When sound quality and consistency matter – Bose SoundLink Flex Review

Bose SoundLink Flex Review – Many bought portable Bluetooth speakers due to its portability. Being able to listen to music together anywhere while working or partying sounds really good to boost the mood, right? But what if you can also get great and consistent sound quality? Wouldn’t that be nicer?

Bose SoundLink Flex does just that. It’s a portable Bluetooth speaker with a compact, yet rugged design but at the same time, has the sound quality that you’d love coming from Bose.

Bose SoundLink Flex Review – Packaging

Bose SoundLink Flex Review – Design and Features

While Bose is very popular with their Active Noise Cancelling headphones (check my review on the QC45, QC35 II, QC35), they have also been making portable speakers for different needs and situations. Back in 2017/2018, Bose SoundLink Micro (also check my review out) came to light and it’s a perfect speaker for outdoor activities like cycling, hiking, or climbing. Its dimensions are pretty small – hence the “Micro” name.

The SoundLink Flex is bigger and different. It’s still portable enough to carry around easily, but it is more versatile and flexible. You can position the speaker anywhere or anyhow you want, and its built-in PositionIQ technology can automatically adjust to optimise the sound. You may have it standing on a desk or cabinet at home, hang it on your backpack’s carabiner while commuting, and then in an upright position while you are working due to the compact space. The tech will auto-detect and make sure you get the same, consistent sound quality.

Obviously, whether you notice the difference or not, it depends on how good you are when listening to sound. Despite of whether you can notice it, Bose SoundLink Flex does have big sound and the deep Bass you love from Bose’s audio devices. If you need a speaker to energise your day and enhance your work mood, this is definitely it. The first thing I noticed when I first turned it on and played a song was definitely how satisfying the Bass was.

Overall though, the sound is pretty crisp and well-balanced with a bit of a kick from the Bass, and manage to fill in our small living room and nursery pretty well. While the Flex is bigger than the Micro, it still is a compact speaker. So you can’t really compare it to a bigger speaker like my Sonos PLAY:5 for example, or even a smaller (but bigger than the SoundLink Flex) portable speaker like the JBL Xtreme 3 that we used often here at home. The JBL’s is definitely louder and sounds more powerful, but I like the balance and tone of the SoundLink Flex more.

Design wise, Bose SoundLink Flex has a silicon finish at the back that feels soft to the touch, and comes in three different colours: Black, White Smoke, and Stone Blue (which is my review unit here). It also has an IP67 rating which means it’s waterproof and dustproof as well.

In real life examples, this means that it’s safe to carry the SoundLink Flex to the beach (it’s even resistant to rust corrosion and UV light), pool parties, and even for kayaking. I haven’t tried this myself but the speaker can float on water so if you are kayaking and there is an accident, the speaker won’t take a deep dive to the bottom of the ocean floor. It will float and even still has your music playing.

All controls are located at the top of the speaker, including playback, volume, and Bluetooth pairing.

Connectivity wise, the speaker only supports Bluetooth at the moment and there is no AUX port to hook a 3.5mm cable in. Bose probably tries to keep it simple and really focuses on making it a wireless, portable, rugged speaker. And it’s definitely quite straightforward to connect to the SoundLink Flex.

If you like, you can get another SoundLink Flex (or other Bose Bluetooth Speaker) and pair them up in Party Mode. A built-in microphone means you can use the speaker for calls and audio conferencing as well.

Bose SoundLink Flex Review Conclusion

Bose SoundLink Flex is an excellent portable Bluetooth speaker that has everything: rugged design, compact, great and well-balanced audio quality, thumping-Bass when needed, and also waterproof + dustproof.

It’s great to see that Bose doesn’t just focus on the portability and ruggedness, but pay more attention to its sound output quality and consistency. The SoundLink Flex cares more about sound than just outputting volume as loud as it can, plus its unique PositionIQ technology means you’ll get great sound no matter where and how you place the speaker.

Bose SoundLink Flex is available now for purchase and retails for A$249.95. Also available at Amazon.com

Disclosure: Bose SoundLink Flex review sample was supplied for reviewing