Bang & Olufsen has always delivered a slightly quirkier and thoroughly European look to its gear, and its esky speaker has always grabbed us. B&O doesn’t call it this, but the Beolit 15 looks like an esky, with the great Australian beach and backyard party icon featuring the same style of handle, basic portable cubic bucket shape, and the only major differences being size and what the things are used for.
It doesn’t take much squinting either to see why we call this Beolit series the esky speaker.
This week, the esky speaker received an update, as the two year old model was given a new lease on life and some updated tech.
So forget about the Bang & Olufsen Beolit 15; it’s old tech. Instead, say hello to the Bang & Olufsen Beolit 17.
It might be difficult initially to tell the difference, and even reading the specs, we can tell you Bang & Olufsen’s changes are a little harder to find, updating the charge port and Bluetooth technology, but leaving everything else more or less in tact: it’s the same weight, has the same amps and drivers, and can still be connected to a second Beolit model easily enough over wireless.
What makes the Cecille Manz speaker a little different, however, is the switch over to USB Type C charging (just like its siblings), while the speaker also includes a button that can be programmed to do different things using the B&O Beoplay app.
Think of it as a shortcut button, because that’s really what it is, programmable to work as an alarm button that can snooze and deactivate an alarm, or even play the last song that was played on Spotify.
Bang & Olufsen also makes it possible to have this work as pause and play, while a tone style can also be mapped to this button, ideal if you’re heading to the beach and prefer a more snappy audio profile that you can jump in and out of without loading up that app.
Outside of the button and charge port, it’s a fairly similar speaker, delivering 240 watts of peak power, up to 24 hours of battery life, and a design that has so much in common with an esky, you may forget about bringing the real esky on that trip outdoors forcing you to go and buy drinks from the expensive place at the park or beach.
Bang & Olufsen’s Beolit 17 is available now in two colours — natural and stone grey — with a suggested retail price of $749.
