Sitting daintily on our test bench, the B&O BeoSound 8 looks a little out of place. The bold, black, round speakers on either side seem imposing. The brushed aluminium fascia connecting the speakers housing the click wheel controls looks way too classy for our cluttered desktop.

The Beosound 8 is another perfect example of Bang & Olufsen's unique design philosophy – minimalist design, aesthetic appeal , extreme functionality, outstanding performance and environmentally-friendly. B&O's products have been built out of aluminium long before the rest of the industry even thought of the option.

The Beosound 8 looks somewhat like the number itself laid horizontally. When it comes to design, there is also an obvious harmony between the dock and the devices it has been created to support. In BeoSound 8's polished aluminium, iPod-type click wheel and a surprisingly simplistic interface, there is a reflection of Apple's product design principles too. The dock designed for iPods, iPad and the iPhone complemented the products well, even before we start playing a symphony.

We can't resist an opportunity to play around with the iPad, and it became the obvious choice to dock in to the port and jump to our playlist. We listened to ‘Black Star' by Yngwie Malmsteen; the electric guitar solo riffs and percussions filled up the room. There was barely any distortion with tracks that were heavy on bass, even with the volume pumped up high. Listening to ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien' by Edith Piaf, it was clear that the system handled high-pitched treble with almost the same alacrity.

Peter Gabriel's soulful, raspy voice seemed to come from right across the table as we listened to ‘Book Of Love', as did Mark Knopfler's as he crooned ‘Heart Full of Holes' with just his lilting, soulful guitar playing in the background.

We switched to the electro-rock song by No Doubt, ‘Hella Good', and the system reproduced every little percussion beat and each of Gwen Stefani's sexy sighs with excellent clarity.

The acoustic prowess of the system was evident with compressed files on our iPod transformed into much better-sounding tracks when played through the dock. The spatial sound property that the two speakers seemed to bring to the tabletop was also amazing. Both while playing music and while watching a video – the movie ‘Avatar' was our choice for the test – the spatial effect really brought the music or sound track alive. In the case of the movie, though the video was being played back in a miniature format due to the iPad's portrait orientation, at least the acoustics was as good as that of a miniature home theatre system.

All the while, we operated the BeoSound 8 with the cute little remote it comes with. A spitting image of the click wheel on the dock itself, the remote feels unusually good to hold – not the kind you'd like to put down after you've changed the track or tweaked the volume.

Moving it around

The BeoSound 8 wins a zillion brownie points for making the installation an absolutely hassle-free affair. All you do is plug-and-play, something even a simian can't go wrong with.

If BeoSound 8 looks like something you might want to show off in your living room, you can choose to mount it on your wall. Apart from aluminium spikes and a wall bracket, the unit comes with a room adaptation switch that orients the system according to the position it is set up in - a corner, against a wall, or standing freely. The three switch positions will change the equalisation of the bass channel based on a large number of measurements taken in different positions in different rooms.

You know that the company, a decade and a half away from being 100 years old, is definitely in tune with the times when you have an app offered to you for enhancing the B&O experience. The free BeoPlayer app lets you wake up to one of 20 internet radio stations and a sleep timer allows you to doze off and switches the music off for you at a preset time. The paid version of the app gives you access to more than 13,000 international radio stations.

Multiple connections

In the mood for a movie? The BeoSound can double up as speakers even for your PC or Mac. And in case you want to lounge on the sofa with your iPhone or iPad and want to listen to music without having to dock it in, just switch on Airport Express. Another option for wireless playback is if you choose to play music from a Bluetooth-enabled device via a Bluetooth receiver. Enclosed within the removable back panel of the device, you have a mini USB port apart from the room adaptation switch.

We say

With more than 25,000 units sold in the first six months of its launch, it's no wonder that Bang & Olufsen terms it the company's ‘absolute bestseller', an indication that the Danish company has effectively hit the right spot with Apple-o-philes and audiophiles alike.

With an elegant yet effective design and a simplistic interface, the BeoSound 8 is an absolute charmer. If you are hunting for a dock for your Apple music devices, this is definitely right at the top of the list of the most elegant, powerful, high-end sound systems right now.

Love: Simplistic design, amazing acoustics

Hate:

Could burn a small hole in your wallet

Rs 65,000

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