BeoSound 5. – The Wait.

The unit was delivered in the first week of February following a pre-order date of mid-December. The long delay – not one of B&O’s greatest strategies I must say (for those who can’t wait for Xmas/tooth fairy etc..) allowed me to make a good deal of preparation prior to delivery:-

First, I had installed good quality a DVI-I cable from my TV to the location of the BeoMaster along with a fortuitous relocation of my wifi modem next to it (BM5 I believe can or will be able to be fitted as an optional extra). Second, I had spent several tens of hours re-ripping my +600 CD collection, to WMA Lossless, re-tagging (smartening up the extraneous and irritating [mix**] notes and placing into title case etc..) and embedding new 500 x 500 pixel cover-art (rather than relying on the low res files downloaded as standard with the disc).

The Set-Up

The BS5/BM5 arrived in two surprisingly small boxes and irritatingly, a bag of loose bits – namely the cables and some fixtures. I had opted for the free-standing table stand but due to “lost in translation” episode with my local dealer, the extended wall bracket arrived instead. The replacement will be here in a few weeks time. The BS5 in my case was supplied with 3 x 4.5m cables (DVI, Power and USB) although 9m cables are also available I’m told.

The whole set-up from box to integration with the BV7 to playback of radio took about 3 hours having opted to install the BS/BM5 myself. There were a number of issues which required a bit of tinkering. First, I think combining the BS5 with a BM5 and BV7 causes issues of what and where the function configuration settings are. Leaving the BS5 in settings mode limits you to a small number of setting on the screen and prevents the BM5 settings to take a grip as the Master on the TV screen. Once this was found, the BS5 placed in N.Music mode, the BM5 settings (Beo5 -> PC -> Config) were easy and clear enough to navigate. Option settings, IP addresses, Client Names, etc…

This is I think one area where B&O need to improve. The manuals were scandalously vacant giving information about the obvious (intuitive) operation of the BS5 and the BM5. A serious think about a good set-up manual is needed. Even if B&O insist they will do the installation by professional and trained technicians, some owners will from time to time move house, will re-locate or re-configure their equipment or simply change their ISP provider. Reference must be at hand if required.

I did have and still do have issues with BeoPlayer ß à BeoMaster 5 synchronising and those will be worked on tonight. However, once the LAN/network was established between BeoPlayer and the BM5, viewing the BM5 file structure was dead easy. Cut and paste your music files right in to a directory you choose. BeoPlayer then sets the instruction as to which file/directory/drive the BM5 will read the music from. To answer many members concerns on the lack of capacity of a 500Mb drive, having seen the configurations, the BM5 almost certainly can read from as many drives as Windows XP and the hardware can support. The limiting factor is BeoPlayer not the BM. If BeoPlayer dialogue box was written to read 1 to X drives, BeoMaster would basically become an infinite music storage machine. I’m sure when they introduce NAS etc… it will be with BeoPlayer program/configuration and not the BM5.

Before loading my files on-board, I upgraded the software. Took approx. 5 minutes and required minimal interaction.

My files were first ripped/stored on a Freecom 320Gb USB Tough drive and once the BeoMaster was powered-up and configured, it had no problem in recognising the drive. The transfer of approx 600 albums took all night. (I’m not sure if this was the fault of the BeoMaster or my selection of hardware:- USB Drive à Laptop à Router à BeoMaster).  

The Looks

The BS5 contrary to what I had envisioned is somewhat smaller than anticipated (slightly larger than an A5 notebook). It is petite and well built. I would say though that it is though not as well built as the BeoCentre2 but that is in context of smaller acreage of aluminium and years of looking/feeling the BC2 verses my quick observation while installing the BS5. I can confirm that unlike the shop demo models, the BS5 does have positive feedback on the primary wheel with a “click”. However, it would have improved a lot if there was a mechanical “click” resistance on the selection wheel. This is however a game of compromise and when you have ~10,000 tracks, the wheel is pretty quick at being able to be spin effortlessly with a quick flick of the fingers to the desired area of music. Mechanics would prevent that from happening no-doubt but would have given a greater sense of precision. The lever does take some getting used to (remember when you first operated a mouse? – that sort of clumsy uncoordinated feeling you have as you train your way to mastery).

Hint: parking the lever “fully-up” or “fully-down” (off-screen) reveals the enlarged album covers and two things came to mind. First, B&O’s selection of demo music was based on both music and I’m sure some really hi-res cover art. Second, I’m a glad that I spent all that time embedding all my albums with 500 x 500 (+50kb) cover art. It looks good. Anything less simply will not do.

The Music

Musically, and with very limited listening time the BS5, the quality is good. My usual reference discs (George Michael’s Amazing - Patience and Jette Torps “Only A Woman” – B&O Active Listening III CD) were played and nothing bad stood out. There were a couple of concerns:- First, BM5 playback is definitely quieter for a volume level of “40” than the CD was in my BC2. This may be the fault of the recording or the BM5. I don’t know yet. Second, the music under initial observations appeared to be very smooth. Smooth and detialled with clear highs and lows but I am certain it is smoother than more traditional B&O and that some of the “roughness” I experienced with CD’s may have gone. “Silky” would be a good adjective but opinion is still out as to whether “silky” is good, desirable or contrary. More listening time required.

I will try to get back tomorrow with another commentary once I have investigated the BS/BM5 functionality and music performance as well as I can.

The Initial Summary

·              No doubt it is a very expensive MP3 player.

·              It does it's job very well for me in removing a large number of CDs from the living room.

·              I would have this device over an iPod or BeoPort any day of the week despite the cost.

·              Thank God they did not put a touch-sensitive screen on that machine!

·              It does appear to do a very good job of the music. More critique and comparison (BV7 DVD drive) required.

·              I don’t think it is a “half-backed” solution like some would suggest. But that is personal choice and a function of how you will use it. More on that later.

Cheers!

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