I’ve always liked the Bose Soundlink Micro, but admittedly it is pretty expensive for what it is… and not to mention, battery life is not the best on this speaker. But I cant deny it sounds really good. But if you’re looking for an ultra portable speaker that you can clip on to your back pack I feel the new Clip 3 gets the job done even better than the sound link micro at a fraction of the price. 

Just so we’re clear, this isn’t a full review on either of these speakers… im just trying to point out the most important differences between them so I can help you with your purchase design. If you want to learn more about either of these speakers then watch their full reviews.The Bose Soundlink micro was released back in the fall of 2017 and when it first went on sale it was retailing for $110. But now Bose has reduced the price to $99.99. The new JBL Clip 3 was released in the spring of 2018 and currently retails for $59.95. if you want to pick either of these speaker up I’ll have links in the description below and if you use the links it really helps out the channel. I suggest you check them out cause you never when these speaker might go on sale so you might get lucky. 

From a design perspective, these speakers are very different. The Bose Soundlink micro is slightly bigger and heavier than the Clip 3 and also feels much more premium. The whole body is covered in a very rugged soft touch rubber skin and theres a slightly elastic strap on the back that allows the Micro to latch on to many different objects. Where as the clip 3 has a durable fabric mesh on the front and a hit of soft touch rubber on the back. But the built in clip on the clip 3 does limit the amount of things the Clip 3 can attach to.

Both of these speakers have their control buttons so you can quickly and easily adjust your music playback and both of these speakers charge via a micro USB cable. But only the Clip 3 has an audio jack for wired listening, where as the Bose can only play music wirelessly. But like I’ve said in the past I feel not having an audio jack on smaller speakers like these isn’t a big deal cause phone manufactures are killing off the Audio Jack any, but if you really need that audio jack then the Clip 3 has you covered. 

One of the biggest things the Clip 3 has over the Micro is battery life. Bose advertises a battery life of 6 hours on the Micro where as JBL Advertises a battery life of 10 hours on the clip 3. And you can get those number if you use these speakers at 50% volume. But realistically you’re going to want to listen to you music at a louder volume. So with the volume set the 80% the Bose Sounlink Micro manages to average just 3 hours of playback time where the Clip 3 averages 5 and a half hours of playback time. And with the volume set at 100% the micro only lasts an hour and a half where as the Clip 3 averages 3 hours of playback time.

I just feel that if you’re planning on taking either of these speakers with you on a long hike battery life is going to be more important than sound quality. Both of these speaker are also rocking an IPX7 certification so water shouldn’t be a problem. But while shooting my B-Roll I noticed the Micro sinks like a rock where as the Clip 3 floats. Now when it comes to speaker set up things start to get very interesting. The Sound link Micro as a single transducer and a passive radiator underneath the perforated portion of the body. Where as the JBL Clip 3 has a single 40 millimeter diameter transducer. And as a result both of these speakers are very directional.

The Clip 3 has a leg up on the Bose when it comes to battery life, but the Bose without a doubt has the better sound quality. The Clip 3 sounds way better than than outgoing Clip 2, but the Bose Soundlink micro sounds clearer than the Clip 3, it has a wider sound stage and it has even more bass. The Micro even has almost as much bass as the much larger Flip 4. The Clip 3 sounds good but the Bose Sounds way better. But both of these speakers have very little distortion at higher volumes.

But now lets talk about wireless connectivity, both of these speakers have a solid wireless connection and stuttering isn’t an issue. And both of these speakers have very little latency so either one of them are just fine for watching videos on your phone. But my biggest grip with the Clip 3 is that I doesn’t have JBL connect plus so you can pair it up with any other other speakers. Where as with the micro if you have another Bose speaker laying around you can pair them up and get stereo sound going. I just feel the clip 3 should be able to pair with other speakers. And im not sure if they can add this feature in a software update.  

But with all that being said, I still feel the Clip 3 is the better bang for your buck when compared to the Bose Soundlink Micro. I like the Micro, it feels very premium, I like that you can pair it up to another Bose speaker, and its sound quality is very impressive for its size. But its short battery life is a huge draw back given that its marketed as an ultra portable speaker to take with you on the go. After a few hours the micro just turns into a hockey puck. Even though the Clip 3 doesn’t sound as good as the Micro I feel that it sounds good enough.