Get Them Here: Bose Soundlink Max: https://amzn.to/4cWtWWw
So im a really big fan of both the Bose QC Headphones and Bose QC Ultra headphones cause they’re great headphones to travel with cause they’re super comfortable and they block out an impressive amount of noise. And in general, Bose as a company is releasing a lot of new products, some really good, and some that are a little overhyped, like the Bose Soundlink Max. Now this speaker is okay, and there are some things that I like about it, but this wouldn’t be my first pick.
Regarding pricing, the Bose Soundlink Max retails for $400, a bose tax if I ever saw one. And simply put, I would only pick this speaker up if its on sale, and I wouldn’t pay more than $250. Nonetheless, if you want to pick this speaker up cause its on sale, it’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
So first theres the design of this speaker. Now the Bose Soundlink Max feels very premium, the majority of its body is covered in silicon which gives it a good grip, its durable and it just feels nice. On the front there’s a metal powder coated face plate and theres a very nice braided rope wrapped in silicon that acts as the handle. And if you really want, you can always buy the separate shoulder strap from bose. I want to really stress that this speaker feels very premium, and its also very easy to take on the go with you cause it has the built in handle, its fairly small and its light weight weighing in at 4.9 pounds. Now yes, this speaker is light weight, but its also pretty dense which adds to its overall premium feel. But also, this speaker is rocking an IP67 rating ratting which means that its both dust and water proof, and it also floats in water.
So overall, the Bose Soundlink Max feels nice, but performance wise, thats where things get a little ehh. Regarding battery life, the Bose Soundlink Max has an advertised battery life of 20 hours, which is good, and this advertised battery life of 20 hours is with this speaker playing at 65% volume, not bad at all. However, this speaker is a little quiet for its size and price. And real world use with this speaker playing at 85% its good for about 10 hours of play back time. And at max volume bose is claiming 3 hours of playback time.
And when it comes to chargning this speaker, it charges via a USB C port as it should. So you can easily charge this speaker with your phone’s charging cable. But also, the Bose Soundlink Max does come included with a complete charging cable. You get a long USB C to USB C cable and a wall adaptor. Which I is know sounds basic, but its something that need to be pointed out now.
However, one of the things that I really like about the Soundlink Max is that you can use its USB C to charge your own devices and I love that this is starting to become more common cause before speakers would use USB A ports instead. However, you can only use this USB C port to charge your own devices, unfortunately you cant use this USB C as a wired connection. However, this speaker does have an audio jack so you can use it with a wired connection that way.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, this speaker can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ, latency is not an issue for this speaker so you can use it to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, it has support for SBC, AAC and APTX Adaptive. However, if you want to use APTX then you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC.
But with all of that out off the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker setup the Bose Soundlink Max has dual frontward firing woofers which are angled out a little bit, it has a single frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radairots that shoot out the sides. And honestly, I was a little surprised to see that this speaker only has a single tweeter, cause at this point and size its more common to see dual tweeters. But regardless through Bose’s app you can go in and adjust the EQ on this speaker so you can make it sound however you want, and unfortunately, if you use this speaker while its plugged in you are not going to get a performance boost out of it. But with all of that out of the way, we’re going to jump into the soundtest. This speaker is playing at 75% volume while unplugged and we’re going to be cycling between its stock EQ, bass boost and treble boost.
Sound test
So first, in this sound test, I feel that this speaker sounded better on the computer than it did in real life. In real life I feel that this speaker has a lot of bass to it, which is great, but some how it sounds hollow and empty cause the instrumentals are hard to hear. In real life, I feel like Bose’s algorithm is pumping the bass so that you can feel your music, which is what I like, but I also feel that bose is putting an artificial emphasis on the vocals, and sadly the instrumentals are left behind. However, you can go in and adjust the EQ on this speaker and like you may have jut seen, if you increase the bass on this speaker too much, it does start to sound shallow. But personally I do prefer to use this speaker with its bass raised by 4 clicks, but to prevent it from sounding shallow, I pump the treble by 5 clicks. Overall, I think the Bose Soundlink Max sounds good enough to get the job done, and you can work with it to make it sound good, but theres just this hallow effect to it in real life. But then theres the max volume performance on this speaker, the Bose Soundlink max gets decently loud for like an 8 person party and its good for outdoor use. However, for its size and especially its price, the max volume performance on the Bose Soundlink Max does leave a little to be desired… and like I mentioned earlier, even if you were to use this speaker while its plugged in, you’re not going to get a performance boost out of it.
But finally lets talk about pairing this speaker up to other speakers… and sadly its pretty weak. First off, if you go into the Soundlink Max app, grouping option on this app is missing, which is something that you will find on Bose’s other products like the Bose Smart Soundbar 600.
Now if you use a bose product that has this grouping option, then you can connect the Soundlink Max to your Bose product using simple sync… but your other bose product is actually doing the work here. Unfortunately, its doesn’t seem like you can get two Bose Soundlink Max’s and get them to play in left and right stereo mode, and you also cant connect your Soundlink Max to lets say a soundlink flex. Basically, if youre trying to grow you collection of speakers, I wouldn’t recommend the bose Soundlink Max.
So with all of that being said, I like the design and the premium feel of the Bose Soundlink Max, I like that you can charge your own devices through its USB C port and I appreciate that it has an audio jack. But for me, it is hard to recommend and justify this speaker due to its performance to price ratio. The Bose Soundlink Max is a very expensive speaker and I feel that its sound leave a little to be desired in relation to its size and price. This is a speaker that I would only consider if its heavily discounted.