Audioengine Promises Premium Bass With Its High-End Bluetooth Speaker

For years, Bluetooth speakers have been everywhere. The Jawbone Jambox inspired a tidal wave of imitators, all seeking a piece of the portable-speaker pie. Now that the $100 to $200 range is saturated with nearly identical models, there’s a new skirmish breaking out at the high end. A few renowned speaker manufacturers are coming out with their own Bluetooth units, but these ones are built for elite audio performance.

The latest player in the high-end Bluetooth market is Audioengine, a company that has impressed us with its A5+ speakers and whose A2+ speakers are among The Wirecutter’s top picks. In pedigree and on paper, the new Audioengine B2 Bluetooth speaker should be a standout performer in the field, giving the Bowers & Wilkins’ T7s an worthy competitor.

The B2 is essentially a Bluetooth version of the A2+ speakers, with identical specs for the internals. There are two 2.75-inch Kevlar woofers, a pair of 20mm silk dome tweeters, and a 60W amp just like the A2+s. But it actually takes a step up from the A2+ speakers, too, offering a 24-bit built-in DAC as opposed to the 16-bit DAC found in the A2+s. We haven’t had any ears-on time with the B2s just yet, but in the FAQ section for the speakers, Audioengine gets humblebraggy about the low end, claiming “deep, tight bass” without any distortion or processing.

The new Bluetooth speaker is certainly geared more toward home use than taking it on camping trips. It’s about a foot wide and weighs close to 10 pounds, and unlike many Bluetooth speakers, you need to keep the B2 plugged into a power source. The wireless connectivity is Bluetooth 4.0 with an additional 3.5mm port, and the new speaker supports the AptX codec. On the back, there’s a little flip-up antenna that Audioengine claims improves the wireless range for the speaker.

The cabinets are made of real wood, and the speaker grilles attach to the front of them with magnets. There are three wooden builds to choose from—black ash, zebrawood, and walnut—all of which look fetching. And the price is pretty nice: At $300 apiece, the B2s are at least $100 more than most Bluetooth speakers, but a bit less than the $350 Bowers & Wilkins T7s.