Podcast #18 - Joy & Oluv'Sone vs Bang & Olufsen A1 (Patreon)

The very first Beoplay A1 was always regarded as benchmark in terms of bass response in portable speakers, therefore we will listen to both A1 and my speaker side by side in the same room as before but with me sitting on the bed and the speakers laying flat directly in front of me with the drivers firing up, just like shown in the image below.

Keep in mind that the latest Beosound A1 doesn't have that impressive bass extension of the very first A1 anymore, so it will perform even worse than what is demoed here, towards the end I also added the JBL Charge 6 shortly to give you an idea how this performs in that kind of listening situation.

Meanwhile I have fixed some upper mids issues that are hearable in this demo especially with the speaker being placed horizontally. I think it sounds quite a bit smoother and more natural now when listened off-axis. I am still tweaking and will try to shoot a first video today. I haven't optimised high levels yet, as I wanted to fix the overall sound first, before stressing the sample with high levels that could also damage it before I finished my tuning.

Regarding maximum volume: It can be easily made louder than the UBoom L etc, but won't sound that clean anymore. it is about on a similar loudness level as the Flip 6, or slightly louder, but the sound is far less harsh with deeper bass even up to maximum although lacking a bit of this 80hz punch, as the bass is not boosted in this area. Once I finished optimising high levels, I will also do a video, but maximum volume was definitely not my highest priority for this speaker. There are lots of other loud small speakers out that are nicely suitable for making noise outside like the Charge 6 for example, this here of course can't compete with that power.