Bang & Olufsen's Beosound 6 DAP revealed

Style-maven Bang & Olufsen has introduced a new DAP into the mix, called the Beosound 6. Breaking from typical B&O design convention -- which can often be a little absurd (see the Beosound 2 and 3) -- the Beosound 6 is a strikingly simple design; a silver, candy-bar shaped audio player with stripped-down controls and a thin LCD display. Specs are light at the moment, but it looks like standard MP3 / WMA playback, 4GB of flash memory (jettisoning the company's previous SD storage scheme), a 65K color LCD screen, and USB connectivity. The player will also be accompanied by a leather case and the company's A8 earphones, and will retail for around £400 ($812 US).

[Thanks, Casper]

[Sneakz @ Jul 12th 2007 11:08PM]

No thank you... I'll stick with my current DAP.

[jaalin @ Jul 12th 2007 11:09PM]

well, at least their pricing is consistent with their other products.

[Clayj @ Jul 12th 2007 11:10PM]

And you thought APPLE products were overpriced...

[Chuckles McGee @ Jul 12th 2007 11:57PM]

Designer companies really shouldn't stick their nose into electronics unless they realize what they're doing. You can't just make a device pretty and expect it to sell for more than 4 times the going price- like with clothes. Unless you can bring something else to the table with the flashy design, people aren't going to pay that huge premium.

[Mac @ Jul 13th 2007 12:55AM]

Except Bang and Olufsen know exactly what they're doing when it comes to audio.
Google them.

[Brian @ Jul 13th 2007 1:20AM]

Except unfortunately, you're still playing Mp3's off of this thing....all of B&O's sound is essentially wasted. So, yeah, an overpriced waste. Their speakers are still great.

[treetrunk @ Jul 13th 2007 6:38AM]

"Designer companies really shouldn't stick their nose into electronics.."

Except Bang & Olufsen are exactly that- a designer electronics company. They aren't "sticking their nose" into electronics, this is what they do!

[Zzephyr @ Jul 12th 2007 11:14PM]

I choked on my candy corn when I saw that price.

[Patrick @ Jul 12th 2007 11:17PM]

I choked on uvula after seeing the price of this little gem

[Brian @ Jul 12th 2007 11:27PM]

Isn't it Bang & OlufsEn?

[Argot @ Jul 13th 2007 9:51AM]

No, it's iBang & Olufsen

[ark_v2 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:27PM]

Do they actually sell their units?

[Electromodo @ Jul 12th 2007 11:28PM]

At least for that price the included headphones should be good... :)))

[DuckInA.Pond @ Aug 21st 2007 1:28PM]

The included earbudsare good. They're about $150 - $200 and they to around your ear. Very comfortable and are also the best sounding earbuds ever. :)

[Irfan @ Jul 12th 2007 11:31PM]

yes brian

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/

[Will @ Jul 12th 2007 11:41PM]

Beowulf would be proud.

[therpham @ Jul 12th 2007 11:45PM]

Worst hand model ever.

[Rjay @ Jul 13th 2007 12:00AM]

lol!

I think they were going for the "ugly bestfriend" effect. You know, where an average looking female hangs out with an ugly female friend in order to make herself look hotter.

[Neptune5 @ Jul 12th 2007 11:59PM]

The iPhone doesn't look so bad, now does it ?

And yeah , that hand model, looks like it was pulled from the grave lol

I really don't understand why B&O is so expensive i always go into the one on Bloor street next to Gucci and they sell home theater speakers for 30k a set

[cliff @ Jul 13th 2007 12:04AM]

The hand model looks scary!

[edgarj @ Jul 13th 2007 3:19AM]

Their fingernails continue to grow after death..... B&O customers, that is.

[manila_ice @ Jul 13th 2007 12:23AM]

spell check homie--------Bang & Olufsen

[Cody @ Jul 13th 2007 1:07AM]

Looks oddly similar to the Samsung YP-Z5.

[PeteC @ Jul 13th 2007 8:45AM]

Yes, I was thinking that, the control looks the same but with bigger metallic edges to the player. Even the menu looks vaguely similar to the Z5 albeit with a different colour scheme. If so, it should be a good player but obviously pound for pound you'd be better off with the Z5 unless you bought the gold Z5 Samsung produced a while back!

[Addy @ Jul 13th 2007 2:23AM]

Let me guess. The extra $700 is for the leather case, right?

[fernando @ Jul 13th 2007 2:53AM]

HAHAHAHAHA

[blkdragon @ Jul 13th 2007 4:09AM]

I know it looks good, but you're all missing the point here:

WILL IT BLEND??

[Shmee150 @ Jul 13th 2007 4:13AM]

Awesome, can't wait. When's it out in the UK?

[W!ll @ Jul 13th 2007 7:00AM]

Looks like a relabeled Samsung YP-Z5 to me.

[Ivan @ Jul 13th 2007 8:11AM]

Can that guy in the picture cut his nails?!?!? Ew.

[jienn @ Jul 13th 2007 8:26AM]

at least wait for a review before shouting stupid comments. it comes with really nice headphones. also mp3s doesn't have to sound bad, try lossless encoding. b&o knows what sound quality means for those who haven't demo'ed their products. if you don't like a fine exclusive wine, stick to mass produced snapple!

[Eric Whitney @ Jul 13th 2007 10:53PM]

I was not aware that Snapple made wine

[L. M. Lloyd @ Jul 13th 2007 9:05AM]

You have to love how Engadget sticks to its guns. B&O releases a small, pocketable, screenless DAP before the iPod Shuffle comes out, ant it is an absurd waste of time for people with too much money. Then Apple comes out with one, and it is brilliant. B&O comes out with a 2G fashion phone with a unique form factor, a reduced feature set, and an odd input method years before the iPhone, and they are sticking it to their rich customers in the name of fashion, since the phone doesn't even have 3G or many other features of other phones in its class. Apple does it, and they are brilliant.

What's the matter Engadget? Is the design, integration and ease of use argument only good when you can actually afford the hardware, but a load of crap when it gets too rich for your blood, or are you just bitter because a company other than Apple makes even more iconic designs?

[MOONJUNKIE @ Jul 14th 2007 5:28AM]

wow wow. this is very wonderful

[Mitchell @ Jul 14th 2007 9:43AM]

It looks like a Samsung Z5

[Val @ Jul 14th 2007 11:56AM]

I've never been a B&O (bad odor), but this just puts the icing on the cake with their ludicrous pricing! As a designer BO is NOT an innovative company, which they think they are. All their designs are stolen from Japanese designers.

I have a suggestion for BO. Maybe they should design an 8-Bit game console for $200,000US!!!

Hey BO I think you're a little too late.

[Henri Aalborg @ Jul 14th 2007 3:35PM]

good god, what's with those hands? grandma needs to go.

[Dave @ Jul 17th 2007 10:24PM]

Go ahead and check around a site like Head-Fi (www.head-fi.org) in regard to those particular headphones... I think the concensus you'll find is that they're massively overpriced compared to much better sounding phones. Comfortable, yes, but just not all that great sounding.

But really, it's very hard to imagine the well-to-do abandoning their iPods for this device. The iPhone is by far a better status symbol at the moment, and it's even cheaper than this thing... and a good deal more sexy.

[FHL @ Jul 18th 2007 5:52AM]

eventhoug i live about lesst than 100kilometers away from B&O i´ll never buy that pice of overprised millionare crap. only rich people can afford to buy B&O products, not when i was young (that is 20 years ago) most people wanted to wait a bit longer to buy a B&O TV.

Today forget it over 100.000 kroner for a lousy TV they are out of their insain mind.

PS: i have had 3 B&O TV in my life (2 when i was a kid).

[DG @ Aug 18th 2007 3:46AM]

B&O should be embarassed to have such a me-too product in its lineup. I had seen this picture circulating quite some time before this article was posted on Engadget, at the time I thought it had to be some elaborate mockup or concept design. As an owner of two recent B&O shelf systems, as well as the old Beosound2, this product taints my impressions of B&O as a brand. I am not a fan of every one of their past products either, but Beosound 6 is rediculous. Many people criticized the BeoSound 2 for being overpriced and underfeatured, but at least the design, function and tactile quality had something going for it. Anyone who buys this dressed-up Samsung is apathetically embracing blind brand loyalty.

[DuckInA.Pond @ Aug 21st 2007 1:36PM]

Bang & Olufsen is a Scandinavian company... Why would they need to copy Japanese DAP's? Anyways, it's the same idea as with anything else you could buy, For example, you could buy something from American Eagle, or you could walk into D&G and buy something 10x more expensive. You could buy a Toyota, or you could buy a Maserati. And' you could buy a Creative mp3 player, or you could buy something from B&O

[Dog Biscuit @ Aug 31st 2007 3:46AM]

Guys, I think you are missing the point. It is indeed based on a Samsung. But so was the Serene Mobile. That only shows that they aren't sticking their noses in it - they just take a reliable Jap product and make it pretty. You could go out and buy a briefcase for $25 or you could visit Luois Vuitton.

So I guess what I am saying is that if your sense of style is oppressed by your budget you can be "me-too" kind of person and buy an i-pod or you cann be an individual, with style, and get one of these

[iPod nUmbers @ Sep 21st 2007 9:09AM]

hmm.. i'm kinda maniac of portable music player. i have owned 3 different ipods, DAP, iriver IFP195, Cowon X5, Sony Nws703, B&O BeoSound 2, Zen M and so on. There are so many players i have owned, indeed.

When it comes to Sound quality only, BeoSound 2 is absolutely second to none. Not like a slightly tiny difference. You would start feeling that the best sound ever from the portable juss going right into your ears when you turned on BeoSound 2. itz gotta be WMA files to listen.

So i kinda had expected a new product from B&O to be released. and this one came out. but this Beosound 6 , honestly, ain't look so much fascinating as BeoSound 2. I havent tried this BeoSound 6, so can't tell about Sound quality. And i get to be cautious about design as well, cause i havent actually seen it for real.
But at least this one doesn't look like an alient technology design that other previous B&O products have shown so far.