Bang & Olufsen has a few wares on display at CES but undoubtedly the most eye-catching piece of them all is the BeoSound Moment, a sound system, practically a sound system controller in the form of a large tablet-like slab.
The most striking aspect of the Moment is its “rear” side, which is covered entirely in wood (oak, specifically). On the rear’s right side is a shallow indentation in the shape of a wheel. B&O says that this is the first time wood has ever been used as a touchable interface. If you tap the center of the wheel, music will immediately begin playing. If you drag your finger around the indentation, the volume will adjust.
The Bang & Olufsen Moment will remember what type of music you play and at what times, and B&O says that after a few weeks, it’ll be able to intelligently guess what you want to listen to and automatically start playing it when you tap the wooden button. The idea is that you can leave the beautiful wooden side displayed and only ever have to tap once to get what you want playing, rather than requiring you to browse through your catalog and make a decision about what you want.
The moment also includes a dock that doubles as a charging stand. The whole package is angular, sleek, and relatively stylish if you’re looking for something very modern. You can hook wired speakers up to the stand or use wireless speakers. As far as playing music goes, Moment can access your phone’s library over Bluetooth, but it can also connect to cloud services like Spotify and Deezer.
The entire set-up, hardware and software, is designed to play more toward your intuitive music listening instincts rather than forcing you to spend time learning yet another complicated interface.
But all this beautiful design and ease of use doesn’t come cheap. The BeoSound Moment will be available at Bang & Olufsen stores on Jan. 30 for $2,795.
