Revolutionize Your Home Entertainment with the Sleek and Powerful Bose SoundLink Speaker
A Stylish but Limited Bluetooth Speaker: Bose’s SoundLink Home
Sometimes, it’s okay to buy a speaker for its aesthetic appeal. And from the moment it was first announced, Bose’s $219 SoundLink Home stood out from the pack with its mid-modern design that bears little resemblance to most competitors. It’s the kind of gadget that people are likely to notice and comment on. No one says a word about boring, ho-hum cylindrical speakers.
The Good and The Bad
The Good
- Unique, stylish design
- Good sound for its size
- USB-C audio input
- Speakerphone functionality
The Bad
- No water or dust resistance
- No EQ adjustments
- Unimpressive battery life
Sound and Performance
If you’ve used or heard Bose’s SoundLink Flex, then you’ve already got a good understanding of what the Home speaker will sound like in your living room. Their tuning is quite similar. Like the Flex, the Home outputs mixed-down mono audio. While I’ll always take stereo speakers when given the choice, mono is common for portable speakers in this category.
Features and Design
The controls are fairly straightforward. The multi-function button (at right) handles playback controls and activating your phone’s voice assistant. There’s no changing the sound, as there’s no companion app. You can, however, pair two units together to create a stereo pair, which will noticeably enrich the sound.
Battery Life and Durability
Battery life is rated at up to 9 hours of playback, which is mostly accurate. If you’re listening at or above 70 percent volume, expect to lose a couple hours. It takes between three and four hours to fully recharge the speaker over USB-C, which seems rather long for the passable battery life you’re getting.
Conclusion
There’s really not much else to cover with the SoundLink Home. It bets a whole lot on looks and feel and clears the bar on sound quality without any glaring tonal weaknesses. The absence of any EQ settings will inevitably disappoint those of you who like to tinker, and I think any $200-plus Bluetooth speaker should have some measure of weatherproofing. But Bose went in a different direction with the SoundLink Home. If you’re looking to buy (or gift) a speaker that’s off the beaten path, I wouldn’t fault you for choosing this one.
Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge
