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Many Bluetooth speakers try to impress you with apps, voice assistants or complex sound modes, but Home Bose SoundLink takes the opposite approach. It's a simple and beautiful speaker, focused almost entirely on how it looks and sounds. Down from $219, $179 is the lowest price, price tracking tools— it becomes easier to appreciate this restraint.
The metal frame and fabric-covered body give it a clean, cozy look, and at two pounds, it feels durable without being tied to one spot in your home. The physical buttons on top control everything you need: power, pairing, playback, and volume. It even handles phone calls, and the microphone works well enough for quick conversations. You'll never feel like you're juggling menus or waiting for an app to load because there isn't one.
This simplicity carries over to the sound. Bose doesn't offer equalizer settings or preset profiles are here, so what you hear is exactly what the engineers intended. Notably, the sound is surprisingly rich for a single-driver speaker. PCMag Review. The bass has enough weight to add some punch to modern pop tracks, even if the very deep sub-bass that's typical for speakers this size isn't available. Bluetooth 5.3 ensures stable streaming, and multipoint pairing is useful if you like to switch between your phone and laptop. There's also a USB-C audio input, which is rare in portable speakers and is handy if you want a lag-free wired connection. Manually pairing the two devices unlocks Bose's stereo mode, which widens the soundstage and gives music more space, although it requires a second speaker and a specific button sequence.
However, there's no Wi-Fi, so you can't use Spotify Connect or multi-room audio. There's no voice assistant, which can be a deal breaker if you rely on hands-free controls. And since it's not waterproof, it's not a speaker you can take outside in the rain or leave near your bathroom sink. The battery lasts about nine hours on a full charge, which is good but not competitive with some larger models.
What are your thoughts so far?
Despite this, SoundLink Home Page succeeds at something that many speakers over-complicate. It provides rich, enjoyable sound without any settings or additional software.
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