Portable speakers are great. They let you enjoy your favorite music on the go, while their onboard batteries allow you to use them unburdened by wires. In fact, modern portable speakers are so good, we know people who use them as more convenient home speakers, too. We’re guessing the Bose SoundLink Home is targeted towards that crowd, as it brings the convenience of portable speakers in a package designed to deliver a bigger and fuller sound.
A compact, battery-powered speaker, the device is shaped like a bigger, thicker smartphone that’s able to stand upright on its side, making it very easy to pick up and move anywhere around the house. That way, you can take it to the living room coffee table, the bedroom nightstand, and everywhere in between, sparing you from having to install speakers everywhere you want to enjoy some music playing.
The Bose SoundLink Home is a compact speaker that measures just 8.5 x 4.4 x 2.3 inches (width x height x thickness) and weighs 1.9 pounds, making it small enough to slot into, pretty much, any open space you find around. While a small size usually means less-than-stellar audio, the outfit claims it delivers “crisp, clear sound” with “enough bass to fill any room of your home” with its full-range transducer and dual passive radiators. As with many modern wireless speakers, it supports pairing with another SoundLink Home speaker for stereo sound that uses each one as left and right channels, respectively. Do note, it only stereo pairs with other SoundLink Home speakers, but not with other speakers from the brand (it doesn’t support Bose SimpleSync).
It supports Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity, complete with multipoint support, as well as USB-C input for connecting with wired audio sources (sadly, no 3.5mm slot). Do note, it doesn’t have Wi-Fi like many modern wireless home speakers, so you won’t be able to use your home network’s stable Wi-Fi connection for more stable audio streaming. There’s also a built-in mic that you can use to take voice calls directly from the speaker. Sadly, the lack of Wi-Fi means there’s no app or voice control support, so it should make for a more old school portable wireless speaker experience.
The Bose SoundLink Home has a rechargeable battery that can keep it running for up to nine hours between charges, allowing you to plug it in for a bit when there’s an available outlet, then pull it out any time you want to listen in another room. There’s no water resistance rating, though, so you want to keep it out of the kitchen sink, the bathroom, or any other room where it can get splashed or spilled on.
It has buttons on top, so you can easily adjust volume, control playback, and activate stereo pairing directly from the speaker. The frame, which serves as its stand on the bottom, and the housing are cut in anodized aluminum, with a fabric grille out front, resulting in aesthetics that don’t look too shabby laid around anywhere in the house.
The Bose SoundLink Home is available now, priced at $219.