Speaker 1: Hey there. This is Moses SoundLink, flex Bluetooth speaker. I apologize for being a little late reviewing it, but I got way laid by the AirPods third generation and beats fit pro earbuds reviews. But this guy should definitely be on your radar. If you're looking for a portable wireless speaker, it's $149. Sounds really good for its size and may just be the best compact. What speaker out there right now. Let's talk a about that. Okay. So when it launched Bo made some bold claims about the speaker's sound quality, particularly [00:00:30] it's base performance. I think the exact quote was something along the lines of it has astonishing base that you can feel in your chest. There's a bit of marketing hyperbole going on there, but I gotta say it mostly up to the hype. As I said, for its size, it does pack some really good punch. But before I dig into sound quality compared to some other top Bluetooth speakers, I'm gonna go over its design and features.
Speaker 1: It's available in three color options, black, white smoke, [00:01:00] and stone blue, and the speaker IP 67 dust and waterproof. It also floats. And that's an important feature. If you're in the habit of dropping your Bluetooth speakers in your pool or another body of water, I personally wouldn't want to drop it at anywhere, but Bose says that thanks to its soft silicone back and powder coated steel grill that won't peel or flake and is resistant to corrosion and UV light, it's designed to be pre durable and can survive. Small drops that Silicon finish is indeed soft to the touch, but I'll note that it does attract a bit of dust and lint and it shows [00:01:30] more on the black version. I like the speaker in blue, but the white one was a close second. There are buttons on top for controlling playback, which is always good to have.
Speaker 1: Although most people will just use their phone as remote to play music. One that's missing is an audio input. So you can't connect an audio device via an auxiliary cable. This is strictly a Bluetooth speaker, thoses sound like micro also delivers impressive sound for its tiny size. This does feel like it's in the same family, but is almost twice as big weighing just over pound or 0.4, [00:02:00] five kilograms. And it sounds significantly better than the micro with better battery life. For some reason, it used the older Bluetooth 4.2 instead of 5.0, I didn't have any problems with connectivity. It was generally rock solid, but for those looking for extended wireless range, this is only listed as having the standard Bluetooth range of 30 feet or 10 meters. Battery life is rated at 12 hours at moderate volume levels, which is pretty good. It's basically got twice the battery life of the SoundLink, micro and charges via USBC.
Speaker 1: Instead of micro USB, the speakers [00:02:30] designed to be propped up horizontally, laid down flat or hung vertically by its integrated loop. Boze shows it in pictures with a care attached loop, but no care included. You have to supply your own, but it's good that there's a loop and it does seem pretty sturdy. Speaker sound is automatically optimized. According to the position you have it in. I tended to keep it upright, but it does have a built in microphone. So you can use it as a speakerphone and you may wanna lay it down flat. If you're using it as a speakerphone with a few people sitting around it, it works pretty well picking up your voice and it puts out a lot more sound [00:03:00] than your phone's tiny speakers walking
Speaker 2: Away from the speakerphone. How do I sound overall?
Speaker 3: So initially you said your voice was strong and as you're walking away, the speaker's still doing a good job of focusing on your voice. How far are you now from the speaker?
Speaker 2: I'm probably good. I dunno, eight feet away or
Speaker 3: So. Okay. I
Speaker 2: 10 feet
Speaker 3: Now. Yeah, your voice is starting to become a little faint, but the speaker's still doing a good job of picking up your voice.
Speaker 1: [00:03:30] Bo says it can fill a living room with sound from my test. I'd say it would have to be a relatively small living room. It could only output so much sound. And to be clear, the, this is a mono speaker, but the key with it is that it does manage produce more base than you think it can also it avoids distorting at higher volumes and delivers good clarity in the trouble. And mid-range with overall well-balanced sound it's only slightly base forward.
Speaker 4: Did you see them on the sea? [00:04:00] Did you see Ryan into town? Did you see Houston on the ground?
Speaker 1: You're going to be immediately impressed us by how much sound it throws off and decent sound at that, but it can't totally escape being a small speaker. The sound stage only gets so wide and it can sound a little constrained with more complicated music [00:04:30] tracks that have a lot of instruments playing at the same time to avoid distorting. Certain frequencies do get ratcheted back just a little bit, particularly at higher volumes, I compared to, to several of there are compact portable speakers. The one that seems to get compared to the most is the JBL charge, which cost $180. The charge is a bit bulk speaker and puts out a little more sound. Its base is bigger, but arguably boomer and more forward. So the mids where vocals lift can sound a little recessed. I think the bows has a better overall tunnel balance and the base has more definition [00:05:00] I to sound overall.
Speaker 1: Uh, just so you guys know that you can't tweak, it sound like the JBL, both of these speakers lack EQ settings. So you have to go with their signature sounds. I thought it compared pretty favorably to the $178 Sonos room, which is also an excellent wi speaker that has wifi as well as Bluetooth and connects to your Sono system at home. The both however's more straightforward to use because it's a Bluetooth only speaker and comparing this to the UE wonder, boom, two, that's a hundred dollars speaker. That's also very good for its size. [00:05:30] The Bowes does deliver more depth and bigger body to its sound. Same as true for the Bangol and sound a one. I like that speaker a lot, but the Bowes beat that one as well. I like it
Speaker 5: Like that. Been on this guy forever. Hey, you look like a touching the off grounding. That is what you call it.
Speaker 1: [00:06:00] It offered more full bodied sound. However, the a one does offer multi-point Bluetooth pairing. So you compared simultaneously with your phone and a computer. This model does not seem to have that feature. Some people have asked me how it sounds compared to Bo's cancer style revolve speaker, that model's a bit more expensive and produces a bit more [00:06:30] sound, but it doesn't really sound any better. And I prefer the flexes design, maybe
Speaker 5: Yama, the nice wind down of marble, get it back. The fire. I like it like that. I've been on this forever. You look like a that what you call it,
Speaker 1: The larger revolve plus has [00:07:00] the flex beat, but that speaker costs twice as much. You could buy two flexes for the same price. And that might not be a bad idea that's because while the speaker sounds good as a single speaker, you get a big increase in sound quality. When you pair two flexes together in stereo mode, I felt the same way about Sonos Rome. You just get real stereo separation and both the sound stage and bass seem so much bigger as a pair. They sound like real speakers and indeed can fill a decent sized living room with sound. I should [00:07:30] also note that you can link up the flex with other bow speakers in party mode. In other words, you can mix and match, but to get stereo sound you'll need another flag. X I'll finish by saying that pricing for Bluetooth speakers has been a little weird these days with all the supply chain issues and chip shortages.
Speaker 1: My weird, I mean the prices only seem to be going up and not much is on sale. So even though 150 bucks might sound like a lot for some people it's a decent price for a top Bluetooth speaker and quite reasonable for Boze. As I said at the beginning, [00:08:00] if you're looking for a portable Bluetooth speaker, the flex should definitely be on your radar, if not at the top of your list, but let me know what you guys think and how the flex might compare to your favorite Bluetooth speaker sound off in the comment section. And if you're interested in any of the products mentioned, check out the description below for links on where to find them, and you can get even more details in my text review on CNET. Lastly, if you found this video in form of it all hit the like button and subscribe, if you haven't already I'm David carnet for CNET. Thanks [00:08:30] for watching.
