Customer Ratings & Reviews

My father bought this for me last Christmas so I have owned it for a little over a year. When I opened it I was able to synch it to my iPad without even reading the instructions. The sound was impeccable and the volume is loud and crisp for how small the speaker is. I love the design it is very modern and looks high end. The battery lasts a long time although I usually only keep it off the charger for 1-2 days and use it about 5 hours during that period. My brother has been wanting one after hearing mine and ended up getting one this year. I have no complaints with the purchase.

I LOVE THIS PORTABLE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Received this as a birthday gift and I am blown away. It takes longer to remove the SoundLink Mini from its box than to connect to it and start playing music. DESIGN: Very rigid and durable. The unit is heavier than it looks but that does not affect its portability. The few buttons are clearly marked and input for aux device and power are positioned nicely to the side. The BOSE brand name runs across the entire speaker grill but looks subtle and nice. SOUND: AMAZING!! I really can not explain how awesome the sound is from such a tiny box. I have a large living room with a very tall ceiling and the sound resonates so well that it feels as if you are actually at a concert. Another thing, there is actually bass! Standing next to the product, I could feel the thump thump thump of the bass. TRAVEL: I travel a lot for business!! I ended up purchasing the Bose travel case and throw it into my backpack/carry on. During my travels I can use the SoundLink Mini to play tunes or listen to my "Learn Spanish" podcast. The unit is a great travel companion! BATTERY LIFE: I had it playing for nearly 4 hours and no dead batteries. I am unsure of the length that you can get out of it. Typically I have it plugged in because there is usually an outlet nearby. OVERALL: I highly recommend this product. If you want the superior sound quality of Bose but in an amazing small form factor, the SoundLink Mini is the way to go. Having the capability to connect via Bluetooth with any Bluetooth enabled device is great. Take it with you to the kitchen, bedroom, basement, outside! Hook it up and jam to your songs while working out or just plain working. Everyone who has heard my SoundLink Mini has been blown away.

I was skeptical when buying this product when I first viewed it online. When I received it however, I was absolutely blown away. It was easy to set up, considering all you have to do is charge it first and you're good to go, and second, it was even easier to set up the Bluetooth function. I flipped on Bluetooth on my iPhone, hit the Bluetooth button on the speakers, and "bloop," it made a noise right away telling me I was connected. Once I began playing a song, I was even more impressed. I have a set of speakers four times the size of these and the volume is still just as loud as the larger ones. It's better quality sound too, with killer bass and no distortion at highest volume (on the phone and the speakers). The only thing I wish these speakers had was a light showing you how loud you have the volume or how loud the speakers are currently set. The only thing you have to tell you if the sound is increasing or decreasing when hitting the + and - buttons is to listen. But hey, if that's the only thing I would change about this product, then I'd say, Bose, you did it again. I would also like to quickly mention that when connected by Bluetooth, there's no lagging when you hit pause or play on your phone or other device. When a song is paused and you wish to start it up again, the song starts playing the exact second you hit play. This is something other speaker systems are lacking in that area. Some lag for up to three seconds before pausing or playing a song. Again, well done. These speakers are amazing, especially for the price. In my opinion, this set of Bose competes with all other sets by the same brand. Absolutely fabulous product.

I am a fan of accessorizing, so I bought this in blue. It isn't especially protective if you dropped the Soundlink, but does protect the edges in a minor way. It also gives the Soundlink some traction if you are carrying it.

Decent enough product. It's difficult to get on, but once it's on at least it's secure, I suppose. Nearly impossible to get off without feeling like you're tearing it in half. Here's the problem: It's yellow. Whatever plastics they used to make this, they're not good. I took it out of the box – brand new – and it was ALREADY yellow. I did some research and this has happened to others after 4-6 months, so having it yellow out of the box was unacceptable. Considering the $25 price tag for what is essentially a molded piece of plastic, Bose should have done better than this. Or recalled it. Will return ASAP.

Sounds the best at medium volume. When turned up to full volume the clarity varies from song to song The Bluetooth range is not what I expected with a range of about 10 feet.

We ended up returning this product. It was very hard to fit the Bose speaker into this protector case . we bought a soft cover case instead.

I bought this to replace an original sound link speaker system that is still going strong. I looked at the mini as easier to pack on our dive vacation. I even sprung for the optional case. I did not get a chance to listen to the sound link that I own and the mini side by side, but I think that the mini sounds just as good, is smaller, and costs $100 less. This is a great little system that is very easy to use and has great battery life.

I'm not an audiophile, but I'm picky and generally get picky of my purchases after owning it for a couple weeks. Not so with these speakers. I view these like an Apple product. No earth shattering tech, but they are solid and distinctive and you feel pretty good using them. The details: distinctive and surprising bass. Fairly good fidelity and good sound. Bluetooth: mostly remembers the last couple devices you connect with it when you turn it on. If you only have 1 bluetooth sound device like a phone or tablet, you're fine. We have 5 in our house, and it generally just connects to last device it connected to previously. There is a usb upgrade port that SUCKS because it's hidden behind a quarter cm of aluminum, so no cable can plug into it. wtf. Not that I have to flash it or update it, but why? I wish there was an always on feature. It powers off after a little while, but if it's sitting in powered dock, i wish it would just stay on. In this way, it can be more of a set and forget thing. I turn on my phone and just play music. As it is, I have to wake it up and wait and see if it will connect to my phone or if I have to fiddle with it.

Bose is the best brand in sound, but this speaker does not perform well at its maximum level, price wise there other brands with much better sound

Bought mainly for noisy env like kitchen while cooking but not up to mark for Bose speaker

I recently bought this product as my first bluetooth speaker. I was looking to buy jawbreaker, but this speaker recently came out and the rating was excellent. I'm a big fan of Bose and very pleased with this product. I love the design, sound, and portability. I have tried connecting to the speaker using my macbook, galaxy phone, iphone, and ipads and no disconnection at all. If you think the battery life is too short, you can also buy car charger so you can charge it when you drive. Some people are saying you can't adjust eq., but you can't expect any adjusting for a portable speaker that cost $200. Bose usually has a great sound quality, especially with base and this mini speaker still has that quality. Buy this and try it your own.

It is very thin cover that provides you with another color option. It does was is expected.

All of life should have a sound track. In our house, in our cars, in my offices, traveling for work or family . . . I always have music and demand big, full, loud sound, be it rock, bluegrass, a newscast, or whatever. We've tried every kind of product there is, and keep coming back to Bose. We wanted music around our house from room to room as well as in the kitchen where we tend to gather all the time. My wife wanted something she could listen to while she cooked or while she went to the basement to do laundry, or cleaning from room to room. I wanted music to play in music meetings to demo songs, as well as in my classes as a professor to demonstrate something, or to play a lecture, sermon, a FaceTime - whatever. The point is we use this and the Soundlink II everywhere and had never seen a product that played music well, wirelessly, was easy as well as tough, had long battery life, and sounded great. This Mini does all of these things. I really stood speechless as I tried style after stye, streaming from my Mac, or my iPad, or iPhone via Bluetooth. I can't believe how big and full this unit plays music. I don't think you could possibly ask for better quality out of such a small speaker. (You should also try the Soundlink II, a little bigger but still easily slips into a computer bag or briefcase). The reviews here and all over the internet say the same thing - before hearing it in action, no one expected such a huge, full sound with big bass out of such a small package. I demand rich (and loud), full sound, and never thought I'd get it from anything called "mini," since "mini" in audio always meant "mini sound" and "clock radio." That's not the case here. Just go to BB and try one. We bought this as well as a Soundlink II after testing one out at a friend's house. Both are amazing, truly portable anywhere there's bluetooth (many of the wifi units don't come with Bluetooth, so don't assume) and look great, especially the Mini since it looks like it is made from the same metal as a MacBook Pro. It's all metal, is heavier than you think--feels solid--yet slips into the available case and into my computer bag before I go anywhere. (If you take it outside of the house then spring for the protective black too.) Some people kind of roll their eyes at all the Bose loyalists, and end up going with something else to be different. To each his own. But there's a reason why every BB employee I asked at our local store said that they own one of these and love it. There's a reason why the BB customer rating for these is 4.8 out of 5, and it's not due to "Bose hype." Some of the hype is deserved. At least go try it. It looks great, sounds amazing, is way easy to operate, and can be played anywhere you and your phone are. It can even be used as an external TV speaker via the 3.5mm input (if your TV has that kind of out). Anyhow, we tried every kind, and after weeks of research, reading reviews, and test drives, we bought the Mini and the Soundlink II (over the SoundTouch 20 and 20 Portable, and the Sonos offerings). We love these products. Our home is filled with music! Rich, full sound!

Sound quality not good! ! Not loud enough either, i thought Bose was top of the line! Not this item! !

I have quite a collection of portable bluetooth speakers that include the Beats Pill, UE Boom, JamBox Big, a cheap no-name option, and now this. I am continually choosing to use the SoundLink Mini over my other options. It offers excellent high and low end response, much better than anything else I have tested. The UE Boom handles mids better but not by much, I think the SoundLink Mini has better balanced sound whereas the UE Boom sounds shallow due to its lack of bass. The only bluetooth speaker I have, which is able to outdo the SoundLink Mini in terms of sheer volume, is the JamBox Big. That is a $300 speaker though and it's to be expected. The UE Boom does get noticeably louder than the SoundLink Mini but it tends to distort the audio, especially bass-heavy music. I played a Rammstein song and the UE Boom sounded as if it was going to blow up while the SoundLink Mini handled everything with ease. Bose engineers were able to get more out of the SoundLink Mini compared to Ultimate Ear (now a Logitech company) as the Mini and Boom use a very similar setup. The construction of the SoundLink Mini is very solid and looks like it came right off of an Apple assembly line. The speaker will easily blend in with an office desk, dorm room, bedroom, or kitchen and still look sophisticated. The only negative aspect regarding the use of brushed aluminum is that it can scratch, that is why I recommend buying one of Bose's soft covers along with this. I do have a few complaints regarding this. First, the price is a little hefty for the amount of features that this has. I have become used to adjusting the volume of a bluetooth speaker using the volume adjustment on my iPhone. The UE Boom and JamBox Big are both like this. The volume on my iPhone controls the volume that the speakers play at. It's a nice feature so I don't always have to keep hitting buttons on top of the speaker just to turn things slightly up or down. Plus it allows me to be in the kitchen and change the volume while the speaker is on my porch. The SoundLink Mini does not have this feature though. At $200, I think it should be standard. The battery life is also short. Both the UE Boom and JamBox Big are able to squeeze 15 hours out of a single charge. Although the SoundLink Mini is the same size as the UE Boom, it lasts for half of that. I would have been OK with a 10 hour run time (at least enough to match my iPad mini) but I normally get about 6.5-7 hours out of a single charge. Lastly, this does not have speakerphone capabilities. I have never used any of my bluetooth speakers as speakerphones so I could care less but that is important to some people. Some people complain about the lack of micro-USB charging with the Mini. I think that the charging cradle Bose includes with every speaker is much better than relying on either a hefty proprietary charging setup (like the AC adapter that comes with the JamBox Big and Beats Pill) or having yet another generic USB charger in my collection. The charging cradle is dead-simple to use and, at the end of the day, I normally just plop my speaker into that (with the soft cover on). It's really convenient and I think outweighs the lack of USB charging. Bose also includes a small AC adapter that can fold to take up less space. It's about 1/4 the size of my iPhone 5. The SoundLink Mini has a micro-USB port for firmware updates and I really hope Bose adds more features (mainly volume adjustment on a device and a battery indicator icon in the iOS/Android task bar) down the line. Right now the features are a little short, especially when compared to the UE Boom, JamBox, or JamBox big. It is easily the best sounding $200 bluetooth speaker but I have to knock the score for those couple of aspects. I would have preferred if Bose made the unit a little heavier and bigger so that a larger battery could be included. If you favor sound quality, I can fully recommend the SoundLink Mini. It is portable enough to take anywhere and has the best sound from a speaker in the $200-$250 price category. However, if you are looking for something that has more features and can take more of a beating, I recommend going with the UE Boom. It is water resistant and has every feature that is missing from the SoundLink Mini. Bose may eventually get there but Logitech (and even Jawbone) are already implementing those features into their speakers now. I still chose to use the SoundLink Mini on a daily basis as I value sound quality over everything else. It is small enough that I can throw it in my backpack without noticing or even a cargo pocket on my shorts without issues. Bose can improve things over time and I hope they do.

It is ok to protect some areas of your speaker...not the best one, but at least is something.

I did lots of research looking for a bluetooth speaker that would meet my specifications. I wanted good range, long battery life, easy use, and of course great sound quality. The Bose Soundlink Mini doesn't disappoint on any of these points. We had guests over the other day and they were astounded that the quality sound they were hearing was coming from this tiny speaker. We also used it for over 7 hours and its battery never gave out. Yes it is expensive and having a protective cover as an additional purchase seems a bit chincy, but the sound quality is awesome. Only important note is that the speaker doesn't deliver big volume. I suspect that Bose engineers focused on sound quality at a respectable volume instead of distoration at big volume. So, if you want to really crank it opt for the Bose Soundlink and don't go mini.

The Bose Soundlink Mini has Great sound and is a true testiment of the production quality of Bose. I was able to test it at a Best Buy location with my wife. The connectivity of the unit to my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and my wife's iPhone was quick. Like any other bluetooth connection, the sound began to get choppy at approximately 30 feet from the speaker. The sound was clear, crisp producing sharp highs and strong lows for such a compact speaker. The Soundlink Mini's battery is not internal and can be replaced if it goes bad. The Soundlink Mini is an excerllent travel companion because of its size and small enough to be carried in the hand during a stroll at night. The sound that comes out of this small package can't be put into words. It is a must test and see, and with a price of $200, you will see, test and purchase. For all us gadget lovers, this is a must have for the collection.