Bang & Olufsen Beosound Explore

Excellent balance ; Attractive, tough design ; Great small size

Sound isn't expansive ; A little heavy ; No 3.5mm audio input

The B&O Explore manages to look great while being tough as nails, and its sound is as accomplished as you'd expect from B&O. It small size means audio is a bit constrained, but that's to be expected – this is a great outdoors companion.

Convincing 360-degree output ; Small size ; Robust weatherproof design ; Long battery life

The Beosound A1 is much better - for about the same price ; Competition is tough too

B&O's answer to its lacking of a true 360-degree output portable product, which succeeds in delivering on that front - and in a portable, long-lasting package - but it's not as accomplished as the almost-the-same-price Beosound A1 2nd Gen, which is the...

Beautiful design, excellent build quality ; IP67 dust and water resistance ; Functional app, easy to tweak sound profiles ; Multi-point connectivity ; Very good soundstage

Overbearing bass ; Not very loud ; No microphone for hands-free calls or voice assistant support

Bang & Olufsen's ‘luxurious' approach to personal audio works out reasonably well for the Beosound Explore. This is an outdoor-friendly wireless speaker that could be well suited to ‘glamping' or sitting by the side of the swimming pool at your...

Robust and eye-catching design ; IP67 ; Seamless connectivity ; Fantastic sound quality

No voice assistant support ; Expensive

Sturdy design and full waterproofing make it a design product that you dare to dump into your backpack. Long battery life.

Not nearly the same fullness in sound as on the only slightly more expensive Beosound A1. No voice control and microphone. No aptX. No wireless charging.

Beosound Explore is so inexpensive that it can compete on an equal footing with competitors’ pocket-portable outdoor speakers. Unfortunately, much of the magic has been lost in the process.