboard, with the BeoPlay app – available on iOS and coming to Android next month – letting you pair two units together to play either in two rooms or as stereo speakers.
The BeoPlay A1 comes in moss green and natural (silver) finishes and is available now, priced £199.
