So I know that this video isn’t going to be an apples to apples comparison, but I’m making this video cause these speakers have the same speaker set up of a frontward firing woofer with three frontward firing drivers… but these speakers sound and perform very differently from one another… And both of these speakers are really good options if you’re planning on doing lots of kakroke. So today we’re going to see how the Soundcore Rave 3S compares to the Bose S1 Pro… cause this is just a night an day difference.
Regarding pricing, this is a huge difference between these two speakers. The Bose S1 Pro plus has a retail price of $700 which is a lot for a speaker of this size and performance. Where as the Soundcore Rave 3S has a retail price of $350 and it comes included with 2 wireless microphones. Overall the Soundcore rave 3S gives you a very big bang for your buck. 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 always pick up some merch.
So first theres the design of these speakers. Now both of these speakers a small and light weight enough so they’re both very easy to take on the go with you. However the Bose is smaller and lighter Rave 3S and it gets as loud as the JBL party box 320 or Sony XV800. However, this speaker isn’t as durable cause its not water resistant cause all of its ports are exposed. Now the plastics on the soundcore aren’t as premium feeling as the plastics used on JBL’s Partyboxses or Sony’s XV family of speakers… but at least this speaker is water resistant cause its ports are covered.
But something the Rave 3S really has over the Bose here is that it has a built in light feature. Now this light feature is very bright, it very dynamic, I really like its layer hexagonal design and through Soundcore’s app you can customize this light feature. So the Rave 3S is going to bring its own vibe. However, if you do decide to use this light feature, that is going to take its toll on the battery life. But this is just somewhere where the Bose just cant compete.
Now when it comes to battery life, the Bose has an advertised battery life of 11 hours… which is alright given how small this speaker gets and how loud it gets. Where as the Soundcore has an advertised battery life of 12 hours but thats with this speaker playing at 50% volume, with the light feature turned off and with the bass up feature turned off. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume and with the light feature turned on and with the bass up feature turned on, its going to be good for like 7 hours of playback time.
But when it comes to chargning these speakers, the Rave 3S charges via a USB C port which is super convenient cause you can use your phone’s charger to charge it up. Where as with the Bose it charges via a 3 prong AC cable and it has a ground as well… which isn’t as convenient. But more importantly, unlike a lot of other box speakers out there, you are not going to get a performance boost out of them if you use them while they are plugged in.
But when it comes to ports, this is what makes both of these speakers special. Now the with the Bose it has 2 XLR combo jacks so if you want you can plug in 2 microphones, 2 instruments, or even a mixer 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 Rave 3S it has a single 3 quarter inch input so you can plug in a mic or a guitar if you want… but more importantly, this speaker comes included with 2 wireless mics… so you can get a total of 3 mics going with the Raves 3S if you’re planning on doing karaoke. And the more mics the better if you’re doing kakroke.
But what really makes the Rave 3S really special here is that it has this AI Vocal removal tool which will move the vocals from any song that you’re playing, and it does all of this locally from the device. And we’re actually going to jump into a quick demo of that right now.
AI Demo
So like you may have just seen, the AI vocal removal tool on this speaker is very imrepssive. And if you’re a causal user and if you’re planning on doing lots of kakroke, you have to checkout the Rave 3S cause it just makes doing karaoke so easy. Where as with the Bose, this speaker is going to be better reserved for the pros that require those XLR inputs.
Now when it comes to connecvty, all of these speakers have bluetooth, latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone and they can all be used with a wired connection. However the Bose does have a line out, which is nice but you do have to use it with an XLR cable.
But with all of that being said lets talk about speaker set up, and I’m making this video cause I am shocked at how similar these sets up are but how different they sound. Now both of these speakers have a frontward firing woofer and 3 frontward firing drivers. However the Rave 3S has a rear firing exhaust port where as the Bose has frontward firing exhaust ports… and the Bose has its drivers stacked on top of the woofer. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Now both of these speakers are playing at 75% volume while running off of their internal batteries… but the Rave 3S is running with its bass up feature turned on… and the Bose has its treble decreased and its bass increased cause I’m really trying to help this speaker out as much as I can.
Soundtest
So first we have to talk about volume… the Bose gets very loud… this small speaker gets as loud as the JBL party box 320, Sony XV800 and Soundboks go… but just cause it gets loud it doesn’t mean that it sounds good. The problem with the Bose is that it just sounds like its screeching cause it puts so much emphasis on the mids and highs. And when it comes to bass, it doesn’t have all that much or when the bass does come in its just bottoms out. Personally, I do not like or recommend the Bose S1 Pro plus for listening to music. Where as with the Soundcore Rave 3S… no this speaker doesn’t get as loud but it sounds a lot better cause it sounds balanced, it sounds more open and it actually has bass that both resonates and it also has a good kick to it. And overall, I think the Rave 3S is going to be good for like 15 person party. Now Bose claims that the Bose S1 Pro plus is good for like a 50 person crowd… but if it doesn’t actually sound good, are you actually going to want to use it?
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 Rave 3S, if you have 2 of the same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode, or you can pair up to 10 speakers together and get them to play in sync and their light features will be in sync as well.
But I do have to point out that this speaker is using Aurcast… however, I haven’t been able to get it to pair with non auracast speakers just yet. So hopefully that feature will come in a future software update.
But with all of that being said, I know that this isn’t an apples to apple comparison… but I find it so interesting how two speakers with very similar set ups perform so differently. Now for me it is hard to recommend the Bose S1 pro plus cause of its sound and price… but this speaker could be useful for a pro that needs something small with XLR inputs. But even still, if you just need mics then the Soundcore Rave 3S is a solid alternative… or you can also look at the Partybox 120 and Sony XV500.
But overall, the Soundcore Rave 3S is a solid mid sized box speaker that give you a very big bang for your buck. It looks good, it sounds good, it comes with 2 mics and you can ad a third if you want… but most importantly its AI Vocal removal toll is very impressive. If you’re looking for something to do lots of kakroke with… you have to check out the Soundcore Rave 3S.