Bose has turned the portable speaker in the Soundlink series into an art, thanks to custom technologies that work efficiently and ergonomically. It is having similar success in multiroom home audio and everything shows that it has found a way to produce extremely auspicious products through omnidirectionality, creating a stable and homogeneous sound field with excellent 360˚ resolution.
With the new Bose Portable Home Speaker it tries to unite the two worlds, since it has a rechargeable battery (via USB-C) and a sturdy handle, that is, it is portable like all Soundlink but also bigger than them.
It is also equipped with Wi-Fi and app control by Bose Music, so it can be part of the company’s multiroom environment, to be grouped with the well-known Home Speaker and Soundbar models and have access to streaming services.
It is the smallest member of this “stable” family and can become something like its wild card, since it moves easily from room to room and can operate anywhere in our house there is network coverage, while it also accepts an optional charging base.
Bose Portable Home Speaker: SOUND
With the shape of the drop, Bose does not only aim at a family look in its Bluetooth speakers but facilitates the acoustic design, since the sound comes from the wide, bottom part of the “drop”. The Portable Home Speaker is simple in design and very high quality as a finish and build quality.
The strap is excellent, sturdy and flexible together, with a fabric-lined surface that gives excellent grip. The top panel includes the pressure buttons with LED indicators, from where we control the playback of our Bluetooth source, its level, do the pairing and gain access to the microphone (the peripheral holes of the panel) for voice control functions.
With the “circle” in the panel we start and interrupt the voice commands and with the “deleted microphone” next we completely erase the “big brother” who can watch us, while we can not have Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa at the same time. The Portable Home Speaker informs us about all its functions, which are not only a few, through a color code from the illuminated ring that covers the periphery of the top panel.
For example, it turns blue and flashes in anti-diameter arcs during pairing or white when connected to Wi-Fi, illuminates half circle and increases clockwise when raising or decreasing counterclockwise when lowering, etc.
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The speaker memorizes up to 8 Bluetooth sources and with a pressure of 10 dl. on the BT key this list goes off and the ring flashes twice with blue sections up and down. It also memorizes up to 8 network connections. It talks and everything regardless and informs us how much battery is left with a percentage of%, with which sources and to which network we connect at startup, etc.
The speaker plays well and flat but we preferred the setting of 20 on the bass and 10 on the treble. The technology behind the Bose Portable Home Speaker is not only simple. There is, in principle, software that processes two-channel information and prevents phase cancellations during conversion to monaural.
It uses a down-spectrum speaker on a diffuser, the rear wave of which is charged by three oval passive radiators (two front left-right and one rear in the center) which appear to propagate along with the front wave towards below.
The Bose Portable Home Speaker uses the surface where it will be placed to increase the low frequencies and set up a scene and does it very successfully, resulting in clear images, unwavering focus, air between the instruments and very good detail.
We would say that it works as an ideal point source with all the advantages it has, such as homogeneity and sharpness in the field of time, while the frequencies are rendered in a balanced way and especially the middle area is pleasantly surprised by the analysis and the tonality that it gives.
The Bose speaker also adores the points of the room with low standing waves, which we avoid with normal speakers, expanding its response in a way that only adds to the enjoyment and does not remove anything from the clarity of the signal.
Omnidirectional radiation means clear sound from any angle we hear it, although there is a slight preference back and forth over the sides if we pay close attention. If placed on a table in a corner of a room, it will comfortably fill the space with sounds in a very large corner.
It may not seem like much, but it does play well enough to justify its relatively large size. We put it in a place that fills the deep low, on a large desk and this yielded satisfying dynamics for its size, with low deformations and quite large levels and only at the border with almost the end the level began to lose its coherence and deforms.
Bose Portable Home Speaker Specifications:
- TYPE: Wireless portable speaker
- CONNECTIONS: Bluetooth (4.2), AirPlay 2
- OTHER: USB-C (charging)
- BATTERY: 12 hours
- STREAMER: Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music , Pandora, SiriusXM, TuneIn, multiroom
- EXTRA: Waterproof, voice control, Bose music app (group / bass / treble), optional charging base
- DIMENSIONS: 103x191x119 mm.
- WEIGHT: 1.06 kg
- MORE INFO AT BOSE.com
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Conclusion
The Bose Portable Home Speaker is ultimately an advanced Bluetooth speaker that is worth the money it costs, not only because its dual nature allows it to network but mainly because it returns its sound cost and more.