So this is the Bose Soundlink micro 2, Now I used to really like the Bose Soundlink Micro cause its rubber strap on the back was very helpful, it allowed you to easily attach this speaker to things, making it a great speaker to take on the go with you. And the Bose Soundlink micro 2 now has twice as much battery as the original. And we recently checkout the Bose Soundlink Plus, and I really liked how that speaker sounded… But sadly when it comes to the sound coming out of the Bose Soundlink Micro 2, I am not impressed. Nonetheless, today we’re going to checkout the Bose Soundlink micro 2 and lets see what its about.
Regarding pricing, this is one of my biggest issue with this speaker. The Bose Soundlink Micro 2 has a retail price of $130… which is very hard to justify… you’re clearly paying a Bose premium here. But more importantly, this speaker does not sound good at all. So I’m going to be living some links in the description below with some better options.
First when it comes to the design of this speaker, I like it, its fairly small and it shipped like a puck, but more importantly the entire body is wrapped in silicon which makes this speaker feel very premium, but its still very durable… and this speaker is water proof as well… but unfortunately this speaker does not float, and since the USB C port on this speaker is exposed, you do have to make sure that its dry before you can charge it back up.
But one of the things that I do like about Bose’s Micro speakers is that they have a strap on the back, and this strap is a little different now cause its fabric and its a little more elastic than the rubber one from the original speaker. But more importantly, its very easy to attach this speaker to lets say your backpack or bike handle bars without having to macguiver anything.
Now when it comes to battery life, the Bose Soundlink Micro 2 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours… which is twice as much as the original, which is great. But reality world use with this speaker playing at max volume… and trust me, this is a speaker that you’re going to have to use at max volume on a regular basis cause it just doesn’t sound good… its still only good for about 6 hours.
And to charge this speaker, it charges via a USB C port as it should, however you can’t use this USB C port as a wired connection and you can’t use it to charge your own devices… which is okay for a speaker or this size… but it might not be okay for a speaker of this price.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, this speaker can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, latency is not an issue for this speaker so you can use it to watch videos with on your phone… and when it comes to audio codecs, its has support for SBC and AAC which is standard for bose.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound, regarding speaker set up, the bose micro 2 has the same speaker set up as the original, a single frontward firing driver and a single frontward firing passive radiator, and that’s it. And through Bose’s app you can also go in and adjust the EQ on this speaker… but no matter what you do, that’s not going to help you. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. We’re going to be using the Bose Micro 2 a 75% volume and at max volume and we’re also going to be including the JBL Go 4 which has the same speaker set up, but costs less than half the Bose Soundlink Micro 2
Soundtest
So when it comes to sound, personally I am not impressed by the Bose Soundlink Micro 2 given its price. When it comes to its volume… like you may have just seen, the Bose Soundlink micro 2 is way quieter than the JBL Go 4 when its they’re both playing at 75% volume… and when the Bose Soundlink Micro 2 is playing at max volume… its only a little louder than the JBL Go 4 when its playing at 75% volume. So for this reason, it is very hard for me to justify the Bose Soundlink Micro 2 given its price. Sure, the Bose has a longer advertised battery life than the Go 4… but real world use, both of these speakers are pretty close. And when it comes to the sound quality, the Bose sound link micro 2 sounds pretty average at best, with lack luster bass and sometimes it can sound a little hollow. Overall, sound quality wise, I am not impressed by the Bose Soundlink Micro 2 when the JBL Go 4 can easily out perform it.
And finnally lets talk about pairing this speaker up with other speakers. With the Bose soundlink micro 2, if you have two of the same speakers you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… but they have to be two of the exact same speakers.
Or you can always pair your bose Micro 2 up to another bose soundlink speaker, like a Bose Flex 2, or a Soundlink Plus or soundlink max and get them to play in sync… but you can only have a total of two speakers playing together… which is super limiting when compared to the competition…
So with all of that being said, personally I am very disappointed by the Bose Soundlink Micro 2… yes this speaker feels very premium thanks to its silicon wrapped body, its super durable and the strap on the back is very useful. But sound quality wise, it is very hard for me to justly this speaker when its bested by the JBL Go4 which costs less than half as much. And I really think that this is a shame cause I really liked the original Bose Soundlink micro…