So I like the new Bose Sondlink plus, it sounds really good and it gives me very high hopes for the Bose Soundlink Max 2. However for a mid sized speaker, I do find it a little hard to justify. So today we’re going to compare the Bose Soundlink Plus to both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 and lets see which one is right for you.
So first theres pricing, and this is one of my biggest issues with the Bose Soundlink Plus. The Bose Soundlink Plus has a retail price of $270… which is a lot if you ask me. And since this is a bose product, I dont expect it to go on sale all that often. Where as both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 have a retail price of $200 and both of these speakers do like to go on sale on a regular basis. 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 watch some of the related videos in the description down below.
Now when it comes to the design of these speakers, all of these speakers are mid sized speakers and they are all meant to be durable so that you can take them on the go with you. However with the Bose Soundlink Plus, this speaker is super big and its super dense, so taking it on the go with you isn’t as easy as with these other two speakers. Now the Bose does have a built in loop so you can attach it to your back pack… but since this speaker is so dense, it just feels very award when its hanging from your bag. Where as with the JBL Charge 6, this speaker is much smaller and lighter, and plus its carrying handle has two positions. So carrying this speaker or attaching this speaker to something is super easy. Now the Sony ULT Field 3 is also a little big… but this speaker does come with a full on shoulder strap, so traveling with it is still super easy. So if you’re looking for something super portable and durable, either the JBL charge 6 or Sony ULT field 3 are going to be much better options than the Bose.
However, something that I will admit that the bose does have over these other two speakers is that its silicon wrapped body and powder coated front just makes this speaker feel a lot more premium than these other two fabric wrapped speakers. But ultimately, both the JBL and Sony are just as durable as the Bose, but more importantly, both of these speakers are a lot more portable by comparison. And unfortunately, you can not swap out the fabric loop on the bose for a shoulder strap like you can with the Bose Soundlink Max.
And then theres the battery life on these speakers. Now the Bose Soundlink Plus has an advertised battery life of 20 hours while its playing at 65% volume, which is really good. And real world use with it playing at 80% volume, its going to be good for 10 hours of playback time. Not bad, however, just given this speaker’s sheer size and weight, I expect this speaker to have a long battery life.
Because for comparison sake, both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 have an advertised battery life of 24 hours while they are both playing at 50% volume and with their preferred EQ settings… but more importantly, both of these speakers are smaller and lighter than the Bose. And real world use with both of these speakers playing at 80%, the JBL Charge 6 is good for like 10 hours of playback time where as the sony is good for about 12 hours of playback time.
So battery life on all of these speakers is good… but battery life performance on both the JBL and Sony is more impressive cause they’re smaller and lighter than the Bose. And to charge all of these speakers, they all charge via a USB C port, as they should. And with all of these speakers you can use their USB C port to charge your own devices… which I personally really like. But with the JBL, you can also use its USB C port as a wired connection with your phone. Where as with both the Bose and Sony, you can only use them wirelessly and none of these speakers have an audio jack.
But when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, and latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. But when it comes to audio codecs, all of these speakers have support for SBC and AAC… but the Sony has support for LDAC where as the Bose has support for Snap Dragon Sound which are higher quality audio codecs, but you do have to be android users to actually use that… but regardless all of these speakers sound great with AAC.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. When it comes to speaker set ups, both the JBL charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 have a frontward firing woofer with a frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Where as with the Bose Soundlink Plus, it has a frontward firing driver, a frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the front and back of this speaker. And the fact that all of these speakers have a driver and tweeter set up is a big deal cause this is going to help with your instrument seperation like this.
Tweeter demo
So like you may have just seen, the woofer or the driver handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs, and this is going to help with your instrument separation and all of these speakers are going to sound more open. And given all of these speaker’s premium price, I do expect this type of speaker set up. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test all, all of these speakers are playing at 75% Volume with their stock EQ’s while unplugged.
Sound test
So when it comes to sound quality, all of these speakers sound good, but they are a little different. With the JBL Charge 6, this speaker does lean towards a slightly brighter sound signature. The Sony ULT field 3 does sound as bright as the JBL… but the highs are a little more emphasized than on the Bose. Overall, I think the Bose actually sounds the most balanced here. However with the Bose, its bass is mostly on the audible and higher end side, where as the bass on both the JBL and Sony, its has more of a kick to it. Overall, I think the Bose Soundlink Plus sounds better than both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT field 3… but I find it very hard to justify the more premium price and and design short comings for marginally better sound. And where it comes to max volume performance, I feel that all of these speakers are going to be good for an 8 person get together.
And finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with all of these speakers, if you have two of the exact same speakers then 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.
Now with the Bose you can also pair it up to lets say the Bose Soundlink Max or the flex 2 and get them to play in sync, but you can only have a total of 2 speakers paired together.
Where as with the Sony, this speaker is using wireless party chain, so you can pair it up to other wireless party chain speakers like lets say an ULT filed 7, ULT Field 5, ULT field 3, XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, or to an XB43, XB33 or XB23 and get them to all play in sync. The only thing is, you can not connect your ULT Field 3 to an ULT field 1 cause this speaker does not have wireless party chain.
But if you want you can also connect your Sony ULT Field 3 to any of Sony’s larger box speakers like lets say the Sony ULT Tower 10 to Sony ULT Tower 9 and get them to play in sync as well. And you can pair up to 100 speakers together.
But then theres the JBL which is using aura cast, so you can pair it up to other aura cast speakers like lets say the JBL Charge 6, Xtreme 4, JBL Boombox 4, Flip 7, Clip 5 or Go 4 and get them to play in sync as well. But you can also pair it up to any of JBL’s Partybox’es that are also using Aura Cast like the Partybox Encore 2, Partybox 120, 320, 520, 720 or ultimate and get them to play in sync as well.
Just keep in mind that you cant connect this JBL speaker to any of JBL’s older speakers that are using Partyboost like lets say the JBL Boombox 3, Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4 or to a flip 6 or Flip 5. But overall, if you’re planning on growing your collection of speakers, then Bose is super limited compared to both JBL and Sony.
But with all of that being said, I think the Bose Soundlink Plus sounds great and it gives me high hopes for the Bose Soundlink Max 2… however for me it is hard to justify the Bose Soundlink Plus cause of its very premium price when compared to the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT field 3 which sound and perform just as great. But lets say that money isn’t an issue… for me its still hard to justify the Bose Soundlink Plus if you’re looking for a portable mid sized speaker cause this speaker is super big and heavy when compared to both the JBL and Sony. With both the JBL and Sony you’re going to get just as good performance while being in a smaller, lighter and more portable package, and they’re a lot more affordable as well.