B &O A2 Active

Photo/Wen by Li Guoyin

B & O is a brand that perfectly combines technology and aesthetics. At the crossroads of technology and humanities, Jobs is not alone. The design of noble spirit and the price of noble spirit make its voice seem to be somewhat noble, which is even more effective with brain release.

In recent years, B & O has begun to launch low-end product lines. The relatively people-friendly price is matched with the consistent high-level design and reliable sound performance, which is difficult to dislike. Taobao can inquire, a2 price is around 2000 yuan, JD.com is currently out of stock.

1. Overview
After getting a2, I got a fright. I thought it was a small portable speaker with huge actual size. By analogy, it is roughly equivalent to half a notebook.

Packaging is a common heaven and earth cover design, square, good texture, take out the upper cover with damping feeling, pure white one, the surface has a bright convex B & O logo, take out the upper cover to see the product, embedded in the black foam bottom, very regular.

Take out the product, the inner layer contains the attached black nylon woven handle strap, instructions and other accessories. The default blue nato band looks better.

A2 is a rounded rectangular body with a three-layer sandwich structure design. There are plastic panels on both sides. The surface is punched. The middle frame is made of aluminum alloy. The surface is made of anode sandblasting process, and the touch is fine.

The bottom design has feet, and the foot design is very simple, but there is no problem with use and it is stable.

Type-C interface with charging prompt light. The gap here is obvious. If it is changed to the interface of nano injection molding process, the overall feeling will be much better.

One side of the speaker is designed with a nato belt handle, and the Nato belt is a nylon belt, also known as a NATO belt. Nylon strap was born as a munitions in the early days. It is its mission to be low-key, portable and reliable. On the battlefield, it can even be used as a tie when necessary. After the end of World War II, most countries began to enter a long-term era of peace, and nato belt began to enter people's daily life, developing rich color matching and texture design. The design of a2 with nato belt is a good example. The previous generation of a2 products used leather straps. compared with nato straps, nato straps are much stronger and more reliable. they are more friendly to outdoor use scenes and convenient to clean, but the tone of the products is slightly inferior.

Product design and manufacturing information is affixed to the inside of the handle strap, which is relatively hidden. The conventional method is to carve laser or silk screen on the bottom of the product. This makes the author a little confused. The concealment at the bottom is obviously better. Furthermore, users with obsessive-compulsive disorder will choose to tear it off.

The top view can see that there is a bulging radian on the side. As a sound box, the semantics of such a shape are consistent with its function. The author has no disassembly machine, and the online disassembly analysis is relatively small. It is speculated that such a shape is also related to the internal hardware.

In order to avoid the height tolerance when in the same plane, the key adopts a sinking design, the edge is chamfered, the chamfered edge does not use the popular dioxygen highlight C angle, the overall feeling is slightly better, the surface characters are laser engraving, and there is no need to worry about wear and fading. The key stroke of the key is moderate, the damping feeling is strong, and there is no clear and definite feedback feeling similar to the iPhone power key. Therefore, the key pressing has no sound, the operation is quiet, and there is a faint advanced feeling.

2. Industrial design

If I want to evaluate the design of a2 in one sentence, it is "reasonable scale". From modeling to CMF application, a2 can show its rational consideration in all aspects.

One of the appearance features of A2 is four large R angles. The R angle does not adopt a perfect curvature design with continuous curvature. It is directly rounded. It seems to be a bit amateur and does not conform to the consistent standard of B & O. Nowadays, in the marketing and promotion of product design, the word "perfect curvature" has been repeatedly mentioned, as if the use of such an R-angle design has mastered the truth of the universe, which is a universal standard.

(mutual injury scene)

The curvature comb diagram we see is an illustration of a mathematical feature of a curve, which itself is not good or bad. Usually perfect curvature means that the trend of curvature has continuity and there is no stiff jump transition, which is very important for automobile design and manufacturing. The quality of the curved surface determines the light and shadow effect after molding.

Of course, B & O is not so amateur. Its R-angle design with rounded corners is based on scale, and it is an intentional choice to pursue the overall design sense. Small devices such as mobile phones and smart watches generally adopt a continuous R-angle design with beautiful curvature, which can make the shape more exquisite and elegant. When the scale is exceeded and the size of the object starts to increase, the shape contour features need to be strengthened, and the priority of the overall design sense increases accordingly. Compared with some details that are more difficult for mass users to perceive, a clear and definite product posture is more important.

This can also be proved in other product designs of B & O: using rounded R angle is a clear design choice, which runs through the whole product line of low-end Bluetooth speaker devices of B & O.

Today, aluminum alloy sandblasting anode process is very common. The middle frame of a2 uses this process. The author has found equipment that uses the same material process at home: a retired iphone se and a millet mobile power supply.

The surface of iphone se is more delicate, sandblasting is finer, and silver is brighter. Among the three, the sandblasting of the small and medium-sized mobile power supply is the thickest, and a2 is the second. Therefore, the stain resistance of the two is better. When used outdoors in summer, the delicate surface of iPhone se is easy to leave sweaty hand stains, which needs to be wiped and cleaned daily.

The iPhone is a mobile phone and a device close to people. The delicate surface CMF treatment is of great help to improve the user's perception experience, while a2 is not. Its space usage scale is larger. If you want to transfer the anode aluminum alloy texture within the daily user's perception range, it is obviously better to choose a thicker sandblasting, and the surface light and shadow effect will be softer and uniform.

On large-size equipment, fine sandblasting will make the surface light and shadow contrast strong, reduce the anti-pollution ability, and even cause the user's cognitive dislocation of the material. Friends who are interested in paying attention to Apple products may wish to observe and compare. From iPhone to macbook to iMac, as the size of the equipment increases, the effect of sandblasting particles on the surface also progresses along the clear route of "getting thicker and thicker.

Whether it is apple or B & O, behind the well-known design is its rational grasp of the design scale.

3. Talk about sound

Since sound cannot be accurately and objectively described through words, whether it is consumer products for the public or professional audio equipment that enthusiasts talk about, it is easy to fall into the trap of metaphysical discussion when talking about the issue of sound. An objective fact is that in similar products, the corresponding price will definitely correspond to the corresponding level of comprehensive sound performance. Due to brand differences, some products with good quality and sound will appear, but there will definitely be no leapfrog products. On the e-commerce details page, the actual comprehensive product power is often killed by people.

Therefore, for friends who are interested in buying, there is no need to worry too much about the sound quality. As long as you like it, you will be finished. The author briefly talks about his subjective listening feelings for reference only.

The amount of A2 low frequency is not very large, but it sounds good. No matter the sound box or the earphone, on some products that focus on "cost performance", you can often feel a large amount of bass as soon as you open it. It is abundant, bursts your head, and moves and beats, giving people the illusion of good sound quality. In fact, the medium and high pitches of such products are often very ordinary. The flood-discharging bass can be regarded as a cover-up method. The bass of a2 is obviously not.

The intermediate frequency is also pleasant to listen to, and it is a bright spot. Friends who often listen to male voices will not be disappointed (except for popular verbal songs).

Regarding high frequency, to be honest, I can't tell whether it is good or bad, because I don't listen to high-pitched female voices or string instruments. Five or six years ago when I didn't give up treatment, I was a second enthusiast in the middle school. The portable equipment was a C4 match with a modified se425, Jess x10. At that time, I didn't listen to my favorite songs at all. All I saved was the hivi audition resources I bought. I made a slight difference between different earphones. For pleasure, I completely forgot to listen to the songs themselves. Then came retribution. Once the author listened to "Red Lantern" with a 425. At that time, the treble and transient performance of the multi-unit moving iron was obviously better than that of the vast majority of moving circles. It was better to test "Red Lantern". Due to the special physical volume push-pull rod design of C4, the rod was accidentally pushed to the top and was instantly hit by a sharp treble.

After the fever subsided, I stayed with my mobile phone and computer all the year round, so I felt very nice when I first got a2. As a bluetooth speaker, the performance of a2 exceeded my expectation. compared with the products at the same price, the industrial design of a2 is another bright spot. Comprehensive comments, B & O a2 is a good product, recommended, don't forget, listen to the song.