B&O PLAY by Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A9 (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

This is audio eye candy that sounds good. WiFi interface is the biggest challenge. But being able to stream from my iPad is a bust. Buy it for the looks if that's your priority

The bottom line: The Beoplay A9 has great if not perfect midrange. The bass is very decent (I'm a little biased as I prefer a bass heavy sound) and perfect upper range to fill a room that is at least 900 - 1200 square feet. I can listen to this comfortably from any of the 3 levels in my townhome (regardless of what level the A9 is on) without a problem.I own both the Beosound A8/Beoplay A8 (~210 watts) and the Beoplay A9 (~480 watts) and played them side by side. Surprisingly, the Beosound A8/Beoplay A8 held it's own; both never developed distortion at the highest volume settings. I feel that the A8 is a bit more bass dominant at the lower volume levels, but this evens out as both devices are maxed out. Up close, both are very comparable. At a distance, the A9 is clearly pumping out much more sound. Just wish that there was an option to further improve on the A9's bass output (one 8-inch bass unit when compard to two 5-inch, custom made bass/mid-range combo units on the A8).Setup with my ipad was very easy; I just downloaded the B&O app and followed the directions. Setup with a "plug and play" 5th generation ipod nano was also pretty simple. The touch controls on the A9 are pretty intuitive, just wish it came with a remote ala the A8 and the ability to skip tracks via touch controls. Of note, if the ipad/iphone/ipod is directly linked to the A9, it will be charged as it plays, that's a major plus in my book. One major caveat to using airplay, is that signals can be dropped, almost precipitously the further you are away from the A9, so your apple device and the A9 need to be within 10-12 feet of one another for optimal use. This may be a function of signal intensity from your home network as well as distance. In comparison to other wireless devices, such as the Parrot Zik, I can walk around with these wireless headphones for up to 30 feet away from the same iPad without a change in sound or dropped signals whatsoever, so I'm not sure if the fault lies entirely with Apple's airplay.Just an opinion, for any basshead out there, the A9 sounds best in the "free" position vs. the corner or wall settings (even if against a wall or in a corner); I think the bass comes out a bit cleaner and punchier. To me, these setting changes are quite palpable in contrast.Am I glad that I have this product? Yes...I needed something that could fill larger rooms better than my A8 and that looks great with my furniture and decorations. Is it worth the extra $$$? Arguably not if an A8 will do, but I'll keep my A9 nonetheless. I purchased the optional red cover with teak legs...there's some serious swagger factor with this combo.

Though the system properly configured and joined the network through the iphone app, it was never able to play music, either from the iphone or through the RCA jacks.Before ordering, I inquired about getting the available teak legs, and got only a cryptic message translated loosely from the Danish.In spite of the great design, be aware that this is manufactured in China.When it arrived, the box was pretty battered, with various codes such as SKU and UPC cut off. The grill cover was loose in the box.Documentation is very minimalI suspect that this was a previous return which they sent me.Regarding customer support, I waited on hold, constantly advised "you are next in line" for more than 3 hours. I sent an email, got a call the next day, explained the problem to the customer service rep. He said he would resolve it and call me right back, but I never heard from him.

Both a design statement piece, and fantastic music. No issues with setup, no issues with Airplay. I stream from iphones and ipads, from Music app, to Remote app, to Youtube app. I am on the far end of a 2.4 Ghz wifi (note: no 5 Ghz, which is intentional as 5 Ghz), the setup app even says 'marginal' and the audio has no glitches. I would of course recommend everyone to try to have the best wifi signal possible.edit: well, I took this to a friends' party, medium-large house party with about 15 people, and this was not only a conversation piece for many, it handled loud party tunes as the night came to an end with ease! We were using a wired ipad playing from spotify playlists, and the music was as party like as any equipment could ever make it.

It constantly drops wifi connection. It's not my wifi as I have repeatedly checked it with other equipment. it's just a decoration now.

Today nearly $3000 is an outrageous amount of money for a speaker or a sound system; however, the sound of the A9 is HUGE and incredibly this one unit does the trick! We live in a center hall colonial where the hall is 45' x 20 with 18' ceilings and yet the A9 fills the entire hall without any distortion - in fact it sounds fantastic on the deck too. Also the A9 is a piece of art and definitely a conversation piece. Five stars plus easily!For the set up I ended up using the mode where I plugged in the USB cable for the iPhone/iPad and pushed the lower center button for three seconds and then allowed sharing WiFi settings and that worked beautifully.

Sound is ok. But you could never justify the price.

Great sound until next connectivity! it makes me really mad, now i use blue tooth speaker($5) it works really well!