Almost no bass and poor sound quality after updating BeoSound 1 (Gen 1) & BeoSound 2 (Gen 2)

Hi everyone!

Has anyone with a BeoSound 1 or BeoSound 2 updated their software to the latest version recently and subsequently experienced an extreme degradation in sound quality?

Here’s my setup: I have both a BeoSound 1 (1st Generation) and BeoSound 2 (2nd Generation w/o GVA) that’s connected to a wireless network that ordinarily doesn’t have an internet connection. I do this for all networked devices that don’t really have a reason to maintain an internet connectivity 24/7, and it also helps prevent automatic software updates from inevitably breaking stuff and ruining my sanity.

That said, I’ve slowly been using AirPlay on my speakers more often and on the previous software version AirPlay reliability was pretty atrocious.

Even Bluetooth was rather temperamental for most part; like when I wake up in the morning I never know if I need to use Bluetooth (because occasionally I can’t find my speakers via AirPlay) or use AirPlay (because Bluetooth occasionally fails to pair) or whether I need to go out of my way to reboot the darn thing because both Bluetooth and AirPlay have decided to cease functioning.

Due to this I eventually caved in and temporarily moved my speakers to my proper wireless network with internet connectivity and updated their respective firmware, after which I moved them back to my isolated wireless network and performed a factory reset just to be safe and also because I did want to reconfigure both of the speakers anyhow. Now though they both sound like absolute dog poo.

For one there’s absolutely zero bass (even on the “Free” position, despite my two speakers being wall mounted in their respective rooms (and I ordinarily use the “Wall” setting)), and on top of that they just generally sound way out of balance (muffled mid-range, questionable highs); seriously they sound worse than my 50$ Anker portable speaker and significantly worse than my BeoPlay A1.

So what gives? Because this seems like one step forward and ten steps back, I can’t use either of these speakers anymore and there’s no way for me to revert to the previous firmware version.

Well, I did find a way to manually upload a specific firmware version to the speaker (you’re presented with this option when accessing the web interface of the speaker from a desktop browser), but B&O doesn’t provide any of their firmware on their website for manual download since they obviously want customers to just use the automatic software update feature.

Needless to say I’m not a happy bunny right now. I haven’t bothered contact B&O support yet because my last experience with them was horrible so I’m trying to avoid that for now; I’d thus appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences with either of these speakers with me and whether or not they’re also on the latest software version and whether or not sound quality has also suffered since.

Just to further clarify: BOTH of my speakers experienced exactly the same symptoms after I updated their software and they were both perfectly fine prior.

And yes I did make sure the equalizer wasn’t messed with on either speaker; they’re default.

On another note: B&O, you guys really need to get your software in order or you’ll just end up losing more customers. I originally had a BeoLab 18, 19 & Core ready to order but I ditched this plan after witnessing your poor software AND support first hand. Even simple things like “declining” to share usage data on your wireless speakers don’t work (both my BeoSound 1 & BeoSound 2 consistently re-accept “anonymous data sharing” (typically after several days) without my intervention despite me having previously declined on numerous occasions), which is another reason I have them firewalled from the internet.

 

I have not experienced this.

You might try connecting something to your aux port and see if it still sounds bad. This would help determine if the network is the problem.

It is strange. On the contrary, I have found my BS 1 now performs better and does not distort at higher volumes. Did you try resetting the audio from the app?

Stan:

I have not experienced this.

Nor me. I don't think it's the software. And I have a BeoSound 2 and BeoSound 1.

Have you tried configuring via the B&O app? There's an equaliser-type option in there. Perhaps it's changed to a high treble and limited bass option?

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the replies thus far.

To answer some questions: yes both speakers have been set up form the app and yes I have made sure that the equalisers are both set to their default values so that’s definitely not the problem. After having thought about this some more I suspect either:

(a) There’s an issue specifically related with regards to the firmware version I updated from to the version I updated to, or;

(b) The speakers actually need an internet connection after a factory reset to acquire some sort of frequency response or calibration file.

Can someone please post their software update history of their BeoSound 1 & BeoSound 2?

I just want to see what version your speaker was on before it was updated to the current latest version.

Also do let me know if your speaker is Gen 1, Gen 2 w/o GVA, or Gen 2 w/ GVA.

Thank you! 

mine is set to automatic update and it shows as 1.22.38751. Loudness is enabled, free and treble and bass set to zero. I used my BS 1 as my primary portable speaker since I also have the dock.

BeoAnna:

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the replies thus far.

To answer some questions: yes both speakers have been set up form the app and yes I have made sure that the equalisers are both set to their default values so that’s definitely not the problem. After having thought about this some more I suspect either:

(a) There’s an issue specifically related with regards to the firmware version I updated from to the version I updated to, or;

(b) The speakers actually need an internet connection after a factory reset to acquire some sort of frequency response or calibration file.

Can someone please post their software update history of their BeoSound 1 & BeoSound 2?

I just want to see what version your speaker was on before it was updated to the current latest version.

Also do let me know if your speaker is Gen 1, Gen 2 w/o GVA, or Gen 2 w/ GVA.

Thank you! 

 

Also, all my B&O speakers are wireless. I have a Google mesh network at home. 

Hi!

What was the previous software version before the latest update for you? You can find that information in “About” and “Update History.”

Thank you!

1.22.36612

I'm on 1.22.36612, manually upgraded from 1.22.34088

Gen 1 BS2.

Hi!

So just to update, I moved my speakers back to my internet-connected non-isolated wireless network and went through the trouble of factory resetting them yet again but this time keeping them connected to the internet through the entire setup process; no go.

They still sound like dog poo and there really is no bass.

I'm 100% convinced here that B&O screwed something up because I'm having exactly the same problem with both of my speakers ever since I updated both of them four days ago. Now this would be fine if B&O would be ever-so-kind to actually bother upload all their of their firmware onto their website so that I could roll back to a previous version which doesn't sound like crap, but here I am stuck with two expensive paper-weights.

Anyone have any further suggestions before I go through the hair-ripping experience of entertaining B&O support?

(Just for the record: when I originally purchased my BeoSound 2 it arrived DOA (it had a registered serial number of "00000000") and when I was going through the whole run-around with B&O support they suggested that I update the firmware of my BeoSound 2 and sent me to the software download link for the BeoSound 2 MP3 player despite the fact that I mentioned numerous times that I was referring to the wireless speaker and not the decades-old product with the same darn name; eventually I just hand-carried the silly thing back to my dealer only to wait three months for a replacement to arrive because I had apparently purchased the last one.)

Contact your dealer and let him request a software rollback. He might be able to get the rollback quickly instead of requesting B&O support. Support is getting up to speed more and more these days.

You clearly have a unique problem with the software update so get in touch with B&O. Complaining on the forum will not gain you anything apart from extra frustrations.

I have a unique problem with my BS2, the sound is muted once a while when activated and only when I turn the volume knob, the volume gets back up. It changes from update to update, strange and seems non fixable. I mean, strange things happen. Live with it or get it fixed.

Your problems ate clearly software based, so go contact B&O.

I recently purchased a BeoSound 2 with Google assistant. I have just checked the settings and my software version reads: 1.5.38754.68306899. I have not experienced any issues at all with sound quality or with updates. It works seamlessly and sounds fantastic. Not sure if this helps but all fine here.

Looking at the update history, I can add the following additional information:

24.06.2020 updated to 1.5.38754.68306899

24.05.20 updated to 1.5.37393.94943534

14.03.2019 updated to 1.1.26713.123854515

Cheers, Simon.

Hello everyone,

 

I have disconnected BS1 from mains for 48 hours (to drain battery), reconnected and works again with TuneIn and everything. Not sure if one is related with another but at least we're good and my kitchen radio (main purpose of BS1) is working again :-)

Still believe that latest software update changed sound settings, have set bass back to -3 , loudness is on treble is on 0