What do people think then? 

There was not much in terms of review on sound.. wonder if the sound is as good as they say?  and how do you feel about this being the foundation for future developments?

I would love to see a cd being added to this at a later date........

And Radio... and DVD... and Video... would like BM1+BC2+HDR2 in one! Thant would be good!

...and I forgot... BluRay...

Personally, I would not be surprised if a mk2 is launched in the near future to cover the "gaps" BS5 clearly has.

Dissapointed....... 

Utterly disappointed. 

 

B&O has gone back to component HiFi!  

bayerische:

B&O has gone back to component HiFi!  

 That´s exactly what I was thinking. Sad. 

Not to forget: component hifi could at least be stacked neatly upon another, especially the lengendary 5xxx/6xxx/7xxx series. But this?! It looks awful together / besides any other current beosound.

I will reserve my judgement about it's design until I see it at my dealers ( I do love the navigation, from what I've seen so far, though ), but as far as the specs go, there are a couple things bothering me ( I think they've all been pointed out before, but these are the most important to me );

Mainly, the lack of a CD slot is a big minus, especially for their core customers, who don't have the time/energy/knowledge/interest/... to transfer their music from a computer, no matter how easy B&O claim it is. It should work like Olive's products: you put a CD in, it copies it in a lossless format, stores in on it's hard drive and ejects the CD ( you do need an internet connection for CD names and artwork, but from what I understand it already has that and it can be put to a better use than just software updates. The biggest problem here I think is the artwork, because as far as I can understand you can't get it with CDDB information, but I'm sure they could find a solution if they wanted - for instance like Delicious Library gets it from Amazon.

Then there is the hard drive size ( 1TB wouldn't cost much more, but I'm sure many would sleep better, knowing they have the extra space ). The other things - less important in my view: the lack of the FLAC format, it has .wav, so nothing to complain really and that 2-way remote, not a necessity, but it would be nice.

 

Utterly disappointed myself, too ... clearly overpromises and underdelivers - done by a designer, not a engineer that's obvious.

  no wireless/digital Masterlink

no smooth integration with existing products 

still need for wires from base to head unit 

no touch screen 

the most expensive mp3 add-on I can think of - not a full B&O audio product: only a component for digital media

you cannot call a product that ignores existing standards (DVD, CD, blue-ray) a good user experience!

too expensive

what the heck took them so long to get it out (not even shelfware, yet - prob. only spring 2009) 

But I am soooo happy to have invested into my BC2 with DVD and DAB last year ;-) It's connected to BeoPort and my old PowerBook I use as server now. And I have an AppleTV hidden away behind the BV5. So I have access to both cover art, if I want, Beo4 access, if I want, two-way remote (via iPhone) if I want. And still all this is less expensive than the new "product"

MOTS is just unappealing to me.  I am 31 and consider myself to be quite modern when it comes to music etc but find this as a feature totally unappealing and to me all MOTS does it create an intelligent playlist which is more conveniant than anything. 

As it stands, BS5 could become a very expensive system if this is to be the hub of all future B&O products as and when they are introduced.
 

When you have many many songs it can be difficult to make sure that every song is in at least a playlist. That is when MOTS becomes useful. It can be useful when entertaining. Select a song that corresponds to the mood you want, and seed it.

For me, an interesting new feature is the play queue. Rather than chosing a song to play now, you can add it to the queue. It makes sense.

PhilLondon:

And Radio... and DVD... and Video... would like BM1+BC2+HDR2 in one! Thant would be good!

 

That would be nice and a price of 9000€

True but how many parties or events would you host to make this feature worthwhile? Random already achieves this allbeit a little tedious but you can still achieve a similar result, just wasting a little more of your time!

I can see the appeal but I am still disappointed that BS5 could have been so much more regardless of the cost/form factor.

I think I might buy it, I am waiting for the demo unit to show up at my dealer.

Biggest problem for me is, that I do not have space. My BV8 sits next to my BC2 on a shelf and there is no more space to put it. Plus it would look too crowded. I don't like the floorstand option much.

Also, i am not sure I understand the rings yet. The middle one is obviously moving, the top one though, is that like the BC2?

if thats the case I would skip it, that BC2 wheel does work for adjusting volume but for navigation through hundreds of CDs I would not want that "touch and feel".

All the wheels are moving... From the video, the top one seems to have inertia as well.

gorissek:

Mainly, the lack of a CD slot is a big minus, especially for their core customers, who don't have the time/energy/knowledge/interest/... to transfer their music from a computer, no matter how easy B&O claim it is.

Then there is the hard drive size ( 1TB wouldn't cost much more, but I'm sure many would sleep better, knowing they have the extra space ). 

 I think you are actually contradicting yourself here! The kind of 'core customers' that would find it a chore or too difficult to transfer music from a computer without the aid of a CD slot, are hardly the type to be concerned that it has a supposedly small hard drive. In fact, the hard drive size is more than adequate for all but the most hardened tech-head, who aren't B&O's target market anyway. Even in lossless format it can store tens of thousands of tracks.

 You say that ''1TB wouldn't cost much more'' but again, miss the point that B&O's manifesto is not to build anything unneccessary or superfluous into any product that not every customer would use. 1TB would certainly be this for the vast majority of their core customers.

I think they have it spot on here. Their target market do not want video streaming, etc and as we have seen before (with disastrous consequences - Serenata or BeoMedia 1 anyone?) software is not B&O's strong point - nor should it be.

Given the market that the product is aimed at, remember that B&O are to offer to load your music on for you. This means no more fiddling for CDs etc. (And the dreadful jewel cases!) I have not had a play yet, but if the search facility can cope with my 29000 tracks, then I will be writing a gushing review!

Villette010:

...You say that ''1TB wouldn't cost much more'' but again, miss the point that B&O's manifesto is not to build anything unneccessary or superfluous into any product that not every customer would use. 1TB would certainly be this for the vast majority of their core customers...

I'm not sure you understood what I was trying to say. From what I get, their core customers have tons of CDs and are not really into the whole MP3s and downloading from iTunes scene ( yet? ). For instance, I have around 300 - 400 CDs and I've only just really began buying them about two years ago ( I was into iPods and downloading from iTMS before that ). Their CORE customer is probably more than twice my age and probably also has a bigger CD-buying budget than me, so a number of CDs he owns must quite higher. I think. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am THAT wrong.

The size of a hard drive has nothing to do with being a tech-head to understand it and I fail to see how more disk space is unnecessary. It's something that gives you, let's say, a piece of mind. Meaning that despite your huge collection of CDs you can keep buying and storing them for years to come without really worrying you'll ran out of space any day soon.

Oh, and I'm not talking about ripping in 128Kbps MP3s here, but lossless WAV files, which are much larger, because I don't see any point in having a 5000€ player and speakers that cost even more than that and then playing 128 or 192Kbps MP3s on it.

If like Peter says they offer to load your CDs into the BS5 for you that's great, but what about a week after that when you buy a couple of new ones? I doubt you would go to your dealers for each new CD you got. You would have to go home, put it in the computer, rip it, and then manually transfer it to the BM5. Like I've said before I don't think their core customers have the time to do that. They just want to listen to a CD they've just bought, without going through the whole sitting behind a computer/ripping/transfering process. They want to sit on a couch and just listen. Well, I think I'm repeating myself here, but I hope I made it a little clearer for you to see what I mean. 

Buy your music online! That´s how we will buy music in the future. If you choose to buy CD´s rip them yourself, it´s not that difficult!

Gorissek, I certainly see what you mean about wanting peace of mind, particularly since B&O equipment is designed to last years and years - one would of course expect a growing CD collection over this time! However, the current hard drive would hold between 1,500 to 2,000 CDs in lossless format (I'm sure someone will correct me if this is wrong, but I am confident that I'm not)

 Even the largest CD collection would struggle to fill all that space, so I really think it is more than adequate even for future peace of mind. You are right though, the dealer will send all your CDs to be ripped upon first purchase, so all the initial hassle is removed. I believe your music will also be backed up as well, as part of the service, though I'm not certain. Terrabyte storage is really only useful when storing hundreds of movies.

Let's then assume that the customer is a big music fan and buys a new CD every 2 weeks - ripping takes a few minutes and the recording is then instantly clicked and dragged across like BeoPlayer or BeoMedia, and is not an arduous task to do very occasionally, whereas having an integrated CD drive goes completely against the idea of the BeoSound 5, and would only very rarely be used after the initial ripping has been done. It would be like B&O designing a CD player with a MiniDisc drive - occasionally useful but on the whole redundant!

 I think I'm repeating myself too, but I'm just a little surprised that lots of people seem to be missing the true purpose of such a new (and I think exciting) system. It would be strange if people complained that BeoCenter 2 didn't have the recording facility of BeoSound 3200 or BeoSound 4 - they would be missing the point of it. I think that's what many people (not just you Gorissek, this isn't a personal attack!) are doing here.

Beofan2:

Buy your music online! That´s how we will buy music in the future. If you choose to buy CD´s rip them yourself, it´s not that difficult!

 

I did, but I don't anymore. The price difference between an album bought on iTunes and the same CD bought is minimal, but the difference in sound quality between a CD and an iTunes aac file is quite noticeable to me. And yes I am aware that there is iTunes plus and there are some places online you can get music in lossless ( like Linn, B&W with Real World Records,... ), but that is a small percentage.

Also I like to have CDs, something you can hold, I like them arranged in my closet, I like browsing through them, I like the little books in them, I like waving my hand in front of my BeoSound 4 and touching the wheels, I like pressing the glass on my BeoCenter 9300 and watching the doors open.

As for the ripping, I'm not saying it's difficult or unpleasant for me, I'm saying their core customer, probably won't like doing it. I actually did it a couple of years ago with all my CDs when I got my first iPod. But about a year ago I deleted all the music I otherwise had on CDs and I've sold my iPod. I will get a BeoSound 2 for the rare times I need portable music, but that's it. And it will only play the few remaining MP3s I have left - mostly music I can't get on CD anymore.

So for as long as I will have the option, I will buy CDs in record shops and listen to them on BeoSounds and not on my mac/iPod.

I have to stop with this lengthy posts : )

Villette010:

I think I'm repeating myself too, but I'm just a little surprised that lots of people seem to be missing the true purpose of such a new (and I think exciting) system. It would be strange if people complained that BeoCenter 2 didn't have the recording facility of BeoSound 3200 or BeoSound 4 - they would be missing the point of it. I think that's what many people (not just you Gorissek, this isn't a personal attack!) are doing here.

I see what you mean, I just realised I'm looking at this from a perspective of a person who has most of his music on CDs and not on a computer. But from what I gather the their target costumer also still has most of his music on CDs and has maybe only recently got on the whole digital music train. And in this case I think that the whole CD drive in a BeoMaster 5 would be much more "B&O" in a sense that you don't have to do anything, in fact you just push the CD in the slot, leave for kitchen to get a glass of wine and when you're back you take the CD out and start listening. No need for a computer and easy as pie.

Anyway, I've been going on about this for long enough. From what I've seen so far I like it quite a lot and I can't wait to see it at my dealers.

Peter :

if the search facility can cope with my 29000 tracks, then I will be writing a gushing review!

Peter, I know you have a Mac. So I am not aware of what the Beoport software is like compared with a PC. If you can search through all of you track with Beoport, I cannot see you having any problems doing it with a Beosound 5.

 

Craig

Searching the music via B&O - say on the Beocenter 2 - is laborious and quite frankly a pain. Doing it on iTunes on the computer or via an iPod Touch is easy and is how I do it. Not had hands on with a BS5 and as the present model has only the music put on by B&O without the ability to add one's own collection, I see no way of finding out! If B&O would like me to try it out as a pilot, I would, as always, be happy to oblige! I do see the MOTS feature as something that would interest me - after many years of making compilation tapes for my car in the 80s, I have got a little set in my ways and find that most compilations sound a little the same. Genius on iTunes has therefore been a revelation though it has on very odd occasions highlighted music that I had not realised that I had and also not deliberately introduced (as in previous thread, the Wurzels never were a particular favourite of mine and goodness knows where that came from!)

The problem I have with the BS5 is that it is too big and fixed in one place. I want to be able to collapse into a chair, pick up a small remote, search my collection or set a playlist running. Picking a track and then having the system continue in a logical fashion seems remarkably attractive to me - but less so if I have to get up to do it! Sowing a seed is great but best done in comfort after a hard day!

The comment about having a CD slot on the BM5 is also understandable but the BM5 is actually designed to be hidden away and not visible which makes this idea less attractive. 

If I had been employed to design the BS5, (a very poor idea - I cannot draw a straight line!) I would have based it on the Beocenter 2. I would have possibly changed it a little so a slightly bigger screen could be used but would have used the volume control instead of the wheeels of the BS5 - making this multifunction - and had a high resolution screen - the same basic idea of layered control systems and laser beam could work with the beam starting from where the Stand by light is now. I would allow both audio and video playback and the DVD player in the modified BC2 would be there to both be used as a normal playback machine and also for ripping. The switch box could be enlarged and have the HDD in it, which would be bigger to accomodate video files and all would be controlled from afar by a two way Beo5. (That would be the tricky bit!)

Whilst in design mode, I would be tempted to have a new phone which could have control of the system as well though I wouldn't want it to be overly complicated. 

Peter if you haven´t seen and tryed it yet, go to your dealer! It´s not big at all, the dimensions are perfect from my point of view. The wheels works easy and logic. You learn how to use it in 5 min. top. If you want you can add your own playlists but MOTS is great. The screen and userinterface are really nice. Probably no surprice but I ordered one friday evening at the VIP event I joined.