Editor's Note

• Original review date: June 2020
• Launch price: $250 / £200 (approx. AU$360)
• Regular price now: $220 / £170

Update: February 2024. The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 Gen 2 is still a hit with us on TechRadar despite its age – it's still the speaker I personally use and prefer among the best Bluetooth speakers. My strong recommendation for it comes partly because, even though it was pricey to start with and the official price has actually risen to $299 / £259 / AU$600, but it's regularly available for much less than that – it just won't always be discounted in every color. The quality of the sound balance and detail is a clear step up over the likes of the Sonos Roam, for not necessarily a lot more money – and the battery life is better, too. The sound is less bouncy and party-focused, so consider this the music-lover's choice, and it holds up in that regard to this day. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen): Two-minute review

Bang and Olufsen has a strong reputation, so much so that even those who don't know much about speakers know that it's a good brand to purchase from. Back in 2016, it launched its smallest and most affordable Bluetooth speaker, the Beosound A1, and now we've reached the second generation edition of the same speaker. 

At a glance, you'd think you were holding the same portable speaker as before with only some minor visual changes, but underneath the hood, there are some hefty improvements that make this an appealing package for most. 

Crucially, there's Alexa support here – something that's quite unusual for a Bluetooth only speaker. More on how that works without Wi-Fi later, but it's certainly an interesting twist on the smart speaker. 

Elsewhere, one of the delights about the B&O Beosound A1 is its looks. It looks gorgeous and would easily slot into any home, while also being very easy to move between rooms because, ultimately, it's made to be moved around. 

Fortunately, it's not style over substance either, with the B&O Beosound A1 delivering fantastic audio quality, with a consistently crisp sound. Whether you're listening to the latest from The Weeknd or Billie Eilish, or listening to some classical music, the Beosound A1 simply sounds great. You'll be impressed at how every instrument stands out, even if the soundstage of this mini speaker shines best in a smaller room than some beefier-looking specimens. 

Ultimately, we were impressed with the B&O Beosound A1. A marked improvement over its predecessor, there's better battery life, and waterproofing, although we're not so sure how much we'd like to take it outside the home. Alexa support is a bit poor for reasons we'll go into in our full review below, but the Beosound A1 is still a fine example of why Bang & Olufsen's good reputation precedes it.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen): Price & release date

• Costs $250 / £200 (around AU$360)
• Launched on May 14, 2020
• Two colors available

Launched on May 14, 2020, the B&O Beosound A1 comes with a recommended retail price of $250 / £200. That works out at around AU$360, though we're still waiting on official Australian pricing.

Don't expect discounts just yet as it's a brand new device. Be careful to look out for whether you're buying a first or second generation unit as there are considerable discounts for the former now, but you'll miss out on some key features. 

Two colors are available - Black Anthracite and Grey Mist. Both look pretty stylish and the kind of thing you could easily slip into your living room setup. 

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen): Design

• Stylish design
• Waterproof
• Awkward buttons

B&O usually do a good job of designing attractive speakers and that's certainly the case here. With a metallic casing, the B&O Beosound A1 is a circular disc of a device being a little slimmer and lighter than its first generation predecessor. 

Attached to one side is a leather carrying strap with a Bang and Olufsen adorned toggle for adjustments. It makes it easy to grab as well as hook onto things for safety when on the move. 

It all looks suitably classy, which means we would hate to chip it or damage it accidentally. While the IP67 certified waterproofing of the B&O Beosound A1 makes it suitable for outdoor use, we're not convinced we'd fancy its chances on a muddy hike. This is a waterproof speaker to leave by the pool rather than take anywhere off the beaten path. 

All the controls are around the outside of the speaker. There are buttons for power, Bluetooth, microphone, as well as volume, along with a USB-C charging port too. 

Annoyingly, the buttons aren't raised or tactile in any way. That means they look great but if you're fumbling in the dark to adjust something, you won't be able to see what you're doing. 

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen): Audio performance

• Crisp sound 
• Relatively small soundstage
• Stereo pairing support

The revamped B&O Beosound A1 has a 3.5-inch woofer along with a 0.6-inch tweeter, and it's powered by two 30W Class D amplifiers. As well as that, the grille has a slightly different hole pattern to its predecessor. 

OK, so we're not sure if that makes a huge difference to the sound, but the rest of the specs bode well for a strong audio performance. It also now supports Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive codec, although bear in mind that your smartphone might not. 

Bang & Olufsen recommends the speaker for small social gatherings, offices or mid-sized rooms, and that sounds about right to us. Its soundstage is suitably impressive in a relatively small room, delivering the sense of 360 degrees of music. Go outside or into a much larger room however, and you'll realize that size does matter – or at least you'll wish you had two of these. Back to the living room and the B&O Beosound A1 sounds a delight. 

It's consistently crisp. We found ourselves enjoying our favorite songs as if we were listening to them for the first time. Tracks like The Weeknd's Blinding Light sound exciting, punchy and energetic, with the likes of Childish Gambino's Feels Like Summer sounding smooth and detailed. 

That trend continued with older hits like The Beach Boys' God Only Knows, with each instrument sounding distinctive and sharp. In reassuring contrast, Yaeji's Raingurl sounded surprisingly thumpy in the bass frequencies, but in a good way that makes you want to at least tap to the beat. Simply put, everything sounded devoid of grain or harshness, with a strong, powerful performance. 

The soundstage could maybe feel a bit wider, but you'll only really notice this in a large space. In the bathroom, bedroom, or a medium sized living room, the B&O Beosound A1 easily captures your attention. 

We can only imagine pairing it up with a second device for stereo sound would counteract these soundstage issues very well.

It's always satisfying feeling like you're rediscovering music with a new speaker and the B&O Beosound A1 has that sense of delight to it. 

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen): Battery life & connectivity

• 18 hours of battery life
• Bluetooth 5.1 
• USB-C charging

The B&O Beosound A1 supports Bluetooth 5.1 which is immediately welcome, thanks to further pairing distances, which are sure to come in handy if you've got a big room or outdoor space for using it in. 

Bluetooth 5.1 also allows for better battery life with B&O claiming 18 hours of playback at a "typical" volume, with even more possible at a lower volume. 

In our tests, we found that about right although mileage definitely varies when you increase the sound to very high levels. Still, that's not bad at all and it recharges quickly too, thanks to the USB-C connectivity. 

Don't expect anything more complicated than the USB-C port. There's no place for a 3.5mm AUX-in port, for instance. That keeps the B&O Beosound A1 sleek and minimalist, but you might find yourself wishing for an extra option for connectivity, particularly if you prefer the stability of wired playback. 

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen): Alexa support & app

• Alexa depends on your smartphone's Wi-Fi
• Can control your smart home devices
• B&O app comes with an equalizer

Perhaps the biggest feature here is the aforementioned Alexa support, despite the Beosound A1 being a solely Bluetooth-connected speaker. 

B&O states it's a world first for a Bluetooth speaker to offer Alexa without Wi-Fi support. Of course, it does still rely on Wi-Fi (rather than magic, we assume) but that comes via the smartphone that you have connected to the speaker. 

It's simple enough to set up but it's flawed. Besides the obvious drawbacks to needing to keep the speaker within range of the phone (although Bluetooth 5.1 helps there), it's a little slower than a direct response. 

We also found that despite the three-microphone array, the B&O Beosound A1 isn't always the most responsive to the 'Alexa' wake word. This isn't a speaker to buy if Alexa support is vital, but it's a neat bonus, and it means that it can double up as a smart speaker you can use to control your smart home devices. 

The B&O Beosound A1 ties into the B&O app fairly well. You can adjust volume, switch Alexa support on or off, as well as tweak listening modes via an equalizer. 

This means even if you're not technically minded, you can still immediately notice the difference between presets like Ambient, Party, and Speaker. It's possible to customize these too ,to get the sound just how you like it. There's also the option to pair two A1 speakers together for stereo sound, although you can't do this with an older first generation device, sadly. 

Should I buy the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen)

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

First reviewed: June 2020

• Looking for more? Check out the best Bluetooth speakers of 2020

Editor's Note

• Original review date: April 2022
• Still on sale
• Launch price: $40 / £40 / AU$99.95
• Official price now: $44.99 / £38.99 / AU$69.95

Update: February 2024. Two years on from when we first reviewed them, the Creative Pebble Plus remain our pick for the best budget computer speakers. The price has dropped a little bit in most markets, making these great value speakers even better buys. Their stylish and unobtrusive design means they can sit on even a small desk and not get in the way. They look great, and they sound brilliant as well. Unlike many other cheap computer speakers, the Creative Pebble Plus come with a subwoofer for extra bass. Even in 2024, few competitors at this price point do that, which is why we still heartily recommend them today.

Unlike picking out a new surround system that requires a bit of research and planning, upgrading to the best computer speakers is pretty easy. But, for the budget-conscious, it's now even easier thanks to the new Creative Pebble Plus. 

For around the cost of a dinner, Creative is underselling and overdelivering with these criminally cheap 2.1 stereo speakers that cost just $40 (around £30, AU$50). 

Who doesn’t like a good bargain? We certainly do, and we think you’ll feel the same way about this combination of stereo speakers and sub. 

Design

One thing that's surprising, especially at this price point, is that the speakers actually come with a subwoofer (hence the “Plus” in the product’s moniker). There is a Creative Pebble, but for an extra $5, you get the woofer.

Now, the sub could be a bit sturdier and feels a little light, but there is a 4-inch driver inside angled downwards capable of pumping out 4-watts of bass. Other than a single connector in the back, there’s nothing actionable on the sub itself, but the simplicity is expected at this price point. 

The other thing you'll notice is the slight slant of the speakers themselves, a relatively minor, yet still significant move. Often times, computer speakers either face straight ahead or offer only a slight angle. Here, both speakers have been set to about a 45-degree angle, pointing them towards your ears when sitting down. Not only does this give the Pebble Plus a more unique look, but it helps with sound quality, too.

In terms of connections, you get the audio connector for the sub, plus a 3.5mm Aux-In and USB plug. The Pebble Plus has no AC adapter, so it won’t take up a space on a power outlet or power bar, and instead draws power from USB.

Setup

The good news is that setup is fairly simple considering how few wires there are connected to the speakers... but the bad news is that all the cables run through the right speaker, making it a little challenging for us to lay things out in a neat way - this isn’t one of those 2.1 systems that enables you to be all that creative on the display side of things.

One of the cords you'll need to worry about is USB, which is needed for power. You can obviously plug it into your PC, but a nearby USB port on a power bar served the same purpose. The cables are quite long, and we tried to maintain their bundled state (out of the box) as much as possible. 

Keep in mind that you don’t get any wireless capabilities here, so forget Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, AirPlay, Chromecast or any other protocol that saves you from wires. They won’t work here. 

The right speaker does have a gain switch underneath and volume dial at the front. We tried different configurations to gauge performance but, truth be told, volume level was a far more important factor in sound quality.

Performance

What we mean there is that these speakers, like most other cheap speakers, had an obvious tipping point before distortion set in. It did vary, depending on the track we played, but be prepared to hear it if you go all-out.

For example, Blame It by Jamie Foxx was one of those tracks where we could discern muddier mids, and found similar examples with other R&B and hip hop tracks. The bass does sound more distorted when the song itself has heavy bass in it, but the real sacrifice here is in the mids, and to a lesser extent, the highs.

When we played Def Leppard’s Hysteria album, we noted a nice, balanced sound signature. It didn’t replicate what something 10 times the price would produce, but we never expected that anyway. What was surprising was that complex tracks didn’t sound like a muffled set of instruments. Pianos, saxophones, guitars — they all had some life to them. Such was the case when we played the Battlefield V and Battlefield I soundtracks, along with a number of movie scores done by the late John Barry. 

Movies and games offer similar results. Gamers won’t find much to be impressed with here, though that’s hardly the crowd Creative is angling for. Movies and shows, or simply browsing through an array of YouTube clips, we came away hearing a relatively crisp level of sound.

The thing about these speakers is they do have a sweet spot: For instance, if your computer is angled on a desk rather than facing you head on, you’re better off positioning the speakers to face you on from the computer on one end, and toward where you sit facing forward on the other. We don’t know for sure, but we suspect this is one reason why the cables are unusually long. 

Final verdict

Going in with measured expectations, we came away feeling good about the overall value of these 2.1 computer speakers. There are Bluetooth speakers that cost much more than this, and don’t offer stereo sound - this setup does, and while they don't stand-up to a Hi-Fi setup, their performance is better than the price would indicate. 

It's also worth pointing out that because there's a very minor difference in price between the Creative Pebble and Creative Pebble Plus, we would suggest ignoring the basic 2.0 Pebble speakers and going for the Plus version - the subwoofer is absolutely worth plunking down an extra bit of coin.

All things considered, if you're on a budget, yet really want better computer sound, you will get more than your money’s worth with the Pebble Plus. 

• Looking to cut the cord? Here are the best wireless speakers in 2019