B&O Beosound 5 hands-on

[faterox544]

how exactly does this work? can i use my iphone with it? does it need to be paired with another set of speakers?

[zarster]

@albithedirector are you for real? the iPod was out in what, 2001? this came out years after AND the genius algorythm in iTunes was introduced ahead of MOTS aswell.. I hope you are just joking or else I hope I have educated you some. :)

[egj1975]

@zarster B&O came with the idea in 1990 and there first product with the wheel was launched in 1994.....so I think that YOU should get the education you are talking about. I have nothing against Apple but they DID "steal" the design and function!

[zarster]

@egj1975 point taken about the wheel design.. somehow I'd forgotten.. geez.. I even had one of their wireless landline phones in my home back then.. o.O but MOTS was out after Genius anyhow

[Marzziooo]

Simples e genial.

[MyRandomReviews]

Beautiful design, very well executed. As always with B&O, yes they are overpriced but you don't get this sort of stuff anywhere else!

And 500GB, although isn't huge, do bare in mind this was posted in 2008! That was pretty huge back then!

[julianixtheking]

whats the name of the music at the beginn???

[kroghet]

It is with 500 GB

[danxl5]

And for only 7500$ ^^

I would have wanted to see a larger HDD. 250 gigs is a big to small for a system like this. I would have wanted to see a tera. They were planning on releasing a 500 gig model. The screen is a 17" though.

[gjaddajg]

1. Great Quality

2. Great Design

3. Really Innovative! Once so ahead of its time. Really the leading brand when it comes to inventions and development.

- B&O invented the touch-wheel now used by apple on its iPod... just an example...

[t0FuMamt0m]

dam man i wish i have 1 of this xD

[BrandonBoston2]

B&O are the best audio and video products in the world. Period!

[palinex]

In audio it's one of the best... but in video you can forget it... You pay much more then what you should get. You can get a much better LCD (not Plasma like the BEO 9, wich is better) with 55'' for less than what you pay for the BEO 9. I have 2 B&O and i think they could be a little more advanced in what it comes to TV's

[larsenmark277]

Yea but the price is to high and B&O come from denmark

[jongle2106]

That is freakin AWESOME

[naem36]

it look's like the thing from iron man

s wall

[max1879]

looks nice

[KongDaff]

nice tried it in a store here in denmark, works great, but not worth the price.

[tkandme3]

Can anyone say "Piece of shit?"

B&O makes the best AV garbage in the universe. Completely and totally worthless garbage.

[falkenlaser]

I own the A8 earphones, which actually sound pretty good, and they fit very well. But I hear ya; aside from the Beolab 5, B&O is extremely overpriced. For a system with 3 pairs of Beolab 4s, a Beolab 7-4 center, 2 Beolab 2 subwoofers, and a Beosystem 3 (I think?), you could get something for 1/3 the price that'd knock that system on its butt. Their stuff sure does look cool though, which I think justifies buying it.

B&O isn't NEARLY as bad as Bose. Talk about useless GARBAGE!!!

[eddypotthead]

lol,, nearly as bad as bose?.. how is bose bad?...

[falkenlaser]

For a $4K Lifestyle 48, you could get a small speaker system (actually about $500 more, but worth it) with:

2x Paradigm Cinema 70s (fronts)

4x " " ADPs (surrounds)

A " " CC (center)

A JL Audio 10 in. Fathom sub

A Yamaha RXV665 receiver w/ iPod dock

A Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray player

A Logitech Harmony remote

[falkenlaser]

-The JL Audio Fathom is the best-reviewed home subwoofer ever, and competes with subs costing 10x as much in terms of sound quality (although it is still powerful as heck). This thing destroys the B&O Beolab 2 sub, which is about $600 more (the 10 in. Fathom is $2200).

-The Bose Acoustimass module isn't even a subwoofer, for it can't play as low. And, you can hear voices out of it, which means if it's put near your CD rack, it'll sound as if voices are coming from the CD rack and not the TV.

[xxalmasterxx]

you should also switch the yamaha receiver with an onyko

much better quality and can handle much more power

[falkenlaser]

I've never heard anything good about Onkyo. Yamaha, Sony, Rotel, and Integra (actually Onkyo's higher-end; sort of proof that Onkyo is low-quality) are my much more highly-regarded.

[xxalmasterxx]

ya i agree that their more recognizable but you should look at the new Onyko products

they are proving to be great products

very reliable and great value

[thechoice33]

I used to have an onkyo, great sound, but it got very hot, and it's ugly! But the sound is great!

[falkenlaser]

-The Cinema speakers (about 7 in. tall), all have an aluminum dome tweeter, which makes the highs, and a plastic mid-range driver, which makes the lower frequencies. The enclosures are made of heavy-duty plastic.

-The Bose "Jewel Cubes" have a 1 in. or so paper driver that's supposed to function as a tweeter and mid-range, but is too small to be a mid-range, and can't play good highs because paper is a bad material for drivers that small. The cubes are also made of thin, cheap plastic.

[falkenlaser]

As you can see, the Bose Lifestyle 48 (and all of Bose systems; a system like this costing 1/4 the price would blow away the Lifestyle 48), has many flaws. The speakers are cheap and poorly designed, and the media center is very outdated.

Bose's whole goal is to suck people into thinking their stuff is good by heavily advertising, having their own stores (or having their stuff in multi-brand stores separated from the rest), having fixed demos, and ridiculously overpricing their crap.

[falkenlaser]

Their slogan "Better Sound Through Research" should be "Bigger Sales Through Advertising."

[ollyk22]

B&O have contributed so much more to the HIFI world than Bose lol! Linear track record player a world first, Dolby HXPRO developed by B&O and they had the largest speaker test facility in the world and possibly still do? Must account for something!

Don't forget ICE powered amps too.

They are not perfect, and not the best sound quality but they at least take things seriously!

What has Bose achieved apart from high quality marketing??

[wawathings]

b&o is about 5 times as expensive as bose so dont no what point your making

[mgs4metalgear4]

@ollyk22 your mom :P

[ibytedk]

B&O needs to kill their darlings and start a new design team. their design hasn't changed since the late 80's

[qpox]

The design is timeless!

[HomoGoldfish]

Big respect to B&O for the quality they turn out but I'm not a great fan of mixing two technolgies like that (old and new).

I want my gadgets to look sleek and sexy - not made to look like half of it was manufactured in the 1970's

[punchbrad]

There's nothing disco about this thing. Maybe you meant to say that this piece looks like it came from 2070?

[Daumex]

The same from B&O: Nothing but the best...

[falkenlaser]

Ah, I'd bet you on that. Wilson Watt/Puppies, coupled with a pair of JL Audio 13 in. Fathom subs, and an Anthem Statement or Classe 2 channel amp would destroy the Beolab 5s. But, that setup would be nearly $40,000. Also, Wilson makes a pair of speakers that cost $150,000/pair. B&O isn't the "end" of audio like people think. As a matter of fact, their lower-end, such as the Beolab 2 to the 8000, are very overpriced. I've heard speakers costing WAY less that sound better. But, they do look cool;)

[BBnose]

This is not designed by david lewis. Why?

This one just like a big archos player. isn't it.

[omgdetv]

im going to buy one

[electricpigtv]

That looks so cool!

[danxl5]

Wow so cool.

I'm buying one.

Only 5000$ can.

Awsome

[skrutt33]

Vi köper en på stuts

Passar fint till alla andra beo prylar

[Schnappi1936]

For about AU$8,000 I will have to stay with my $6,000 PC

[HolgerDenmark]

looks bloody awesome...

[lopezaram]

£3,500 tag (about $5,262 US) for when this hits in March 2009

[kamruj]

WOW!!

[sorenishere]

4000 euro plus tax

[maklokiper]

how much does it cost??

[MisterDenmark]

Looks awesome!

[tricota251976]

It does Mr. D, though I would have liked to have seen a bit more.

Lets hope it does well...

[itsnolongfing]

I've always loved Bang & olufsen and this music player is crazy. it's the best i've seen in my life excellent....but for over £3000.00 it's out of my league

[TheDanishHitman]

i was on the Bang & Olufsen factory the day they, showed to the public.

and i got some cool information about it, one of the cool things the beosound 5 can is that if you want to here only som jazz or rock it will automatic find the next 70 music numbers in the genre you want to hear. that is NICE

[tricota251976]

Actually Bang & Olufsen created the "wheel" function in the 80'ies but never really used it, except for their phones. When Apple started doing iPods, they coppied the wheel, which B&O had not gotten copyrighted.

Next time, do a little research, before you acuse everyone of copying from apple...

[gerard1710]

@tricota251976 You can still copy something although it's not copyrighted; you're still copying an invention.

[ykliu1995]

@tricota251976 Apple is using multi touch now and the wheel is only available in the iPod classic.

[danbiazoto]

@tricota251976 you kicked his a*s! :D

[NSCinc]

FIRST