Reviews for B&O PLAY Beolit 12 by Bang & Olufsen

The sound is really good for such a small device. But the interface and airplay? What did they think at B&O. Also the support of B&O is poor. First email the responded with the standard stuff you find on the site the next follow-up email they don't respond???? So don't buy this product if you want a trouble free airplay solution.

Also you can't set a password on the device which is ridiculous insecure. On a network with more people it open to everyone to use the speaker!!!???.

Better sound than a Zeppelin Air, to say nothing of competing docks; unlike the pleasant-sounding but ultimately flawed Bose Soundlink devices, you won't find dropouts in any part of the audio spectrum.

If you know your music well (from hearing it on truly high quality sources), you'll find nothing missing; if you don't, you will discover entirely new aspects of your favorites that you never knew existed.

Setup was a breeze, with the Beolit acting as an access point for easy configuration, then solidly joining our existing network for airplay usage. It's limited to 2.4 GHz (instead of offering 5GHz wireless N as an option), so microwaves and some wireless phones can cause dropouts, but we've had very good reliability of playback.

What's perhaps most astounding (given the sound) is the unit's size and portability. There is simply nothing else like it.

I still can't believe the sound coming out this tiny (heavy) box!
If you can afford it buy it

Good:
I have used the Beolite for a party on the beach (placed in the rocks: you have to place it chest-hight and against something for the best sound), next to the pool, in a rental where the radio was missing and I watched movies in a hotel where it made for a cinema like experience. Oh, and I flipped over a glass of wine while I used it as a tray and it made me wonder is it watertight? Cause it still works like new. Battery life is insane, clocked it close to 9 hours. Last: incredible sound even with very low volume

Bad:
3.5mm jack is to short and vulnerable;
so I've used the apple connector but it heavily decreases battery life;
heavy almost 3kg (but it reminds me of the quality :-)
bass biased;
rubber supports to reduce vibration and increase stability wear off quickly;
wifi set-up too much hassle so I hardly use it;
airport security mistakes it for a bomb

Like everyone else, I find the wi-fi reception poor and the sound incredible. Easier to setup w/ upgrade and IOS app, once you have it set for a network.

Bass is set for off the floor location (bookcase, table top, etc.). If you put it on the floor or in a corner, you very likely will hear too much bass. And upper end clarity is best if you face it toward you and have it at head (and ear) level. With that placement, the sound is awesome.

For all those whining about the price, I can only suggest you go find something as good for less - it simply does not exist - I guess B&O must know that and, just like the rest of their incredible products, have priced it accordingly.

I see a lot of reviews complaining about the setup so I'll address that first. All airplay devices use the same hardware/software provided by Apple. So yes, it's annoying to setup it up and sometimes it cuts-off but you'll get the exact problems with every airplay device our there. Just check the reviews for them and you'll see.

Two things that fixed the problem for me: (1) Install the hardware patch using the app or ask your B&O store to do it for you before you take it home. (2) the sound cut-offs that do happen are not the wireless connection, but your iTunes. I had the exact same problem with the AppleTV and solved both by turning off power savings and some heavy background tasks like backups and antivirus scheduled scans. Everytime the sound went bad (not often) I could see something heavy running on my PC that caused it.

Once the setup is done, the sound (does anything else really matters?), mobility and design are definetely worth the money. The battery is excelent. I lost power during Sandy and I used it for over 8hrs (cable connection) and at the end my ipod was still fully charged.

I loved it

only if you have something very urgent to do with your money... It is a wonderful piece of electronics... Air Play is a little tricky to setup (use the iOS app) but just WORKS...

Nothing will sound like this box in your house!!! You can pay half of its value to get a tenth of the sound volume, density, emotion... so... bad business!!!

The best thing is how much space a small box save without any kind of hearing pleasure quality...

I've owned these for 3 months. The sound is good for small speakers and I would agree with other reviewers that it improves with volume. I use these for outdoor locations(porch, dock, yard), some fairly distant from router and have had no airplay connectivity issues. All of family, armed with iPhone, pad, or airplay remote for iTunes remote, vie for DJ responsibilities. Fun. And eclectic mix of tunes on the porch

This is a great sounding speaker and the built in rechargeable battery is great for making it portable round the house or to the park.

But the Airplay / Wifi setup is dreadful. I've only ever got it to work once and I'm a nerd. I've wasted hours with the app, with Wifi and with wired connections and it's just very unresponsive and glitchy.

It's also a failure of usability to design something where you push a button and need to monitor what colour the button changes to - you can't obviously as your finger is obscuring the button. The buttons are touch sensitive and have no movement, so you have no feedback to know how hard to push. You end up trying to push whilst keeping half of your finger to the side so you can see if it changes colour. Overall it's a dreadful interface.

I've had mine for 6 months and do use it via a cable, but when I get time I'm taking it back to the B&O store and am going to ask them to demonstrate the wifi setup, because it's either very glitchy or not as described in the manual.

As another reviewer, I have connection problems too.
I have another Airplay gadgets, and was looking for something to put in my garden, to integrate the sound outdoors when I have a party.
So, I got this B&O to do the job.
But other gadgets keep connected, steady, and the B&O always drops out.
Can't find a reason.
Even when in the same room as the wifi router.
Sounds fantastic, looks fantastic, but doesn't deliver a steady Airplay connection.
At least until now.
Maybe in a future firmware update