Review: Bose Soundlink Mini II - lots of improvements and still on top?

<p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLyL_kf4lvx2LSMkWYO4WhEJTcn-ruhllaEAQXVSjmnkRpcQsTROg9jUXyVzRgM90DFsAAKLlAwmeOtgxfjjo1VP2dGsVNj6Cbqr9S-oIR18RxN-rZA0BEQR5ZQrQrZ_bt3dt53ScZHS_/s1600/soundlink-mini-title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLyL_kf4lvx2LSMkWYO4WhEJTcn-ruhllaEAQXVSjmnkRpcQsTROg9jUXyVzRgM90DFsAAKLlAwmeOtgxfjjo1VP2dGsVNj6Cbqr9S-oIR18RxN-rZA0BEQR5ZQrQrZ_bt3dt53ScZHS_/s640/soundlink-mini-title.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The original Bose Soundlink Mini was released nearly 2 years ago and managed to change the current portable Bluetooth speaker market completely. While most compact portable speakers prior to the Soundlink Mini pretended to sound good with phony claims like <a href="https://jawbone.com/speakers/jambox/overview" target="_blank"><i>"the JAMBOX delivers shimmering highs and thumping lows that you can literally feel - the richest sound all in the palm of your hand" </i></a><br />or even more exorbitant the Beats Pill which cost exactly the same: <a href="http://www.beatsbydre.com/speakers/pill/black/900-00053-01.html" target="_blank"><i>"the Beats Pill produces powerful sound [...] enjoy soaring highs and deep, booming bass"</i></a> it was finally Bose to show what kind of "thumping lows" was really possible to squeeze out of enclosures that small. The Soundlink Mini was not perfect though and many complained about the "thick" sound and still seemed to like their Jamboxes more. Others complained about the lack of handsfree or USB-charging. But the huge success and what probably became the most popular portable speaker on the market, the Soundlink Mini managed to sell more than 10 million units according to some sources. Recently the Soundlink Mini II hit the market and it seems as if Bose didn't try to revolutionize this model but rather improve on numerous aspects in detail.<br />Let's see if they managed and if the Soundlink Mini II is really worth an upgrade.<br /><br /><a name="more"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Jy1LxJIMqyX6p4AXjCvRSqrAmyAlmvKKreaLtbeGhfRQJ77ZsfNd1CdMarIsOPUqQAbnT8Oco7UAv6I2YpCPJ3w2Eo1DOM6EBcNTGO0_S5rHgEqrIkNhOk6ZmDwjBpXrvr-aVoCxdkbJ/s1600/mini2-mini1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Jy1LxJIMqyX6p4AXjCvRSqrAmyAlmvKKreaLtbeGhfRQJ77ZsfNd1CdMarIsOPUqQAbnT8Oco7UAv6I2YpCPJ3w2Eo1DOM6EBcNTGO0_S5rHgEqrIkNhOk6ZmDwjBpXrvr-aVoCxdkbJ/s640/mini2-mini1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I already made a <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2013/07/review-bose-soundlink-mini-die-erste.html" target="_blank">review of the original Soundlink Mini</a><i> </i>when it was released but the review was still in German and I never prepared any English review of it. Therefore I decided to catch up with the Soundlink Mini II now. Although there is lots in common between both models, the Soundlink Mini II has nevertheless many new features which first appeared with the Soundlink Colour. I will try to treat the Soundlink Mini II as a completely new speaker, but I will also try to point to the most important changes compared to the original model as far as I can for all those who play with the idea of replacing their old model with the new one<i>.</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHicpMwVUiDplO_UqOaKHRQ1WAS8lWEDNIslKz0kcrjVONOZFF6ht8LoQ_BU5mzsxn6ODPgclZ-aXKK-y7uw5sdKCVGkINptWoWKNWECw9Q4StRRyGPMybhPqXZzwN7PFr4s48VM6w6ePe/s1600/box-1-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHicpMwVUiDplO_UqOaKHRQ1WAS8lWEDNIslKz0kcrjVONOZFF6ht8LoQ_BU5mzsxn6ODPgclZ-aXKK-y7uw5sdKCVGkINptWoWKNWECw9Q4StRRyGPMybhPqXZzwN7PFr4s48VM6w6ePe/s640/box-1-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7eRSocGQIB-c-itUK391a5-yZ6XkkGQQTW2BrH8jqvmvJ7FPSTv0VsUkX_TE2XVI6a4erHMogvYjASmiDtnEnspjjNS19MzCPXVYgc5wwig9uFmqlhskS7DFn9V7k2wyIt0BHSNxskZQ/s1600/openbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7eRSocGQIB-c-itUK391a5-yZ6XkkGQQTW2BrH8jqvmvJ7FPSTv0VsUkX_TE2XVI6a4erHMogvYjASmiDtnEnspjjNS19MzCPXVYgc5wwig9uFmqlhskS7DFn9V7k2wyIt0BHSNxskZQ/s640/openbox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The Soundlink Mini II comes within a slightly shorter box than the original. The original Soundlink Mini box had a hidden extra compartment at one of the sides containing the necessary EU-adaptor for the power supply that had foldable US-contacts only. But obviously many owners didn't notice this compartment at all and complained about the missing adaptor rating the speaker with 1 star only at amazon.de. With the Soundlink Mini II everything is inside a single box now. The speaker is still on top warped into some cellophane with all accessoires and manuals below inside a kind of drawer-compartment. The speaker comes in 2 colors now, black or "carbon" and thanks to the <a href="https://www.bose.at/AT/de/dealer/detail/53ADC5CD0C1F0C20E10080000A0A300D/" target="_blank">Bose Experience Center in Vienna</a> I could borrow the grey or how Bose calls it "pearl" version. I would have preferred the carbon one though, as I personally think that this one looks really gorgeous. I think that even the old silver/grey version of the original Soundlink Mini looked better than pearl, but carbon is really eye-catching now.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnEneBX0Hj1QkcCMrqr5auQbxhNJG-BXvjpm03UArEKrbks4UncvY06rr41UMjRSHt0dOo4od8Xu1TV7pgaZAZm39NGiKBEHg2gsqKt6LVsPzWrDcquBj_M18U5-xuT15WYq5GEnrcU1o/s1600/box-content.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnEneBX0Hj1QkcCMrqr5auQbxhNJG-BXvjpm03UArEKrbks4UncvY06rr41UMjRSHt0dOo4od8Xu1TV7pgaZAZm39NGiKBEHg2gsqKt6LVsPzWrDcquBj_M18U5-xuT15WYq5GEnrcU1o/s640/box-content.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />It seems as if the accessories are matched to the color of the speaker. The carbon version should come with a dark power supply as well as dark charing cradle and dark USB-wire. With the pearl version all accessories are light grey.<br />As you can see the Soundlink Mini II comes still with an own charging cradle, but this time the charging port was moved to the back instead of the side. You do not need to use the cradle at all and can attach the cable also directly to the speaker, but I found the cradle to be really useful as you can simply place the speaker inside when it needs recharging without having to hassle around with any wires, or looking for the correct side of the USB-connector.<br />The biggest news is that the Soundlink Mini II can be charged through MicroUSB now. This was maybe the major downside of the previous version for many owners. With the included power supply which offers 5V @1600mAh it takes slightly more than 3 hours to fully charge the speaker. I am not sure how long it might take from a 500mA USB-port. The new charger has no foldable contacts now and it is not as flat as the old one, but I wouldn't see that as drawback as you can really charge the speaker from any USB-port now.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuwfYIzyAqNQAn47q3LCBEntYDCuagy52jno491VigGj9vCPlYk-jkwiHg_NZlWXSySlN_AA3EFKHvY1ZTsfRwZlgVbnxmCECIH3fIM6uSe95YjnYR2lvxPNlfBQ1qPu711s6CVQEU-yG/s1600/chamfered-edges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuwfYIzyAqNQAn47q3LCBEntYDCuagy52jno491VigGj9vCPlYk-jkwiHg_NZlWXSySlN_AA3EFKHvY1ZTsfRwZlgVbnxmCECIH3fIM6uSe95YjnYR2lvxPNlfBQ1qPu711s6CVQEU-yG/s640/chamfered-edges.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Designwise not much has changed compared to the predecessor. Appart form the different color they still look pretty much the same, but the new one has the edges chamfered now. This little details does not only feel much better than before, but it also give a more refined look, together with the rubber seal of the speaker at the grille-side it looks much more coherent now.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE47sPkTkCNRaom0rMLKQStzlCClqVUMaxTv55sG3_476z_2itgvc_2XChQe2Jmjf14CRIaopP60RAXeRO4uBJ772xu7PMoS0qCUkwO5hbhqQTn-HunHUz0TrlSf4i6WjHPAeWrljV0gSC/s1600/ports.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE47sPkTkCNRaom0rMLKQStzlCClqVUMaxTv55sG3_476z_2itgvc_2XChQe2Jmjf14CRIaopP60RAXeRO4uBJ772xu7PMoS0qCUkwO5hbhqQTn-HunHUz0TrlSf4i6WjHPAeWrljV0gSC/s640/ports.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>  <br />But also the side ports are not simple holes drilled into the aluminium body, but rather an own unified element. These might be small details, but they are definitely a big improvement. I think that the old version looked and felt already great, but the new one especially the dark version even tops this.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04alHrUbKs1p90dWTiLkY3uKPQX9ETCy14HbJlYtHv21KU-WX5yNfogGo2N_IHXUu4J8bO8zeqo_nxaB3FUUKZERQyB2DY2t7nO8BcNi7EuWejfY0OyUX-_KrHVXvB4LHRSs-haq451OC/s1600/control-field.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04alHrUbKs1p90dWTiLkY3uKPQX9ETCy14HbJlYtHv21KU-WX5yNfogGo2N_IHXUu4J8bO8zeqo_nxaB3FUUKZERQyB2DY2t7nO8BcNi7EuWejfY0OyUX-_KrHVXvB4LHRSs-haq451OC/s640/control-field.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />The top control area remained the same but was simplified with less buttons. The aux and mute-buttons are missing now, instead both volume buttons frame a new center function button. This button has many functions and can act as track-control, something the old Soundlink Mini didn't have, and it can also control the built-in handsfree which was also missing before.<br />For controlling music playback double press will take you one track forward, while tripple press will take you back. A short press will either start or stop playback. You can either start calls by keeping the button pressed (and activating Siri) or reject calls and even jump between calls etc. Lots of functions possible through a single button.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyU0kk4xmXfB_9jECflMR8jbqevxEhqvGlm9DYh-oKOAUaLWdFV0LLAZC3S0mtewo7GkaDqcT_dGfNVR6N9Fg2NdJA_9o1DOI-3qiuJuTJTK0gNR4evWlJY99_zssZEJuWkzv4bzsIxtY2/s1600/bottom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyU0kk4xmXfB_9jECflMR8jbqevxEhqvGlm9DYh-oKOAUaLWdFV0LLAZC3S0mtewo7GkaDqcT_dGfNVR6N9Fg2NdJA_9o1DOI-3qiuJuTJTK0gNR4evWlJY99_zssZEJuWkzv4bzsIxtY2/s640/bottom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDkw7XLzxl48Rj600sugxjI5al79YUj4AfRKNRtXaeWBKO408xuhZ7-4O2hf6428_lBFRfcghhhLJwQU1JdK2jE6n9ee7EuEhEm5dESf4JqJsXOQJjMq3nSVyNUnLK5MeGM2ZnpKHvkxh7/s1600/battery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDkw7XLzxl48Rj600sugxjI5al79YUj4AfRKNRtXaeWBKO408xuhZ7-4O2hf6428_lBFRfcghhhLJwQU1JdK2jE6n9ee7EuEhEm5dESf4JqJsXOQJjMq3nSVyNUnLK5MeGM2ZnpKHvkxh7/s640/battery.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />At the bottom of the speaker you can still find the same big rubber foot that absorbs any unwanted vibration of the speaker well. Underneath this foot you will find the battery, attached by 4 torx-screws just like before. The battery is still of the same type and delivers 7.4V with 2330mAh, but I was quite surprised that it is not that easily exchangeable as before, because the contacts are soldered through a wire to the circuit board now. You might still be able to swap batteries with some tinkering but it is not a one-handgrip procedure as it was before. A pity and not quite logical, as a user replaceable battery is always a big plus for any portable speaker, now if this feature has been cut, a big advantage over most other speakers was robbed with the Soundlink Mini II. But Bose will hopefully have their reasons for this step.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtUxo-eHi1WgUtfxkdBQKz6UifExEY5Zh9EWqLRPnd-obxjZrflKx-nW_qS6rW9Qn-Vypa2Gw9lxB95e1EXgj0tXqJoyGJ4SK64BsPusV-qJtCq4W5-2KMjuwsif4Vk5hBe4pSdc2X4_x/s1600/battery-inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtUxo-eHi1WgUtfxkdBQKz6UifExEY5Zh9EWqLRPnd-obxjZrflKx-nW_qS6rW9Qn-Vypa2Gw9lxB95e1EXgj0tXqJoyGJ4SK64BsPusV-qJtCq4W5-2KMjuwsif4Vk5hBe4pSdc2X4_x/s640/battery-inside.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Apart from that not much has changed with the general appearance. The Soundlink Mini II just feels like the old one with the same weight and heft, just slightly more refined thanks to the chamfered edges and a slightly different structure of the anodized aluminium body.<br />It feels much more solid and premium than the JBL Charge 2 for example, which doesn't feel cheap but gives a bit of a toyish impression when directly compared.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzv8EePDdLho-C6cIuEZ1vHcIUcBjvjj5IvSiiSmhPSTFSao5Hs1i-l65s9hfq21h5HZsRWTUkykk7rgBa-Z6-PHrAmNfo_gA7azLVwDISRi5RkshrpxVmRMb4LO6ea6gD0FO5sze03hz_/s1600/bose-jbl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzv8EePDdLho-C6cIuEZ1vHcIUcBjvjj5IvSiiSmhPSTFSao5Hs1i-l65s9hfq21h5HZsRWTUkykk7rgBa-Z6-PHrAmNfo_gA7azLVwDISRi5RkshrpxVmRMb4LO6ea6gD0FO5sze03hz_/s640/bose-jbl.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The Denon Envaya Mini is even slightly smaller than the Bose, but longer at the same time, overall cubature is more or less similar between both. Altough the Denon feels extremely well made, the Bose just gives you that extra feel of having something expensive in your hand. But I would not hesitate of tossing the Denon into my rucksack, while when I did with my Soundlink Mini the speaker grille immediately got a dent...<br />The new Sony SRS-X33 might have become smaller than the old X3, but it is still larger than the Soundlink Mini II, and won't give you any premium feel either.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqu6xbLTVSqUQncUJiSWGMmpsJuUrAHQvhesepa0EEjk_XGnNK9MJn08hm_VA98VP3llFDkQI-BB3DY3YhtXw19CsCl-Q9qu-K-iMmPjuUGA3pyZVfnzlMZtTgICIDU9QvnzhDw4cf26r/s1600/bose-sony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqu6xbLTVSqUQncUJiSWGMmpsJuUrAHQvhesepa0EEjk_XGnNK9MJn08hm_VA98VP3llFDkQI-BB3DY3YhtXw19CsCl-Q9qu-K-iMmPjuUGA3pyZVfnzlMZtTgICIDU9QvnzhDw4cf26r/s640/bose-sony.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />On looks alone the Soundlink Mini II is extremely good looking and seems to be well made. But I wouldn't want to use it in an outdoor enviroment without any additional protection. It is not rugged in any way, although the silicone sleeves available as extra might help a little bit, but the front and back grilles will still remain totally exposed and are quite prone to scratches or dents. Neither it is protected against water or splashes and I would rather avoid using it at the pool where it might become wet, while the Denon Envaya Mini should be perfectly protected.<br /><br />The most obvious changes compared to the old Soundlink Mini appear when you turn on the speaker for the first time. A voice will guide you to select the correct language and after setting your language it will tell you that the speaker is ready to pair. The voice prompts are exactly the same as in the Soundlink Colour. Of course you can also disable them, and although I don't like this speech-synthesizer voice much, it really helps if you intend to use the speaker with many different Bluetooth sources. The Soundlink Mini II is the next and only speaker after the Soundlink Colour which allows for an easy and comfortable pairing of multiple devices or switching between them. The Soundlink Mini II supports multipoint pairing to 2 devices at once, when the first device stopped playback the second device can start playback immediately, they cannot take over playback or steal it from the other device as it is possible on the JBL Charge 2 for example. Still pairing works so much better on the Soundlink Mini II than on any other Bluetooth speaker I have tried so far. After powering on it will tell you the current charging status of the battery and then it will automatically connect to both recently used devices with the voice telling you which devices are currently connected. If you want to connect to another already paired device instead, you don't need to dig into menus to disable Bluetooth on the first devices or brake the connection in some other way, by bringing the devices out of reach (don't laugh, this is how my mother always dealt with this problem) but simply press Bluetooth-button on the speaker again and the voice guide will tell you the next device in its list. If this is not the device you want to connect to, press the button again as long as the disired device is called then after some seconds the speaker will automatically try to connect to this device. If the device is not present or reachable the speaker will tell you that it cannot connect and you can repeat the whole thing with another device.<br />It might appear logical and simple, but only Bose really figured it out how to make the whole Bluetooth-pairing and connection procedure as simple and hasslefree as possible. I was already quite excited about this feature on the Soundlink Colour and decided to replace my mother's Soundlink Mini with the Soundlink Colour, as she always had problems with connecting to the right device, either the Soundlink Mini connected to her iPad instead of iPhone or it didn't connect at all.<br />With the Soundlink Mini II Bluetooth connections finally become as easy as with the Soundlink Colour and much better than on any other speaker I have tried so far. The Denon Envaya Mini, the JBL Charge 2 etc, they all might support multipoint pairing, but they never connect to 2 devices at once on their own, besides they always try connecting to the latest devices only by simply ignoring any other already paired device. The only way to connect from other devices is to dig up the menu and select the speaker manually from the list.<br />The Soundlink Mini II can remenber up to 10 different bluetooth devices, which is plenty and thanks to the unique switching ability you can cycle through all of them with a simple button-press.<br />The only drawback with this cycle-mode or switching-mode is that you will lose your multipoint connection to both currently connected devices. If you are for example connected to your iPhone and iPad at the same time, but instead of the iPad want to connect to your Notebook and start cycling through the whole list, as soon as the notebook is finally connected both iPhone and iPad won't be connected anymore. You will have to reconnect the iPhone again manually from its Bluetooth menu. This is at least what I have experienced.<br />On iOS devices volume control is mirrored between speaker and player. You still get all 100 volume steps when controlled directly through the speaker, or you can also control the volume through the volume buttons of your iPhone and will get 16 dedicated steps. Fortunately volume control is rather linear instead of what JBL is doing with the Charge 2, where the first steps manage to double the loudness until the jumps become finally smaller above the 5th step. <br />Another feature inherited from the Soundlink Colour is the ability to disable autopower off. Some owners seem to use their speakers in a stationary way. But the old Soundlink Mini shut off on its own after 30 miuntes regardless if it was running from battery or AC-power. Now with the Soundlink Mini II you can disable autopower off if the speaker is connected to AC-power. It will still power off though if running from battery and it would power off anyhow when the battery became empty...<br />So good news for all those who want to use the Soundlink Mini II as a kitchen radio permanently turned on or even as an alarm clock, although what a big waste this would be to use it just in that way.<br />Battery life is claimed to be improved with up to 10 hours (vs. 7 hours of the old one). As both still use the same battery any real changes must be rather based on some internal optimization. To see if there is any difference I let both play at their maximum volume with the same playlist to see when they will turn off. The Soundlink Mini II managed to play for exactly 3:25 until it turned off on its own, my own Soundlink Mini played for 2:55 hours. Just keep in mind that the battery of my Soundlink Mini is close to 2 years old, so there will be probably some loss of capacity, with this taken under consideration I am not really impressed with the battery life of the Soundlink Mini  II, it seems to still be hardly any better, the improvement is less than 20% despite having a completely fresh battery to begin with.<br /><br />Now let's check the most important part namely if the sound has changed in some way compared to the previous model. First for all those who have not heard any Soundlink Mini so far, although I really doubt there will be anyone, let me give you some details about the general sound quality. If you are used to the sound you get from a Jambox, a JBL Flip or some other similarly compact speakers, the Soundlink Mini II sounds much more full-bodied. As long as you don't crank it close to maximum you really get the impression as if you were listening to a much larger speaker. Although both are tuned slightly differently, the Soundlink Mini II sounds pretty similar to the much larger Soundlink III which is no bass-slouch either, it is just when the Soundlink Mini starts struggling at levels above 70% that the Soundlink III is still going strong, but at normal levels I sometimes even preferred the sound of the Soundlink Mini. That being said the Soundlink Mini sounds more mature than many other even much bigger speakers including such models like TDK A33, B&W T7, I am not even mentioning the UE Megaboom here etc. You just have to be aware of the limits and that the sound starts to deteriorate at higher levels with some stronger bass reduction and noticeable dynamic compression.<br />Despite having quite a pronounced presence-region above 2kHz the upper treble area is rolling off much too early resulting in a muffled sound as treble above 12kHz has a very steep cutoff. If treble extended higher the sound would be perfectly in balance together with the obvious bass-boost, but as it is now the Soundlink Mini II simply sounds too bass-heavy most of the time as if it was playing behind some curtain. It is still acceptable, as long as you keep it aimed directly at you, but listen from some angle and there will be no treble at all albeit the presence region below will still give you the impression of some clarity which many might confuse with real treble. The Soundlink Mini sounds clear even off-axis, but it is totally missing any upper treble sparkle. You probably won't hear this when you are over 60, but any teenager will notice the tendency of the Soundlink Mini II to sound dull. Many will prefer the stronger treble boost of a Sony SRS-X33 or JBL Charge 2. The Bose Soundlink Mini II might appear even clearer sounding than the Denon Envaya Mini, although the Denon extends much higher, but the Denon has no obvious boosts, it is tuned relatively flat, while with the Bose I have the impression as if the boosted presence area is there to compensate for the missing upper treble.<br />The Soundlink Mini II doesn't sound bad and I prefer it much more over a speaker that has no bass at all like the UE Boom or the JBL Flip, it is just that it could get away with some better treble extension. This would make it sound much more balanced and pleasant to listen to than it is now.<br />Let me give you some details about the changes in sound compared to the old version or if has changed at all. Yes it has changed indeed, but the changes are hardly noticeable. You won't hear any difference if you don't have both devices in front of you for a direct comparison. Anyone who hoped for some improvement in treble or whatever will rather be disappointed, it is still the same sound you are getting here. The only thing Bose adjusted is that they took away a little bit of bass. The new Soundlink Mini II does not sound that overly bloated as before, but the difference is really marginal. It is maybe a 2dB reduction over the entire spectrum up to 500Hz. There is more reduction at lower levels and less reduction at higher levels. Many complained about the sound being too heavy and thick at low levels and Bose seem to have this corrected, although I really think that it is still very heavy sounding with the bass having a tendency to drone out the mids. The high amount of bass wouldn't be such a problem as it doesn't have any resonance and reaches really low, you get some response well below 60Hz at low levels. Bose seem to apply a kind of loudness compensation as the bass is boosted more and more at lower levels and reduced at high levels, this makes the speaker always sound full and mature, the problem is rather that the bass becomes a bit uncontrolled at levels above half. Despite the slight bass reduction with the new model there is still some distortion and droning noticeable with particular recordings. Something you won't get from the JBL Charge 2 or the Denon Envaya Mini which play the same songs much more controlled. I cannot list the Sony SRS-X33 here as this distorts even more than the Soundlink Mini II, and sounds really much worse than either of them if higher levels are considered.<br />While there were quite big changes in sound with every generation of the bigger Soundlink models (Soundlink I, Soundlink II, Soundlink III), Bose didn't really change anything this time. The bass reduction I am hearing might also be some sample variation between different units or simply the missing of any "burn in"-period for the new model.<br /><br />Let's see how it performs from the measurements. Here you can see the entire volume-range of the Soundlink Mini II with 10 steps between each measurement.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZukYc31H-tiFfi6rQqP7Q_8sAiVseMeON55adRLfLkyaG58N-9mNJut6Aw2Ij9Nsd7EdQmoj-gGxpJJ5CFYITNG3b-pj9Tu63AKf2j0RajniQ7kCwaEXFR4tNUcjOO-ztMFdaUR0jRfV/s1600/measurement-all.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZukYc31H-tiFfi6rQqP7Q_8sAiVseMeON55adRLfLkyaG58N-9mNJut6Aw2Ij9Nsd7EdQmoj-gGxpJJ5CFYITNG3b-pj9Tu63AKf2j0RajniQ7kCwaEXFR4tNUcjOO-ztMFdaUR0jRfV/s640/measurement-all.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I picked up 3 measurements of the Soundlink Mini (grey) and Soundlink Mini II (black) to compare both directly, the lowest one was taken at 40% the one above at 75% and the top one at their maximum volume. As you can see they still measure pretty much the same, the only real significant difference is the overall louder bass oft the old Soundlink Mini, any other differences could be also caused by slightly varying placement for both speakers or simply the result of a stiffer cone suspension of the newer unit<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHZPVf17SwvofACU6juLl9otIKTgIn4X9wzi5wWsGsy8kh2kw5vejYRTjJCGXRzQhgoKTaSvIiMDphUUqvS1EeVKu75yQfwQHsSxan2ld7N9gtbGz50Z6ktjYSiLH6fhyphenhyphendxi1krnqyyk1/s1600/sl2-sl1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHZPVf17SwvofACU6juLl9otIKTgIn4X9wzi5wWsGsy8kh2kw5vejYRTjJCGXRzQhgoKTaSvIiMDphUUqvS1EeVKu75yQfwQHsSxan2ld7N9gtbGz50Z6ktjYSiLH6fhyphenhyphendxi1krnqyyk1/s640/sl2-sl1.png" width="640" /></a></div>.<br />Of course you will be interested how the Soundlink Mini II fares against all the other current contenders, therefore I measured them all at around 70% of their volume, where all of them are already starting to apply some bass reduction.<br />First let's compare the Soundlink Mini II with the Sony SRS-X33 (red). You can see that the Sony has similarly deep bass as the Bose, but the frequency dip in the upper bass region is starting to become pretty obvious at this level, at the same time treble extends quite a bit higher on the Sony:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVG3rVzYVGMSqZmFF9E82kqlyR7AOHgYhwhJZ2a-3qIoK4M1gOh4IijjQGtNfQTibFruXZ-KlmQfAb6h_dEg4vLayTNxqwTscBS2SmSBxpAGU-xzGavY0s6O7w3Gngr79Q_lmgkEnqvzRO/s1600/bose-sony.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVG3rVzYVGMSqZmFF9E82kqlyR7AOHgYhwhJZ2a-3qIoK4M1gOh4IijjQGtNfQTibFruXZ-KlmQfAb6h_dEg4vLayTNxqwTscBS2SmSBxpAGU-xzGavY0s6O7w3Gngr79Q_lmgkEnqvzRO/s640/bose-sony.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Compared to the JBL Charge 2+ (green) the Bose shows a louder overall bass which is reaching even slightly deeper, but the strong bass and treble peak of the JBL is clearly visible and manages to give the JBL even a punchier sound especially at higher levels where the JBL retains more bass than the Bose. What's not visible from this measurements is that the JBL has no distortion at this level yet, while the Bose already shows more than 20% THD close to 80Hz:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWd_cTCcyxT2Hk3AP_fjnyczwql3ykx657OBPtDLKdzolV3sznMOByanZgXVuK2ujDBDLRFBw9yGP2ExQ6ZQt1QQn7m8Lxe_trnSLED6OwH8HXStYmLwagcPq750oNLfouDok_mILmc5SV/s1600/bose-jbl.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWd_cTCcyxT2Hk3AP_fjnyczwql3ykx657OBPtDLKdzolV3sznMOByanZgXVuK2ujDBDLRFBw9yGP2ExQ6ZQt1QQn7m8Lxe_trnSLED6OwH8HXStYmLwagcPq750oNLfouDok_mILmc5SV/s640/bose-jbl.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />The Denon Envaya Mini (blue) measures relatively flat and doesn't have any of Bose's boosts, but the bass of the Denon doesn't quite reach as deep, still the Denon will give you a much more natural and realistic sound than the Bose and it has better treble extension as well.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0EWYbKaHb3dLPN20d3OqKP2isCATbA4_zt_Ryn2FoO7EjODviewi8pU0w4TCJ6IW_zW6LS8nb7_AYPAHPowOAGhsjOoWoTOkCe5gtw79or1ONA1aSAty1vfgHpWFvNEU6tys3hdPLkpG/s1600/bose-denon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0EWYbKaHb3dLPN20d3OqKP2isCATbA4_zt_Ryn2FoO7EjODviewi8pU0w4TCJ6IW_zW6LS8nb7_AYPAHPowOAGhsjOoWoTOkCe5gtw79or1ONA1aSAty1vfgHpWFvNEU6tys3hdPLkpG/s640/bose-denon.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I also prepared a short video demonstrating the most obviouis changes between the old Soundlink Mini and the new model but also differences in sound if you are able to discern any:<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/kOBTB9cZYRI?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe> <br /><br />The Soundlink Mini II is definitely a big improvement over the old model in many aspects, it just doesn't improve on sound. If you already liked the sound of the Soundlink Mini, you should love the Soundlink Mini II as well, especially in regard to all the new features included now. It you didn't like it so far, it is unlikely that you will like the new model, as both still sound pretty much the same. Nevertheless the Soundlink Mini II will probably still remain the market leader for portable Bluetooth speakers and in reality it is a great speaker with all necessary functions built in: It can be charged through USB now and it has handsfree included as well. Bose doesn't do things by halves and everything they included into the Soundlink Mini II works really well and much better than on most other competing speakers. I really love the easy and reliable connection to many different Bluetooth sources. We can argue about the sound quality, but I wouldn't call it bad, it is just that it could have been improved or finetuned a bit within the last 2 years. Obviously the selling success so far showed Bose that the main part of their customers are already satisfied and they decided not to change anything. If you like the heavy Bose tuning and still don't own the old version go out and grab the new one, as it is an excellent portable speaker, just handle it with care and don't throw it into the water, but on sound quality alone you will be definitely much more satisfied than with anything UE is offering so far. If you already own a Soundlink Mini but were longing for some more hifi-like sound tuning, you might still want to wait a little bit until the RIVA S appears, because from what I heard so far I think this will be finally the portable speaker all of us audio geeks were waiting for. Alternatively both JBL Charge 2 and Denon Envaya Mini are worthy alternatives, the JBL Charge 2 with a more punchy sound and better battery life but also the ability to charge external devices, while I would call the Denon Envaya Mini more natural sounding than both the Bose and JBL. It all depends on the music style and on your taste. <br />It is great to finally have the choice between such high quality portable speakers and Bose led us the way to this. If not the Bose Soundlink Mini, we would still be satisfied with a Jambox or UE Boom paying 200$ for that junk without being aware that it could become any better...<br /><br /><b>+ great design and high premium feel</b><br /><b>+ very full-bodied sound, still one of the bassiest compact speakers around</b><br /><b>+ best Bluetooth implementation so far</b><br /><b>+ handsfree </b><br /><b>+ automatic multipoint pairing with 2 devices simultaneously </b><br /><b>+ easy switching between different devices</b><br /><b>+ voice prompts helpful to indentify paired devices</b><br /><b>+ track controls on the speaker</b><br /><b>+ mirrored volume with iOS devices</b><br /><b>+ 100 dedicated volume steps</b><br /><b>+ charging through MicroUSB </b><br /><b>+ charging cradle included </b><br /><b>+ auto power off can be turned on or off </b><br /><br /><b>- no real improvement in sound compared to the old model </b><br /><b>- treble recessed and highly directional</b><br /><b>- bass can become dominating due to high overall boost</b><br /><b>- bass becomes out of control at levels above half</b><br /><b>- strong dynamic compression at levels above 70%</b><br /><b>- not rugged nor water resistant</b><br /><b>- no AptX, NFC... </b><br /><b>- no stereo pairing with another one </b><br /><b>- battery not easily user-replaceable now </b><br /><b>- expensive</b></p>

The original Bose Soundlink Mini was released nearly 2 years ago and managed to change the current portable Bluetooth speaker market complet...

News: Bose Soundlink Mini II released

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZnjOLIkpeqgPVTJqlEcX10COOKpYYkFJqvZBQU700AatXCsf5WLrYQ-H91kDtZov-K44i2tVCmWgSQvemWNZi4W5w4tUcD0jDHb43K5I43EnoGaKyreUNyJ2doN-sKloAgytqpeejiSJ-/s1600/Bose-Soundlink-Mini-II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZnjOLIkpeqgPVTJqlEcX10COOKpYYkFJqvZBQU700AatXCsf5WLrYQ-H91kDtZov-K44i2tVCmWgSQvemWNZi4W5w4tUcD0jDHb43K5I43EnoGaKyreUNyJ2doN-sKloAgytqpeejiSJ-/s1600/Bose-Soundlink-Mini-II.jpg" /></a></div>Not quite surprising 2 years after the announcement of the original Soundlink Mini, Bose just revealed the new <a href="https://www.bose.de/DE/de/home-and-personal-audio/bluetooth-ipod-speakers/bluetooth-speakers/soundlink-mini-bluetooth-speaker/" target="_blank">Bose Soundlink Mini II</a>, sucessor of the maybe most popular portable speaker worldwide that I reviewed <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2013/07/review-bose-soundlink-mini-die-erste.html" target="_blank">here</a> (although in German). According to some rumors the Soundlink Mini managed to sell about 10 million times, quite impressive for a little battery driven speaker.<br />Interestingly it seems as the Soundlink Mini II just appeared in some European Bose-stores so far and can be ordered from there immediately,<strike> but it is not listed in the US-store yet and they don't seem to know even any release-date</strike>. In the meantime it has appeared on the <a href="http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/digital_music_systems/bluetooth_speakers/soundlink_mini_speaker_II/index.jsp&intcmp=HPPANEL1" target="_blank">US-site</a> for preorder as well.<br /><br />The new model looks just like the old one, but it is available in black or white now. It gained some new features like speakerphone that was missing on the original model, voice prompts (probably the same as on the Soundlink Colour), it can finally be charged through MicroUSB and battery life seems to have been slightly improved, but no other obvious changes so far. I am not sure if the new one will really sound much different, there is not a single word about changes in sound etc.<br /><br />To tell the truth I was expecting something completely new, more rugged maybe, water proof or whatever, but it seems as if Bose just tries to sell the same speaker again only with some new added features that were simply lacking from the original.<br />As soon as I can get my hands on a unit, I will check out if the sonic qualities have indeed improved over the old Soundlink Mini, if not the Soundlink Mini II will have to fight against some strong competition with the JBL Charge 2+, Denon Envaya Mini or the upcoming RIVA S.</p>

Not quite surprising 2 years after the announcement of the original Soundlink Mini, Bose just revealed the new Bose Soundlink Mini II , suce...

Best portable Bluetooth speakers (Oluv's personal favorites 2014)

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUDydWP1_DGtJOhRU9J2yQ72vHt2NZTVY-FaoWpEYsXqfkN84GLTsfG5HxEftzI0Q9UMVCIcNhVgqcc3tDP8Jzmip7QFhZSza0SblYb_h6j2IBo9I27dYyxiNZH9ToZXSX8mAkeMDNkQT/s1600/all.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUDydWP1_DGtJOhRU9J2yQ72vHt2NZTVY-FaoWpEYsXqfkN84GLTsfG5HxEftzI0Q9UMVCIcNhVgqcc3tDP8Jzmip7QFhZSza0SblYb_h6j2IBo9I27dYyxiNZH9ToZXSX8mAkeMDNkQT/s1600/all.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />With this list I want to show you my personal favorite portable speakers that I use on a regular basis including some explanation why I have chosen them over some others and when I use this instead of that. It's been quite a long time I wanted to prepare a kind of best-of list of all portable speakers I know or that I have heard. But after having heard so many, I thought that a real best-of is simply not doable as each speaker has its own strengths or weaknesses. After all those years it seemed I would still not be able to find a single speaker which would satisfy all my needs not until I have heard the new <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/12/review-denon-envaya-mini.html">Denon Envaya Mini</a>, which mixed up my whole perspective and made my whole list until now pretty useless. The Denon Envaya Mini finally persuaded me to sell all other speakers I currently own, including <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/review-jbl-charge-2-failed-new-benchmark.html">JBL Charge 2</a>, <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/08/fugoo-bluetooth-speaker-first.html">Fugoo</a>, <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/07/review-sony-srs-x3-bose-soundlink-mini.html">Sony SRS-X3</a> etc. Therefore I would like to present *drum roll* the Denon Envaya Mini as my current favorite portable speaker.<br /><br /><a name="more"></a>As it had already taken me some time to prepare this whole list, I will nevertheless add all the other speakers below, although I probably wouldn't consider them at all anymore. Please let me clarify that my main goal is high audio quality. Most will have probably noticed that I have a weekness for a full-bodied sound. There must be at least some base for the music with enough bass to make it sound satisfying, otherwise I cannot enjoy music and prefer not to listen at all. I don't care about speakers that can play screamingly loud but fail completely at lower levels, or speakers with tons of nice features that only sound like my old clock radio. <br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Denon Envaya Mini </b></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRWAXz-sQ-RQFUM9_bFB3zKml2MkeZZ7aHDZ6nZibK_w13ThZA7vfg5PjXQUQb-9OlGqIEAbPeiByAAH6YyuLYE4ylItY57zUfqEHZkrijpYMkPss2TbHW9O9MdVQosyyyP8z0w8u5dCb/s1600/denon-envaya-mini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRWAXz-sQ-RQFUM9_bFB3zKml2MkeZZ7aHDZ6nZibK_w13ThZA7vfg5PjXQUQb-9OlGqIEAbPeiByAAH6YyuLYE4ylItY57zUfqEHZkrijpYMkPss2TbHW9O9MdVQosyyyP8z0w8u5dCb/s1600/denon-envaya-mini.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Buy it from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SFZ4EWC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00SFZ4EWC&linkCode=as2&tag=oluvsgadgets-20&linkId=CFYDE7W7J7FAKJNY">amazon.com</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NBXJ9NW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B00NBXJ9NW&linkCode=as2&tag=oluvsgadgets-21&linkId=JGWZNAJDL5OFG3HG">amazon.co.uk</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00NBXJ9NW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1638&creative=6742&creativeASIN=B00NBXJ9NW&linkCode=as2&tag=oluv-21&linkId=SOY2BX3R45BYYGK5">amazon.de</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://ir-de.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=oluv-21&l=as2&o=3&a=B00NBXJ9NW" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" width="1" /><br />I doubt there is any better sounding speaker available that small right now, therefore the Denon Envaya Mini gets my first vote to become the overall "winner". It is extremely portable, splash water resistant and has a professionally close to hifi tuned sound. It is not the loudest speaker nor the one with the biggest bass, but it sounds as close to flat as possible at that size with full bass response down to 80hz which appears even deeper thanks to some psychoacoustic algorithms. There is some stereo separation and the Envaya Mini sounds perfect at low and at highest levels with hardly any distortion or dynamics compression at all. It should satisfy 70% of most needs, just if you need higher loudness, you will probably wish for something more powerful, this is where my Infinity One jumps in, which you can find next in this list below. <br />Another alternative to the Envaya Mini would be the the <b>JBL Charge 2</b>. Until I heard the Denon, JBL Charge 2 might have been close to a "near-perfect" portable speaker, but unfortunately JBL managed to screw it up making it unsable at low levels and unlistenable with many tracks because they cause noticeable distortion, otherwise the JBL Charge 2 would probably be the best sounding speaker in its class that I would recommend over all the others more or less on par or above the Denon. I feel still so sorry about all the issues it suffers from, and that JBL doesn't really care to offer any fix. It seems they just recently started to sell a new batch of devices, which don't suffer from any distortion, although they still seem to have some issues at lower levels. Apart from that I also hate the status tones the JBL Charge 2 will play if you turn it on, or when it will connect to a device. The tones are so annoying that you cannot even turn it on in a silent enviroment. The JBL Charge 2 is not usable at low levels, it will sound just poor with bass sounding strange and with additional artefacts noticeable during the first 4-5 volume steps. I usually welcome a mirrored volume control between speaker and device, but in case of the JBL Charge 2 the volume steps are very rough and the speaker becomes too loud too quickly. The JBL Charge 2 has pretty non directional treble response. It still sounds quite good from above or from the side unlike most other similar speakers. I also like the fact that the JBL Charge 2 will retain more bass and sound more dynamic than most other competing models. Even at maximum volume you will be able to hear every drum-kick attack, while the Bose Soundlink Mini or the Sony SRS-X3 will compress them away. Sometimes I would prefer it even louder, especially outdoors, that's why I finally settled for an Infinity One described below. <br />Other speakers in this smaller class worth having a deeper look: I really liked the <b>Fugoo</b> a lot as an all around speaker but also for use at home from room to room etc. It might not be a very loud speaker and bass could take some stronger punch, but it is small enough to be carried around and thanks to its "jackets" is rugged to be just tossed inside some bag or stuffed inside a jacket pocket without any additional protection or pouch needed. Unfortunately none of the jackets does have any clip-on option without the additional mount-pack. It would have been great if Fugoo had included some simple lug in any of the jackets, so that the speaker could be quickly clipped on somewhere. The Fugoo is also one of the few speakers that really withstands a complete submerge under water, it is not just splash resistant like many others, but entirely waterproof.<br />Bluetooth connectivity is great and the Fugoo connects automatically to any found device unlike most other speakers, which seem to be still waiting for the latest one. <br />I also like the fact that the Fugoo remains nearly silent during operation if all voice prompts are disabled. Overall the sound of the Fugoo is quite full-bodied, it is not overly bloated but pleasant to listen to, with a similar bass-amount to many larger speakers like Soundblaster Roar etc, although the sound starts falling apart a little bit above half volume which is not very loud and does not come close to the sound of the Denon Envaya Mini, which is much more serious, and much louder at the same time. If the Fugoo was slightly louder overall with slightly more bass, it would be definitely on my top list if I had to pick just one single speaker, but now the Denon Envaya Mini took this honour and the Fugoo has to go. Another strong contender loved by ones, hated by others is the <b>Bose Soundlink Mini</b>which has no problems like the JBL Charge 2, but I found the sound to be too muffled and too directional and sometimes too boomy. The <b>Sony SRS-X3</b> might be another worthy alternative and I think it sounds best for low volume listening, especially because you can fine-tune the final bass amount with the input-volume of your streaming device, a welcome side effect of the dynamic sound-processing, which becomes confused with lower input levels and dials bass back, because the speaker output needs to be raised. The X3 has some problems at higher volume levels though and battery life is not as stable, especially when cranked. Unfortunately both Sony and Bose play some kind of annoying tones if they are either turned on/off or if they establish a Bluetooth connection. Another alternative might be the <b>Bose Soundlink Colour</b>. The sound is not as mature or not as refined as of all the others, but it is nevertheless a pretty solid speaker with a nicely tuned sound for all volume levels. It will sound good at low and at high levels, without any side-effects or artefacts. Treble is less directional than that from the Soundlink Mini and the Soundlink Colour will not sound that boomy in most cases although mid-bass has quite an obvious boost with some stronger resonance, which can start sounding annyoing with some particular tracks. Also Bluetooth connectivity is one of the best I had experienced so far with automatic reconnection to 2 previous devices after power on, just don't expect any stereo sound as the Soundlink Colour is rather a stereo speaker with mono sound. <br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><b>Infinity One</b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b></b></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2wzXWW4ldbLDipKpHmQ_jD20nXHnWYV7gIQO3eW-z1kZOWG07IK_oNzoy7CgLQLPC4ewJ5kRI4OM4QoKYNCCHq1EO6nSZyoA7QilAZ6_F-Drq_sHto415q4ZFO8eKezFuDhexVzE7p7a/s1600/infinity-one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2wzXWW4ldbLDipKpHmQ_jD20nXHnWYV7gIQO3eW-z1kZOWG07IK_oNzoy7CgLQLPC4ewJ5kRI4OM4QoKYNCCHq1EO6nSZyoA7QilAZ6_F-Drq_sHto415q4ZFO8eKezFuDhexVzE7p7a/s1600/infinity-one.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Still only available from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LOL7HDC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00LOL7HDC&linkCode=as2&tag=oluvsgadgets-20&linkId=ITAEPPSEXO4IMGCQ">amazon.com</a>, funnily the Infinity One does not sound really that much better than the Denon Envaya Mini, the Infinity One's sound is just more powerful, which is not surprising given the size being 3 times as large. the Infinity One is basically a blown up JBL Charge 2. The sound is similar between both, with the Infinity One just sounding more blown up. The Infinity One is a bit too large and heavy to be carried around whole the time. But if you know that you will need a portable speaker which manages to deliver enough power at higher levels too, the Infinity One might be the best choice. When the Denon Envaya Mini is already at its top volume, resulting in some heavy bass-loss, although perfectly usable without any distortion, the Infinity One will still have enough headroom, although the Infinity One will suffer from some intermodulation distortion at these higher settings, but the Infinity One will be able to keep much more bass at comparable loudness settings and maximum volume should still be loud enough for any smaller outdoor event. The stronger intermodulation distortion at high levels is the biggest letdown of the Infinity One, it sounds more enforced than the Soundlink III and many bass-heavy tracks may start sounding really harsh because of this, while others might still sound perfect, Infinity should have added some simple tweeters to the front drivers, as the back drivers sound pretty clear as they are fitered for higher frequencies, where intermodlation becomes most obvious. Similar to the JBL Charge 2 the Infinity One will also manage to retain the dynamics of kickdrum attacks, unlike the Soundlink III, which will rather iron out any stronger punches. For house-music I would prefer the Infinity One over the Soundlink III, which might be better for Jazz and acoustic stuff due to less intermodulation distortion problems.<br />Unfortunately the Infinity One has the same loud status tones and the same mirrored volume control with even rougher steps than the JBL Charge. In case of an iOS device the volume control is not fine enough to really allow any sensitive adjustment. Thank godness the Infinity One does not suffer from any of the processing artefacts which plague the JBL Charge 2. I think that the Infinity One delivers the best performance of all speakers I have tested in this larger speaker-class aroung 1kg, including Bose Soundlink III, Beats Pill XL, TDK A34, Loewe Speaker2go and even the B&O Beoplay A2, which has its own qualities and problems, thus as total package I just regard the Infinity One as the best option right now.<br />A big problem for all non U.S citicens might be that the Infinity One is only offered in the U.S so you will have to import it on your own if you live outside, which is what I finally did. But for casual listening at home I prefer the Denon most of the time, even though it has slightly less bass, it sounds more natural with more stereo separation and is much easier to carry around.<br />Other possible alternatives: <b>Bose Soundlink III </b>sounds quite similar to the Infinity One, but has a more directional and more "edgy" sound while the Infinity One sounds rounder and more open. The Infinity One also has the option to be charged through USB in case of need and it can charge external devices too. Overall I prefer the Infinity One over the Bose Soundlink III, although the Bose has the better tuning for low levels with a more profound sound and obvious intermodulation distortion should be less of an issue. Other alternatives might be the <b>TDK A33 </b>which is pretty cheap now or the newer<b> A34</b> as both<b> </b>are pretty balanced sounding speakers unfortunately with a pretty bad battery and a questionable charging logic. I never manged to make the A33 play for longer than 6 hours even at lower levels, the A34 seems to suffer from the same problem. The <b>Soundblaster Roar</b> is very similar to the TDK A33 in sound but has tons of additional features which you might need or not need. It doesn't play as loud as the TDK, but overall it is the better speaker I think. It doesn't sound as full bodied as the Infinity One or the JBL Charge 2, but the sound is still quite nice, although it won't knock your socks off.<br />You might also like the <b>Denon Envaya</b> which sounds quite similar to the Bose Soundlink III although not quite as loud but also cheaper. The <b>B&O Beoplay A2</b> would have been my personal favorite if battery life was more predictable and the sound more constant on higher levels. I really like the design and sound tuning is simply impressive, but I couldn't live with the added distortion on many tracks especially at the given price being one of the most expensive speakers shown here. I would also like to add the <b>Beats Pill XL</b>, which is not a very good sounding speaker per se, but a very powerful one with great features, wireless stereo pairing etc. It is still one of the loudest I have heard at this size and manages to sound pretty controlled when the others are already struggling or reaching their limits with the Pill XL still being much louder than all of them.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><b>Bose Soundlink Wireless Music System </b></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Xq3CPKlQvsU2HVgSoCIS4KIluYWU1TsVGuTOL5_HGn7xqrYFuPaQhIVcMvqT0DiHgKnlpfRpz6u7DzwicSrdNYAWM7mG0o5bc_Bv9CD_oqQNSmgZyjw0IVFh30LAeuSOVttktXeWAaLI/s1600/bose-soundlink-wireless-music-system.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Xq3CPKlQvsU2HVgSoCIS4KIluYWU1TsVGuTOL5_HGn7xqrYFuPaQhIVcMvqT0DiHgKnlpfRpz6u7DzwicSrdNYAWM7mG0o5bc_Bv9CD_oqQNSmgZyjw0IVFh30LAeuSOVttktXeWAaLI/s1600/bose-soundlink-wireless-music-system.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Although I currently don't use it that much, I still think that this old and discontinued Bose system is a spectacular and underrated portable Bluetooth speaker. It is based on the Bose Sounddock portable which was also discontinued in the meantime but with Bluetooth instead of the Apple-dock.<br />Thanks to its flat design it is still pretty portable despite being larger than the Infinity One and with just 2kg including the swappable battery it should find its place inside any even smaller rucksack. The Bose Soundlink Wireless Music System is one of the most powerful systems at this size. The amplifier delivers 40Watts (unlike the 25W of the Infinity One), and thanks to Bose's DSP processing they manage to push the loudness level quite above the limits of what the 2 fullrange drivers are able to handle by applying some stronger dynamics compression and dialing bass back. Although there is some stronger distortion at maximum volume the Soundlink Wireless Music System nevertheless manages to fill a large outdoor area with sound if you don't want to carry any larger boombox with you. It sounds very full bodied with the deepest reaching bass although it has a tendency to sound a bit muffled, especially at lower levels and off-axis.<br />A possible alternative might be the <b>IK Multimedia iLoud</b>, which is able to reach a similar loudness, but not without distortion either. Unfortunately the iLoud won't sound that full-bodied at lower levels and the built in battery seems to have some issues not being able to hold a charge after some time of usage according to my friend who had used his quite often.<br />Another interesting speaker might be the <b>Harman Kardon Onyx</b> or the much cheaper <b>Onyx Studio</b> which omits auxiliary input, Airplay and DLNA compared to the expensive version. They sound slightly better and are more powerful than the Bose, but are a bit lacking at lower volumes. They are also larger and not that easily portable with the battery life hardly exceeding 4-5 hours at high volumes. <br /><br />If you need still more power and more loudness, you must have a look at all the larger systems like the <b>Klipsch KMC-3</b> or some <b>Pioneer Steez</b> units or the<b> JVC Kaboom</b> series etc. But nearly all of them need extra batteries for portable use and will quickly exceed several kilos of weight. Maybe the new <b>Teufel Boomster</b> could do the trick as it has a built in battery which can be even extended by some additional AA-cells. So far I didn't feel the need for such a unit, it is just overkill for home use, I previously had the Altec Lansing IMT800, but didn't use it much because of the size and the hassle with batteries. But my friend loves his KMC-3 and uses it regularly for outdoor parties with friends.<br /><br />What is still completely missing though are speakers that can be easily put inside a pocket, or attached somewhere thanks to a dedicated clip or carabiner without adding any bulk or becoming tedious. Most of these I have tried so far sound rather tinny, not really comparable to those above, although I am sure with some clever DSP processing and really high-quality drivers even smaller speakers than the Denon Envaya Mini could be brought to respectable output. Here are my best findings for this class:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><b>TDK A12</b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b></b></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyeIbHlZQ9lPKGLLtPKSAbBgxbIoGs-vHG3kpz58PPSUsrbisnpvJWsdgaa2vkz6REDvCWHFgFh5rCXBMAkRPaQc-Y0DbsWHpkWWal7TbqRUMdeR_O9HmZ0tSpoOU6eet_IonkN4LHl_t/s1600/tdk-a12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyeIbHlZQ9lPKGLLtPKSAbBgxbIoGs-vHG3kpz58PPSUsrbisnpvJWsdgaa2vkz6REDvCWHFgFh5rCXBMAkRPaQc-Y0DbsWHpkWWal7TbqRUMdeR_O9HmZ0tSpoOU6eet_IonkN4LHl_t/s1600/tdk-a12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I think the TDK A12 (micro Trek) produces quite a balanced sound for being that small. It is not the loudest speaker at this size, but it just sounds "right". There is some upper bass which makes it sound appealing, but the TDK is not able to produce any deeper bass, thus it is not really full-bodied and quite a bit too thin for my own taste, but still better than not having a speaker at all. If you put it flat on some resonating surface, you can boost basst slightly, but the passive radiator doesn't really play anything below 100Hz, so don't expect any miracles like with many other vibrating speakers or like with the FoxL Dash 7 that are tuned much lower, but won't produce any hearable bass until they suddenly sound much more mature depending on the surface they are placed on, as shown in my <a href="http://youtu.be/etk4Xu_NGck" target="_blank">example video for the FoxL Dash 7</a>. Unfortunately most of the time there are no suitable surfaces around outdoors for enhancing the sound.<br />Therefore the TDK seems to apply some "virtual bass" algorithm. It sounds a bit as if the lower frequencies not reproducable with the tiny driver were subtly added transposed one octave higher (similar to what MaxxBass is doing). The A12 manges to give an even more full-bodied impression than the similar JBL Clip, although bass reaches considerably lower on the JBL Clip, when looking solely at the frequency response measurements. There is also some bass compression going on, maybe a side-effect of the virtual bass algorithm, but when directly compared it is quite noticeable that the TDK does some processing, which is not a bad thing, as any unwanted artefacts are still kept to the minimum.<br />The TDK A12 has no distortion even at maximum volume, but there seems to be some sample variation as I have tested several different units and on many of them the passive radiators started to rattle heavily at higher volume levels with bass heavy tracks, the resonance-frequency seems to be around 125Hz where rattling is strongest. Because of the single passive radiator at the back side the TDK A12 also has a tendency to vibrate or even creep around when put on certain surfaces. If you attach the included carabiner, this may rattle against the body at higher loudness-levels, that's the drawback of single passive radiator designs.<br />Battery life is somewhat short, especially at high volume. A nice feature is that you can pair 2 of them for true wireless stereo, in fact I have 2 of them and both cost me less than 60�. Strangely stereo pairing doesn't work that well sometimes. I am not sure if this is the speaker's fault, or if the Bluetooth connection of the iPhone is too blame here, but sometimes when in wireless stereo mode the audio quality is reduced considerably resulting in a sound which resembles that of a lower bitrate mp3-file. Sometimes only one will play, although both confirmed the connection. I have not found any regularity, but in case they behave unexpectedly, I have to go through the entire pairing process again to get rid of it.<br />Other similar speakers to consider: <b>JBL Clip</b> produces a similar overall sound but can play quite a bit louder. The JBL Clip can be daisy chained with another one with its built-in wire and it has speaker phone included. Due to its rounded design it is easier to put inside a pocket and the carabiner is already built in unlike with the TDK A12, which has the carabiner separate. The battery life of the JBL Clip seems to be even shorter than that of the TDK A12 though, but due to the included bassreflex port instead of the passive radiator the JBL Clip won't vibrate even at highest loudness levels.<br />I would regard the <b>Mini Jambox</b> as another alternative, although nothing special it is still able to deliver quite a solid sound and will also sound rounder and more full-bodied than both the TDK and JBL, although the maximum possible volume is quite limited. I have yet to find any better sounding speaker that small. Most of them might be louder for sure, but they just don't sound good at normal listening levels. Of course I welcome any other tips!<br /><br />3 years ago it was still unheard of a beverage can-sized speaker that it would be able to produce any bass down to 60Hz. After the Soundlink Mini which was pretty unique at the time of its release there are meanwhile some other alternatives available. The portable speaker market is evolving pretty quickly. So please just take this personal list as some temporary snapshot which may suddenly turn around with any new speaker released, just like it did, when I heard the Devnon Envaya Mini.<br /><br />There are some interesting speakers on the horizon like the electrostatic BenQ treVolo (formerly known as eVolo) or the Massfidelity Core, there is also some rumor about an upcoming larger and more powerful speaker from Fugoo, but I am not sure if I will be able to receive any of those units for a review. As soon as I can get my hands onto something interesting I will let you know. </p>

With this list I want to show you my personal favorite portable speakers that I use on a regular basis including some explanation why I ha...

Review: Bose Soundlink Colour - now we're talking!

<p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FGZx255K8T_CA7shY0sdt6FSaSFrvjOB4x0SJ9D6g82_MP9jQUaG_M02McAZQjWGd9lFVsVSP8go9l2PGOAOhS9vgzy1T3_xnzX28QidFtGsXoavykHQp4oLJxvlg6Efiqiv262u59G6/s1600/soundlink-colour-title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FGZx255K8T_CA7shY0sdt6FSaSFrvjOB4x0SJ9D6g82_MP9jQUaG_M02McAZQjWGd9lFVsVSP8go9l2PGOAOhS9vgzy1T3_xnzX28QidFtGsXoavykHQp4oLJxvlg6Efiqiv262u59G6/s1600/soundlink-colour-title.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The latest Bluetooth speaker from Bose is also the most affordable one, costing just $129,- or a bit more in Europe with �139,-. The new Soundlink Colour is not just a stripped down version of the bigger Soundlink III or the Soundlink Mini, as it rather seems to introduce an own new category of fashionable and colourful portable speakers for Bose which are more suitable for real outdoor use than the previous Soundlink versions. Let's have a look how much features and sound Bose has managed to squeeze into their cheapest Soundlink.<br /><br /><a name="more"></a>The Soundlink Colour comes in several different colours, my review sample is in black, which looks most understated, but I also like white or mint, not sure about the other colours though.<br />The speaker has a nice build quality and gives the impression as if it could really be tossed inside a rucksack or a bag without showing any signs of wear. The Soundlink Mini despite having a precious aluminium finish which might give the impression of being really sturdy is in reality quite delicate and prone to scratches, just as the speaker grilles are easily damaged with the finish peeling off pretty quickly, when touched a bit too hard.<br />My biggest hope was that Bose would announce a Soundlink "Micro", a considerably more compact speaker, something pocketable that is still able to deliver a more serious sound than most current offerings. There are dozens of book sized speakers, hundrets of beer-can sized ones, but all pocketable speakers I have heard so far are hardly usable for listening to music, the best ones being the JBL Clip or TDK Trek Micro, which both are still quite tinny for my taste with no bass at all below 100Hz.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjvdmDN-MMUajY-ZPUU5e0r3d1wyVu-CwELidQEeyEPYFhcdQXsfx3OnV3xnu52aRdUof_Yigy1Gz7-MhNhtspWwYbRPFP3cZuaqd4UnSzG8jNMBzAdqQMkbs6y7gXwsemxffl0zj6v1H/s1600/soundlink-colour-mini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjvdmDN-MMUajY-ZPUU5e0r3d1wyVu-CwELidQEeyEPYFhcdQXsfx3OnV3xnu52aRdUof_Yigy1Gz7-MhNhtspWwYbRPFP3cZuaqd4UnSzG8jNMBzAdqQMkbs6y7gXwsemxffl0zj6v1H/s1600/soundlink-colour-mini.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_vdHAfsuuXo9gzj251mb6Gw_02QesKGu3GgpjNkxgZ8_A5gPFd_W6Yw0qM83RL1XIpgAg-RdjQbQZodA17_qjl_8oklo7EwFuwKAlkOLkmRcm9zMylu8cwhVwMhxRPEBGM5DpQ-P6pQvd/s1600/soundlink-colour-jblcharge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_vdHAfsuuXo9gzj251mb6Gw_02QesKGu3GgpjNkxgZ8_A5gPFd_W6Yw0qM83RL1XIpgAg-RdjQbQZodA17_qjl_8oklo7EwFuwKAlkOLkmRcm9zMylu8cwhVwMhxRPEBGM5DpQ-P6pQvd/s1600/soundlink-colour-jblcharge2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The Soundlink Colour is bigger overall than the Soundlink Mini (I measured about 60% more capacity nearly reaching the size of the JBL Charge 2), but it is also lighter. Still due to the different form factor and its rounded edges it might even be easier to carry around or packed away than a Soundlink Mini, let alone a JBL Charge 2. It feels nice in your hand and although missing this typical "premium"-feel of the Soundlink Mini, the Soundlink Colour doesn't feel cheap at all as you can still discern Bose quality here.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlm7bSoIHGfKED9RM_1clsDe_Gc47GAcJPlOcpLYlHnMq8YT0oZ8BTO9h0utCo2ovDmv9FA0hBM2fRETTdAjsiolIoeQKFteCy_QvsIJP_Fb8LvVqt-jIujvJyJE6JrvQ666hl7VAtgWk/s1600/soundlinkcolour-outdoor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlm7bSoIHGfKED9RM_1clsDe_Gc47GAcJPlOcpLYlHnMq8YT0oZ8BTO9h0utCo2ovDmv9FA0hBM2fRETTdAjsiolIoeQKFteCy_QvsIJP_Fb8LvVqt-jIujvJyJE6JrvQ666hl7VAtgWk/s1600/soundlinkcolour-outdoor.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Although the Soundlink Colour isn't reported to be waterproof or specially rugged in any way, I was already told by Bose that some additional neoprene covers will become available in future, which will definitely make the speaker even better suited for outdoor use at a sandy beach etc. I would have definitely hesitated to use the Soundlink Mini in such a setting, but wouldn't be afraid of placing the Soundlink Colour right beside on a wet towel.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmd7Iz8mjRZYEqPkDDjMFbA8qD89gwK-UshYq9G6lyIbFL2QWNvMCdLKovH76kO3kR2Pz1_LQvbxJIBQVgeODHC7PoZY8EI21rmerZQDvW4QRvsD_9W3xlSLZx5IlfYAUIkS-codmJtbXI/s1600/insidethebox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmd7Iz8mjRZYEqPkDDjMFbA8qD89gwK-UshYq9G6lyIbFL2QWNvMCdLKovH76kO3kR2Pz1_LQvbxJIBQVgeODHC7PoZY8EI21rmerZQDvW4QRvsD_9W3xlSLZx5IlfYAUIkS-codmJtbXI/s1600/insidethebox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />There's not much inside the box, the Soundlink Colour comes just with a small 5V 1A charger and a Micro-USB cable, no other accessories are included. The biggest news here is that the Soundlink Colour can indeed be charged through Micro-USB. This was what many complained about with all previous models. Actually Bose seems to have listened to user-complaints and fixed many points of criticism.<br />Charging shouldn't take longer than 3 hours with the included charger. A flashing orange LED will display the charging procedure to become steady green when charging is done. There's no dedicated indicator showing the actual charge. You have to keep the power button pressed and if it lights up green, there is still "high charge" left, orange means "medium", if "low" the LED will turn red.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3UEZS26BK_zrdXxtqre9YjXwpFH0s-sHtPdtYrb3r5ZukrTxsPZXzYluBst4b_-YG9he4Rd_i1p0seUWNp7684aTbV-OTlJe0rP-UJgIt8i1zUJXvYMPtH-eRjkEpq8xvfn1Wqe2p0qAx/s1600/charging-indicator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3UEZS26BK_zrdXxtqre9YjXwpFH0s-sHtPdtYrb3r5ZukrTxsPZXzYluBst4b_-YG9he4Rd_i1p0seUWNp7684aTbV-OTlJe0rP-UJgIt8i1zUJXvYMPtH-eRjkEpq8xvfn1Wqe2p0qAx/s1600/charging-indicator.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />You either like or hate the new design. My wife said it's ugly, I think it has something of a classic Braun electric shaver, albeit an oversized one.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqhpCBX_8SRlpz8dLnXplkjvy0MOjk6U2e72-A06Rj_6BosKoU5unHzfPey964baMwgz0Dsqgq4QxtRohpfXLLGRZ5XAF2wWg763wsQ-1SNqzfaxeuY-xpNSAVrTsNJUiIZm5QhE8HPKN/s1600/braun-shaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqhpCBX_8SRlpz8dLnXplkjvy0MOjk6U2e72-A06Rj_6BosKoU5unHzfPey964baMwgz0Dsqgq4QxtRohpfXLLGRZ5XAF2wWg763wsQ-1SNqzfaxeuY-xpNSAVrTsNJUiIZm5QhE8HPKN/s1600/braun-shaver.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghB8nvuYra7cLb35Ezs-HNZaTeUsJxwHasTopg-iT-Ds5gtT4H2jtxpY7JApdvYHDtXkhkRd1SHRXnAlw9WpOXym_kDNZrSQ7hDiyPRNroJHs1rbNSV1kzXV_UioMx82JheZsiw9gSjTq0/s1600/bose-shaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghB8nvuYra7cLb35Ezs-HNZaTeUsJxwHasTopg-iT-Ds5gtT4H2jtxpY7JApdvYHDtXkhkRd1SHRXnAlw9WpOXym_kDNZrSQ7hDiyPRNroJHs1rbNSV1kzXV_UioMx82JheZsiw9gSjTq0/s1600/bose-shaver.jpg" width="300" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />The speaker has only 2 ports at the back, namely the USB-port and an auxiliary input. On top of the speaker you will find all control buttons hidden under a rubber coating. This should allow using the speaker with wet or dirty hands as well. Beside the power button, the volume buttons etc, finally also track control is possible directly through the speaker with the new play/pause button, another finally fixed issue that was not available on the other models. You can start or pause music and skip forward or backward by double pressing or tripe pressing it. There is still no speakerphone functionality which might put off many, but I don't miss it at all.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v6UQ2SKXmftO6NDTCKxyIL1N3jGXwsp46HjygPIkfIBPAT2VXy3RayJNF0dm2mKvSpziBfvkJoM3PGDdpi2zpbvIAlasoYNmR5aL-ilcTbyF9mRJZNDvy4vPQtQAk9G3L9enLWht0Z9E/s1600/soundlink-back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v6UQ2SKXmftO6NDTCKxyIL1N3jGXwsp46HjygPIkfIBPAT2VXy3RayJNF0dm2mKvSpziBfvkJoM3PGDdpi2zpbvIAlasoYNmR5aL-ilcTbyF9mRJZNDvy4vPQtQAk9G3L9enLWht0Z9E/s1600/soundlink-back.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KRwKox6DBt3WVdGXwUt_yB6icDwzpjZYxLOMmTiu9f6gn0MJtKvPUPs5zcuBIwv6P6G5Ft5JOBzfpOJojcnEGpU55ks63jQbY1VA0qyZUPc_wkn0Q_5ZogfpopK-oqsMmmT2nJOl7bs4/s1600/soundlink-ports.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KRwKox6DBt3WVdGXwUt_yB6icDwzpjZYxLOMmTiu9f6gn0MJtKvPUPs5zcuBIwv6P6G5Ft5JOBzfpOJojcnEGpU55ks63jQbY1VA0qyZUPc_wkn0Q_5ZogfpopK-oqsMmmT2nJOl7bs4/s1600/soundlink-ports.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />A really useful feature now is the ability of enabling or disabling power saving mode. While so many owners always complained about the Soundlink Mini to turn off on its own after some time, which was no big deal for me, this feature can now be disabled for your liking. If you want to use the speaker stationary with permanent power on, you can do this now, just keep "Aux" and "+" pressed for some seconds to toggle between on or off for the "auto power off" function.<br />"Aux" and "-" kept pressed for 10 seconds will finally do a factory reset, in case you want the speaker fresh again or to prepare it for resale...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz9MotJ2JvqPsrG-dCCIFc6zP1H2rcprKVfiNCH13HzeDD0zbVxxSp_7r4wVqdGfFltwshlIgFSYkvJBy0v9Giy5EDVb7SxmlntVjt82MTMWm7kD34JhG8CFyEm6EYbXc5gyWwzPwESgyo/s1600/soundlink-flat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz9MotJ2JvqPsrG-dCCIFc6zP1H2rcprKVfiNCH13HzeDD0zbVxxSp_7r4wVqdGfFltwshlIgFSYkvJBy0v9Giy5EDVb7SxmlntVjt82MTMWm7kD34JhG8CFyEm6EYbXc5gyWwzPwESgyo/s1600/soundlink-flat.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Another big novelty are voice prompts. The Soundlink Colour talks to you now. On the first power on you'll have the choice of selecting many different languages for voice prompts. Beside English, French, German etc, I also recognized Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, Polish and Russian with some other languages, which are probably Chinese and Japanese. Good news first: the voice prompts can also be disabled, which I welcome very much. The speaker will still play some beeps when paired or when attached to mains, but it won't talk around. Especially the computer voice (a kind of female simulation) is a bit annoying. There seems to be a real speech synthesizer built in unlike some sampled phrases as it is the case with many other talking speakers, but on the Soundlink Colour it just sounds artificial and awkward. Keep both volume buttons pressed for 3 seconds and the voices are gone. Kudos to Bose to give us the option. The voice might be helpful though if you want to know which devices are paired with the speaker. The Soundlink Colour will remember up to 8 devices, but usually will automatically pair with the 2 recent ones as 2 devices can be paired with the speaker simultanously. When the first device stops playback, the other device can start playing, without the need of any new pairing or switching procedure. Bluetooth connection is nearly instant on the Soundlink Colour, unlike many other speakers I have tried, where you sometimes have to wait up to 10 seconds until they finally decide to establish a connection.<br />If you still want to connect to another already paired device you can simply switch between them by pressing the Bluetooth button. The first press tells you which devices you are currently connected to, this is where the voice prompts can really be helpful. Press the Bluetooth button again within 3 seconds and the speaker will search and try to connect to the next available device in its list. You can scroll like this through all paired devices, which is really a nice thing. If there is no other device available, it will tell you that no other devices were found. The only speaker I know that has a similarly comfortable way of switching between different devices is the Fugoo, but you will never know which device it is going to connect to next, while on the Bose you will indeed hear which device is connected now, in case you have the voice prompts enabled of course.<br />Many other Bluetoothspeakers are quite a pain to use with different streaming devices. They either search for the latest device only and won't automatically connect to any other already paired devices, so you have to manually dig them up from the menu and force a connection, or they simply refuse any other connection and you have to repeat the whole pairing procedure from scratch to pair the speaker to another device, which was the case on the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/08/review-audioxperts-eva-blu-portable.html" target="_blank">AudioXperts EVA Blu</a> for example.<br />I have to applaud Bose for finally making Bluetooth connections that easy and comfortable. Although I always hated any kind of voice prompts, in case of the Soundlink Colour they are really useful as the speaker will always tell you which devices it is connected to. It works much better than on any other Soundlink model I have tried, let alone most other Bluetooth speakers that manage to make Bluetooth pairing or reconnecting a frustrating experience.<br />By the way, with the Soundlink Colour volume control should now be in sync on the streaming device and speaker. I have tested this with several iOS device, not sure about Andorid or other. But while most other speakers just offer 15 volume steps (some may have 32 or 35), the Soundlink Colour still has all 100 steps, like all other Bose speakers I have tried. 100 steps allow much finer volume control than the rough jumps you get from a JBL Charge 2 for example, which nearly doubles volume with the first steps on each press. A synced volume control should also work better with dynamic sound processing, as you cannot confuse the speaker with a too low input level, while setting the speaker's volume too high.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhkwJkUxWbDGMGbj30s6zXULrqK8ONx9WgjeQSkBK7q70pbpa512qwkfaglG50K28zpug0uFNjO7a5Xr8IYf-5sy8XmNrpYrqzhMEUitkd3cM7TDQYTyMoJ3U9dBX39-_XbwR0615Nwop/s1600/soundlink-garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhkwJkUxWbDGMGbj30s6zXULrqK8ONx9WgjeQSkBK7q70pbpa512qwkfaglG50K28zpug0uFNjO7a5Xr8IYf-5sy8XmNrpYrqzhMEUitkd3cM7TDQYTyMoJ3U9dBX39-_XbwR0615Nwop/s1600/soundlink-garden.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />As on all recent Soundlink models so far, there are 2 opposing passive radiators inside the Soundlink Colour as well. Opposing passive radiators mean less vibration because they cancel out their forces, so you don't have to be afraid of the Soundlink Colour rattling or creeping around at higher volumes. The openings on the upper part of the back indicate where the back passive radiator is located. The one at the front is at the same height, but the main part of the music is still produced by the 2 active drivers, which are located below. The Soundlink Colour is indeed a stereo speaker, but the drivers are so close together, you won't notice any stereo separation. I think that Bose even tried to apply some tricks to enhance the stereo effect, because when peering through the openings, you might notice a kind of bar in the center between both drivers. This bar reminds me of the acoustic barrier that speakers always use which apply <a href="http://www.embracingsound.de/docs/EmbracingSoundTechSummary.pdf" target="_blank">"Embracing Sound"</a> for stereo enhancement, they call this "plate", which seems to be necessary for the system to work. Embracing Sound is a kind of inversion of the M/S stereophony, but in case of the Soundlink Colour it doesn't work or it might have another purpose, but regardless what I tried I was not able to get any real stereo width from the speaker. A Soundlink Mini, which is not a very broad sounding speaker either is nevertheless able to produce a broader stereo field than the Soundlink Colour. You just have to accept the fact, that with the Soundlink Colour you are actually listening to a stereo speaker that sounds mono. Nothing wrong with that, as the fewest portable speakers that small really manage any convicing stereo stage either. The Jambox with its "Liveaudio" algorithm or the Geneva XS thanks to Embracing Sound being the rare exceptions.<br /><br />Let's have a look and listen what kind of sound we can expect from the new Soundlink Colour.<br />To tell the truth there is not much surprise here. The Soundlink Colour delivers solid sound with the typcial Bose sound signature which is slightly boosted bass with boosted lower treble at the same time. As usual for Bose the sound is already quite full-bodied at lower levels, althouth appears a bit dull and starts to brighten up close to medium levels. You won't get any class-leading high-end sound, which was to be expected, given the Soundlink Colour being a lower-cost model, but to my surprise there are even some slight enhancements in sound over the original Soundlink Mini. The first thing you will notice when putting both side by side and playing the same music is that both still sound pretty similar, but at the same time the bass of the Soundlink Colour is not reaching as deep as that from the Soundlink Mini. Overall bass amount is still comparable, both have a bassboost compared to their mids, but the bass of the Soundlink Mini reaches deeper down to 60Hz, while the Soundlink Colour has already a strong roll-off at 80Hz. This typical bass-thump that many love and others hate from the Soundlink Mini is a bit missing on the Soundlink Colour. Nevertheless it is not a bass-light speaker, there is still plenty of bass compared to most other contenders, which do not manage any real bass at all. The Soundlink Colour plays with a similar bass level to the Soundblaster Roar, which I reviewed <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/05/review-creative-sound-blaster-roar-sr20.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />Surprisingly the Soundlink Colour manages to sound cleaner with less distortion than the Soundlink Mini. Due to the missing lower bass part of the Soundlink Mini, the Soundlink Colour doesn't struggle that much with bass-heavy recordings or when playing at higher levels. Many tracks start droning quite a bit on the Soundlink Mini already slightly above half volume, this is not a problem for the Soundlink Colour. It will even play slightly louder and with less dynamic compression. There is still some bass reduction at higher levels, but the difference in sound between low volume and high volume is not as severe as on the Soundlink Mini, which at high levels puts out an overly compressed sound with some noticeable intermodulation distortion and booming bass. With both played at their maximum volume the difference in bass amount is not that pronounced anymore as on lower levels, but the Soundlink Colour manages to deliver cleaner sound with less compression and less distortion.<br />Although the Soundlink Colour is still not a bright sounding speaker, it is an improvement over the rather dull sounding Soundlink Mini, especially when not listened exactly on axis. When both are aimed directly at the listener, the Soundlink Mini might even give a clearer impression, but tilt both away slightly and the treble will even improve on the Soundlink Colour, while it falls off on the Soundlink Mini considerably. Maybe this is the reason for the center bar between both drivers, which might acts as some kind of reflecting surface to add some dispersion to the high frequencies, I am just guessing though. Treble could still get along with a little bit more sparkle, but overall I think it sounds more convincing now. Many tracks sound considerably clearer on the Soundlink Colour, although mids got quite a hollow character now. The Soundlink Mini sounds more refined although duller. I would have preferred the bass tuned a bit lower on the Soundlink Colour but with less boost than it is now as I have the impression as if bass was already bleeding into the mids quite a bit and covering them even more. I think boosting bass less would have helped to make the sound a bit more classy and the speaker might have lost some of its boxiness. The bass of the Soundlink Colour has some resonance peak at around 100Hz which can make many songs sound strange. I noticed it especially with bassdrums which tend to have a longer decay than usual. You can also hear this resonance if putting your ear closer to the back passive radiator, you will probably notice some slight rattling coming from the enclosure. The result is still better than of many other similar sized speakers I have heard, but Bose could have held off slightly by pushing the bass less.<br /><br />Of course I also did some measurements of the Soundlink Colour to allow for a better visual judgement of my sound descriptions above, which are understandably always quite subjective.<br />First some close-up measurements at medium volume from 10cm to minimize room influence. Compared to the Soundlink Mini shown in green, you can see that both still have a similar sound signature, but the bass of the Mini reaches lower. At the same time you can see better treble extension on the Soundlink Colour, but it still rolls off too much.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsG8vo27qpSDaWo7tmfmpjvL9KScINy7M3IZW8dU-60IAbVp8RBRdCstK6G2d-jKkPQXLWjRrPdynIap5cQVRE3EfOl32fYMBhs9ng-a51L6E3gfaHOqI25s_5hiwBTZ_awKWcc9szBpaR/s1600/measurement+10cm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsG8vo27qpSDaWo7tmfmpjvL9KScINy7M3IZW8dU-60IAbVp8RBRdCstK6G2d-jKkPQXLWjRrPdynIap5cQVRE3EfOl32fYMBhs9ng-a51L6E3gfaHOqI25s_5hiwBTZ_awKWcc9szBpaR/s1600/measurement+10cm.png" width="640" /></a></div>  <br />In the following graphs you can see the in-room response from 50cm at all 100 volume levels with 7 steps in between each measurement to achieve 15 distinct curves, the blue one being 50%, while the red one being 100% (smoothed with 1/6 octave):<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDwETI0hHVoIJbD1kD5CII5b7Ooew-GUcF7cWCwzwm-ZQy1BUQ2M7zf0hkl7uywfziV3GLKP3vErH0L3snrw3OdYovyaUOkQeuwCNNkh33YGPvCcPsSdy1k9rDnJiPaiXyRXiRzc8JRbP/s1600/volume-range.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDwETI0hHVoIJbD1kD5CII5b7Ooew-GUcF7cWCwzwm-ZQy1BUQ2M7zf0hkl7uywfziV3GLKP3vErH0L3snrw3OdYovyaUOkQeuwCNNkh33YGPvCcPsSdy1k9rDnJiPaiXyRXiRzc8JRbP/s1600/volume-range.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />There is a slight bassboost visible from the lower volume curves while stronger bass reduction already starts above 50%. If looking at the maximum volume measurements of both Soundlink Colour and Soundlink Mini (in green again), you will notice that the Soundlink Colour shouldn't sound that different anymore, as the Soundlink Mini managed to reduce most of its bass advantage with only some deeper bass still present in the background:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXzmroSzYWfyDQZTi_VmREZv80UA5ofEjommgv_8LJ3ny6mBYn8KTFql8MgTJ2zP6hj3ZtXDBDbHgXeIcjaK0G-JKDP04Sn7xyC8hYWZzmbwyU3Ws3JGp26w795Cp1dpiirG3745bWjto/s1600/max.volume.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXzmroSzYWfyDQZTi_VmREZv80UA5ofEjommgv_8LJ3ny6mBYn8KTFql8MgTJ2zP6hj3ZtXDBDbHgXeIcjaK0G-JKDP04Sn7xyC8hYWZzmbwyU3Ws3JGp26w795Cp1dpiirG3745bWjto/s1600/max.volume.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Here we see the difference in sound on-axis and off-axis (in pink), which was measured from 30cm above, which results in about 37�. Below the same measurement from the Soundlink Mini. Although the Soundlink Colour still has some treble loss when listened off-axis, the Soundlink Mini shows it to a stronger degree with a 10dB loss above 10kHz thus becomes quite dull more quickly than the Soundlink Colour:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-E3qEqOfS3OTyuNOuCacYzry4YOAcbYs3fsI-5ggjIl5EA3qeKp2Js2GMZYTeXqJHD7-DzlpVps8yhH_Z6TnAnecXiFgZ9wTViu_noIYDe_cteYbfF_tpz0BakdRGUm8jkwPPlVy2dXc/s1600/colour-off-axis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-E3qEqOfS3OTyuNOuCacYzry4YOAcbYs3fsI-5ggjIl5EA3qeKp2Js2GMZYTeXqJHD7-DzlpVps8yhH_Z6TnAnecXiFgZ9wTViu_noIYDe_cteYbfF_tpz0BakdRGUm8jkwPPlVy2dXc/s1600/colour-off-axis.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mSooDNj_faN_4TKZJVb3GdoC0UWOo9ELR7xAqoNxnZkC1HrUFhiJdN4fFWFIBzpRqtY_ou4NLkifZtJeKKXyLTaWGI4DYgBDBDKn0PDlJ809vMPKypadzdRQ1891iOCNqkrpkTrpm7tE/s1600/mini-off-axis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mSooDNj_faN_4TKZJVb3GdoC0UWOo9ELR7xAqoNxnZkC1HrUFhiJdN4fFWFIBzpRqtY_ou4NLkifZtJeKKXyLTaWGI4DYgBDBDKn0PDlJ809vMPKypadzdRQ1891iOCNqkrpkTrpm7tE/s1600/mini-off-axis.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I am not sure which speakers might be direct competitors to the Soundlink Colour, as I haven't found any suitable ones, most cheaper or smaller ones just don't sound that full-bodied, while some other similarly priced ones like the TDK A33 or the Soundblaster Roar are mostly bigger and might sound louder overall, but not really better. Therefore I prepared a first comparison video with the Soundlink Mini to show how much compromises in sound must be made compared to its bigger brother. Another video shows the Soundlink Colour compared to the Creative Soundblaster Roar, which currently is a very popular speaker although bigger and heavier costing 20$ more. Although the Roar should play quite a bit louder than the Soundlink Colour, in reality the Roar already struggles at top volume with some severe volume fluctuations which you can also hear in this video resulting in a top volume which is hardly louder than the Soundlink Colour in the end.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wpgnV1L6R_0?rel=0" width="853"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/k95hOULIPRI?rel=0" width="853"></iframe> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Concluding I think Bose managed quite an appealing portable speaker which can convince of most its features. The Soundlink Colour would probably find a place on my wish list, if I didn't already own dozens other portable speakers. All features are implemented really well and I am especially impressed with the Bluetooth connectivity and how well it works. As soon as you turn the speaker on it will automatically connect to the nearest 2 devices. If you want to connect to another one instead, just press the Bluetooth button and scroll through all other already paired ones. I am not sure any other speaker gives you this comfort. Others often won't even connect to the last device for unknown reasons (the Soundlink Mini being no excpetion). Bose also managed to improve on most critical user comments and offers not only MicroUSB charging now, but also the ability to disable the "auto power off" feature that many complained about constantly.<br />It is just when looking solely at the sound, that the Soundlink Colour doesn't impress me that much. It isn't a bad speaker by any means, it is just that meanwhile you can get better sound for a similar price. If it was offered below the magic 100$ or � mark, it would certainly manage to stir up the market quite a bit, but for 20$ or 10� more you can already get a JBL Charge 2 or a Soundblaster Roar, which manage either a more balanced sound with more punch or can play louder.<br />When the Soundlink Mini was announced more than a year ago it was pretty unique and without any real competition, a similar sized Jambox costing the same at that time was a bad joke soundwise, not to mention the Beats Pill which still costs 199 today! But other companies have finally managed to catch up or even improve on the sound of the Soundlink Mini, the best example being the new JBL Charge 2. The Soundlink Colour on the other hand doesn't offer any big advances in sound, but it doesn't sound bad either. Bose knows how to make speakers sound appealing, but for my personal taste, I would have preferred a slightly more balanced approach with better treble extension and deeper but less boomy bass.<br />The Soundlink Colour reminds me a bit of a vintage portable transistor radio, albeit without a radio but Bluetooth instead. It sounds better than any portable radio I have heard, like the larger and more expensive Tivoli PAL that also I own, but just don't expect any hi-end listening experience. The sound is a bit restrained and sounds as if it was trapped inside the speaker. In the meantime I know how "open" a small portable speaker can sound after I have experienced the Fugoo. It is definitely not as bass heavy as the Soundlink Colour, but it is still more enjoying to listen to, due to the depth of the sound it is able to produce, while the Soundlink Colour gives rather a one-dimensional impression.<br /><br />Last but not least I would like to thank the <a href="http://www.bose.at/AT/de/dealer/detail/53ADC5CD0C1F0C20E10080000A0A300D/" target="_blank">Bose Experience Center Wien</a> for providing me the review sample.<br /><br /><b>+ affordable </b><br /><b>+ colorful sturdy design</b><br /><b>+ solid and full bodied sound </b><br /><b>+ high possible volume without distortion (slightly louder than Soundlink Mini)</b><br /><b>+ less forced sound than the Soundlink Mini with less compression</b><br /><b>+ clearer and less directional treble than Soundlink Mini</b><br /><b>+ great Bluetooth implementation</b><br /><b>+ automatic multipoint pairing with 2 devices simultanously </b><br /><b>+ easy switching between different devices</b><br /><b>+ voice prompts helpful to indentify paired devices</b><br /><b>+ track controls on the speaker</b><br /><b>+ synced volume with streaming device</b><br /><b>+ 100 dedicated volume steps</b><br /><b>+ charging through MicroUSB </b><br /><b>+ auto power off can be turned on or off </b><br /><b><br /></b><b>- bass not very deep with cut-off at 80hz</b><br /><b>- boomy and hollow sounding due to boosted upper bass</b><br /><b>- still stronger treble roll-off</b><br /><b>- sound a bit restrained with no stereo separation</b><br /><b>- could be more compact</b></p>

The latest Bluetooth speaker from Bose is also the most affordable one, costing just $129,- or a bit more in Europe with �139,-. The new Sou...