The new Audioengine A1 (also listed as the Audioengine One) is a compact pair of powered stereo bookshelf Bluetooth speakers. Without built-in Alexa or speakerphone functionality, these $199 speakers are a dramatic departure from the ubiquitous all-in-one mono models that dominate the market. You get two distinct speakers for true stereo separation, and there’s no DSP (digital signal processing), which means you’re hearing the unadulterated audio without any dynamic compression/limiting or EQ. If you’re looking for accurate, balanced audio from your PC or phone, this is a strong system for the price.
Design
The A1 speakers are black and gray, each measuring 6.0 by 4.0 by 5.3 inches (HWD) and weighing 6.7 pounds. There are no grille covers—Audioengine instead opts for an exposed driver look, a decision we’ll always approve of. The speaker cabinets each house a 2.75-inch aramid fiber woofer and a 0.75-inch silk dome tweeter, which combine for a frequency range of 65Hz to 22kHz. The A1 delivers a total of 60 watts, driven by dual class-D digital hybrid amplifiers that incorporate much of past Audioengine analog designs and eschew any hint of DSP. The speakers are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and support AAC, AptX, and SBC codecs.
If there’s one unfortunate aspect to the design, it’s that while the speakers are the ideal size for a desktop system, the drivers aren’t angled upward. Thus, the audio fires straight at your torso if you have place them on a desk. Of course, Audioengine has a wedge-shaped desktop stand solution to address this specific issue for $29 per pair. We highly recommend this additional purchase if you plan to place the speakers at a level lower than your ears, as the difference in audio performance when the tweeters are aimed at ear level is dramatic.
The connections for the system are on the left speaker’s rear panel. There’s a 3.5mm aux input (a 3.5mm audio cable is included, as is a 3.5mm-to-stereo-RCA cable), an LFE variable line out for subwoofers (no cable is included for this single RCA-style connection), the speaker wire connection for the included cable that connects to the right speaker’s rear panel, and the connection for the included power supply. The LFE connection will be particularly important to some users, because if you’re expecting a booming bass bonanza from the A1, you won’t get it without attaching a subwoofer. The rear panel also houses the Bluetooth pairing button and the volume/power knob. The volume knob works independently of your paired mobile device’s master volume.
Performance
Audioengine has always placed a focus on clarity, and a detailed mids-and-highs-focused audio output is the result. There’s certainly room for a subwoofer to add some depth and rumble here, but the speakers deliver a classic, balanced sound signature without a sub in play. For listeners who have grown accustomed to the bass-forward audio of most competing speakers on the market, that may not quite be enough, but those seeking an accurate, clear audio experience will be pleased.
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On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the speakers deliver a solid sense of deep bass response at moderate volumes. At top volumes on the speaker and the source (in this case, an iPhone 8), distortion kicks in. This is the price you pay for no DSP—challenging tracks like this one are going to give the woofers a little trouble when maxed out. At moderate to high volumes, this isn’t an issue. Those who really want to experience deep bass, especially at higher volumes, are probably going to want to augment this system with a subwoofer.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the A1’s general sound signature. The drums on this track get a natural delivery through the A1—there’s a sense of roundness to them, but nothing like thunder. At top volumes, there’s no distortion, but it’s Callahan’s rich baritone vocals that stand out the most. (On bass-forward speakers, the drums get heavily boosted and take on a more thunderous, dominant presence in the mix.) The speakers also deliver solid high-mid and high-frequency presence—the mix never sounds muddy (provided you line up the drivers with your ears). This is a bright, clear sound signature with plenty of low-mid richness to anchor things.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives an ideal amount of high-mid presence, allowing its attack to retain it punchiness while its sustain gets the slightest bit of added low-mid oomph. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are more implied than delivered—we get their raspy top notes but no real sense of the serious subwoofer depth they pack—again, that’s where the LFE output will come in handy for some. The vocals are delivered cleanly, with no added sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound clear and detailed through the A1. The higher-register brass, strings, and vocals are in the spotlight, and the lower-register instrumentation dutifully plays its anchoring role. A subwoofer at low levels could bring out some of the subtleties of the lower-register instrumentation here, but the track doesn’t sound thin without one. This is an accurate, balanced sound signature that’s focused on keeping the dynamics of the mix intact.
Conclusions
For $200, the Audioengine A1 speakers deliver accurate, balanced audio. They will appeal to those seeking clarity and detail from their music, as well as true stereo separation. The distortion isn’t a negative, because it rarely happens, and only on tracks with seriously deep bass at absolute top volume levels (and is part of the trade-off for having no DSP). If you have more room in your budget, the excellent $500 Audioengine A5+ Wireless system has more power and bass depth. We’re also fans of the $300 Harmon Kardon SoundSticks 4, which come with a subwoofer for much deeper bass, and the $399 Klipsch R-41PM. But the A1 speakers are more compact than all of these other offerings, and more affordable, making them a solid investment for anyone who doesn’t want DSP messing with the dynamics of the mix.
