So the Bose S1 Pro plus is a very small and very loud speaker, but just cause its loud it doesn’t mean that it sounds good. For me its hard to recommend this speaker, but due to its connection setup maybe it’ll be good for a pro that wants to use it for a gig or something. But if you’re a casual person and you need something small and super loud, then maybe the bose will make sense, or you can check out that Soundboks Go, which is exactly what we’re going to do today.
Regarding pricing, both of these speakers are very small and they have big price tags of $700… but they’re super different from one another. Nonetheless if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button. And if you want to further support the channel then you can pick up some merch.
So first theres the design of these speakers, now the Bose is noticeably smaller and lighter than the Soundboks Go… however its a lot fragile by comparison cause its mostly soft plastic, it has a thin metal grill on the front and you better not get it wet cause all of its ports are exposed. Where as with the Soundboks GO, yes this speaker is larger and heavier… but its still very portable for the performance you’re getting out of it. It has a built in carrying handle or you can also get the optional shoulder strap… this speaker is also using much denser plastics and the honeycomb grill on the front is a lot more durable than Bose’s grill. And most importantly, this speaker is water proof, so if it gets wet, its going to be perfectly fine.
Regarding power, both of these speakers have a built in battery, but Bose’s battery is advertised at 11 hours where as the Soundboks go’s battery is rated for 40 hours and thats with this speaker playing at 50% volume, which is like using the JBL Boombox 3 or Sony ULT 7 at 85% volume, which is already pretty loud. And thats with this speaker playing with its stock Power EQ.
But more importantly, with the Soundboks Go, you can easily remove the battery. And this is going to be good for two things, either you can get multiple batteries and keep the party going if you’re somewhere where you cant plug in… or if you get to a point where you battery can no longer hold a charge, you can just buy a new battery instead of having to buy a whole new speaker.
However, the only thing that I dont like about the Soundboks is that in order to charge its battery you have to use its included power brick… and you shouldn’t be using this speaker while its plugged in past 50% volume. Where as with the bose, it charges via a 3 prong AC cable… which isn’t a super common cable, but its better than having a power brick to worry about.
But then there are the ports, and this is what makes the bose special… the bose has 2 XLR combo jacks so if you want you can plug in 2 microphones, 2 instruments, or even a mix if you want… and you can adjust the sound of your mic directly from the speaker it self thanks to the built in screens. Where as with the Soundboks you can’t use it with a mic… the only port that it has is an audio jack.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, latency is not an issue for either of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. But with both of these speakers, they both have their own local volumes and then you have to adjust the volume on your phone. Just thought that this was something worth mentioning cause more consumer friendly box speakers dont do this.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, the Bose has a single woofer with exhaust ports that shoot out the front and it has a total of 3 drivers which are stacked on top of the woofer. And this speaker gets very loud for its size, but just cause it gets loud it doesn’t mean that it sounds good. Where as with the Soundboks GO it has a frontward firing woofer with exhaust ports that also shoot out the front and it has a single frontward firing tweeter. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Now both of these speakers are playing at their 75% volumes… and we’re using the bose with its treble decreased and with its bass increased cause im really trying to help it here. Where as with the Soundboks Go, its playing with its stock power EQ.
Sound test
So like you may have just seen, the Bose gets super loud. But just cause it gets loud its doesn’t mean that it sounds good when its playing music. The problem with the Bose is that it leans towards a bright sound signature and it doesn’t have all that much bass. And when it does start to put out bass, then the bass really bottoms out very quickly. So overall the bose just sounds like its screeching. Where as with the Soundboks Go, this speaker sounds a lot more balanced cause the highs aren’t as exaggerated and it actually has bass. And with the Go you can also go into its app and select its Bass Boosted EQ for even more bass… but that going to drain your battery life faster. Nonetheless, both the Bose S1 Pro Plus and the Soundboks Go get louder than lets say the JBL Partybox 320 and Sony XV800 when they are playing at max volume and while plugged in… but the important difference here is, the Soundboks Go actually sounds good at max volume where as the Bose sounds like its screeching and the bass just bottoms out.
But finally theres pairing, now with the bose you can always pair it up with Bose’s external subwoofers so that you can get a lot more bass going, but if you do that you should might as well get yourself a Partybox Ultimate… and like I mentioned earlier, this speaker does have a line out, but you have to use an XLR cable.
Where as with the Soundboks Go, you can wirelessly pair 5 soundboks together. You can pair a Soundboks Go, Soundboks 3 or Soundboks 4 together and you can also choose what channel each speaker plays if you want. So if you want to grow your collection of speakers, then you do want to go with Soundboks here.
But with all of that being said… if you’re thinking about getting the Bose S1 Pro and you’re a casual user, I highly recommend that you look at something else. Yes this speaker gets very loud for its size… but sound quality wise it doesn’t sound good. You should only consider the Bose if you plan on using it with a microphone or other instruments 100% of the time.
However, if you’re looking for something super loud and small… and if either the JBL Boombox 3 or the Sony ULT 7 just aren’t loud enough… then you do want to go with the Soundboks Go. First off this speaker gets super loud… but more importantly it actually sounds good even at those higher volumes cause it sounds balanced and it has bass. The Soundboks go also has a much larger battery thats also removable… and its a lot more durable than the Bose. The amin draw back is that that only port on this speaker is an audio jack.