Customer Ratings & Reviews

#1 feature about this speaker is that it’s waterproof. Pictures are worth a thousand words so they speak for themselves. I wouldn’t recommend it, but I had this strapped to my bag and accidentally dropped it into the river for like 30 seconds while kayaking, but to my surprise it was still playing the entire time. The name micro is misleading because it fits perfectly in my palm and sound quality is solid. Sound starts fading out at peak so best to keep volume below 80-85% to keep it crisp and balance. It has better than average bass for a speaker this size, but don’t expect too much out of it. I like the durable tear resistant strap and the outer shell design. So far, I haven’t encountered any problem with strapping it to my bag or bike, but to the on the safe side I would loop another strap around it because it’s not a cheap speaker and I wouldn’t want to lose it. Batter life has been great for me ranging ~5 hours continuously playing. Make sure to download Bose Connect to get the best out of it because it offers “party mode” in which you can connect multiple speakers together. Unfortunately, I am the only one in my group that has this speaker so I don’t get to use this functionality, yet.

Terrible purchase. Wasted $400. The Power button is FLIMSY and WEAK. I pressed the button too hard and heard the plastic break and fall into the speaker. Now it is un-usuable. There is also no remote or automatic bluetooth turn on functionality so now the speaker has become a brick. I only owned it for 7 months. And trying to replace it with BOSE now, the serial number is printed so poorly they cannot recognize the ID. Please don’t waste your money and time with this poorly made product.

This little speaker is great. I like to use it while riding my bike. I attach it to my handlebars and roll out. It’s loud and has good full sound considering the size.

It's a GREAT portable speaker the quality of the sound and the loudness is remarkable they can hear me coming 5 cars away AWESOME!!!!!!!

Bose Rock's Bose a very good company I recommended to anyone going to get the speaker it's a very good speaker

It sounds so nice for such a small speaker love it

Love love the beautiful sound with this Bose speaker. Bose is always a good purchase!

Great speaker. This is the second time the power button has broken. Only had it about 2 months and already having to go back and get it replaced.

These are my best portable speakers I’ve ever bought. Much louder than I remember testing them at the store and the connected is easy. It stays next to my bedroom window. Definitely thinking of getting a second one.

This small speaker performs exactly to the expectations of what Bose has always been. Great sound quality.

Excellent compact travel speaker with very good sound quality

This speaker's sound is elite. The battery is ok but after just 5 months the sound is distorted and crackling speakers. I'm sad.

Pros: Excellent Range Powerful sound and lightweight. Cons: No carrying case Charging cord very short

The Verdict: The Bose SoundLink Max Speaker is without a doubt incredible. If you are an audiophile like me, this is a must-have speaker. I have had many Bose products through the years and they never disappoint. This latest portable SoundLink Max has the word “Max” in its name for a reason. Setup Setup is simple, straightforward, and very intuitive. When I received the speaker, it was about halfway charged and took a few hours to charge up to full. Once charged up, pairing it to my iPhone was easy and I also paired it with a computer via Bluetooth. It retains the connection well and pairs right back up when you power it back on, provided the paired device is close enough. While not required, the Bose App gives you a lot of additional functionality and settings. I would highly recommend using the app to tweak your speaker to your ears’ liking. More on that below. Use I can’t say enough how incredible this little speaker is. The form factor is the perfect size for portability and it doesn’t weigh as much as you’d think given the amazing sound it produces. This speaker takes bass to the MAX – it will literally rattle your windows like a small earthquake if you turn the bass all the way up via the app. The sound is rich, full, and sounds like it is coming from a speaker 3-4 times the size of this little mini MAX. As I mentioned before, the app, while not required, should really be downloaded and utilized. It not only allows you to manage the EQ settings, but allows for Firmware/Software updates, registration/warranty support (if you ever need it), Battery life has been outstanding. I’ve been using this speaker often for nearly 5 days and I’m still at over 50 percent charged – very impressive. I currently have it placed in a bathroom (separate from the shower) for listening to music in the morning while showering. It’s sound is powerful enough even though it’s in a separate room. While you can control just about anything and everything from either the app or whatever device you connect via Bluetooth, my only wish is that this speaker came with a remote. I realize this is designed mainly to be a portable speaker, but I would be willing to pay a little more for a remote. I would highly recommend this speaker to anyone looking for a high quality, reasonably priced portable speaker with outstanding sound quality.

Its handy and have a good sound on it the battery last long too..

I own several Bluetooth speakers but this one Takes The Cake, specs say 6hr batt. life but I get twice that at least, plays for a constant 10hr shift, and most of the next, I Love This Thing

The Bose SoundLink Max is the latest iteration to the SoundLink family, a well respected line up of portable Bluetooth speakers. Does this one live up the name, and as its own name suggests, provide the Maximum experience? Lets take a listen and find out. The packaging is clean and straightforward, with an emphasis on minimal use of plastic or Styrofoam. Refreshingly, the speaker comes with both a USB-C cable and a high wattage charger, bucking a recent trend of not including chargers with products. Other than those two items, some basic documentation, and the speaker, there is nothing else in the box. The speaker itself looks like a grown up version of the SoundLink Flex. It has side grilles for the passive radiators, a set of buttons on the top, and the carrying handle. It’s an understated design with no flashing lights or other gimmicks, which is what a speaker should be, in my opinion. The Blue Dusk color is very on trend and looks great. Inside, the speaker features two woofers and a tweeter, and does support stereo sound, which is nice to not have to link two smaller speakers together. It also supports Bluetooth 5.4, finally moving the line away from the older Bluetooth 4 standards. Another nice include is an analog audio input, letting you connect it to any number of devices, like a turntable if you are hopping on the vintage audio trend of late. You can also use the battery in the speaker to reverse charge your phone or other device by plugging it into the USB-C port. I do wish there were dust covers on the ports to keep sand and liquids out of them, especially the aux input port. If you are going to take it outside you might want to get a couple of dust plugs for the ports to keep stuff out of there. After charging the speaker the recommendation is to connect it and use the Bose app to configure things like the EQ, apply any product updates, and customize the shortcut button. Weirdly, the shortcut button right now has just two options – configure it to switch to the line in input, or be kind of an oddly hacked up interface only for Spotify. I left it at input switching. You don’t have to use the Bose app if you don’t want to, but a few controls do require connecting it to the app from time to time. After connecting, it’s time for a listen. It’s immediate that this by far has the most bass of any SoundLink speaker to date. It’s not room shaking, as there are limits to the size and power of a portable speaker, but it is present for sure. It also has a very wide stereo sound stage, remarkably so for a smaller speaker, especially at the sweet spot of about 4-5 feet away. Bose is claiming they are using some of their virtual surround enhancements normally reserved for a soundbar in here, and there is kind of an uncanny depth to some audio tracks that does sound more like a surround sound setup than just stereo. It may also lead to kind of an overprocessed sound on occasion, with Charle Puth’s “Left and Right” (which I used to test the stereo separation) having an oddly distorted sound at some moments in the drums. This could either be an issue with the track’s encoding or how the speaker is processing it, and Bose may still be working the kinks out of how their sound processing works with this specific speaker. I found the speaker with the default EQ to be a little bright and actually a little lacking in bass when used outside. I tuned the EQ to +5 bass and -2 treble to find what I found to be a more balanced sound. It can get SUPER loud at full volume. Overall, it sounds good, which at this premium price point, it should. As anyone with other SoundLink speakers know, one feature of the SoundLink family is the ability to link SoundLink speakers together in a “party mode” to spread sound around a space. Sadly, this speaker, despite the name SoundLink, does not actually link to any of its SoundLink cousins. In fact, it uses the Bose app, not the Bose Connect app, so it sits outside of the SoundLink line and only seems to share the name and the look. That said, this speaker is quite capable of filling a space with sound on its own, and having stereo means you don’t need two speakers linked together for stereo sound. You can link it to some other Bose smart speakers as well, but it's still a little odd that the SoundLink Max can’t link to the other SoundLink speakers. Overall, this is an expensive, premium portable speaker that punches well above its size. Showing up at a party with it or using it when you have guests over will almost certainly get comments about how much sound is coming out of this still relatively compact package. Portable, modern Bluetooth and charging capabilities, and still having an analog input make for a well rounded speaker that will keep your party rocking for hours.

I love this little guy, but you could get by with a JBL Go3

Let me just say wow, I’m blown away by the sound of this speaker. No matter what genre of music I played it sounded great. There’s two small speakers on the sides & one large across the front. It’s small enough to fit on a countertop & it rumbled the countertop & cabinets. Setup was very easy, it synced with my iPhone immediately. I still have an iPod but I wasn’t able to sync it with that. Volume controls, Bluetooth & play/pause buttons are on the top of the speaker but can also be controlled using the app. I already have the Bose app so finding the Soundlink Max was easy. There’s an equalizer in the app for bass, treble, bass boost, etc. but it sounded great right out of the box. I added a little extra bass & treble & it sounds amazing. The range is good too, I walked through my house while using Bluetooth & there was no cutting out or lost connection, you can also use it while it’s charging. So far battery life is good & I used it for a few hours today. This is very sturdy & well made, even has a rope holding the handle on. I got the Blue dusk & it’s a beautiful color. My only complaint would be that it’s very heavy! I weighed it & it’s almost 5 lbs., not sure I’d want to carry it for a long time! Other than the weight it’s an awesome speaker for parties, picnics. Highly recommend!

I'm old enough to remember when Bose was new to the mainstream commercial market and a home that had their Wave system was 'high-falutin'. I cut my teeth on Bose products when I finally had money of my own and was stepping into the audiophile world. I quickly moved past Bose into the ethereal realms of speakers and headphones, but always had a soft spot for Bose, even though it seemed like they were consistently getting beat at their own game. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear Bose come out swinging with the SoundLink Max. TL:DR - It deserves to be on the shortlist for anyone looking for an outstanding portable bluetooth speaker. It's the first portable BT speaker to even come close to acing my audiophile test playlist. Here is what I like about the SoundLink Max: Sound Quality: I kinda feel like this has taken a back seat for a lot of portable BT speakers as of late. Many people prioritize the portability or battery life of a system over pure sound quality. Understandable since if you can't take it with you, or if it doesn't play long enough, the quality really doesn't matter. You don't have to compromise on sound with the SoundLink Max. Even though I stopped chasing the holy grail of audiophile sound (it got WAY too expensive), I do still utilize my test playlist with all my new sound gear, and the Max is the first portable bluetooth speaker I've owned that could even come close to nailing each test. Everything from depth, impact, focus, transients, and resonance were spectacular. Of course it can't get proper separation due to the closeness of the speakers (but a paired set might just do it), but no single point system can do that. The only test that it even tripped over was part of the bass response, and I'm having trouble isolating whether that is an actual issue with the speaker or if it is something else. On some dance/R&B tracks with certain bass segments, there is a 'stutter' in one frequency set. It's weird, and it only pops up in certain songs. It could very well be an artifact from processing or the original production. Other than that, the SoundLink Max has an impressively controlled bass response which has usually been a weak point for BT speakers and Bose in particular. Looks: My wife loves the Blue Dusk color and the SoundLink Max design itself is simple and clean. I don't need disco lights nor do I need it to look like some alien spaceship. I also dig the rope handle, which I guess can be swapped out for a longer shoulder rope strap but that's not for me. Battery Life: Bose says you get 20 hours at moderate volume, but I spent six hours with the audiophile test and just regular music yesterday and a good three hours so far this morning just working in my office and the speaker is still reporting 100%! Now I hope that's not an error with the software but the weight of this speaker makes me think that it has some solid battery capacity built into it. Charge Capability: Unlike a few portable speakers I've utilized lately, the SoundLink Max will charge your phone if you plug it into the USB-C port. Always a nice feature. Durability/IP Rating: The Bose SoundLink Max feels solid and sturdy, plus the rubberized coating all lead you to feel that it can take some abuse and still keep rocking. That, and the fact that you can replace the handle if needed, all give me a good feeling that I'll be using this speaker for years to come. The solid IP67 (and weirdly secondary IP64) rating also mean that this is a great speaker to take out and about, whether it is to the pool, beach, desert, or wherever you may roam. Phone App: Simple and clean. Always appreciate that. What I don't like as much (but none are very big issues): Weight: Despite being a relatively compact speaker, you could probably do some serious damage to someone if you were to swing this at them. Perhaps Bose should consider marketing it as a self-defense item or perhaps a stylish exercise weight. It's nothing egregious, but it has some heft to it. Equalizer: While I appreciate that the app is clean and simple, and that the equalizer is easy to adjust, I would appreciate some better presets, or better yet, the ability to save my own. Hopefully this will come out in a future app update. I am VERY happy with the Soundlink Max and I look forward to years of great sounding music no matter where I may be.