Spent the last couple of months debating between an Encore and the Beosound 8. Took the plunge this morning and went for a Beosound 8, which my dealer kindly dropped off any my house this afternoon (it actually comes in a cool Apple-esque carryable box, but it was a tad heavy to walk a couple of miles back from my dealer).

As B&O PR are on my back having pre-warned me about being too negative on this board, my feedback is that it's pretty impressive. What's even more impressive is that you don't need to worry about an Airport Express or Airplay as your iPhone/iPod/iPad can do this work for you. If you buy something like Airfoil on your computer, you can use this to hijack audio and stream this to the Beosound 8 - ideal if you want to listen to radio commentary which you can't get over the internet.

Which means, power cable aside, you can use the Beosound 8 to stream audio to the device from your laptop or simply use the connected iPod, iPhone, iPad to play audio (stored on the iPad), without any additional cables or connections required!

Good compromise.

You just wrote an interesting about Airplay and B&O... 

While the "normal" solution is to plug an Airport Express to the Beosound 8, it's totally not satisfying, as the Airport Express DAC is really poor. 
But your solution allows to wirelessly transmit the sound in full digital and lossless from a computer to the Beosound 8 DAC !

Ok, it's not a really good solution as you need an iThing with Airfoil Speaker plugged in the Beosound 8... But it's way better than an AE, and not as complicated as AE+DAC.

I never thought about this solution. Well done! But it's still a kind of "DIY trick" on a €1000 dock :-/

 

mbee:

Ok, it's not a really good solution as you need an iThing with Airfoil Speaker plugged in the Beosound 8... But it's way better than an AE, and not as complicated as AE+DAC.

I never thought about this solution. Well done! But it's still a kind of "DIY trick" on a €1000 dock :-/

Airfoil is great. I've used it for ages - just upgraded to v4. Installed the Airfoil Speakers on the iPad (docked on the BS8) and, hey presto, I can stream any hijacked audio to the BS8.

The only small negative for me is that the BS8 is a little "boomy" for me. Over compensates the bass a bit. I suppose I could play with the EQ some more, but it's definitely noticable. There are no wall/corner/freestanding options on the BS8 :)

moxxey:

The only small negative for me is that the BS8 is a little "boomy" for me. Over compensates the bass a bit. I suppose I could play with the EQ some more, but it's definitely noticable. There are no wall/corner/freestanding options on the BS8 :)

 

I'm not sure if the smiley at the end indicates something, or if you genuinely haven't found the switch for corner/wall/free?

rednik:

I'm not sure if the smiley at the end indicates something, or if you genuinely haven't found the switch for corner/wall/free?

No, I didn't know one exists? It's not in the instructions and, frankly, only had a quick look. Does it exist?

The instructions are very very basic!

Pg 6 of the instruction manual located here on Beoworld.

mediabobny:

Pg 6 of the instruction manual located here on Beoworld.

Ok. I'm an idiot. For some reason I overlooked that diagram and the switch is so small, it's too easy to miss.

So...it's much better. Much better. Sound is superb. I also didn't realise you can also control it via your Beo 4 remote. Even better.

Oww wow nice one Moxxey  I definately think you've made a good decision over the toilet BS5 :)   Don't forget there is also a tone setting of 3 options that will appear on your iPod/iPhone as well as the usual Apple sound settings!

So dude, it is really clear as in good treble? Im still a bit scared to buy one at £900 as I know I can get amazing hifi sound for that price from separates  what is your opinion? For example, I like a dynamic, super clear really alive sound - My B&O Century really doesn't cut the mustard here (its more of a "hey that's pretty" kind of thing)

You've convinced me - I clearly need one of these!

Paul Winn:

Oww wow nice one Moxxey  I definately think you've made a good decision over the toilet BS5 :)   Don't forget there is also a tone setting of 3 options that will appear on your iPod/iPhone as well as the usual Apple sound settings!

So dude, it is really clear as in good treble? Im still a bit scared to buy one at £900 as I know I can get amazing hifi sound for that price from separates  what is your opinion? For example, I like a dynamic, super clear really alive sound - My B&O Century really doesn't cut the mustard here (its more of a "hey that's pretty" kind of thing)

Yes, already spent time working with those tone settings. I think I've got the balance right now - the BS8 is in a corner, so freestanding resulted in boomy bass.

Treble is fine. Audio quality is very good. I didn't really buy it to compare and compete against my BL3s, it's just in the kitchen, in the corner, and I'll use it when working in that room. As I said, it's going to prove useful for playing football commentary where I have to login to a web browser (with Flash) and can stream it to the BS8 via the iPad. You could do that with the Airport Express, but it means more cabling, connecting to the AUX and so on.

I can't really comment too much more on the audio quality as I don't have many devices to compare it to. I'd guess it's somewhere between the BL4's and BL4000's? Closer to the 4000's. Better than the Beosound 1 though.

Anyone else?

I would say it is closer to 4ks than 4s.

I thoroughly enjoy mine.

I Use it in my home office and stream to it from the beomaster 5 over wifi.

It has a very good sound for my money.

I would say it has the same type of clarity that I hear in all of my B&O.

I recommend it to anyone. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a battery powered option. I have had extensive time with the Bose dock as well. It is not in the same conversation.

I dont know about the B&W dock as I've not heard it.

I have heard rumors that we will see some extension of the beosound 8 line in the next two months ...

Wow Moxxey, that's one hella cool kitchen in your crib!!!

Thank's Guys re sound. Wow closer to 4000 is pretty good I believe..  Thank you mjmedio with regards to those rumours... sounds exciting.  I guess it really does make sense to have 2 or 3 in the range considering the BS8 is selling so well!   And Moxxey re BL3 - wow!

moxxey:

I also didn't realise you can also control it via your Beo 4 remote. Even better.

and even "betterer" would be if you can take the BS8's remote and use it for simple functions on the rest of your B&O kit ...

can you ?

can you your BeoSound ?

your BeoVision ?

your BeoLink ?

please do test and tell :-)

elephant:

and even "betterer" would be if you can take the BS8's remote and use it for simple functions on the rest of your B&O kit ...

It's too basic for that. How would it know what to control? With the Beo 4 you have to choose a special mode to control the BS8. The BS8 control doesn't do anything on my BV7-40, for example.

The Beocom 2 phone also allows some control over the Beosound 8. I guess that's no surprise as the phones mimic some of the basic Beo 4 functionality.

Peter :

You've convinced me - I clearly need one of these!

I can only quote your own advice - "don't listen to others, listen to the equipment!"

I plan to move into an apartment with the girlfriend, depending on size of the place, I would really like a BS8...

That would, of course mean that I have to sell out of the 80's collection...

Hm........................................