General Forum

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

symmes — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:39:37 GMT

@Paul+++, I get what you are saying, but on the Internet particularly, it's one man, one voice. If you remember, you have used your market demographic knowledge of your universe to declare it's too expensive, lacks the proper features, and now it sounds bad. That's 3 on a match, so it is obvious you don't care for it. I have heard you, and responded. My only challenges to you are 1. How can a radio station be taken seriously for music if, other than pop, rap, or tech, it is ripping anything but lossless? and 2. I admire you for being the only radio guy I have ever known who paid for his music. Ray.

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Tim — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:03:27 GMT

Paul Winn:
the whole thing sounded compressed and really lacking in treble.

If the BS8 is lacking in treble there are just 4 possible reasons:

The BS8 was standing very low, while you stood in front of it (read: you forgot that it has very directional sound)
The audiosource was of poor quality ( the BS89 will sound poor if the source is of poor quality)
It was broken

Due to the fact that is a Rev A - it could easily been a defect unit - a well known effect for Apple-Users by the way ("Never buy a Rev A").

If you ask me for my personal opinion I would say it was broken, because the BS8 shines especially with it's crystal clear heights (treble).

But: always compared to other iPod docks - it really could not compete to my BL3s.

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

tournedos — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:51:05 GMT

256 vs 320 kbps already makes a big difference. Depending on the compressor, the first is barely enough, but the latter is usually quite OK and close enough to lossless for most purposes. Not quite fair to expect some kit to create wonders of something that just isn't there.

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Tod Daniel — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:05:07 GMT

In an ideal world we would all rip Lossless etc however, 90% of my music is now bought from Apple iTunes at 256kpbs. As a Marketing Manager of large radio stations, I can also confirm that most of radio playout is ripped to the harddrive at 320kpbs!!!

I like a real clear bright sound and this system just wasn't offering it. I think it needs something that we had 10, 20, 30 years ago as standard... separate BASS & TREBLE CONTROLS!!!

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

John — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:11:20 GMT

symmes:
I have listened to this dock for hours, from ipad, iPhone, nano, and touch. Have auditioned it probably 30 times, plus hosted a party for apple employees. The only time it has sounded like crap to me was when the source was crap. While several have not cared or it, nobody (including a couple of snobs) have criticized sound quality. I mean nobody.

I would agree. I have had a short audition of the Beosound 8 at a B&O emporium whilst visiting in Adelaide.. I used my iPhone 3Gs; James Taylor 'October Road' (Apple Lossless Rip from CD) and Jean Guilliou at the Great Organ of St Eustache Cathedral, Paris (Dorian recoding, again Apple Lossless Rip from CD). Both of these recordings are arguably of 'audiophile' state of the art recording quality for RBCD standard - the organ CD in particular has no compression, and offers full output to 16hz of the organ....

Apart from not being able to reproduce the very deep bass of the organ (a bit of a tall ask the laws of physics being what they are, and given the size of the drivers and power behind them in the Beosound 8) the sound was truly excellent - best iPod dock I've ever heard, and certainly better than CD based 'mini' system for example. I was very impressed with the naturalness and believability of the sound reproduction, which as a predominately classical listener is very important to me, and have already started thinking about where I could fit one in the house...

Black and aluminium looks very cool.... I think one will be mine soon...

Best Regards

John....

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Synergy — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:32:05 GMT

I too was somewhat underwhelmed with the 8s sonic abilities.

Downloads sounded pretty terrible,but that's hardly surprising.

Overall it was quite a middle of the road sound signature.Certainly compared to my current stop gap.Overblown bass [don't get me started on the whole Loudness On thang to "impress" punters...as is the norm in dealer dems!]

BUT...you can't expect any piece of audio electronica to even remotely show it's full potential in a typical retail environment.B&O showrooms are the worst for this.

Unit sat on thin glass shelf,itself attached to a freestanding wall.Reflective surfaces throughout the store.One always has to extrapolate to imagine the possibilities in a domestic surrounding that has more acoustically absorbant surfaces.Makes a huge difference.

Added to which,despite the naysayers,is the fact that these units will sound better after being run in for a good 100 hours or so.The drive units will free up and the sound will lose that tight sound and breath more freely...

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

symmes — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:38:12 GMT

I have listened to this dock for hours, from ipad, iPhone, nano, and touch. Have auditioned it probably 30 times, plus hosted a party for apple employees. The only time it has sounded like crap to me was when the source was crap. While several have not cared or it, nobody (including a couple of snobs) have criticized sound quality. I mean nobody.

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Tod Daniel — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 18:52:36 GMT

HAHA thanks for that. London was indeed fabulous!

Well, I had my demo in Selfridges and connected my iPod Nano to it and...

oh dear, guys, i'm so disappointed. Yes there was plenty of bass however, the whole thing sounded compressed and really lacking in treble. I do believe there are 3 tone settings for it on the iPod menu however, I didn't get the chance to try them. A member of the public commented also how compressed it sounded and my sales executive put his iPhone 4 on it - again very compressed. I have the Harmon Kardon system in my car so I know how clear the iPod can sound but there was something seriously lacking here.

I'm rather gutted especially considering the rather inflated price tag. Was I going to buy one? Yes but not now - quite frankly, i'm gutted!

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

benjnz — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:41:07 GMT

Yeah does look rather good

Paul Winn:

WOW that's fabulous! I'm in London next Thursday and i'm really looking to see one in Selfridges - in fact, VERY EXCITED!!! A white one will look AWESOME next to my white MacBook!

Ahhh you classy power shopper you

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Jandyt — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:24:13 GMT

No, I have friends abroad for that. Some of them are in tomorrow already!

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Stonk — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:18:11 GMT

Jandyt:

I keep my bedroom clock twenty mins fast, my central heating clock 14 mins fast, and I set my alarm to go off 27 mins before I intend to get up. (3 nine minute snoozes)

It's the only way!

Andy T.

Is this your grand plan to know the lotto numbers before they are published?

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Jandyt — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:22:55 GMT

I keep my bedroom clock twenty mins fast, my central heating clock 14 mins fast, and I set my alarm to go off 27 mins before I intend to get up. (3 nine minute snoozes)

It's the only way!

Andy T.

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

tournedos — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 06:17:35 GMT

A snooze function is useless and should be banned by law. If you do not intend to wake up at the alarm time, just crank it forward by 10 minutes to begin with, and enjoy a longer time of proper rest

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Tim — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 06:05:23 GMT

No Snooze? That's funny because my iPhone 4 did have Snooze even after terminating the Beoplayer: When the next snooze was due, the iPhone restarted the Beoplayer until I turned off the Alarm manually

Re: My new Beosound 8 just arrived - Pics inside...

Jandyt — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:31:29 GMT

Hey Tim! Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

Tim:

BeoPlayer (the iPhone-App for the Beosound 8). works without an Beosound 8.

nice alarm sound (the B&O "Chime")

I too downloaded the app, though I don't have the BeoSound 8, and used it to wake myself up this morning. (iPhone 3)

Guess what? NO SNOOZE!!!