The Beolab 5 must not be confused with any other B&O speaker such as Beolab 8000 or 6000 which sound - erm - unique. The Lab 5's are the only ones which accept digital inputs and can therefore be used in an "all digital system".

B&O is not known for sonic excellence, but 98% of the buying public think that B&O is the pinnacle of audio. It's really strange how many people are impressed by the below average sound of the B&O's and how easily they spend a considerable sum of money on B&O equipment.

However, B&O mustn't be underrated: they were among the first to come up with digital amplifiers (ICE), now used by renowned high end audio manufacturers like Jeff Rowland.

Coming back to the Lab 5, which come with their own very user-friendly digital room correction (a microphone pops out and measures the sound the speakers automatically produce), I can say that they sound far better than the average B&O speaker. I haven't heard them A/B'd against DSP's (which would be difficult given B&O's approach to selling their products in dedicated stores or shop-in-shops only), but if memory serves right I think comparable DSP's do sound better. The Lab 5's are impressive speakers (though I doubt that someone really likes their Dalek-like appearance), but they lack the sort of emotional involvement you achieve with the best of passive speakers.

Cheers,

-m