When it comes to audio I’m quite picky;
mainly because I listen to a wide range of high-quality content.
Whether it’s through Bluetooth (wirelessly) or wired. The content I listen too has a large range of sounds; from a deep bass to clear vibrant voices and listening with an uproarious tune. When I heard about Audioengine’s all-new A5+ Wireless speakers I knew I had to get my hands on them. Based in Austin, TX; Audioengine is known for their superb audio in their speakers. The ‘A5+ Wireless Speakers‘ aren’t a slouch, they’re meant for listening and providing the best sound you possibly could get out of a speaker this size.
Like I said previously, I’m a sound freak. I’ve owned many speakers ranging from ones you can fit in your pocket to ones that require two people to carry. So when I got my hands on the A5+’s I was quite shocked at their size. They’re not very small but they’re also not super huge. They’re the perfect size for any room. I noticed that they have custom 5″ Kevlar woofers and silk tweeters along with a marvelous build quality that you would only find in high-end speakers.
Set Up – Easy and Straight Forward
The A5+’s came in a decent sized box and once I unboxed the speakers; each of the speakers was in a custom protective carrying bag that lets you store the speakers in a nice microfiber bag. The audio cables also come in the sleek and protective carrying bag as the speakers did just in a smaller microfiber bag. You’ll also find a power cable, remote, and Bluetooth antenna.
The left speaker is your “main” speaker. This is the speaker you’ll connect the power cable, audio cables, antenna, and more into. If you want to connect both speakers to make them stereo you’ll connect them using the speaker wire (provided in the box) which is incredibly easy to connect to each speaker. They’re also color coded! Once you’ve plugged them in and powered them on your ready to go! To get the true sound of these speakers you’ll have to play around 60 hours of content to wear in the speakers. Out of the box, they sound fantastic and I’ll get to that more in-depth shortly.
Advanced Technology
What intrigued me was the technology that these speakers had inside of them. The A5+ support AAC, SBC, aptX, and aptX HD audio codecs. The audio codec that really stands out to me is aptX HD. This “is an enhanced codec that supports 24-bit music quality over Bluetooth and has been engineered to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, resulting in lower background noise.” To put it in a simpler text, aptX HD is the best way to listen to audio over Bluetooth wirelessly and some say it sounds even better than wired. That being said, only a certain amount of devices actually support aptX and aptX HD. These speakers also have Bluetooth 5.0 which is the most current and best way to listen to audio without wires. Finally, these speakers have little to zero lag when listening wirelessly; ~30-millisecond latency you’ll really have to go out of your way to find a speaker that has that little to no latency when listening.
Big Sound, Really Big.
What I love about my A5+’s are that just about every component of them are custom designed by Audioengine and aren’t built by off-the-shelf parts. They’re custom-designed with the passion of providing the best sound possible. Every inch of these speakers is crafted to represent Audioengine’s goal and vision of providing the best sound. I may sound a bias but there’s zero bias here. Sit these speakers about 6-feet apart and just immerse yourself.
I first placed these speakers about 5 to 7 feet part of each other in a small room and just let a playlist play from various categories of music. I listened to them for a few hours and realized that I didn’t even have the sound close to medium. In fact, they were quite low but was able to fill a small room without having to push the speakers close to max. I cranked the speakers up and kept turning them up. They just continued to get louder and were still as clear and tight bass sounding as they were at low. I sat down in the middle of the room about ten feet away from both speakers and had the volume just a bit above medium and they just filled the room and it sounds weird to say but you could feel you were with the music. When the content would get quiet you couldn’t hear the noise that most speakers push out when the audio goes quiet and then when the bass would be tight and deep you could feel it in the room. Moving the speakers into a bigger room like a living room provided that same sound quality these speakers played the content like it was a walk in the park. Not once have I ever came close to having to max out these speakers to fill a room.
Final Thoughts and Information
The A5+’s start at $499 for the Hi-Gloss White and the Satin Black. If you want to get fancy with them for $569 you can get the Bamboo finish. While these won’t be your cheapest speakers; they’ll definitely be one of the most reliable and high-quality speakers you can get for this price range. I would even go as far to say their the best in their price range and size. You truly cannot go wrong with these.
Read the full review here.
