Bringing a touch of Scandinavian style into your home can be an excellent way to transform your interior design strategy.
Designers from countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland are well-known for their devotion to attractive, minimalist creations.
You only need to see a vase by Georg Jensen to know precisely what we mean.
Bang and Olufsen is one of the most popular brands in Scandinavia for a reason. This iconic company doesn’t just create products that look great.
When you get a B&O product, you know you’re getting something you can enjoy using every day.
This is the case with the B&O Beoplay M5. This multiroom speaker is a sensational sound system small enough to move with you around the house.
Cleverly connected, the Beoplay M5 provides excellent streaming support and 360-degree audio, for stunning sound.
Let’s check out what the M5 can do.
B&O Beoplay M5 review: Tech specs
The B&O Beoplay M5 is a convenient multiroom speaker combining stunning aesthetics with a convenient and forward-thinking user interface.
Ready to fill your home with music in an instant, the Beoplay M5 comes with tech specs like:
- 1 x 5-inch woofer
- 1 x 1.5-inch mid-range
- 3 x 3 quarter inch tweeters
- 4 Class D amplifiers
- 37- 22,000 Hz frequency
- Acoustic placement settings
- Thermal protection
- Adaptive bass
- Custom presets through Bang and Olufsen app
- Size: 16.5 W x 18.5 H x 16.5 D
- Weight: 2.54kg
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Wi-Fi connectivity
- Apple AirPlay, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, QPlay and Beolink
B&O Beoplay M5 review: Design
Design is always the first thing to capture attention when you see a Bang and Olufsen product. Just like many Scandi designers, such as Libratone, B&O maintains its popularity by producing items that you love displaying in your home.
The Danish company has a knack for infusing its products with Scandinavian sophistication.
The B&O Beoplay M5 is a compact product with a cylindrical design, supporting full 360-degree audio.
You’ll find a flat, aluminium disc on the top of the speaker that also acts as the device’s controls. You rotate the cylinder to turn volume up or down and press it to pause or play your music.
Available in a selection of 3 colors, the B&O Play M5 is a unique product that combines novel elements — like touch controls, with a beautiful timeless design.
Warm fabric and cool aluminum work together to provide an aesthetic that comes straight from the best designers in Denmark.
To make the visual impact even more interesting, Bang and Olufsen also include a slight gap between the speaker and woofer port. This makes it look like your speaker is hovering slightly from a distance.
Unfortunately, the M5 isn’t as portable as it seems.
You do need to keep this device connected to a wall outlet, so you can’t take it with you on hiking or camping trips. It is small enough to move around the house without a problem, however.
B&O Beoplay M5 review: Features
Bang and Olufsen don’t product products that just look good — they ensure that every device performs brilliantly too. The Beoplay M5 is no exception to that rule.
This incredible device comes with connectivity at its core, with access to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth already built-in. You can also link your B&O Beoplay M5 with other Bang and Olufsen products for a multi-room experience.
Offering full 360-degree sound, the M5 fills any room with music with no problem.
What’s more, there are tons of tools built-in to help you manage your music. You can personalize your listening experience using the EQ options on the Beoplay app.
There’s also access to tools like Spotify and Deezer for music-streaming.
Another bonus of the Beoplay M5 is that it comes with access to Chromecast, Apple Airplay, DLNA, and other connection features to make listening to your audio as simple as possible.
While the price of this speaker is a little high — often around $500, features include:
- 360-degree speaker sound
- Convenient tactile touch controls
- Signature Bang and Olufsen sound
- Beoplay app for EQ control
- Compatibility with Spotify and Deezer
- Chromecast and Apple AirPlay
- Bluetooth or Wi-Fi streaming
- Beolink connection for multi-room access
B&O Beoplay M5 review: Performance
The B&O Beoplay M5 is a device that helps audiophiles bring their homes to life with incredible audio. You can connect this B&O Play products with other items in the Bang and Olufsen lineup.
That’s perfect if you want to fill your entire home with music at once.
Those lucky enough to have multiple M5 speakers can set them up for stereo performance and attach them to their televisions or other tools.
If you have any problems with the audio quality or the sound itself, use the Beoplay app to adjust your EQ however you choose.
You can control your sound performance by telling the app where your device is in the room so that it can direct the music towards you more effectively.
Although the controls on this product and the Beoplay app can take a little getting used to, they also offer a lot more customization than you’d get from most speaker systems.
Like most Bang and Olufsen products, the sound quality of the Beoplay M5 is incredible. The true 360-degree design means that you get the perfect spread of audio in every direction.
There’s also an impressive amount of bass boost already built-in out of the box. Although this might be a little overwhelming for some, you can always turn the bass down if you prefer.
One point that we found particularly intriguing when using the B&O Beoplay M5 is that when you connect multiple speakers, you can adjust the volume of each through your app individually.
We loved the ability to change our EQ with the smartphone app and found the 360-degree sound truly breath-taking.
Of course, not everyone will be able to manage the hefty price of the Beoplay M5.
What’s more, it definitely feels better when you have more than one of these speakers to play with — meaning you’ll have even more expense to handle.
