e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[Tinroad]

Totally different…, March 20, 2003
Reviewer: GC from UK

This is undoubtedly a very unusual and beautiful MP3 player but it is also extremely expensive. I've been using the Beosound 2 for a while now and it is only after a few weeks that you fully realise what the designers were trying to achieve with this player.

I am not going to pretend that the Bosound 2 is cheap or indeed that it is possible to justify spending this much money on an MP3 player, but I have found that the Beosound 2 makes me want to listen to my music more than any other personal music player that I have ever owned. In this respect the design is a complete success.

The Beosound 2 is Bang and Olufsen's only portable player and its apparent simplicity belies the amount of thought that has gone into the design. The player is quite small and fits very comfortably in the palm of the hand. The shell is polished stainless steel but despite this the player is quite light. The steel case makes it feel very sturdy an it seems built to last. There are no sharp edges and the whole player is very well finished - as it should be at this price.

The player is a sort of mini-discus shape with a segment cut out to house the 3.5mm headphone socket. On the upper surface of the player is a collection of keys through which you can control all features. On the underside is a black plastic door into which slots an MMC or SD memory card. A 128MB card was supplied with my player which holds about 2 hours of MP3s or 4 hours of WMA since the player supports both formats. There is also a set of recessed contacts that allow the player to connect to its charging/download stand which connects to a USB on your PC or Mac (again the player supports both).

The stand is extremely unusual. It is a squat black flared plastic stand, larger in diameter at the bottom than the top. Near the base there is a ring going all the way around the base which glows red, green or amber when the player is placed on top, depending on the function being performed. This ring also flashes slowly if the player is charging. the player latches on to the top of the stand, triggering communication with the PC or Mac.

The battery is built inside the player and charges quite quickly - in a couple of hours or so. Battery life is good at about 8 hours per charge, so its good for a day's listening.

The supplied earphones are B&O's own and have received many good reviews. They are thought by some to be one of the best in-ear phones money can buy. I don't know about that but to my ears the sound of the combination of the Beosound 2 and the B&O earphones is nothing short of extraordinary. The Beosound 2 is expensive but if you like your music reproduced faithfully you should listen to this player. Sound is loud, clear and dynamic and this is the first player I have listened to where even at 128kbps, MP3s sound convincing as if nothing is missing from the music. At higher bitrates the sound is truly hi-fi.

People who haven't used the Beosound 2 and see it for the first time invariably ask the same two things:

1) can I have a listen?
2) where's the display?

The answer to the first is usually yes and the answer to the second is that the Beosound 2 doesn't have a display. Let's think about that: a player this expensive with no display. What were B&O thinking? I don't know for sure, but the whole philosophy behind this player seems to have been 'sound and simplicity'. I nearly didn't buy this player because of the lack of display, but now that I've lived with it for a while the strange thing is that the B&O designers have done their job correctly and in use I came to understand that this player is so easy to use it doesn't need a display.

Here's how it B&O achieved it: the collection of buttons on the top of the player are designed so you can quickly identify any key just by feel. This means that as you get used to the player you tend to leave it in your pocket and quickly feel for the button you want. Two up/down buttons skip one track forward or backward and another two skip one playlist backward and forward. This is the secret to the lack of display because these two sets of buttons together let you find any track extremely quickly without taking the player out of your pocket as long as you've got your earphones in. Think of it a little like the steering-wheel mounted controllers you can buy for in-car hi-fi sets and you'll get the idea. When you transfer your music to the player from your PC or Mac the secret is to put every album into its own playlist then navigation is easy.

There are many other design touches that make using the player easy. Once music is loaded and you remove it from the stand it begins playing, for example. Likewise it stops automatically when you put it in the stand and contacts the PC or Mac. There are a series of sounds that let you know what the player is doing and these are audible through the earphones as well as quietly from the player itself. There is a key lock function if required and random play is supported but there are no bass boosts or equalisers to play around with the sound. The sound is so clean and clear you shouldn't need them.

Once you're used to it this player is a dream to use. Simple, reliable and with excellent sound that's very easy to listen to long term. It looks very desirable but its main advantages only become clear once you've owned it for a while. It definitely isn't for everyone but I haven't heard a better sounding player yet. http://www.goodstereotogo.com/product.asp?category=5&manufacturer=B%26O&model=BeoSound+2