Two can be more than double one.

I've been lamenting for a very long time the lack of wide, imaginative stereo mixing in modern music. We've been getting basically mono mixes since sometime in the 1980s...about the same time, ironically, that more and more people started listening to music through stereo headphones due to the microchip revolution and a little thing called the Sony Walkman. When Bohemian Rhapsody became popular again in the 80s it must have blown peoples' minds hearing it through their portable stereo headphones!

Catching up after 2 week holiday. That was very interesting, Mat. If you had red and green they could be Port and Starboard. :-)

Thanks Matt. #1 reason to be a Patreon of yours is you can jump on these items before the "Techmoan Effect" hikes up the prices when the videos hit the general wider public. I wanted one of these speakers after watching your initial video, but just wasn't willing to pay the price of it at the time (cheapest I could find was around or over $200 if I remember correctly), but having seen your Patreon early posting of this video and then learning of the stereo pairing capabilities, and I having some disposable income at the time paired with seeing an eBay listing by a reseller for some used/refurb ones for $100 each I could not resist. Glad I did buy the pair when I did a week before you posted this video to the general public, as I see the prices have gone up across the board for all colors, even from the seller I purchased from who undoubtedly likely hiked up their listing price of their remaining stock as a result of the increase of sales/interests. I even see the listings for the green model shot up over 200% in price... I skipped over the green one myself, as when I got the two I did for $100 each, the cheapest green one at the time was ~$170, now the cheapest listing I see today for the green one is $380!!

My Sony NW a55 jap import with radio(dmp-z1) . supports Aptx HD . it's got the firmware mod from Mr Walkman that you recommended

I use a pair of Apple HomePods and I have a similar reaction to how much better they sound than one on their own

Modern audio tech means that we each get to define what "good sound" means. It's no longer strictly about the quality of the audio per se. "Good sound" for me is more about lots of lesser quality but still Good Enough speakers all around the room and the house. I enjoy hearing my music at low volume, but coming from everywhere, instead of from a specific point.

I'm not sure what I believe about the Stereo/Mono debate but I will relate a true story which will reveal my age. When I first got into Hi-Fi, or soon afterwards, I got a reel to reel tape recorder - but it was only Mono. This gave me no trouble most of the time as much music at the time was either mono anyway or curiously remastered into odd stereo. Then I tried to record a friends true stereo record. This was Deep Purple in Rock. It sounded awful in mono. But that was the only one that has ever given me trouble, though I got a stereo recorder a bit later. I believe they had deliberately put the left and right channels out of phase with each other so the mono sound was considerably reduced and missing some frequencies - really muffled - particularly the first track - Speed King.

I bought a Sony SB100 speaker and liked it so much I bought another to make a stereo pair. But unlike yourself, I didn't think to buy the other one in a different color! At least when you turn them on, they do remember they are a stereo pair and they even announce "left" and "right" once they reconnect with each other. Pretty smart.

Another Classic! Not the speaker, but Anderson Enger Jensen ‘In Space’ offering. You have no idea how much pleasure his music gives me, it just hits the sweet spot (and I owe it all to Mat’s low-key promotion). I may not have got the speaker, but the LP is a cracker! 🤠

You could say they're the Bee's Knees! A good example of an older stereo recording that doesn't sound good in mono is Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?". Robert Lamm's spoken dialogue in the right channel is clearly intelligible in stereo, but when you blend it down to mono, it gets buried and becomes incomprehensible mumbling. For that reason, they entirely removed his talking part from the mono 45 RPM version that was released as a single.

Random comment - but I wish I could trade our heat for the good ole English 68°F and rain... Instead: "Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values of 105°F to 115°F" and my AC isn't that good. 🥵 And to make this comment more fun, a video with 1974 TV Advertisements: https://youtu.be/K0Ec733zf7c

Nice you had a good experience, but I'm not paying that much! I could also rant for a considerable time about the lack of stereo mixing in modern music, but people would make excuses and leave. I have a nice set of $80 Sony headphones that reproduce sound very well and I'll continue to use them.

Add a third. See if it just keeps getting better. Maybe put it directly on top of your head.

Someone else mentioned the IKEA bluetooth speakers and I can vouch for them. I picked up a pair when they were on sale for $20 each, the sound quality isn't spectacular but for the price I can't complain at all

My pair of old JBL Pulse 3's have stereo capability too, but they are not aptX HD or Adaptive-compatible, unfortunately (they really are a budget model compared to the mighty Beosound A1, which are AUD$600 ea. here in Australia)!

You really know how to sell a video, Matt 😜

The green colour is so nice 😍 also loved the Bee's Knees cameo ❤️

Well I'm confused by these codecs. I wonder if that's why I can't get the volume high on the Sound Burger through my Roberts radio/Bluetooth speaker. Anyone else finding it really quiet at full volume? (It only goes up to 16. As "Aux", with other devices, it goes to 20).

Best Demonstrative Use of a Clothes Line.

There's the old "abandoned-by-app" situation you've spoken about in the past. That would put me right off the purchase unless I had the kind of income that made a loss of the device functionality in 5 or so years more of a shrug that a teardrop. But it made me think...even IF a company keeps an app going, it will certainly drop older ranges after a certain amount of time. I mean, I have a first gen iPod Video and while it charges and plays, Apple has left it in the dust and I assume that entropy will eventually brick the device. (And it is weird to keep putting my music collection on a new "Ark" every half-decade or so.) It makes me consider the value of purchasing anything other than a standalone piece of technology like really good turntable, with a high quality amp, speakers, etc. Largely solid-state parts. Mechanics can be swapped out. Not trying to sound like "The Last Man on Earth" but it does seem like obsolescence, planned or otherwise, is the essential future of connected devices.

I wonder how the stereo pairing is implemented in these speakers. Is there a single Bluetooth connection from the source to one of the speakers, which in turn relays one channel to the other speaker (which sounds complicated)? Or do these speakers function as separate Bluetooth devices which are both connected to the source, and the app is doing some trickery to get those speakers to play a certain channel instead of down-mixing the stereo signal to mono? The latter would explain why the Soundburger struggles with the stereo setup.

Ah, yes! 1+1>2 thanks for thinking about it, yes, I've always sensed the same when joining two Apple HomePods, even the little ones. It makes sense.

Absolutely fabulous and fantastic! Informative, fun at correct speed. You are more than a professional - you are great! Thanks for still keeping up with making videos and making our lives just a little bit more fun.. Would you PLEASE review the IKEA Vappeby speakers? They pair in stereo aswell, but are on the other side of the price spectrum. I brought mine in Sweden for about 15$ each, and i think they are amazing for that price(especially good for spoken voice, podcast etc. But they don't sound horrible for music..) would love to hear your opinion and maybe compare them to the most expensive B&Os..

JBL Flip 4 and up have been able to separate Left and Right into two units for years. And you can do it from the speakers or the app. And it remembers when turned off. I agree separate speakers sound better. And I have always found headphones or buds to be the best because you are not contending with room acoustics.

I have a pair of Sony XB100 for stereo. Pairing stereo was a nightmare, but once I got them working, they remembered their settings. I wonder how these budget speakers ($50 each) compare with the B&O?

There is a nine Inch Nails album which actually states it is not mixed for mono equipment. The reason being that some of the tracks are mixed out of phase to the speakers to extend the soundstage meaning when you merge them they cancel each other out and it's like active noise cancelling for that sound and it dissappears.

Dude, anytime you come up with an actual 'thought provoking angle ' I intend to run like hell....;p Just Another Excellent Video. I was a bit curious about how one of those units would sound in mono, and now I get answers about more than just that. The mixing info was quite illuminating for an old fart like myself, who has been into sound information for years. Award one 'Attaboy' to Mat.

I recently was listening to a podcast episode that went a bit into explaining the difference in sound for stereo vs. mono - granted, it's narrarated through the lens of the invention of stereo sound (and sponsored).. But even still, I found it to be a great listen, and imagine other fans of your channel may enjoy like I did? https://www.20k.org/episodes/thespatialrace

Nice and interesting video! I see the "mist" colored version is just £178 on Amazon UK right now, that's a great price if you're in the UK, getting it to the EC/EU would likely end the fun, price wise.

It's so sad companies create the best sounding product, but don't spend a single minute trying to use it as a customer would... Yes it passes the test, yes I can pair it through the app, yes there may be one hidden key combination to pair them through Bluetooth, but this is not acceptable for us customers! Thanks for showing that Matt

Mat, *any* video from you *always* makes my day!

I'd played about a bit with a couple of different Bluetooth speakers that did the pairing features. I found it hard for me to be excited about listening to a single speakers. So this was pretty interesting in the area of Bluetooth for me. But I did find that it remained a troublesome bit of technology. When it worked it was quite amazing. But with the couple different ones I tried it seemed like it was somewhat buggy. There were times where the speakers would go out of sync. And even the slightest small amount of variation could be troublesome when you're talking about stereo. Also in one instance the battery life was not equal on the two units. So one of my two speakers died before the other one. And it was the kind of thing where you would probably not take the time to crack it open and try to put a new battery in. I could see you with the speakers you're reviewing that we have the same problem to some extent. Mostly it was a bug-free experience. But that was mostly. This was not a easy user experience entirely. But it does make me think of revisiting the issue. I have a JBL Charge5 that I use as a single currently. It does have a linkage feature. Maybe I should find a cheap Charge5 to test this again for myself...

People realised that two loudspeakers sounded better than one before stereo even became popular. The result of a very quick search https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/column-speaker-systems-features-advantages-applications-robert-tan/

Turn up the stereo!

Great point about playing stereo music as mono, and how this affects the sound, something almost unavoidable with a Bluetooth speaker. Recording for stereo broadcasts I have to ensure mono playback compatibility, in general terms it's a matter of ensuring correct phase alignment across the mic inputs 🎶

These also sound amazing as a stereo pair. Much cheaper, probably more powerful and remember settings after you turn them off...

https://amzn.eu/d/dbDqa9O

You say it wasn’t a good video and perhaps it’s not the best in terms of being ‘just another Bluetooth speaker review’, but I for one am very glad you compared the sound of a single to a stereo pair. I managed to get an Apple HomePod for dirt cheap earlier in the year and whilst I do think the sound is pretty good, I had heard that two HomePod minis in stereo sounded better, but I was frankly sceptical as you were. Your common sense explanation about WHY a stereo pair sounds better chimed with me and will probably mean I purchase a second HomePod when I can find the money.

Great video, actually this is fascinating subject. When you go back to early rock sources, like the Beatles and Stones, the artists actually preferred and recorded in mono. Stereo at the time was considered a gimmick, for the exact reasons you gave, (phase imbalance, frequency saturation, etc,). Of course, with today's advanced mixing technology, producers can exert way more control over stereo imaging. I'm curious if you tried listening to, say, the Beatles Mono Masters, or some other pure mono source through the pair of B&Os to see how they would sound? The one thing I would agree with: The cost of two separate speakers is way out of my price range. I wonder if they'll consider offering them as a 2-speaker set. Why don't you suggest it when you inquire about your "bug-fix-bounty" for suggesting the firmware update?

I love a new video, especially to see what the mysterious glowing head is wearing…

When you first started pairing the speakers you go “hold down the button until this goes white”, and, perfectly timed with “this goes”, my Bluetooth earbuds I was watching with took over the audio with “battery low”. Thinking “that seems unfortunate” it took a moment to realize it wasn’t in your video!

I had the exact same expierence with the Homepod mini. I had one and it sounded OK, just OK. I added a second in stereo pair and couldn't believe how good they sounded together -- crisp, clear and very nicely balanced. They are excellent at mid volume in a small room. They also support lossless audio over Airplay 2 but I don't know if I can tell the difference between lossy & lossless.

• I enjoyed hearing you wax philosophical about stereo sound. 😃 My supporting evidence would involve Neil Diamond's 1968 Greatest Hits LP on Bang Records; somehow, when playing this particular record on my 'main' Audio Technica record player, I can hear Neil's voice very faintly, the accompanying singers very loudly, and half the instruments besides - even though my speakers are set up as right/left properly and sound is coming through both of them. It is like the stereophonic mix isn't compatible with a newer record player, or something. When I play other records (of the same era, to boot) there's no problem, and when I play Neil on two other record players it's fine. Very odd. • Bees Knees has ambitions to become the first B&O Spokescat - even though he's deaf (I think you said?). • Your speakers 'hung out to dry' made me remember and giggle about the line-dried cassettes in your Cleankit Cassette Cleaner video. • The graphic with the early 1960's lady in between two speakers is adorable. • I really like the look of the forest green colored B&O speaker. This video is certainly a departure from your last one - and while I love your musings about stereo sound, I kinda wish I had sound-a-vision or a brainwave recording of your experiences to download into my noggin. As always, sincerely, take care 🤍

Great video. How come I wasn't surprised you would try to make everything work with the tiny buttons on the speakers? Stereo used to be a big thing. I am old enough to remember when radio in Belgium started to broadcast in stereo. Big deal back then and it left a permanent impression on the way I appreciate sound.

This hurdle with apps and pushing unclear button combinations and forgetting config etc. is the reason why I still prefer the old analog wired audio from a hifi system... In the early days of stereo, they made separate mixes for mono (play on AM radio) and stereo (for hifi systems), e.g. all Beatles albums were/are available in separate mono and stereo mixes. I guess also to avoid losing things due to phase cancellation.

Interesting as I always felt mono and the move to single smart speakers were compromising the sound. I think this comes down to evolution, we are more likely to hear things coming offset from the centre. Something immediately in front of us, sound coming from a single source where we are looking, doesn't need so much of our attention to hear, as we have our eyes also facing in that direction. We have evolved to want to be alert to sounds coming from our peripheral so we can turn and check the threat, so naturally our brains amplify and fire an 'interrupt' in our heads when sounds come from around the sides. This and the fact stereo to mono can cause issues is I think why it just sounds better and more of the instruments can be heard.

I'm wondering if there might be a case of each speaker getting the full available bandwidth of the Bluetooth signal? Try to think of it in a similar way to compressed audio, say you had an MP3 file at 128kbps, there's only so much bandwidth available so you lose some of the audio from the original track; now imagine if you could split the left/right tracks into two separate MP3 files, you've now got twice the bandwidth, 256kbps, to recreate the original audio with. I could be talking out of my arse, with the broadcasting hardware only having a capability of so much bandwidth and that's all it will ever have, but if that's not the case and it can emit its maximum fidelity on multiple connections at the same time, that might be an explanation why it sounds better.

Just got my first one of these B&O speakers this week (via the UO 15% off £170 method) and I agree the sound quality is excellent. On the mono/stereo discussion, I was lucky enough to have been a prototype tester for Sonos for the 18 months or so for the new Sonos Era. One of the things they seemed to promote in the marketing material for it was the fact it was stereo. Either the one I had to test (we got to keep them - it’s a great speaker) was a mono prototype or I was entirely unable to distinguish any stereo separation even with my head right on it and the ‘left right’ track playing on it. Apparently only the tweeters are stereo, but the woofer is mono. I did raise with Sonos but they just clarified the stereo is barely perceived 😂

Glad my suggestion was worthy, Mat. I also got a green A21 as my second speaker, for the same reason you give. Also, green is the colour of a starboard (right hand side) running light on a boat, so I thought it was appropriate.

It's quiet here. Anyone would think something is happening this morning... Anyway, the main takeaway is that stereo sounds better than mono. 30 years ago, this would have been mind-bogglingly obvious but not now. I own a really nice Huawei wireless speaker which came as part of a package deal with a similarly nice monitor. Most of the reviews of this prattle on about its characteristics and how it was co-developed with a high-end speaker company called Devialet. They rarely mention that despite the number of speaker cones pointing in all directions and the blurb about 360 degree sound etc etc, it's mono.

Pretty much all my favourite music was mixed in mono anyway. My Hi Fi does have two speakers, but they're not very far apart...