Beosound Level

Danish stylemeisters Bang & Olufsen don’t want the new Beosound Level portable speaker to end up on the technological scrapheap in a few years, so they made it modular.

To that end, the Level comes with a replaceable streaming component that can be easily swapped out for a more powerful one in the future, thus ensuring the speaker’s connectivity, processing power and features keep pace with the competition. For now, B&O says there’s enough capacity to cope with over-the-air updates for many years to come, while perhaps just as significantly the battery compartment is also removable and upgradable.

This splash-proof speaker can be wall-mounted, stood upright or laid flat on a table, automatically adjusting its output to suit its orientation. It gets on with Spotify Connect, Chromecast and Airplay 2, with the option of Google Assistant voice control.

B&O is renowned for its considered approach to style and sound quality; and while the Level is a luxury buy, at least the company has recognised the importance of the circular economy. Hopefully that philosophy will filter down to its more affordable kit… from £1099 / bang-olufsen.com