A Portable Bluetooth Speaker Packing a Punch

Instead of keeping music to yourself with headphones, a portable Bluetooth speaker allows everyone to rock out, whether you’re at a party or somewhere else. While costing a bit more than the competition, the second-generation Bose SoundLink Flex boasts great sound and a nice design.

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Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen)

$119 $149 Save
$30

The second-generation Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth speaker provides a nice mix of high-quality sound and a rugged design that will help you take it almost anywhere. Along with up to 12 hours of battery life, there is a built-in fabric piece to help you easily attach it to a backpack or something else. The speaker is also waterproof and dustproof. 

Pros

• Great sound with strong bass
• 12 hour battery life
• Rugged, waterproof design
• Sound will adjust depending on what position the speaker is in
• Shortcut button is handy to use

Cons

• Expensive compared to other similar options
• Silicone exterior accumulates dust

Price and Availability

The second-generation Bose SoundLink Flex retails for $149 and is available at Amazon, Bose, and other retailers. You can select from a black, blue, tan, and sage color.

A Compact and Rugged Design

The SoundLink Flex sits firmly in the middle of the SoundLink lineup, between the smaller Micro and larger Max. It clocks in at a little less than 8 inches long and 3.5 inches tall, so the speaker can easily fit in one hand, especially with a light weight of just 1.3 pounds. I could easily pack the speaker in my smaller backpack without it taking up a ton of room.

The left side of the speaker has a USB-C port for charging. Unfortunately, unlike some other smaller Bluetooth speakers, you can’t use the speaker to charge your smartphone or other devices in a pinch. The right side sports a strong nylon loop, so you can easily attach a lanyard and strap the speaker to your backpack or something else on the go.

The control buttons are on top of the speaker. With a press, you can turn the speaker on, pair it to a Bluetooth device, adjust the volume, and play/pause music. There is also a Shortcut button that can be customized using the companion Bose app. All of the buttons are slightly depressed and easy to push.

The sides and rear are covered with soft-touch silicone. The black version I tested looks great, but the only downside is that the material quickly accumulates dust that needs to be occasionally wiped off. There are three other colors you can select from.

Along with the nice design, the speaker boasts an IP67 rating. That means the SoundLink Flex can be placed in water up to 3 feet deep for up to 30 minutes. It is also dust-tight.

So, while you shouldn’t toss the speaker in the pool, a rainstorm or other run-in with water shouldn’t be a problem. I even used a wet washcloth to clean the speaker when it was dirty.

Battery life is also another plus. You can go for up to 12 hours of music playback on a single charge. I usually got around that mark in my testing, playing music at a reasonable volume indoors. If you want to party outdoors and turn the volume up, the battery won’t last as long. At maximum volume, Bose says you’ll only get 3 hours of playback on a single charge.

If that’s a problem, you can always provide full-time power by plugging it into any USB-C or USB-A port.

Great Sound Quality

Sound quality is likely to be one of the most important factors when looking for a Bluetooth speaker. And the SoundLink Flex passes with flying colors.

In my weeks of testing, I used the speaker to listen to almost anything I could find—everything from podcasts to TV shows and, obviously, music. I was consistently impressed with how good the sound was from a speaker as small as the SoundLink Flex.

With music, the bass was strong but not overwhelming or obvious like with similar speakers. Other sound was just as good. Songs like Rolling Stone’s Paint it Black really shined when playing indoors. Lyrics were also crisp and clear.

Even when listening to other audio besides music, I could always understand the dialogue, even at lower volume levels. The results when listening to music outside were not as impressive, but still very good.

The sweet spot of volume level was around 50%. After that, dialogue and lyrics became much more muddled, and bass seemed to overtake songs.

One of the speaker’s unique features is PositionIQ, which is designed to provide the best possible sound quality no matter how the speaker is oriented. For the most part, it seemed to work well. I listened to the same music with different speaker orientations and couldn’t discern any real difference.

Along with placing it in the usual orientation, small indentations on the back of the speaker allow you to easily place it with the back on a surface to help blast sound. Doing that was a big help to increase the sound, especially when outside.

To make it easy to connect to different devices, you can store up to six options in the speaker device list. You can also actively connect to two devices simultaneously, but you can only play audio from a single device. It was nice to be able to store my iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time re-pairing.

You can also use the SoundLink Flex as a speaker to place and take phone calls. Sound quality was passable, but callers on the other end of the conversation said I consistently sounded muddled and difficult to understand.

Use the Companion App for More Customization

Make sure to download the companion Bose app, available on iPhone and Android, to make the most of the SoundLink Flex.

There are two major features in the app. The first is the custom equalizer. You can easily adjust the bass, mid, and treble to find the best sound for you. If you don’t know where to begin, select from a few preset EQ options to boost and reduce bass and treble.

The app is where you go to select what action will occur when you press the Shortcut button on the speaker. There are three different options. You can use it to link two Bose Bluetooth speakers together for more sound. Alternatively, you can use the bottom to control your smartphone’s voice assistant.

My favorite option is only for Spotify subscribers. Pressing the button automatically resumes the last song you were playing on Spotify. Another press brings up recommended tunes from the subscription service. It was nice to quickly start my Spotify music with the button without needing to open the app.

Should You Buy the Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen)?

I’ve been strongly impressed with the second-generation Bose SoundLink Flex. Bose has always been known for top-notch sound quality, which continues with this great Bluetooth speaker. With the companion app, you can easily create the perfect sound profile for you and customize the handy Shortcut button. Along with great battery life, it’s designed to easily travel to any place outdoors. Even though you might pay a bit more, all of those great qualities make it worth the cost.

Your changes have been saved

Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen)

$119 $149 Save
$30

The second-generation Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth speaker provides a nice mix of high-quality sound and a rugged design that will help you take it almost anywhere. Along with up to 12 hours of battery life, there is a built-in fabric piece to help you easily attach it to a backpack or something else. The speaker is also waterproof and dustproof.