B&O Beosound Explore
Refined Bluetooth speaker inside, tough on the outside.
The Explore may not fit in your jeans, but it’ll tuck into your bag no problem. However, that’s only if you want to hide it – it’s the best looking of these tough little speakers by a long way. And despite its small size, B&O has put all the care and attention you’d expect into its audio.
We absolutely love the look of the Explore. With its ribbed design, and gleaming aluminium finish, it looks like if the Capitol Records building had been part of the Blade Runner skyline. It doesn’t just look cool, though. The ribbed design is a clever part of what makes this such a sturdy speaker. A circle is the most robust shape, and making this outside panel ribbed is smart, because it reduces the weight while allowing the sound to escape.
It’s IP67-rated, which means it’s very well sealed against dust ingress and can survive in up to 1m of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. We’ve not left it for that long, but it’s come out of lighter dunkings without a problem.
The Explore’s impressive trick is how refined and well balanced it is for such a small speaker. Whereas many small speakers attempt to overcome their size limitations by ramping up the bass and treble, the Explore has no such interests. Everything is weighted just right against each other – bass is present and firm, but not showy. The mid-range is warm, while the treble is detailed and clear, but never overly sharp.
It’s not expansive, though. It sounds like it’s coming from a single small unit, even if it does push sound out in 360 degrees well. Cranking up the volume reveals that it keeps control well, avoiding the distortion that can plague small speakers, but it doesn’t open up the sound that much.
The Explore still handles dynamic range better than the Sonos Roam. But it’s an interesting fight against the JBL Charge 5, which uses its larger size to create more expansive sound, and feels more natural in that regard. However, the JBL’s mid-range isn’t its strongest side, and the B&O’s balance feels more complete… it’s just that it feels smaller. Which is fair enough, given that it is smaller.
We’re big fans of the B&O Explore. It’s a great size, it’s one of our favourite gadget designs ever, it gets its music balance spot on, and has great battery life.