Planning to stream audio (mp3, radio etc) from iPad and or Macbook Pro. Any thoughts? Would this be a good buy or a waste of money?

I need a compact option so small is good on this occasion.

I have listened to one in a shop but there is a million miles of difference between a shop and home/real life.

We have one for the same uses you described- it’s the main/best set of speakers int the house. I’m not a huge audiophile, but they sound good to me. I like the fact I can just pick the up and move rooms, or have them outside or in the garage with me.

Love mine, did have two, but sold the other one!

I can’t believe how good the sound is.

The Bose sound quality is superb. I use mine for streaming radio in the mornings and also at work. It’s superb and battery life is also very good.

I listen to a couple of Bose speakers, and was going to buy one. Then on a whim I went into a hi-fi store and had a listen to a B&W A5.
Honestly I had to look round the shop to see where the sound was coming from, it was stunning. They aren’t cheap, but can be had at a good discount if you look round, but to me it was far better then the Bose. It sits on top of the fridge in our kitchen-diner, which is a big room and it can make the floor shake if need be.
I’m using all Apple gear and it links straight in with Airplay.
Recommended! 🙂

Had mine since Xmas, best present I’ve had in a very long time, I take it everywhere. I got a Deezer subscription at the same time (other music steaming services are available), the two together are fantastic, I’ve never listened to so much music a I’m sat in the garden now listening to Dusty Springfield!

Usually not a huge Bose fan, but the place I’m staying at the moment has one and it is very very impressive for the size. As above, the B&W A5 still beats it, but the Bose is a bit cheaper I think and would certainly do the job very well.

Very tempted by one of these too. However have a big sound link so can’t really justify it. if you buy it from qvc they let you try it out for 30 days and send it back for full refund if you’re not happy with it. They also often have it one 3-4 months easy pay at no interest.

bought one of these the other day after comparing to the Bose and it sounded better.
LG Micro system

if you buy it from qvc they let you try it out for 30 days and send it back for full refund if you’re not happy with it.

You get that from the main dealers.

Mrs D got one a few weeks ago. I think it’s great! There’s plenty of rich sound to fill a moderate indoor space. It usually sounds best atop something that will help generate sound; the bread bin works well!

Being old school we’ve got a zeppelin mini. I don’t think we’ve ever turned it up to full blast – immense. Try one.

Nothing anyone has suggested is in any way comparable – the Bose is much smaller.

I normally hate anything Bose but I got the mini after briefly hearing one and then noticing several user reviews from people who also detest Bose but find this quite decent.

The EQ is wrong and it needs a little bit of a boost around the midrange/higher frequencies, and when it does it seems to sound more like the Bose Soundlink III, which is clearer sounding than the old soundlink II which I thought was pretty unimpressive.

The bass is quite tuneful and it is not bad for vocals and for edm/dance influenced style music. Plus it can go quite loud.

So more of a mini club soundsystem than high fidelity.

When not using it for traveling I use it as a speaker on my PC, as it is a lot better than the soundbar that was on the monitor.

On a PC/laptop running Windows then this program can be quite useful to apply a constant EQ to it :

http://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/

And here’s a GUI to configure it :

http://linge-ma.ws/equalizer-apo-config-gui/

On andriod I am using AnEq Equalizer.

I got a “UE Boom” for the Mrs. Bloody fantastic, and has the advantage of being waterproof, so you can take it into the shower.

Went with the Bose in the end.

So far, very impressed.

Played with the Bose a month ago and wasn’t that impressed TBH. Moved onto a Sonos with various speakers and whilst it was an improvement, it still wasn’t enough. Hooked up a couple of speakers to the amp unit and the step up was very very noticeable. Had a couple of other limitations though and couldn’t justify the spend on the amp plus some other bits so didn’t go with it.

Can see how the Bose wins over a lot of people though. It just depends on how you’re going to use it and what you expect from it.

My priority for this ‘project’ was primarily size so this was the best of the very compact options.