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This is the new Bose Portable Home Speaker, now I don’t know whats up with Bose’s latest naming schemes but what I do know is that I really like this new Bose speaker. Its essentially the successor to the Bose Soundlink revolve plus but its better in almost every way and its a whole lot smarter and useful. But whats really impressive here is just the sheer amount of sound coming out of this relatively small guy. And I do think its worth upgrading if you already have the Soundlink revolve plus.
But when it come to price, some people will might get sticker shock. Bose’s new speaker retails for $350’s which is $50 more than the Revolve plus when it first came out. But if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below, cause even at its $350 price point I still really like this speaker.
Now first lets talk about the design of this speaker cause some people like it, some people hate it, and some people like me don’t care. Bose’s new speaker is a little larger than the revolve plus. But for all intents and purposes its still a relatively small speaker thats not going to take up a whole lot of space on your desk, coffee table, or kitchen island. And build quality wise this thing is great. The top portion is soft touch rubber like the revolve plus, theres this powder coat feeling section here that I assume is plastic and the bottom is exposed aluminum like the revolve plus. Even though some people say that this speaker looks like a milk jug, I don’t mind how it looks. But when it comes to durability, I would take it easy on this speaker. First off this speaker does scratch easily and its only IPX4 rated so a splash of water isn’t going to be a problem but I wouldn’t let it get drenched or submerged. Plainly said this speaker is a great at home, backyard or patio speaker. But if you’re looking for something a little more rugged for camping or for tailgating personally I would go with something else cause I would hate to get this aluminum body damaged.
But when it comes to ports, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that this speaker now charges via a USB C port and you also get a 4 foot USB C to USB C cable and a USB C wall adaptor. And when it comes to battery life this speaker has an advertised battery life of 12 hours. And with real world use with the volume set at 60 percent volume, which is plenty for this guy, I’ve been getting about 10 hours of playback time. The bad news is that this speaker no longer has an Audio jack like the Revolve Plus. Now personally I don’t mind that this speaker doesn’t have an audio jack, but I do feel it should have still came with one cause some people might need it depending on their situation or set up. And besides it not like you didn’t have the room an audio jack. And unfortunately for those wondering, you can’t use the USB C port on this speaker as a wired connection. You can only use this speaker wirelessly.
Now this speaker has wifi connectivity, which I personally really like and prefer to use. If you’re an iPhone users you’re going to have Airplay 2 support and as long as your phone and speaker are connected to the same wifi network you’re going to have a stable connection no matter how many walls are between your phone and speaker… and latency isn’t an issue when watching videos.
But obviously this speaker also has bluetooth which can come in handy for when you’re not connected to wifi, or if you just don’t want to use wifi connectivity on this speaker. Now if you do decide to use a bluetooth connection on this speaker you’re going to have a wireless range of about 50 feet with direct line of sight which isn’t bad.
But the main reason why you really should use wifi on this speaker is so that you can use your voice assistant. Now Bose’s new portable speaker plays nice with both Google assistant and Alexa… personally I prefer to use google assistant. But what really impressed me about this speaker is just how well it manages to pick up your voice even when youre playing music at higher volumes.
For me, Bose’s new speaker does a better job of picking up my voice when im listening to music at higher volumes than both my google home and google home mini do. And if you want, you can even use this speaker as an always on smart speaker just as long as you just keep it plugged in or if you decide to buy the optional charging cradle.
Now even though I really like that this speaker is also a pretty damn good smart speaker my favorite thing about it is just the amount of sound coming out of this tiny form factor. Bose’s new speaker has a very similar speaker set up to the Revolve plus. They’re both 360 degree speaker with a down firing transducer but this time around Bose’s new speaker has 3 passive radiators instead of two passive radiators like on the Revolve Plus. All in all, Bose’s new speaker gets significantly louder and has significantly more bass than the revolve plus.
For the most part, both of Bose’s speakers have the same sound signatures. Theres an emphasis on the Mids and vocals and the highs stay clear. Where as I feel the pulse 4 puts a little too much emphasis on the mids and just make it sound a little nasally. But performance wise like I’ve said a few times already Bose’s new speaker gets significantly louder than the Revolve plus. For context during the sound test Bose’s new speaker was playing at 60 percent volume where as the revolve plus was playing 80 percent volume and the pulse 4 was struggling to keep up and playing at 90 percent volume. So this speaker is going to have no problem filling a large room with music and its also going to have no problem blanketing a large area with music out doors. Thanks to this speaker’s downward firing transducer and acoustic deflector it still manages to evenly blanket a 360 degree area outdoors with zero dead zones. So unlike a lot of other 360 degree speakers that perform better indoors where they can bounce sound off of walls and ceilings to create that 360 degree sound effect Both of Bose’s speaker can still create a bubble of sound even outdoors. But I can’t stress how much louder and how much more bass Bose’s new speaker has over the Revolve Plus. Its truly impressive.
Now when it comes to apps, Bose’s new speaker connects to Bose Music. From here you can have a few presets set and change the source of your audio but whats really important here is that you can adjust the bass and treble on this speaker. Which is a pretty big deal cause this is something that you couldn’t do on the Revolve Plus. So now you have a little control over how your speaker sounds which is nice. But its important to keep in mind that this speaker can only play in sync with Bose newer speakers and sound bars. If you already have a revolve plus or any other soudlink speaker for that you matter you can’t pair them to Bose’s newer speakers for now. Supposedly in the future you’ll be able to pair Bose’s new speaker with a single Soundlink speaker but until that software update comes out we’ll have to wait and see.
But over all, if $350 dosnt give you sticker shock for this speaker I highly recommend you get it if you’re looking for a speaker to use mostly at home or to entertain guest with. The amount of sound coming out of this relatively small speaker is truly impressive. Thanks to its downward firing transducer and acoustic deflector this speaker creates a rich 360 degree bubble of sound whether used indoors or out doors making it great for get togethers. And fact that it supports both google assistant and Alexa just makes it super useful around the house if you have a lot of smart devices. Honestly I have no gripes with this speaker, the only thing I can really complain about is its price point and the fact that it doesn’t have an audio jack but that may not matter to some people. All in all all I can really say about this speaker is that believe that hype and if you’re specially looking for a 360 degree speaker this probably the best 360 portable speaker on the market right now.