Bose SoundLink Max Bluetooth Speaker Review: Price, Specs, Availability

Sounds arsenic big, arsenic bold, and arsenic upfront arsenic it looks. Decent artillery life. More resistant to “the large outdoors” than astir portable speakers.

Takes everlastingly to complaint from flat. “Just” a Bluetooth speaker. Could conceivably dependable much detailed. Somehow sounds large astatine adjacent humble volumes.

In 1968, just 4 years aft helium founded his eponymous company, Amar Bose published a insubstantial titled “On the Design, Measurement and Evaluation of Loudspeakers.” It argued that the listener’s subjective perception, alternatively than immoderate method measurement, is the astir effectual mode to measure dependable reproduction. It mightiness person been the archetypal clip Bose (as an audio company) had overtly flown successful the look of fashionable opinion, but it wouldn’t beryllium the last.

The caller SoundLink Max mightiness beryllium the latest manifestation of this benignant of attitude, albeit successful a somewhat little confrontational way. The scope of products bearing the SoundLink sanction has served Bose good implicit the years, and it makes consciousness that the largest and astir costly of the batch should beryllium called Max. But successful its ain way, SoundLink Max defies fashionable sentiment and existent marketplace trends.

The SoundLink Max is simply a $399 Bluetooth speaker. That’s it, that’s all. No astute functionality, nary Wi-Fi connectivity, nary of the worldly you mightiness reasonably person begun to expect from a portable, battery-powered talker costing important money. Admittedly it includes SimpleSync, a Bose tech that allows it to brace with other, appropriately specified, Bose speakers oregon soundbars to go portion of a rudimentary multiroom system. But really: fashionable opinion? You cognize what you tin bash with fashionable opinion.

And besides, you privation a portable talker for listening to, don’t you, alternatively than the quality to inquire it questions astir the weather? And wherever this cardinal request is concerned, the Bose SoundLink Max needs nary excuses made for it. And adjacent earlier it makes a sound, it looks and feels the part.

Looks the Part

At 4.9 pounds and 4.73 by 10.42 by 4.13 inches (HxWxD), it’s decidedly “max” by portable speakers standards. Its rope-and-silicone transportation grip takes a just magnitude of the strain, though, truthful it doesn’t consciousness rather arsenic dense successful the manus arsenic you mightiness think. The grip tin besides beryllium easy detached, if you fancy swapping it for the shoulder-strap alternate (and if you person the indispensable $45 to bargain one).

The talker and the enarthrosis strap are some disposable successful either achromatic oregon “blue dusk” finishes. For immoderate reason, the carry-handle tin besides beryllium purchased (for $25) successful “carbon blue” (which is darker than “blue dusk”), “chilled lilac,” “hyper citron” (an acidic green-y yellow), oregon apricot if you fancy a alternatively much sudden-looking quality for your speaker.

Control is disposable either via a fewer carnal controls connected the apical of the talker (power on/off, Bluetooth pairing, measurement up/down, play/pause and “shortcut”) oregon via the Bose power app that’s escaped for iOS and Android. Here’s wherever you tin determine what you’d similar your shortcut to beryllium (choose betwixt “aux in” oregon "resume Spotify"). It besides has immoderate EQ accommodation and a fewer presets to prime from, measurement control, transportation absorption (there’s multipoint connectivity disposable here), voice-prompt adjustment, entree to updates, and each the accustomed different stuff. It’s a clean, unchangeable app that hasn’t had immoderate meaningful updates successful rather a portion now—mainly due to the fact that it simply hasn’t needed any.

Battery Buddy

An IP67 standing lets you cognize it’s much than susceptible of surviving successful immoderate realistic environment, and the rugged silicone-and-aluminum quality of its operation means it’s acceptable to accommodate adjacent rather careless owners. But erstwhile you’ve heard your SoundLink Max successful action, I reckon you’ll beryllium inclined to instrumentality tenable attraction of it.

It uses Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity, and it’s compatible with SBC, AAC, and aptX Adaptive codecs. There’s a USB-C socket connected the rear for charging the battery—it volition play for 20 hours oregon truthful from a azygous charge, and tin spell from level to afloat successful astir 5 hours (or “an eternity,” arsenic it’s known successful portable audio circles).

The USB-C slot tin besides beryllium utilized arsenic an output, truthful if your smartphone is threatening to spell level successful the mediate of the party, the SoundLink Max tin travel to your rescue. There’s besides a 3.5-mm analog input adjacent to the USB-C, truthful an auxiliary root of euphony tin besides beryllium plugged successful if required.

Sound is served up by an array 3 transducers (two 89-mm full-range drivers and 1 23-mm high-frequency driver) arranged crossed the beforehand of the speaker, reinforced by a mates of 104- by 79-mm “racetrack” balanced mode radiators—one fires retired from either extremity of the talker from down the perforated aluminum grille. This lineup is powered by Class D amplification.

Bose, arsenic has been the company’s established signifier since Amar archetypal suggested this worldly isn’t applicable to the idiosyncratic experience, is not revealing the details of disposable powerfulness oregon a frequence effect figure. Once you perceive the SoundLink Max successful action, though, it swiftly becomes evident that the numbers successful each of these respects are perfectly adequate.

Full Frequency Friend

Bose is breaking nary caller crushed successful prioritizing bottom-end beingness and punch successful the plan of a portable speaker. But it is 1 of the precise fewer that hasn’t wholly mislaid show of the information that determination are different areas of the frequence scope that request to beryllium dealt with.

So, portion a FLAC record of KH’s spring-loaded “Only Human” is punchy to an astir comical degree, the low-frequency worldly cranked retired with thing precise adjacent to glee, the SoundLink Max is perfectly not a heedless thumper. The bass enactment it hands implicit is controlled, steers wide of the midrange, and has a grade of variation, some tonal and textural, to equilibrium retired the wallop. The starring borderline of low-end sounds is described with straight-edged precision, truthful rhythmic look is good, and momentum is ne'er successful doubt.

And it means that the midrange is near unsocial to the constituent that it’s perfectly capable to get connected with its ain thing. Which means a spacious, reasonably informative and rather convincing rendition, particularly wherever vocalists are concerned. There’s plentifulness of spirit and cognition to the mode the SoundLink Max presents a singer, and plentifulness of abstraction connected the well-defined and acceptably unfastened soundstage for it to happen.

At the apical extremity the Bose summons immoderate rather cautiously judged radiance and wound to treble information, but with capable substance to them to forestall it becoming edgy oregon hard. And that’s the lawsuit adjacent if you determine to perceive astatine sizeable volume—and don’t uncertainty that if there’s 1 happening the SoundLink Max is susceptible of, it’s sizeable volume.

Integration of the frequence scope is reasonably smooth, and the tonal equilibrium is beauteous consistent. There’s a just magnitude of dynamic headroom available, too, should it beryllium required—though it’s existent to accidental that adjacent erstwhile it’s playing astatine rather humble levels, the Bose someway manages to dependable loud. So the displacement from “actually quiet” to “really precise large indeed” isn’t arsenic pronounced arsenic it mightiness be.

Less Frills, More Thrills

The aforesaid is existent of the stereo separation that’s connected connection here—there conscionable isn’t overmuch of it. Perhaps it’s evident that a comparatively tiny box, the beforehand of which is crammed with talker drivers, can’t present a existent sensation of two-channel separation. Bose seems to deliberation it can, though, truthful I conjecture this is conscionable wherever we differ.

Aside from the somewhat closed-in quality of its presentation, the lone different country successful which the SoundLink Max falls fractionally abbreviated is item retrieval. Frankly, it’s not large astatine it—the broader, much evident details successful a signaling are each identified, but rather often the much minor, much fleeting details spell astray. Bose is acold from unsocial successful this wherever products of this benignant are concerned—but nonetheless, it’s a constituent that’s worthy making. Mind you, it’s besides worthy bearing successful caput that successful the discourse of everything the SoundLink Max gets right, it’s little of an contented than it different mightiness be.

Ultimately, the SoundLink Max makes a virtuousness of its ain limitations. If you privation a talker that’s loaded with extended functionality, look elsewhere. But if you privation a talker that is not going to flinch astatine immoderate careless attraction successful less-than-ideal environments, that sounds arsenic robustly muscular arsenic it feels, and that volition entertain you for hours connected end—and what’s much is laudably focused solely connected these things—Bose has the perfect (although admittedly expensive) solution.