I love the sound of a deep voice belting out the blues to help me unwind at the end of a day. However, for me, trouble with traditional speaker designs is that they either aim to conquer the sound design or they focus on the aesthetic of the speaker. To balance them both, to use the form of the speaker’s body to uplift your home while delivering rich, soul-warming sounds that touch the core of your being, that is what the latest collaboration between Benjamin Hubert’s LAYER Design and Bang & Olufsen brings to us! Named the Beosound Balance, this powerful compact speaker encompasses luxury in every bit of its design. This can be seen especially in the choice of materials used by the designers – natural oak wood base complemented by a subtle metallic finish and a knitted fabric wrapping the speaker that ties it all together… this speaker comes with a truly serious sound (that is what we hear!). Hidden in its homely aesthetics, the speaker packs a digital punch with a hidden touch interface to manually control the speaker settings. The interface lights up when approached, inviting the user to come and interact with the speaker. Whereas the touch-sensitive top plate uses a swipe gesture to control volume and change other player settings. Adding to the home-assistant aesthetics, the speaker’s light dims out when the user moves away from it. And here is the tweak that shows off Bang & Olufsen’s sound skills, this dimming happens owing to an internal microphone that hears you and also, during the speaker’s initial setup analyzes the room and creates a set of ‘filters’ that will compensate for the walls and other sound-reflecting surfaces in your space, ensuring the speaker’s personalized output gives you the best experience in your surroundings. with In terms of the design, the speaker separates into two parts: the cylindrical wooden base that houses a large subwoofer that faces upwards. This distinction allows the sound filtered through the metal disc to be reflected by the rounded base of the top section. To complement the same, the upper section of the speaker houses a downward-facing bass driver, three mid-range speakers, and two tweeters, giving you a total of seven drivers to pack a powerhouse sound performance. With Google Chromecast, Apple Airplay, Spotify Connect, and Amazon Alexa voice control, this minimal design is equipped for the modern era. Even better, the Beosound connects with your existing B&O products to create a surround sound or multi-room setup. Designed for serious audiophiles who want uncompromised sound quality encased in a design worthy of showing off in their home, this speaker comes at a whopping price of $2250 to be available in two variations – Natural Oak and Black Oak. But, if what you crave is some serious sound quality to answer your Google and Alexa queries, this speaker is the answer to your prayers!