Beosound Explore

I’m not sure where the old thread went!

OK OK I went out and bought one. I’m going to blame this and put it firmly at the feet of Miki and his blasted YouTube videos. I don’t know why I just get my wages diverted to Ghent.

I need to a travel speaker as I’m doing a lot more travelling now, and both the A1 Mk2 and the Explore were on offer here in the Middle East. Amazing as B&O set the prices to Euro levels even though we pay no taxes etc. I’ve had an A1, and it was great up until my wife left it in a hotel

I’ve just compared it to my HomePod mini which really like, and with a bit of tweaking in the B&O app it’s pretty much as good as. Yes the HomePod is half the price, but it doesn’t have a big battery and isn’t sand and waterproof. Really useful when you live in the desert and winter by a pool.

The A1 is beautifully made but would get dented very quickly with being thrown around a suitcase three times a week. The Explore feels like it was made for the military. They need to produce some more modern colours. Battleship grey, black and 70s green aren’t really in the pallet selection of youth going to Glastonbury. If Rolex can do it….

Pretty good.

I also got one last week and my opinion is that everything BUT the design of the thing is absolutely TERRIBLE. The sound is no better than a laptop speaker, its mind blowing bad actually, so now I understand why the video reviews I saw people burst out laughing when it played music.

Sound aside the features are also laking to such a degree its crazy anyone could justify this price for what you get.

The battery life if horrible (3 hours) if you turn it past 80% which you need to do if you want to hear it outside.

I retunned mine. I found several products that sound MUCH MUCH better and have so many other features and are almost $100 cheaper.

Major fail from B&O.

I hope you like my vids Chris? thanks if you do.

I like the explore for what it is, but it’s unusual in many ways. I have yet to hear any laptop sound as good as the Explore is. An A1 sounds better for sure, but nothing beats the toughness of an Explore, that’s for sure! In the end I like it, but i guess expectations need to be managed for it

Here are some products that sound at least 4x better and are also durable.  They also have Wifi, Alexa and built in streaming services:

Sonos roam:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/roam.html

 

JBL

https://ca.jbl.com/CHARGE5-.html?dwvar_CHARGE5-_color=Blue-AM-Current

 

Marshall. I think I'm going to keep this one. Sounds so so so so much better than the horrible explore AND its cheaper. 

https://www.marshallheadphones.com/gb/en/stockwell-ii.html#country-dropdown

Thanks I love your videos.

If folk want a robust speaker with all that offers, they’ll have to compromise on something unfortunately. The A1 wouldn’t last a month without looking like an old dented car on my travels, so I’m just happy to take some music with me.

Here are some products that sound at least 4x better and are also durable.  They also have Wifi, Alexa and built in streaming services... and battery life that's not totally misleading.

Sonos roam:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/roam.html

 

JBL

https://ca.jbl.com/CHARGE5-.html?dwvar_CHARGE5-_color=Blue-AM-Current

 

Marshall. I think I'm going to keep this one. Sounds so so so so much better than the horrible explore AND its cheaper. 

https://www.marshallheadphones.com/gb/en/stockwell-ii.html#country-dropdown

Severed_Hand_of_Skywalker:

Here are some products that sound at least 4x better and are also durable.  They also have Wifi, Alexa and built in streaming services... and battery life that's not totally misleading.

Sonos roam:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/roam.html

 

JBL

https://ca.jbl.com/CHARGE5-.html?dwvar_CHARGE5-_color=Blue-AM-Current

 

Marshall. I think I'm going to keep this one. Sounds so so so so much better than the horrible explore AND its cheaper. 

https://www.marshallheadphones.com/gb/en/stockwell-ii.html#country-dropdown

The Marshall speaker doesn't seem like an outdoor speaker that can be dropped or is waterproof etc. 

The explore is rugged and for taking camping, hiking, where ever. Clearly you are not wanting a rugged speaker so the explore is pointless for you. 

 

 

I found a wall bracket in black or silver from China on ebay ...

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/373660950728?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item56ffeda0c8:g:bTsAAOSwZUFg~mx5&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACoPYe5NmHp%252B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSafTQYbq3L7RBVAMi0K9cw51LSdJVGzel7YDaIg9odcZqqndu5WydLO2YHM5yaq5PAmGTFgnMlello3CHZ2fARzKqJ8ITxhqlgow1nxIuT5XjWcEsSE48z%252BiwB%252B1m8uxIHdQcX8g%252BNcQvV7J0sY3H4qFha6M4iQuw2ZDBol9ErTisluZek2ld11Abp6X4XNUYOGFbQ%252FVEWjq1cc5IVaefGzwVUnqN4nzUeBFA94ggRwmyfDvs0bFrhnWYw%252BXbWLkkha6thQREQLGcu48uBEuoXZyRz4qFaEYO0S3RkUqPV8c%252BC45zm%252BfVSM3uhWj3V1crf6uWF40Lz1hd8ro7aDWuCzcNsrhZcwqF4P71k%252BLbhvcFQzLhOAM28sgnLBtKn8y53W8ZYxR5S2sPkLMU9qJyJ%252FdLoI%252FaEeL9wv3hYpk%252BFT44zWRqzEIJDyS2b3FshpHnkum4U2droTRsfOMVzgIbpBXl3b363NGVwzf%252BvA0jKpMhPU%252FsCU962vwkcQLFWTV6CRATNw0KlHB6PZ5F72O%252BFEdwjMfQdFCjlxihOXf0SOZnH2t6NMD8aB8rwdbEgHgPrCQxl3xj6H2%252Fh6xuh9Zsv6QBQzgoutVMP8k2eP%252BgMDDPnlxClB6u7Pgo6pgNULAzpMLZ2NdqVw8RfGyS%252BcrqZtm1%252F6RuJAHuSQHvyVa5Wu2OOBpzyyWRkgFLrLflOp8Mda7r%252BWdZJT29hE0cde%252BX6WzvHtoE%252BWwybQn4EKBxqzWbwQ%252FSt%252FbiFktYZuhXpOcPQx1DfQ%252BoS97uJiNKcVEwdlIdP8fYco9JAKZ0pbuk72dJx1BSeJIOTofmTvhN9RHhUFQRKtbS16tTWq68eF5%252BWw%253D%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524

 

 

 

 

I’m very happy with my Explore. It’s made for outdoor use, it’s easy to bring along, very good battery capacity, sound wise ok AND it has that B&O factor. Exactly what I expect and is willing to pay for.

If you just want the best sound for the money, don’t choose B&O (valid for most of the products).

Severed_Hand_of_Skywalker:

Here are some products that sound at least 4x better and are also durable. They also have Wifi, Alexa and built in streaming services:

Sonos roam:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/roam.html

JBL

https://ca.jbl.com/CHARGE5-.html?dwvar_CHARGE5-_color=Blue-AM-Current

Marshall. I think I'm going to keep this one. Sounds so so so so much better than the horrible explore AND its cheaper.

https://www.marshallheadphones.com/gb/en/stockwell-ii.html#country-dropdown

--

BeoLab 18's. Beolab 3's. A8. A9. A2. H7.

If I had the time or energy to make the same comparison with your Beolab 18s I could. I could show you B&W, Linn etc etc all cheaper or “technically better” and better speakers. But I’m glad your happy with them, and this isn’t the forum to do it either.

I just gave my wife a Beosound Explore.

She is very happy with it - her main use is listening to e-books and a bit of radio/news.

 

I had a small bluetooth speaker laying around with pretty good sound and had presented that to her, when she first started talking about wanting more than just the iPhone.

As expected - when I started this up - she took two steps back (literally) - because that thingy makes very persistent noices when turning on (and off).

Knowing the pleasant ‘notes’ of a B&O device, when turning on/off, I instantly decided for getting her the Explore instead.

 

The moral of this story: there are more things to a bluetooth speaker, than just the fact that some of the competitors might sound better for certain purposes.

And…….she is fond of the design and the robustness - also happy with the green colour, that matches her iPad cover ;-)

Thank you B&O for making this little speaker.

 

What is the right choice for one person might not be the right for another - which is totally ok…….as long as we have a choice!

 

MM

Bought a silver Beosound Explore.

Soundwise it sits between P2 and A1. I like the design much more than the A, it's built like a tank and the buttons are much much better than on A1.

I put it right into the shower to see if it really survives... and it does and it was big fun for the kids to have the speaker under running water in the shower.
Of course I had to make clear, that they can ONLY do that with the Beosound Expore and NO other speaker. Just in case ;-)

Sound in a nearly reverberant Bathroom is okay and in that environment it's good that the Beosound Explore has a relatively weak bass reproduction.

Agree with Chris Townsend: Hope they'll release some more colors (especially a punchy great blue one!).

 

Contra: I have some erratic static noise while playing from my Sony Xperia 1 phone. Will test it with some other Bluetooth sources to see if it's the Explore or the Sony.

Any info on new colors? Hey B&O, I want a blue one, too :-)

Maybe? ....

Ferdinand:

Maybe? ....

 

 

 

 

New colors launched:

https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/se/gifts

Not for Explore... :-(

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Explore is availabe now in new colors:

- navy blue

- chestnut


I've bought a 2nd one in "navy blue". It's a surprisingly dark blue but looks good.
They must have changed either soft- or hardware, too as the new navy blue Explore doesn't have the sporadic crackling noise issue my first Beosound Explore has.

TWG:

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Explore is availabe now in new colors:

- navy blue

- chestnut


I've bought a 2nd one in "navy blue". It's a surprisingly dark blue but looks good.
They must have changed either soft- or hardware, too as the new navy blue Explore doesn't have the sporadic crackling noise issue my first Beosound Explore has.

If changing hardware is the case, then how will that apply to the original colours? Throw in the bin and make a new batch? Probably not...

In any case, I wonder if it really is a hardware change due to a Class II Permissive Change on the Explore according to FCCID on 7th December 2022:

https://fccid.io/TTUBS-EXPLORE

1	Original Equipment	2021-01-19	BLxE4Tab5EFmpRB3vxTA2w==
2	Original Equipment	2021-01-19	HvBTZAhhU/JVY7zgdOA2rA==
3	Class II Permissive Change	2021-12-07	22ctfywRgdKHB4YCWxXqPA==
4	Class II Permissive Change	2021-12-07	f+C3pPNqagE80odYeC6LQw==

Okay, I GUESS they must have changed something as I don't have the noise problems with my navy blue Explore.

My natural aluminium Explore has that sporadic issue. I exchanged the first Explore due to those issues and the exchanged unit has the same issue. Now the navy blue Explore works flawlessly and I don't experience that noise issue with it (streaming tested from the same phones of course).

The Beosound Explore is a great choice and the kids love to take a shower with it.
When they first watched me putting the Beosound Explore straight under the shower they where shocked. After seeing and of course hearing that it still works they immediately asked if this is a "G-Shock". Hope they understood very well that the Beosound Explores are our ONLY speakers that survive the shower.

The only problem I have with my green BeoSound Explore is that I seldom see it, the kids take care of it most of the time. No problem whatsoever sound wise.