Audioengine A2+ Plus Wireless Speaker Bluetooth
Audioengine has been in the game since 2005 and in that time, they’ve managed to carve out a name for themselves as makers of quality equipment, most notably speakers.
It’s their speakers that we’re going to take a look at in this article, specifically their A2+ model, which is an upgraded version of the earlier A2 model.
It comes in both wired and wireless varieties, so there’s an option whether you have space to wire them or not. We’ll go over all the features of the piece of tech, so you can decide whether it’s the right one for you.
Table of Contents
Design
Some might say that it’s frivolous to worry about how the thing looks, but if you’re going to have these speakers on display in your home, then it’s only natural that you’ll want them to look nice as well as sound good.
They’re 6 inches tall, 4 inches wide, and 5.25 inches deep, which is pretty small. This means they’ll fit fairly easily on a shelf or desktop, which is very welcome, given that speakers like this often have to find a place amongst all kinds of other clutter.
The overall aesthetic is simple and neat, without any patterns or other eye-catching designs.
You can choose black, white, or red, all of which look nice. If you want them to be particularly unobtrusive, you might want to get them in black because this stops the drivers (i.e. the sunken parts where the sound comes out from) from standing out.
If you’d like maximum contrast between the drivers and the body of the speakers, go for white. Both the left and the right speakers are identical from the front, which gives a sense of symmetry and unity to the design.
An important thing to be aware of is that while the speakers are available in wired and wireless versions, there is still some wiring to handle either way.
This is because the two speakers form a stereo pair, and they need to be connected for power to flow from one to the other.
This could be a problem if you were intending to have them set further apart from each other. That being said, the wire that connects the two speakers is 2 meters long, which should be enough for most people.
The back of the left speaker is where you’ll find the ports to attach a subwoofer, aux cord, and a micro USB, as well as the connection for the power supply.
When you consider that it also connects via Bluetooth, this gives it an impressive range of connectivity options, making it one of the more versatile models of speakers on the market.
Performance
Audioengine A2+ Plus Wireless Speaker Bluetooth
Audioengine has been in the game since 2005 and in that time, they’ve managed to carve out a name for themselves as makers of quality equipment, most notably speakers.
A note about the audio performance – it’s much better if you use the speakers while they’re slightly angled up or elevate them. If you don’t do this, then the highs will be noticeably muted, which is a pity.
Unfortunately, they don’t come with any kind of wedges or stand that could help you to do this, but it’d be a good idea to find some if you want to get the best out of these.
Another feature to be aware of is how the volume control works. The knob you’ll use to adjust the volume is also the means of turning the speakers on.
This is fine, but be aware that there are actually two volume settings here – the one on the speakers themselves, controlled by that knob, and the volume on whatever device you have connected to the speakers, such as your phone.
This is a bit unusual, and it comes with pros and cons. On one hand, it would be simpler and more efficient just to have a single, unified volume setting.
On the other hand, having it this way means you won’t be shocked by a blast of sound if your phone’s on a way higher volume setting than you thought.
The only slightly irksome thing here is that the volume control knob is on the back of the speakers, which can make it pretty annoying to have to reach for.
People often like to set up speakers where they won’t have to be moved, but having to reach to the back of these can get annoying if they’re on a busy desk.
It does make the overall look of the speakers better, but it’s a pretty small benefit in return for the inconvenience. Nevertheless, it’s not a dealbreaker, and given the fact that you can also control the volume on the linked device, you might end up just doing that anyway.
If you listen to a lot of music with extensive sub-bass, then you can expect it to have a full sound, and you’ll probably be impressed, given that these are just desktop speakers. They certainly do a much better job than most other speakers around the same size.
There will be some distortion if you set both the speakers and your phone to maximum volume, but if you go just under that – around 100% on one and 75% on the other, then you should have no problems.
That’s as far as it goes though – these speakers are not designed to excel with loud, bass-heavy music, and if you’re looking for a very bass-heavy sound, then you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
One of the songs we listened to as a test was Turn Down For What by DJ Snake and Lil John, and that famous, pulsing bass was somewhat lost in the distortion.
So, hard, subwoofer bass isn’t the main strength of these speakers. What about something else? Well, if you’re listening to something with much less emphasis on bass, then they’ll sound far more balanced.
Things like acoustic guitars, higher percussion, and the like sound bright and clear, and low-mid sounds like deeper vocals and bass guitars sound pleasantly rich.
A subwoofer would probably add an excellent dimension to this and, as mentioned before, you can plug one into the back of the left speaker.
Another way these speakers really shine is when playing orchestral music. The lower register instruments sound very rich and full-bodied, while the higher register ones like strings keep that lovely brightness, just as with the acoustic guitars.
For this reason, it’s classical and jazz music that will see the most benefit from using these speakers. One of the pieces we listened to to test them was Brahms’ violin concerto, and it sounded magnificent, as did Body and Soul by
Thelonious Monk. Monk in particular really showcases the accuracy of the speakers, with all those little audio details that are such a recognizable part of his work being rendered clearly.
They also handle vocals in general very well, both on the high and low end of the spectrum. Vision of Love by Mariah Carey and I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash both sounded appropriately bright, clear, and rich.
There are also no speaker grills, which is a positive thing as they can alter the sound for the worse. Don’t worry about the woofers, though, as they’re durable enough not to be damaged in the course of ordinary use.
Additional Details
There are a few additional details that are worth considering with these headphones. For one thing, you can leave them on continuously because they come with a power-saving mode that activates as soon as you stop using them to play sound, so you don’t need to worry about turning them off to conserve power.
Another is that it can even be connected to a turntable or tape deck to play vinyl and tapes. If you want to connect it to a turntable, you’ll need something called a phono preamp.
Your turntable may or may not have one of these built in, but if it doesn’t you can buy an external one. Some turntables do have Bluetooth functionality, in which case you can connect them to the speakers that way.
If you have Amazon’s Alexa, you can connect it to the speakers too. It’s as simple as using the Alexa app on your phone and pairing it up with them as you would any other Bluetooth device.
Final Thoughts
These speakers pack an impressively high performance into their small package. They’re small enough for you to find space for them on all but the most crowded desks and shelves, but still manage to do remarkable justice to most pieces of music.
The only place where it slips up a bit is on particularly bassy tracks, but it does a creditable job even on these as long as the volume’s not turned up to the max. You can also plug in a subwoofer to help it out a bit in this area anyway.
That connectivity is another one of the speakers’ greatest strengths, and it makes them very versatile. It would have been ideal for them to come with wedges to stand up on, as this increases the sound quality noticeably, but even without them, the speakers are a very good option for their price.
