Audioengine A5+ Wireless Speakers Great sound, and versatility, from a pair of $499 speakers. Review By Tom Lyle (2024)

October 2018
Audioengine A5+ Wireless Speakers
Great sound, and versatility, from a pair of $499 speakers.
Review By Tom Lyle

Thosefamiliar with my previous reviews of Audioengine's products, including their HD6Premium Powered Speaker System and the D224-Bit Wireless DAC are aware that Audioengine manufactures and sellsexcellent audiophile grade products for very reasonable prices. And thosefamiliar with my previous reviews of high-end gear know that I use some rathernice high-end equipment in the main system in my dedicated listening room, andanother smaller system in a common space of our home. The fact that I use a pairof Audioengine HD6 speakers in my bedroom flanking our flat-screen TV shouldconvince at least some that Audioengine products can more than satisfy some verychoosy audiophiles, including yours truly.

Simply calling the Audioengine A5+ a "wireless speaker" is not nearly enough information to properly describe these speakers. Of course, the raison d'être of the A5+ wireless speaker is its "high-fidelity advanced Bluetooth with aptX HD with a 24-bit upsampling DAC (AKMAK4396)". This type happens to be the older generation of Bluetooth connectivity. Although, to be honest, when I heard the term"wireless" in the name of the speaker I assumed that the A5+ would either have no wires connecting the two speakers, or they were battery operated.

Nevertheless, my rather long audition of these speakers has shown that it enables these shielded speakers to be, if not the main speakers in one's set-up, at the very least the perfect speakers that anyone, audiophile or not, can use to construct a small system, or a second system to augment their larger main system. This is because besides Bluetooth connectivity, the Audioengine A5+ has RCA and mini-jack inputs, so a listener can connect sources that might range from, for example, a smart phone with its output cable, or even the interconnects of a phono preamplifier. There is also a preamp audio output if one wishes to connect a subwoofer.

These two-way, remote controlled powered speakers use aClass A/B 50-Watt power amplifier that uses a toroidal transformer. They have a5" Kevlar woofer and a 0.75" silk-dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet, and they're housed in a0.5" thick MDF cabinet that is available in three finishes, black satin,hi-gloss white, and solid natural bamboo. The speakers come with all the wires one will need to set them up, including speaker cables to connect the two cabinets, an interconnect with a stereo mini-plug on each end to hook up a device such as a smart phone, and a power cable that connects to the left speaker that has heat sinks on its rear, indicating that it is the cabinet that contains a power amp. To start listening to music all one needs to do after unboxing the A5+ is connect a speaker cable from one cabinet to the other, connect the power cable and a source or two, and then power up. That's it.

Beginning
At the beginning of this review I mentioned that I had spentmore than a bit of time with Audioengine's HD6 Premium speakers. During theiraudition I tried them in my main system for an afternoon, which was a bit sillygiven the price disparity between the sources I used and the Audioenginespeakers. I then used them as part of a desktop system. In my review I said thatit was obvious that this is the way many will use their HD6 speakers. I was ableto use the HD6 not only for listening to music while performing everyday taskson the computer, but more often I listened to music sourced from the hard-drivesthat are attached to the computer. I use this computer in two ways: as my musicserver and as the nucleus of my home studio. I used the Audioengine HD6 Premiumspeakers while I mastered a few projects, listened back to some older tapessourced from the hard-drives, from the DAC / ADC I use for mastering projects, andfrom analog sources that I have in this room, because this is where my mainsystem is, in my dedicated listening room.

I used the A5+ the same way as I did with the HD6 poweredspeakers, although there was no real reason to use its Bluetooth connectivity.The A5+ are a bit smaller than the feature laden HD6 Premiums, which also hasdrivers that are a bit larger than the A5+. Still, it was amazing that the A5+had much of the same sonic character of the HD6 Premiums – for such a smallspeaker they were very neutral sounding, and for having such a small cabinettheir bass was powerful and went surprisingly deep. There was a slightlyelevated mid-bass, as the midrange sounded a bit "scooped out", which wasn'tsuch a bad thing as it gave these speakers a sound that much bigger than theylooked. For a speaker that starts at $499, I have no problem calling the A5+wireless speakers "high-end".

And if one can live without its Bluetooth connectivity,Audioengine still makes the original A5+, which has been renamed the A5+Classic, which starts at $399. Calling the A5+ a high-end speaker is due totheir treble response, which performs at a level of other speakers of this sizethat are comparably priced, and many that are priced higher. The tweeters of theA5+ wireless speakers did not exhibit any disturbing qualities such as excessivesibilance, that is, as long as it wasn't the fault of the recording. This wasbecause these speakers are quite transparent sounding. There was a bit ofharshness in the lower-treble, but again, I think this might have been onlybecause I was judging these speakers rather critically. The speakers I'm used tohearing cost much, much more than these small Audioengine self-powered units.

Move
The real fun began when I auditioned these speakers todifferent locations around the house But first I set up the A5+ wirelessspeakers on a pair of 24" speaker stands in the room where my second system islocated, in a common space of our home. In this setup I connected to the speaker'srear panel RCA inputs a set of Accusound interconnects (review forthcoming)running from an OPPO universal player so I could spin a few SACDs. I consideredthis a litmus test for being able to determine whether or not the A5+ could takeadvantage of a source with such high resolution. One of my favorites during thispart of the audition period was playing the SACD of a Big Startwo-fer with#1 Record and Radio City. Recorded in Memphis in 1972, this bandwas so ahead of their time I don't think the rock audience at the time knew whatto do with them, evidenced by their popularity that flourished after theydisbanded. The details of this fabulous rock recording, especially #1 Record shinedthrough the A5+s.

The thump of Jody Stephen's kick drum locked into Andy Hummel'sbass guitar, aided by the recording techniques that were used for many early 70srecordings, as the common practices such as applying duct tape to cymbals,placing a pillow inside a kick drum with no front head. This approach eventuallyfell out of favor for more "modern" methods but was eventually used again byproducers such as Rick Rubin as early as the mid-1980s and continued on into thenext century by many other producers. I feel that these production tacticstightens the overall sound. Some don't like these production methods as much asI do. Perhaps I like them so much because of nostalgia, perhaps not, but I canhear the intensions of the musicians much better without any heavy overhang fromthe instruments or other "distracting" effects.

It was excellent how the A5+ was able let me here all ofthis so clearly. Also remarkable was that with such a small cabinet how muchlow-end was produced. I realize that the bass on these speakers don't go muchlower than 50 Hz, but either Audioengine's designers purposely voiced thesespeakers with a mid-bass rise, or the speakers have a midrange that to someextent goes lower than the adjacent frequencies. There is also a slight rise inthe treble, which gives these speakers a sound that is larger than life. Or thissound is a result of what happens when one properly engineers a small speaker,because the end result was a speaker that has a sound of a speaker with a muchlarger cabinet.

On the SACD of Big Star's best work, their album #1 Record,the upper frequencies were reproduced with a very convincing level oftransparency and fun. In my medium-sized room, the pairing of Alex Chitonand David Bell's guitars filled the side of the room with theirproto-alternative power-pop. The vocal duties shared by Chris Bell and AlexChilton didn't necessarily enter the room but were rendered with an extremelynatural timbre. Most of this was because the recording was made with suchexactness, and the A5+s were simply letting me hear what was put onto tape backin the day. I was very surprised how well the Audioengine speakers sounded inthis room, as I'm accustomed to a much pricier system that is built aroundeither a pair of vacuum-tube monoblock amplifiers, or very powerful solid-stateamps, that power speakers that cost nearly seven times as much as the A5+wireless speakers.

While I was using the Audioengine speakers in this system Ialso connected an SVSSB-2000 subwoofer that I reviewed last spring, a subwoofer that's not tooexpensive, but good enough to win a BestOf 2018Blue Note Award, and also a permanent place in my system. I am not at allfamiliar with the subwoofer that Audioengine offers but using this subwooferwith the A5+ was extremely enjoyable. It let these mini-monitors focus on whatthey do best, reproducing the midrange and treble frequencies, and for somereason all the positive traits of the speakers seemed to be magnified. If onehas the space (and the money) I strongly suggest a subwoofer be used with theA5+ wireless speakers. Although, one of the beauties of these speakers is theirsmall size, so it might be a bit pointless using one. And as you read, theirbass response happens to be very satisfying. So no, I don't think a sub ismandatory, I spent most of the review period without one, and I didn't considerusing one until the very end of this part of the review period – mostlybecause I was so happy with the speakers sound without it.

After using the A5+ wireless speakers in place of the speakersin my second system, I moved them to a few different rooms in the house. Don'tlaugh, but the best place I found for these speakers were in the kitchen, wherethey replaced a small Tivoli Audio Model One table radio on which we like tolisten to either our local PBS affiliate WNYC which broadcasts out of New YorkCity, or the eclectic, free-form powerhouse that is WFMU, located in nearbyJersey City, New Jersey. Thankfully, the A5+ wireless speaker's footprint isonly about 7" by 8", so there was enough space on the countertop for the twocabinets.

To say that there was a difference in sound quality betweenthe Tivoli radio and the Audioengine wireless speakers is laughable. Pairing aniPhone or an iPad to the Audioengine speakers to listen to the radio station'sapps was super-simple. Better yet was streaming a higher resolution source thanan internet radio app through the A5+ speakers, as these speakers weretransparent enough to easily be able to take advantage of a source that hasbetter sound quality. I'm a subscriber to TIDAL MQA HiFi, the advantage it hasover many of the other popular streaming services is that it is available inthis version which streams with a CD-quality 16-bit/44.1kHz signal.

The A5+ is truly a high-end component, as it was able to takeadvantage of the quality of the musical diet it was fed. I did spend plenty oftime listening to the radio station's apps, because let's face it, I'm in thekitchen, and it's not like I was going to sit down and critically listen to anymusic while I was in there. But it was very nice to hear high quality musiccoming through these speakers when I was in there, that's for sure, especiallywhen I was streaming music using TIDAL, with access to about every record Icould imagine. As much of a kick as it was to have these killer soundingspeakers in our kitchen (and until further notice, this is where these speakersare going to stay). I realize that most listeners aren't as lucky as I am, anddoesn't have two high-end audio systems in their homes, so its more likely theywill purchase these speakers to either build a system around them, or, as I didat first when I received them, to flank a computer screen. The fact that thesespeakers are wireless gives them a whole new set of applications, where onemight not normally use high-end speakers of any type and might be reduced tousing an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker.

Self-Powered, A.K.A. ActiveSpeakers
Mostreviews I read with their subject being small self-powered speakers are quitebrief, giving a description of their specs, and whether or not they can "fill aroom with sound". The A5+ wireless self-powered speakers deserve a review thatis much more comprehensive than a short write-up of that type. That is why Ireviewed them in Enjoy the Music.com, and why I treated them as any otherhigh-end component. Although, I've never used a component in a way that I coulduse like the A5+. That is because they combine the sound of a pair of smallhigh-end speakers with the convenience of Bluetooth audio. Would I recommendthese speakers to any audiophile, or even non-audiophile that is looking for asmall speaker such as these" You bet!

Specifications
Type: Powered (active) bookshelf-style speaker system
Frequency Response: 50Hz to 22kHz (+/-1.5dB)
Drivers: 5" Kevlar woofer and 0.75" silk dome tweeter with neodymium magnets
Power Output: 150W peak power total (50W RMS / 75W peak per channel)
Amplifier Type: Dual Class AB monolithic
Inputs: 3.5mm stereo mini-jack, RCA L/R
SNR: >95dB (typical A-weighted)
THD+N: <0.05% at all power settings
Crosstalk: -50dB
Input Impedance: 10kOhm unbalanced
Protection: Output current limiting, thermal over-temperature, power on/off transient protection, replaceable external main fuse
Input Voltages: 115/240V, 50/60Hz manually switchable
Cabinet: 0.5" thick MDF wood

Bluetooth specifications:
Internal DAC: AKM AK4396
Input Bit Depth: 24-bits upsampled
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 audio
Supported Codecs: aptX HD, aptX, AAC, SBC
Wireless Operation Range: Up to 100ft (30m) typical
Wireless Latency: ~30 milliseconds (ms)

Dimensions: 10.75″ x 7″ x 9″ (HxWxD)
Weight: Left speaker 15.4 lbs., with right being 9.6 lbs.
Finish Options: Satin Black Paint, Hi-Gloss White Paint, Solid Carbonized Bamboo
Included Accessories:
Remote control
Antenna
Speaker wire (16AWG), 4 meters (~13ft)
Detachable AC power cord
Mini-jack audio cable, 2 meters (~6.5ft)
RCA audio cable, 2 meters (~6.5ft)
Two Microfiber speaker bags
Microfiber cable bag

Price: $499 (black or white finishes) and $569 in bamboofinish.

Company Information
Audioengine, LLC
6500 River Place Blvd.
Building 7, Suite 250
Austin, TX 78730

Voice: (877) 853-4447
E-mail: support@audioengineusa.com
Website: www.AudioengineUSA.com