This $3,000 Bang & Olufsen speaker adjusts its drivers to the shape and size of my living room to ensure rich sound quality — here’s why I recommend it for serious audiophiles

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• A high-quality speaker should render audio clearly across a full range of frequencies, allow you to customize your experience, and be loud enough to facilitate sufficient "rocking out" volumes.
• I like the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9 Speaker because it performs better than any speaker I've tested. It's also backed by a 24-month warranty and complemented by a useful app.
• Though it's well outside of the price range of all but the most zealous audiophiles (currently $3,000 on Amazon), the A9 is the most attractive object in my living room, adjusts to the room size to ensure the clearest audio, and doubles as a Google Home device.

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Whether I'm listening to podcasts or my favorite music, I'm never far from a speaker. I live in a house with speakers in the router, thermostat, and even light switches. And every member of my family is known to spark impromptu dance parties at any given moment. The point is we love listening to stuff.

So when the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9 (4th Generation) Speaker arrived at our house, we spent a good deal of time playing our favorite songs while we danced around. My 5-year-old performed an "Old Town Road" dance routine he learned at camp as the audio reached every corner of our living room and beyond with precise clarity.

Below are my experiences with it.

Specs for the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9 Speaker

The 4th generation of the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9 distinguishes itself from its predecessors thanks to Apple AirPlay2 and Google Chromecast connectivity, which allow for a wireless multiroom setup. 

There are seven driver units: an 8-inch woofer, two 3-inch midranges, two 1.5-inch full-ranges, and two 0.75-inch tweeters. There's also a 400W class D amplifier for bass, two 200W amps for midrange, two 200W amps for full-range, and two 150W amps for treble.

Here are some other important specs:

• Frequency range: 33 to 23,000 Hz
• Bass reflex cabinet principle
• Weighs 32.4 pounds with legs
• 27.6-inch diameter by 35.7-inch height by 16.3-inch footprint
• On-device controls for volume and track changes
• Ethernet port
• Line-in / Optica combi-jack port
• Available in white with oak legs and black with walnut legs (which I tested)

For the complete specs, visit the product page on the Bang & Olufsen website.

Set-up took 45 minutes and took a little trial and error connecting to the app

Plan on up to 45 minutes for the set-up process. The biggest time drain was getting the Bang & Olufsen app to recognize the speaker, which took a little trial and error. I also spent some time figuring out how to get the speaker to play from my Spotify account, but after solving the initial confusion, I didn't have trouble connecting. 

As far as assembly goes, you simply screw in the legs and plug the speaker into the wall. There's also a wall mount option that I didn't try. 

My favorite part of the set-up was when the speaker produced a tone that allowed it to sense the shape and contours of the room and adjust the drivers accordingly to provide a full, rich sound.

The speaker's drivers adjust to the size and shape of my living room to ensure amazing sound quality

I'm impressed with the active room compensation feature. This ensures that the music reaches every corner of the room well. When I close my eyes, it isn't obvious where the speaker is facing. Whereas with other models, you can tell when you are behind it or to the right or left.

I have a collection of three songs I always play to test the performance of a speaker. The A9 did a spectacular job of capturing the precise bass found in Massive Attack's "Angel." The soaring vocals and brass came through crystal clear in Max Roach's "Lonesome Lover." And there was no murkiness in the midrange frequencies of Anne Sofie von Otter's "Baby Plays Around." Based on these tests, this is an all-around excellent speaker sound-wise.

In the Bang & Olufsen app, there's an equalizer that allows you to adjust the bass and treble to your liking. There are also presets, such as party, speech, night, and lounge — to match the mood.

Since this is such a high-end item, I decided to get a professional opinion from Ryan Wert, a recording engineer who runs Elm Street Recording.

He put the A9 through a battery of tests and used a device that could gauge the intensity of the different sound frequencies. Ryan found that the speaker did a great job of balancing the bass rather than just providing an amorphous bass sound. He was also impressed with the treble and midrange. He had fun playing with the different presets.

I tested how loud the speaker gets by putting a sound meter 12 inches from the speaker and cranking the volume — I got a 112-dBa reading. This is considered extremely loud, and I don't recommend being around these volumes without ear protection. I was dazzled by how there didn't appear to be any degradation in sound quality at full volume. I could hear the music clearly throughout my 4,000-square-foot house. 

In general, I find most home assistants to be gimmicky and not all that useful. However, I appreciated the Google Assistant on the Beoplay A9. Even when I was blasting tunes, it could hear my directions at a conversational level.  It also did a great job of keeping my 5-year-old son entertained by telling him stories and doing whatever he wanted.

The speaker never fails to garner compliments from visitors. All of the design elements scream "luxury." The Beoplay A9 was created by Danish designer Øivind Alexander Slaatto. He chose the circle because "the sound travels in circles." He aimed to use the best materials, including high-quality wood, aluminum, plastics, and fabric. This is the best-looking speaker I've tested. 

You'll have to manually change the settings to play music via Bluetooth

When setting up the A9, it automatically directs you to connect via Google. I found this annoying at first. I'm used to playing my music over Bluetooth. I reached out to Bang & Olufsen about this, and they said I could easily connect via Bluetooth by just telling the speaker "Ok Google, turn on Bluetooth" and connecting on my device. However, B & O recommends using Chromecast because the connection and audio quality are better.

When messing around with the speaker, I accidentally removed the fabric cover. Putting it back on was a nightmare. After half an hour of struggling, I enlisted the help of my wife and teenage son. I recommend keeping the fabric on at all costs. But, if you do take it off, you'll likely need a little help from your friends to get it back on.

The A9's frequency range starts at 33 Hz. However, the human ear can hear frequencies as low as 20 Hz. And, Ryan the recording engineer noticed that the A9 wasn't rendering the particularly low rumbling bass on one of his test tracks. He wouldn't call that a deal-breaker, but he recommends pairing the speaker with a sub-woofer if capturing those lower frequencies is important to you. However, most listeners won't notice these "missing" frequencies in the vast majority of the music you're likely to listen to.

$3,000 is a lot to pay for anything, let alone a speaker, but I'd recommend this to audiophiles who want a great-looking speaker with amazing sound quality 

Despite these negatives, the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9 4th-Gen is the best speaker I've ever tested. The sound quality and reach were impeccable even when I was testing its limits. Once set up, it's easy to use. And, it just looks nice in my living room. But $3,000 is a bit much for anyone. 

Should you buy it?

Because of the price, the market for this speaker is small. So small, my editor almost turned down my pitch because of a presumed lack of reader interest.

However, if you do have the money and want a top-quality solution that handles house parties, dinner parties, and afternoon lounging equally well while complementing the sophisticated decor of your home, this is the speaker to get.

What are your alternatives?

I haven't tested anything that's even in the same ballpark as the Beoplay A9. But if you're looking for more affordable options, I recommend checking out our guide to the best speakers you can buy. For many people, any of those options would provide great sound quality, but the Beoplay A9 will definitely be appreciated by audiophiles. 

Pros: Connects using Google Chromecast or Apple AirPlay2, exceptional sound quality even at extremely loud volumes, attractive appearance, supported by an outstanding app

Cons: Very expensive, hard to reattach fabric cover if removed, doesn't render frequencies below 33 Hz

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