As befitting the Bose brand, the $219 SoundLink Home Bluetooth speaker combines premium looks and sound. We like its appealing design, balanced audio response, and support for both Bluetooth wireless and USB wired connections. However, its lack of Wi-Fi means you can't easily add it to a multi-speaker home, and without a companion app, you can't tweak the sound or settings to your taste. For less money, the $199.99 Edifier D32 is equally elegant, delivers high-quality audio, and supports Wi-Fi for more connection options, making it our Editors’ Choice, though it's far less portable than the SoundLink Home.
Design: Clean Lines
The Bose SoundLink Home is designed to look classy wherever you put it. The build quality makes it feel like a piece of hardware designed to last, befitting the Bose brand. The speaker has a metal frame that extends beneath the bottom and acts as a stand. The main body is covered with textile materials, and you'll also find nylon and plastic design elements. It's available in black or gray. We received the black model for testing.
The speaker measures 4.3 by 8.5 by 2.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 2 pounds. It's easy to move around your home, though it's a bit heavy to toss into a bag and carry around. The Edifier is much bigger, comparatively, at 6.4 by 9.8 by 7.0 inches and 6.7 pounds; it's meant to stay at home.
The left side of the SoundLink's frame houses a USB-C port, which is used for charging and USB audio. On top, a selection of physical controls runs from one side to the other. The controls include a power button, a Bluetooth button, a volume rocker, and a multi-function button for controlling playback. Press the multi-function button once to play or pause audio, twice to skip forward, or three times to skip back. You can also use the speaker for calls. One press of the multi-function button will answer or end a call, while a press-and-hold declines an incoming call.
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The Bose SoundLink Home connects wirelessly through Bluetooth 5.3 and supports multipoint pairing to connect two sources. You can also connect your audio source directly via the USB port. The speaker has only a single driver, and Bose doesn't disclose its size or frequency range.
Despite its premium look and feel, the speaker has some notable omissions. Primarily, it doesn't support Wi-Fi connections of any kind. This means you can't stream music to the speaker from services like Spotify Connect, nor can you add it to a group of wireless speakers in a multi-room system. It also doesn't support any kind of voice control or assistant, like Amazon Alexa. Further, the speaker lacks an IP rating and is not waterproof. Bose even cautions against using it in the bathroom. Last, it doesn't work with the Bose app, which would allow for customization, such as reassigning buttons or adjusting the EQ. For comparison, the Edifier D32 supports Wi-Fi and Apple AirPlay 2, can be set up in a multi-room audio system, and has a companion app.
You can connect two SoundLink Home speakers to create a stereo effect called Stereo Mode, but you must do so manually using a combination of button presses. You initiate pairing with a second speaker for Stereo Mode by holding down the Bluetooth and power buttons of the main speaker, followed by pressing the Bluetooth and volume down buttons on the second speaker. Though you can connect your phone and a second speaker to the main unit, I found using Stereo Mode in this arrangement yielded a buggy connection. The speaker-to-speaker connection stabilized and sounded better when I switched to a wired connection between my phone and the speaker via the USB-C port.
The speaker's battery lasts 9 hours on a full charge, which is somewhat low for its size. The Edifier, which is far more powerful, lasts 11 hours per charge. Bose doesn't provide guidance on how long it takes for the speaker to recharge.
The box includes only a USB-A-to-USB-C cable for charging.
Sound: Powerful Bass and Clean Highs
Simply put, the Bose SoundLink Home sounds wonderful. Given its relatively compact size, it provides impressive audio, and of course, it’s even better when paired with a second SoundLink Home in Stereo Mode. However, at $438 for a pair, we don’t expect many buyers will choose two Bose SoundLink Home speakers over the wide range of paired stereo speakers available at that price point. There are no sound profiles or alternate listening modes with the SoundLink: you simply turn it on and listen.
I was impressed with the speaker's bass response. On tracks that rely on deep bass, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the SoundLink provides plenty of weight to the bass synths and kick drum. While the kick drum and bass synth are deep, the speaker struggles to reproduce most of the sub-bass content in the track, but that's to be expected given its size. You do need to actively listen for the sub-bass to realize it's missing, as the speaker has no trouble producing anything above 60Hz. It offers solid clarity in the higher frequencies, which helps make elements like the percussion and lead synth cut through the mix.
The lack of deep sub-bass is more apparent on a track like Kendrick Lamar's "Loyalty," which relies heavily on sub-bass tones to round out the track during the chorus. These tones were mostly inaudible. Everything else about the track sounds clean and present, including the percussion and Lamar and Rihanna's vocals.
Meanwhile, the speaker seemed purpose-built for a track like Bill Callahan's "Drover." Here, everything from the driving kick drum to Callahan's rich vocals to the sparkling cymbals in the high end is reproduced clearly. This track, in particular, brings out the SoundLink's tuning. It's relatively bass-heavy, with a slight dip in some mid-frequencies, but that's typical of consumer-grade speakers. Regardless, this track, which doesn't have any sub-bass frequencies, sounds powerful.
Orchestral tracks like the opening scene of John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary have a rich, full sound. It feels like some of the low strings are dialed back slightly, but not by much, and it certainly doesn't take away from the overall listening experience. Everything else in the mix sounds balanced, with the brass shining brightly and the vocals delivering a full-bodied presence.
The speaker has a microphone that you can use for calls when paired with your phone. It's serviceable for voice calls. It introduces minor Bluetooth artifacts to the signal but has no problem capturing your voice.
Verdict: Bose Nails the Basics
In classic Bose fashion, the SoundLink Home sounds excellent, offering surprising bass response for its size while still providing plenty of detail in the high end. It's a handsome speaker and the modern design allows it to blend into most settings. The lack of Wi-Fi limits its appeal potential to a degree, and without an app, there's no way to customize the experience. For $20 less, the Edifier D32 is much larger and less portable than the SoundLink Home, but it offers similarly rich sound, Wi-Fi connectivity, a companion app, and better battery life, making it our Editors' Choice.
While it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity, the Bose SoundLink Home speaker has a stylish modern design and sounds better than much of the Bluetooth competition.
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