[Stan]

I struggled with my BS1 (and BS2) top buttons as well.  After a few years, I have finally perfected my technique to give a short tap.  My rules:  Your hand must be dry.  You must have good aim to cover the complete dot with your finger.  No partial coverage allowed.  No slight touching of any other buttons.  Don’t linger too long.  Tap and release (unless you’re doing a long press, but I’ve less problems with those).  Then, it takes a bit for the device to respond so you need to be patient.  If you think it didn’t work, and press again too quickly, you might turn it off before it fully awakes.  My Gen1 BS2 brightens the LED on the tip of the acoustic lens to indicate a correct press before it starts playing, but this is only visible to me in a dark room.  I haven’t noticed if my gen2 BS1 does this because I rarely use it in a dark room.

[Stan]

Thanks for posting this.  You are doing God’s work with this :D.

[Stan]

If no one answers, I would look into opening all outbound access from your network.  This is generally fairly safe since the bad guys are usually outside your network trying to get in (inbound) vs. inside your network trying to get out (outbound).

I’m not sure how often the BS5 refreshes the list as mine is still saying the last update was yesterday.  I guess I would leave it for a few days or a week or two before drawing any conclusions.  If, during that time, it never refreshes, then you can look at other things.  If it does refresh, you can focus on figuring out the URL or which firewall rules are blocking it.

 

[Stan]

One thought:  Did you get a new router or web modem in 2020?  Maybe there’s a firewall setting blocking the N.Radio station list somewhere.  Unfortunately, I don’t know what the URL that it uses to download the station list.

[Stan]

My Bs5/Bm5 has shown “Network Connection: No” for many years, but it continues to work just fine.  Just tested a few N.Radio stations, and they are all coming in fine.

My last N.Radio update date is 2023-06-08 (today) and my Bs5/BM5 Application version is 7.04.01.1945.

I do not think the reported network connection status is necessarily correct or helpful.  I’d try rebooting, and verify your network is fine.  Are the cables pressed in all the way?  Can you access the internet from a different device?  Can you “see” the BM5 on your network (another windows computer should be able to find it – also, if you have “Music Server” turned on, you should be able find it as a DLNA server within the B&O App).

I have done the “service menu” to get to the windows running underneath using a USB keyboard and mouse, but can’t say I ever accomplished much doing this.

[Edit]:  Sorry, I see my troubleshooting recommendations have already been suggested.  I don’t have any idea why you’re having the issues you are seeing.

[Stan]

I thought this was a reasonable review.  I enjoyed it.  It almost made we wish I had bought an A9 vs. 2 Balances last year… almost.  Therefore, I think it worked.

I really dislike audio reviews that spend a lot of time talking about “air”, “pacing”, “spaciosness”, etc.  A person’s listening experience is so subjective, and, to me, these words don’t help much and often just come off a pretentious preening.

[Stan]

I did an extensive comparison between the Level and BS1 for my kitchen when the Level first came out.

To my ears, in my kitchen, the Level sounded slight better when I was sitting/standing directly in front of it.  Otherwise, the BS1 sounded better as its sound is less directional.  Most of the time, I really could not tell the difference without focused concentration.  Therefore, I’d rank sound quality as a tie (unless you plan to do most of your listening in the Level’s “sweet spot”).

I prefer the BS1 packaging.  Again, for my kitchen, it took less counter space and was better able to sonically handle countertop clutter with the raised mid-range speaker driven though the acoustic lens.

My BS1 is stationary 95% of the time.  Sometimes, I move it to my dining room when entertaining.  I think the Level might win on portability as it’s built more like a boom box from days gone by.

In terms of functionality/sources, they’re pretty similar.  At the time I compared, Mozart was fairly new so it was missing a couple things.  However, I have since bought a Balance so I will compare the sources of my BS1 (GVA) with my Balance (non-GVA).  They both support multi-room, Spotify, Deezer, B&O Radio, Bluetooth, Chromecast and Airplay.

I’m not sure if Mozart supports DLNA playback.  With my Balance, if I select an Album from my DLNA server, it will play one song and stop.  Last time I looked at the B&O website, it says nothing about DLNA playback for the Balance so I’m wondering if it might be working by accident (never bothered to log an error with B&O since the website doesn’t explicitly say it is supported).  My workaround is to start the DNLA playback on another device (BS2, BS1 or Essence – you could do this with a M3), and then join the Balance to the source, and it works fine.

One thing with a GVA device, you can listen to Tune-In and Audacy streaming sources as Google will play them for you if you ask.  However, I haven’t found any station that I care about that isn’t included in B&O Radio.  Google will also often play an advertisement before playing the source :(.

The Level may have the BS1 beat in terms of longevity, given Mozart is the latest and greatest platform, and it seems like the BS1 has been discontinued.  The Level supposedly can easily upgrade the hardware (although, I’ve seen other vendors promise easy upgrades in the future and not deliver on this promise).  You can definitely change the battery easier with the Level.

Which to buy?  For me, it came down the packaging.  The BS1 worked much better in my kitchen (and was cheaper at the time, sounded similarly good, supported similar sources and I didn’t care much about portability) so that I what I bought.

[Stan]

Check out the Beosound 5 forum in the 2012-2022 archive (see link above).

IIRC, the recommendation is to use a disk cloning machine vs. trying to do it with cloning software.  I think there’s stuff on the HDD that doesn’t necessarily get copied even with “bit-for-bit” cloning software.  These can be found on Amazon for ~$30.

[Stan]

I’m hoping to squeeze a few (perhaps many?) more years out of my 1st gen 65′ Eclipse.  It is on its 2nd screen… hoping this one lasts a bit longer.  Anyway, if I were to replace, I’d go with the Theater for the ability to swap the screen and the cheaper price tag.  If/when I finally dump my Eclipse, it’s going bother me that the soundbar will most likely still be quite viable, but it was let down by the panel.  Then again, I’m biased because the Theater is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for from B&O all along, but I did not feel like waiting 5 years for something that may never materialize.

[Stan]

EgonOlsen wrote:

For me it is an advanced beolit. And why so much portable speakers? The product philosophy is confusing me. greetings

I assume they’re making another portable speaker because they sell well.

As far as philosophy, I see it as a replacement for the BS1 following the more recent styling cues (wood and fabric vs. steel) of the balance, level and emerge.  Also, it showcases trickle-down beam-forming technology from the BL90 (or at least from the Balance if the jump from BL90 to A5 is too great).

[Stan]

Guessing here again, but I’m pretty sure the BS2 isn’t “digital” in the same way as the BL18.  It has no digital input so I would assume that the line-in signal takes a different path than a digital streaming signal.  AFAIK, all of the “digital speakers” like the BL18 have a digital input option.

I’m not very familiar with Airplay so I poked around on the web and found some discussions about Airplay2 requiring some non-obvious settings to get lossless transmission (https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-music-lossless-mess-part-2-airplay-r1026/).  Maybe this is what you ran into?

The BS2 is not a budget device so it is my understanding that it uses a quality DAC.  Therefore, I don’t think the internal DAC is the problem, but you never know.  We all hear differently.

[Stan]

Unlike Geoff, I wasn’t involved in designing these speakers, but I’ll give it my best guess.  I doubt if there are any differences between the RCA and PowerLink connections. These both accept analog signals, and each probably sends essential the same signal to the same internal circuits.  Any difference might be attributable to the cable being used.  That is, there are probably more bad RCA cables out there than PowerLink.  However, if either cable is decent quality, then there should be no difference.  Use whatever is more convenient.   I’m sure Geoff will correct me if my guessing is wrong.

One nice thing about PowerLink is that it carries both left and right signals so you can daisy-chain your speakers.  That is, instead of running a cable from your source to each speaker, with PL, you can run from your source to speaker 1, then from speaker 1 to speaker 2.  Sometimes this makes the cabling easier.

Also, note that the BL18s are “digital” speakers so the analog signal you send to them will be digitized and DSPd before being converted back into analog and sent to the drivers.  You can skip that initial digitization step if you use the TOSLink connection (which must be daisy chained) and send a digital signal to the speakers.  However, if you like the sound of your DAC, you may not hear this as an improvement.  Volume control can be an issue with the TOSlink connection (it depends on your whether you source device supports).

[Stan]

Try a different, non-hdmi input.  I had a similar problem, and this fixed it.  My understanding I’d that the hdmi ports are on a different board.

[Stan]

Many of the sellers in the US know absolutely nothing about most of the B&O that they have to sale (not sure if they actually sell much).  They act more like an on-line pawn shop than a pre-owned stereo dealer.  At least at a pawn shop, you could probably talk the owner into letting you do the test before buying, but, alas, most don’t have physical locations (or they have a single far away location).

[Stan]

Madskp wrote:

Rolf2 wrote:

Hi Madskp, look here, please, that thread will help you: Beolink ML/NL version number? 1.4, 1.3 Kind regards, Rolf

Thanks a lot, great info, might have overlooked that thread while searching for it.

Madskp wrote:

Does the AUX input have audiosense for automatic playback when a source is playing?

Stan wrote:

Yes.

The manual states that this function is for the powerlink connectors, but has the software been updated since the manual was written so it also works for audio distributed to ML and NL?

I’d trust the documentation over anything I say. I owned a BLC for a few years, and I did use the AUX and PL sockets, but now that you mention it, maybe I never distributed the AUX audio.

About the software, the linked thread and an eBay listing led to believe that they are no longer user updatable. However, this could be wrong as well. After re-reading the thread, I guess no one ever says that they are not user updateable, and maybe the eBay guy is just trying to justify his higher price. Unfortunately, for me, my closest dealer is >300 miles away so working with a dealer is not an easy option.

[Stan]

Thanks Carolpa!  That works so I was able to verify that I have 2.5.3.131.

[Stan]

1. AFAIK, you can no longer download the software so I would ask about the version.  Unfortunately, my experience is that this is usually answered “I don’t know”.  I’ve been in the market on and off for a BLC for a while, and I have not bought anything because of this.
2. Don’t know
3. Aux can be distributed to both ML and NL sides as well as local powerlinks.
4. Yes.

[Stan]

Hi Morten,

I would like to echo Steve’s comments above.  It’s great to get information directly from the source.

About the reliability, on the forum, we have long complained about the little (and sometimes no so little) issues we’ve had with the NL speakers and the app. However, in researching wireless speakers from other brands, this is a very common complaint (app hangs, speakers drop out, resets, reconnects, etc.), and, I’d say in the last 2 years, my NL speakers have been quite excellent.  Keep up the good work.  You definitely seem to be on the right track.

[Stan]

Morten,

I can’t see the version beyond 2.5.3… so I assume it is 2.5.3.131. I do run LC3+. I see it was upgraded fairly recently so maybe the dropouts I recall are from before the upgrade.  I’ll keep this in mind.  Thanks for the information.

Stan

[Stan]

I definitely considered the Level, but they take up too much space.  Not their own footprint, but because I’d need to keep the area in front of them unobstructed.

[Author]

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