A neighbour treated himself to a Bose Soundlink thingy and I got to play with it at the weekend. It is very nice, but it’s eye wateringly expensive (despite the nice sound quality).

Are there alternatives to Bose that have similar sound quality and battery life and are not ugly as sin?

The soundlink mini or the bigger one – what size/weight are you trying to match ?

I’ve had a JBL Flip for a couple of years. Pretty good sound and very portable and they are cheaper now (sub £100)

Would like to try a Bose as I suspect sound would be better

Other option is a UE Boom but they look similar to a Flip

I compared Lowe speaker2go with £160 Bose equivalent, and thought the Lowe were a lot better. Been very happy with them.

TurnerGuy, the bigger one. Still small enough to pack in a bag for when I go away, but big enough that the batter lasts.

Good tip Lodious… Will check it out.

edit: Dear gods, the Lowe is more expensive than the Bose!

edit: Dear gods, the Lowe is more expensive than the Bose!

the mini has a sound that is very similar to the bigger Soundlink III, although not quite as ‘clear’ – which is solved with only a small amount of EQ to tilt the response up a little bit from the midrange.

the mini is also half the weight and a lot smaller, so good for carrying around – and the battery lasts well.

Resale on the Bose will also always be higher I would guess.

None of them are super fidelity but the bass on the little Bose is plentiful but also very tuneful – it is more like a small club PA than a HiFi though so orientate the music you play through it accordingly.

Bear in mind that I normally think Bose stuff is sh1t, but I am quite happy with my little soundlink mini, and I have seen a lot of comments on the web that are similar.

i saw the thread title and instantly started thinking about the Bose Soundlink. expensive yes but you get what you pay for. awesome piece of kit.

awesome piece of kit.

I think the mini counts for that praise as it is so small, but the bigger one doesn’t – the SoundLink II I thought was pretty average – as was the bigger logitech I compared it to.

Neither are a replacement for a decent hifi though, so don’t go thinking that…

Get yourself one of those Furutech G-320AG mains cables though. Sorted 😉

I just bought a UE Boom – finding it very good indeed and makes a great handsfree kit.

+1 Bose Soundlink

BIG sound for an unbelievably small device.

Don’t buy anything else until you go to Curreys/JL and test this out.

edit: amazon link fyi. You’re not buying a brand, you’re buying technology. Unlike some other (similarly prices) alternatives.

You’re not buying a brand, you’re buying technology

marketers must love you – sucking up all the BS!

If they have the technology why do so many of their products sound mediocre or even poor ?

Still, I think the mini is pretty decent, there are limits to what you can do at that size.