Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 2ND Gen Gold Bluetooth Speaker

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) – Gold Tone

Finished in Gold Tone, the Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) is the warmest-looking version of Bang & Olufsen’s smallest portable speaker, its pearl-blasted aluminium body given a soft golden finish that reads as jewellery for a shelf or table. Under the metal sits the same serious engineering as every second-generation A1: a 3.5-inch woofer and a 0.6-inch tweeter, each with its own 30W Class D amplifier, 360-degree sound dispersion, and a maximum output of 92dB SPL from a cabinet just 133mm across and 558g in weight. It is fully IP67 sealed against dust and water, carries Amazon Alexa on board, and plays for up to eighteen hours at typical listening volumes.

Key features

• Gold Tone pearl-blasted aluminium finish, designed by Cecilie Manz
• 2 x 30W Class D amplification for the woofer and tweeter
• 360-degree sound with a 55Hz to 20,000Hz frequency range
• IP67 rating: dustproof and waterproof to one metre for thirty minutes
• 3000mAh battery, up to eighteen hours, USB-C charging in 2.75 hours
• Built-in Alexa and a three-microphone array for clear calls
• Bluetooth 5.1 multipoint, AAC and aptX Adaptive streaming
• Stereo pairing available with another Beosound A1 (2nd Gen)

Why the finish matters here

Portable speakers usually look like equipment. The Gold Tone A1 is designed as an object first: a smooth aluminium pebble with a waterproof leather strap, no visible screws and no grille cloth to fray. It suits interiors where a black plastic box would jar, including festive settings where the gold finish works with brass, wood and warm lighting. The materials are practical as well as decorative, since the aluminium shell shrugs off knocks and the IP67 sealing means a splash at a celebration is a non-event.

Performance in daily use

The two-way layout is the reason this speaker avoids the thin, boxy sound of most small portables. Bass capability of 62dB SPL gives songs real low-end body at the moderate volumes a speaker this size is bought for, and the app’s EQ presets and custom curve let you tune it for a kitchen, a study or a balcony. Alexa handles timers, news and music requests by voice, and the three microphones keep calls intelligible for work-from-home days when the A1 doubles as a speakerphone on the desk.

Carrying it around

At 558g with a leather strap, the A1 moves from room to room and into a bag without thought. Bluetooth multipoint keeps a phone and laptop connected together, fast pairing works across Apple, Google and Microsoft devices, and a second A1 can be paired for true stereo at home. Battery status shows precisely in the Bang & Olufsen app, and standby consumption of 0.12W means it is still charged when you pick it up after a quiet week.

Choose Gold Tone if the speaker will live in view: it is the same class-leading A1 sound and eighteen-hour battery, in the finish that turns a portable speaker into a piece of the room.