Bang & Olufsen A1 VS Explore? - Compared to Bose Flex, JBL Flip 5, and Marshall Emberton

The most premium of premium brands.

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0:00 intro
2:22 specs
3:44 sound test
5:27 conclusion

Today I picked up the Bang and Olufsen A1 gen 2 and the Explore! They are definitely a premium brand, specifically because of the aluminum chasis used on both and the above average battery time. But the special part of these is how they produce the upper mids for vocals - with an almost magical quality. However, I still find the staple bluetooth speakers like the Marshall Emberton, Bose Soundlink Flex, and JBL Flip 5 to be a better buy and produce the full spectrum of sound a bit better. Hope you enjoy the review. If you are reading this whole paragraph, what are you doing with your life? Go outside and go for a walk or something, or do something nice for your parents. Gold Star for you for reading though.

The songs here are as follows:
song 1 Pop Star - Audionautix
song 2 Ponderous Days - Joel Cummins
song 3 Festival De Cuba - Doug Maxwell
song 4 Every Voice - Jimmy Fontanez

[EuphoriusLife]

Bang and Olufsen's sound profile tends to be more neutral and focuses on instrument separation and detail. B&O is more like fine dining, it's about the subtleties. Bose, JBL, Marshall, they're all enjoyable, but they're more like fast food.

[StealthGT]

Bass does not equal quality sound most manufacturers use bass to cover up the terrible quality of their speakers. The Bang and Olufsen sound is so perfectly balanced for the price it puts you right in the music like you’re there.

[rodriguezahr]

Not sure about the other speakers but when it comes to the A1, it must be resting on a firm sold platform in order for the base to perform best. Handling them in your hands will affect the outcome a lot.
I have the A1 first gen, and all I can say is that every time friends listen to to its sound they just can’t believe that awesome sound quality especially base is coming from such a small speaker.

[Clemme]

Put the A1 on a solid wood table and the bass will blow your mind. I'm pretty impressed by that speaker

[nothingtoseeherelolkek]

Just listen to them in the store. A1 on the table is the most beautiful sound of all small speakers I’ve listen in my life.

[francochamps]

Speakers be damned. I want that shirt.

[SirCosmin]

One major thing to comment here Danny, everyone who bought the Explore or A1 noticed the sound is not so great out of the box, however, I really recommend you install the app and play with the eq, you'll be amazed what it can do, I would recommend move it between Energetic and high bass! then you can re test it. Trust me, it will worth it.

[jiahsisco]

I have the a1 and explore and use the explore way more because of the durability and battery life. You gotta EQ the speakers which is dumb but it does help a lot.

[joeydomhof]

I'm confused.. the Bose clearly performed the worst whereas I feel the B&O A1 took the crown when doing the playback comparison. Did the recording pick up sound quality that bad?

[jbc]

My a1 (2nd gen) has incredible bass. I highly recommend it for sound quality.

[basiag.]

Thanks for showing the sound differences between all of your portable speakers; it helped me a lot to decide. Greetings from Prague

[danielpeter]

Thank you for the comparison.

Some thoughts on your speaker placement:
The A1 is designed to enhance its bass response by the placement on a solid surface.

Also many use cases have a bluetooth speaker standing on a solid surface. So the reflections (highs + mids) of the surface around it also shape the sound.

[donello]

maybe it's just how the sound came across in the video, but the worst were by far the Bose. Muddy with too much bass. The A1 sounded best followed by JBL

[vasanthkumar-nvyy]

I dont know why people think if bass is good speaker is good . a good speakers should reflect what actual sound as producer intended

[MestreMur]

To be honest: according to me: 1. A1. 2. Marshall. I own a B&O Beoplay P6 and Marshall Stanmore II: My P6 is better than my Stanmore II for at least 50% LOUD! The Stanmore II is at least 3 or 4 time heavier! I will get the B&O A1, just for my dest setup, to use advantage from that 3 inside mics... VOCALS VOICE, youtube, and bosa nova music B&O is the best of the best...

[jellakids]

I've had all of these and I go to the A1mk2 every time.

[rexparex]

TBH, B&O A1 is far superior than the other brands.

[adampullen]

I have the A1 gen 1 and every time I listen to other peoples speakers (pill, jbl, etc) I’m reminded at how good the quality is, and I can usually hear the bass pretty nicely, it doesn’t like buzz, but imo that’s actually the more desirable quality I’d rather my speaker be able to handle the bass but also make it stand out and be clearly audible. Also I think it’s danish not French

[Accipoel]

Hi, thanks for your video! Did you get a chance to play around with the EQ settings on the B&O speakers to see if the sound/bass improves ? I've seen a few videos of people who seemed to have success with that, and most said it sounded better than the Bose Flex! My Bose Soundlink Revolve (mini) got a battery issue for the second time in less than 2 years so I'm searching for a good replacement for it if you have any recommendations!
Thanks!

[ausland]

I has bought Explore and i should say its way better than all this jbl sort off speakers. if you know something about liniar sound, resolution, details - this speaker is for you. killer design and materials