Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) Review

  We see our fair share of outdoor-friendly Bluetooth speakers, and most tend to be built like tanks. The new $250 Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) continues in the footsteps of the previous model, but it's fully waterproof (not to mention dustproof). There are also improvements to audio performance and battery life, with Amazon Alexa support added for good measure. Perhaps it feels a little overpriced

 for a mono model, but there’s little else to complain about here—this is still the portable speaker to beat when style, an outdoor-friendly build, and audio performance are all equally important, earning it our Editors' Choice.

Available in black, gray, green, or pink, the Beosound A1 is a circular, upward-firing speaker with rounded edges. Its 5.2-by-1.8-inch footprint (HW) is impressively compact given how loud it can get, but it does pack some weight (1.2 pounds). The top panel is populated by tiny circular speaker grille perforations, one of which is inhabited by a small status LED. A brown leather lanyard is attached to the side panel, a nice organic touch, with a metallic cinch bearing the Bang & Olufsen logo. 

Along the side panel, there are push buttons for power, pairing, and microphone/mute on one side of the lanyard. Play/Pause and dedicated volume up/down buttons are located on the other side. The play/pause button can be pressed twice to skip forward a track, or three times to navigate backward. Incoming calls can be answered with the button, as well. 

Beneath the grille, a single 3.5-inch woofer and a single 0.4-inch tweeter are driven by two dedicated 30-watt Class D amplifiers, delivering mono audio with a frequency range of 55Hz-20khz.

The Beosound A1’s impressive IP67 rating indicates the speaker is fully waterproof—the 7 in the rating means it can be submerged up to a meter safely. While Bluetooth signal doesn’t do well underwater, you can rinse the speaker off under a faucet or expose it to rain or poolside splashes without issue. The 6 in the rating means the speaker is dust-tight, and no solids can enter its enclosure—this is a little surprising given the uncovered USB-C charging port, but we’ll take B&O’s word here.

The Bang & Olufsen app is essential for setting up Alexa, which makes it all the more annoying that you must create an account with B&O—or log in via Apple, Facebook, or Google—in order to access the account. I’m always frustrated by any product that provides an app you can only use after supplying private information. That said, once you set up your account, the app will connect with the Amazon Alexa app to complete the setup process. Alexa can then be accessed by pushing the microphone button on the speaker.