Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Having several Bluetooth speakers I tried to withstand the temptation to buy the latest Soundlink from Bose, but ultimately caved in after reading several reviews noting its superior sound over its predecessor the Soundlink II and how amazed I am with what Bose was able to do with my previous most recent purchase the Soundlink Mini. Now that Bose offers recent releases in the ultraportable in addition to portable category the decision of what speaker to buy has become even more difficult then choosing between the large list of competing companies. I will try my best to help others make an easier decision to avoid spending way too much money on speakers as I have. BUILD and STYLE: Bose is the Apple of Bluetooth speakers. Their designs offer a minimalist, yet refined quality and their latest addition continues this trend just in a different form factor. The craftsmanship is stellar with its wraparound metal grill, nearly matching the Soundlink Mini and exceeding the Soundlink II which has painted plastic for its sides and edges . Despite the different form factor, the size of the Soundlink III is nearly the same as the Soundlink II, which is small enough to be an easy travel companion. Sure the Soundlink Mini is smaller, but really not so much where it makes notable difference when taking on the go. The most obvious omission from the first 2 generations of the speaker is the folding grill cover. Many might find this to be a bigger omission than it actually is. While the folding cover protected the metal grill, the more prone to dings plastic edges and corners are left exposed. That is how I found out the sides are plastic on the Soundlink II and never even realized I had bumped it into anything. The cover that you can purchase for the Soundlink III is similar to the Soundlink Mini's offering superior protection by covering the areas that are most prone to abuse. Style is purely subjective and I find the design quite appealing while not standing out above the Soundlink or my favorite speaker for outdoors, the all metal UE BoomBox. My vote for the best aesthetic design would be for the Soundlink Mini. FEATURES: Bose takes no shame in harnessing all of its efforts toward speaker performance. Features include only those required of speaker operation allowing easy volume adjustment and Bluetooth pairing. Since Bose did not include speakerphone capability for its ultracompact model, it comes with no surprise this one omits that feature as well. Also missing from the Bose lineup that some competitors offer are track and bass/treble controls. There are people who appreciate those features, but I find them useless since they will be controlled from the media player by virtually everyone. One standout feature does exist for the Soundlink Mini and that is its charging plate. It may sound trivial, but the ability to just drop the speaker on the charger rather than dealing with the plug has been a great added convenience and would have liked to have had included with the Soundlink III. As with all Bose speakers, the one feature I would have appreciated seeing would be illuminated control buttons. PERFORMANCE: Sound is obviously the most vital function of the speaker that serves to justify the price of this speaker over the competitors, its sibling or an upgrade from its predecessor. Having never listened to the first Soundlink, the Soundlink II amazed me with its sound quality, particularly the low end such a small speaker was able to put out despite somewhat drowning out the highs and mids when listened to at low to mid volumes. With the release of the MIni once again I was astonished the quality of sound that an even smaller speaker was capable of. The Soundlink II plays louder and Deeper than the Mini, but the Mini holds its own while appealing to a wider audience with more of a neutral sound offering decent bass and brighter midrange. As expected, the Soundlink III is the best sounding of the three, but not standing out so much where it offered that initial wow factor. The Soundlink III combines the deeper bass of the Soundlink II with the brighter midrange of the Mini appealing to a broader audience. The digital sound processor of all these speakers hits the brakes on the bass when listening toward the top of the volume range, but the Soundlink III plays considerably louder than the Mini and slightly yet noticeably louder than the Soundlink II before the low end drops off. The biggest upgrade on paper of the Soundlink III is its 14 hours battery life. This will certainly be of value to some, but I rarely have I had the need to plug in either the Mini or Soundlink II and have had each play next to the bed overnight on low volume without ever running out of juice. CONCLUSION: The addition of the Soundlink Mini in Bose's lineup was a bit of a surprise to me because of how small and portable the already existing Soundlink II was. Although not as loud as its bigger brothers, the Mini is the biggest marvel by the bass and volume generated from such a diminutive package. That being said, the Soundlink III really is small enough to be just as portable and capable of filling larger areas with music. Which of the two is a better purchase relative to price depends mostly on where you plan to use it. The Soundlink Mini is quite capable of filling a small to medium sized room such as a bedroom or bathroom with music packing some oomph, but the waves don't carry enough for larger areas such as family rooms or outdoors, particularly the lower range. Whereas, the Soundlink III is well suited for small to large rooms like family rooms and basement and does well outdoors, although I still use the UE Boombox outside as it has even deeper bass necessary to keep the low end that has the most difficult time carrying in wide open spaces. So, if bathroom or nightstand listening is your primary purpose then the MIni would be a better option to save $100, but if you want something that is a little more versatile then the Soundlink III is well worth the extra $100. If you have the Soundlink II it probably is not worth spending the $300 to upgrade unless you absolutely have to have the latest and greatest (I'm guilty), really desire a fuller sound range or find yourself listening to music frequently without an outlet for long durations. Hope this review helps someone make the right decision.