Bang & Olufsen's elegant, smooth-sounding Beosound A1 has been a mainstay of our best Bluetooth speakers guide ever since we reviewed the second-generation model back in 2020. It's been a long time coming, but the Danish brand has finally unveiled the third-generation Beosound A1.
The Beosound A1 3rd Gen remains a compact, portable speaker in a circular design, with 360-degree sound emitting from its classy-looking, pearl-blasted aluminium body. A waterproof leather strap completes the design, which comes in three finishes: natural aluminium, honey tone and eucalyptus green.
The Beosound A1 3rd Gen keeps things simple for a Bluetooth speaker: it sticks with Bluetooth 5.1 as before, but now supports the higher aptX Adaptive codec. Battery life has been increased to 24 hours, while B&O says its mechanical engineers and acousticians have managed to maximise output and eke out an additional 2dB of deeper bass compared with its predecessor, while still retaining the same compact dimensions.
According to B&O, the A1 3rd Gen "features the largest woofer in its class, delivering deeper bass with a Bass SPL of 64dB" for a "rich, room-filling sound from a compact, go-anywhere form." Inside the speaker are two 30-watt Class D amplifiers powering the woofer and tweeter.
We were big fans of the A1 Gen 2's smooth, authoritative and expansive presentation, so we're looking forward to hearing how the sound quality has improved and can compete with today's best in the market.
The A1 should survive most weather conditions and outdoor adventures thanks to an IP67 dust and waterproof rating, and it has a three-microphone array with FarField technology for clear voice calls – useful when using the A1 as a speakerphone at home and in the office.
We have also had it confirmed that the A1 3rd Gen's USB-C connection works for playing music from a source device such as a laptop, as well as charging the device. The speaker comes with a fabric USB-C to USB-C cable included in the box, too.
Compared with the A1 2nd Gen, the third-generation A1 has shed its Amazon Alexa smart-control integration. There's also no sign of any future-proof Auracast support as we have seen adopted by many new Bluetooth portables, such as the new five-star JBL Charge 6.
On the other hand, the A1 does support multipoint connection up to two devices, and it supports stereo pairing between two Beosound A1 3rd Gen speakers, and even between a 3rd Gen speaker and an older 2nd Gen A1 speaker. It's great to see B&O recognise that many people will want to hold on to their older speaker, rather than discard it for something new.
This longevity is another key element of the Beosound A1 3rd Gen's design. B&O says this is the first Bluetooth speaker in the world to be Cradle to Cradle Certified (Bronze Level), which means it is designed with the aim to be serviceable, upgradeable, and repairable. The A1 3rd Gen has an extended 10-year lifetime in its first lifecycle, its battery is replaceable at any time via the official Bang & Olufsen store, and B&O offers a five-year warranty for the speaker.
This 'circular' approach (which aims to minimise waste and keep resources in circulation for as long as possible) is threaded throughout the A1 speaker. We spoke to Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, Head of Product Circularity & Portfolio Planning at Bang & Olufsen, who told us that while the A1 hasn't had many significant changes in the third iteration ("why should we fix something that is not broken?") as far as visual design, usability and listening habits is concerned, the team has taken a deeper look at reducing waste materials overall.
"It's often a younger customer who is buying this product," says Hansen. And this target audience has a "more keen interest in circularity and more conscious consumption, and trying to understand the consequences of their purchases." And so "we are starting to implement recirculated elements" in the A1, he says.
"You will see now that the aluminium dome and also the small aluminium lock on the leather strap is partly based on recirculated materials: a combination of post-consumer recirculated and post-industrial recirculated materials. The same is true for the inner plastic parts; the more structural parts of the cabinet is based on 70 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic."
It's clear that finding ways to be more sustainable is just as important as delivering a product that looks and sounds good, especially for a luxury brand such as B&O. It's not easy, however, as Hansen states, albeit positively.
"The best we can do in our industry, when we talk about being more sustainable, is to make sure that we get more value out of the materials and resources we do extract and use, and postpone the point in time where they end up as waste that needs to be recycled, right? So there's definitely a dilemma we have in the industry."
The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen is available now for £299 / €349. The previous model was tested at £199 / $250; it's no surprise the price has gone up in the intervening years, but we're excited to hear how the new B&O speaker squares up against excellent rivals from JBL, Dali, Bose and more, once we get a review sample in. Stay tuned for our review in due course.
MORE:
Read our original B&O Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) review
Check out the best Bluetooth speakers you can buy today
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