Hi cds,

It’s possible to switch power-saving off on the S3s. Check the manual. I think it requires a double press of the “main” B&O button.

Lawrence

Thanks for the reply.

I've tried this before and unfortunately without success. I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong, but double-pressing the B&O button just seems to turn the speakers off. When I turn them back on again by single-pressing the button, they behave the same as before whereby they go to sleep very quickly and take a while to wake. I've also tried double-pressing the button while the speakers are switched off, and this just seems to turn them on.

Sorry, cds, my pair of S3s are in transit, so I can’t try it again myself. I had mine set up in True Wireless stereo mode and had to set them to high-power standby to keep them paired (for Bluetooth stereo playback).

I can’t find the instructions in the manual or on the B&O support page, but I saved a copy of the FAQ and here is the text:

“You can switch between the two standby power modes by double pressing [B&O button]. In high power standby, BeoPlay S3 will have sense on all inputs and can wake up, and the product indicator will signal an action. This is also the default setting. In low power standby, the speaker will not have Bluetooth or input sense and there will be no product indicator signals.”

Thanks Lawrence.

I wonder if my speakers need updating, as following those instructions seemingly does nothing for me. I'm on firmware version 9.3.6.

Although, reading the description of those two modes makes me doubt that either will help; the high-power mode suggests the speakers will wake on input (which is what they do now), and the low-power mode suggests they're pretty much turned off.

I checked my S3s on 19Jul before packing them, and they were on ver 9.3.6 so pretty likely that is the latest.

Sorry I can’t offer anything more.

L

Oh, that's disappointing. Okay, thank you for your help.

I just can't get over the decision to set the timeout on these to 12 seconds. I mean, even a single minute would make a world of difference to the usability of these speakers. I guess I'll need to come up with an inelegant solution to keep them awake, such as an inaudible tone that plays every 10 seconds or so.

lawrencejmcook wrote:

I checked my S3s on 19Jul before packing them, and they were on ver 9.3.6 so pretty likely that is the latest.

Confirming ver. 9.3.6 is the latest, as per the B&O app.

You might try to contact Customer Support. They’ve recently answered questions that I had about my S3s.

Thanks for confirming.

I have contacted support and I appear to be going through the warranty thing with them at the moment (serial numbers, date & proof of purchase etc.), so we'll see if anything comes from it.

It would be amazing if any enthusiasts out there were able to develop a method of updating the firmware themselves!

Well guys, support started off looking quite promising. I was asked for a number of specific details regarding the behaviour as well as a video demonstrating the problem.

Unfortunately, I hit a dead end when they came back with the following:

 

"The Beoplay S3 is supposed to go in standby after 15 minutes, meaning this issue might not have something standby to do.

The BeoPlay S3 differs slightly from the other B&O PLAY products as this is a licensed product created for a different distributor.
Unfortunately there will be no further software update for this unit, since it is produced by a different distributor.

It is an important objective for us to manufacture products which are as reliable as possible, and we do invest many resources in the quality field to achieve this - also when it comes to licensed products carrying our brand. But we cannot totally prevent that faults can occur in a product while in use.
Since the unit is out of warranty, we are simply unable to offer a return of your product and must kindly ask you to contact your place of purchase for further assistance."

 

So the behaviour is being treated as fault specific to my particular units. As both my speakers exhibit the exact same behaviour under the same circumstances - as do others' - I still firmly believe this is a problem with the configuration of the power saving.

I do wonder where the 15 minutes quoted from B&O comes from. Maybe in Bluetooth mode? Perhaps there are later revisions of these speakers that are better behaved?

I also wonder if there's anything we could do en masse to encourage a software update from B&O.