Beolab 8—the attractive new room speaker offering from Bang & Olufsen—is now being welcomed to homes. The news comes as Sonos also welcomes a predecessor to its battery-powered lineup, the Sonos Move 2.
The Beolab 8 comes with a few standout features, for example beam-width control which adapts to listening profiles. Also UWB (ultra-wide band) which adjusts the audio “sweet spot” dependant on the position of the listeners smartphone.
Conversely, there are some not so revolutionary features such as the ability to stereo pair or pair with other devices in the Beolab series. This is something done by others and pioneered by the likes of DTS with Play-Fi.
Although the UWB feature has great potential, again it’s not an entirely new concept. Razer (THX) has recently released a soundbar which uses beamforming technology to track your head. The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro can track a user’s head in order to give them the best possible sound experience wherever they are in the room.
In summary of first impressions, the Beolab 8 is a very good-looking speaker. The sound quality is probably where it will succeed in the oversaturated market of feature-rich home speakers.
