
Just after the reveal of its next-generation flagship earbuds, Bose debuted and launched its all-new SoundLink Plus portable speaker. We have had a couple weeks to put it to the test to see if that $269 price of entry is worth it, and without giving up too many spoilers, it very much is if you can appreciate a minimalist speaker that sounds great but doesn’t come with many extras.
Hands-on: Bose SoundLink Plus portable speaker review

The new Bose SoundLink Plus portable speaker comes in Black and Blue Dusk for $269 over at Amazon, and you’ll find the limited edition Citrus Yellow color for the same price directly from the Bose site.
Features at a glance:
- Premium portable design
- Powder-coated steel grille
- Bold, resonant audio with booming bass
- Water and dustproof (IP67)
- Up to 20 hours of battery life
- USB-C port to charge other devices
- 9.1′′wide x 3.9′′high x 3.4′′ deep
- Weighs 3.29 pounds
9to5Toys’ Take

The short-form takeaways for me on the new Bose SoundLink Plus are that you are looking at one gorgeous speaker with a wonderful build quality that sounds great, and not much more. There’s no high-tech features and not much more than your usual Bluetooth speaker connectivity options, but this is perhaps the point.
First let’s talk about the build. I really have nothing bad to say here. This one, much like the larger, bass-heavy SoundLink Max, features a wonderful build. Combining metals, a powder-coated steel grille, and hits of silicone, the whole thing screams quality as soon as you get it into your hands. Soft to the touch but rugged on the inside, you’ll find smoothly beveled edge work joined by a rounded modern design, a rubbery footing to keep things stable on the table top, and a overall clean design.
There’s no surprises here, Bose just about always delivers on this front, and by comparison to some of its older releases I have in the office here, the quality of the actual frame and build has just gotten better.
You’ll find a higher-quality “rugged utility rope loop” attached to the side of the body than the nylon example on the SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen) that is both useful and attractive. With the way I use these sorts of portable speakers I tend to just wish brands wouldn’t include these things and just keep things super clean – you’re not going to catch me dangling a speaker off my backpack or anything – but in this case I think it just serves to elevate the visual appeal and makes for a solid carrying experience. The unit isn’t so large that I can’t just palm the thing, but sticking a couple fingers through the loop to grab and go has been a good experience.
The unit weighs about 3.5 pounds and isn’t particularly light, but this is also something I can appreciate – it just makes the whole thing feel like it is of a higher-quality, but you might wish it was closer to 1 or 2 pounds if you’re lugging it around in a hiking kit or something. This utility rope, at least over the last couple weeks of testing, has been more than strong enough to bear the burden.
Audio quality
As I’m sure anyone who has used a Bose speaker in the past is already guessing, this thing sounds great. Obviously an entirely subjective opinion, but for me, this thing kills the HomePod mini, sounds cleaner than a HomePod, and is a joy to listen to whether it be soft background tunes amongst friends, lounging outside, or just cranked up while I’m cleaning the house.
I was expecting a little bit heavier bass at louder volumes, but not by a whole lot. I’m, however, also not expecting all that much bass out of a portable speaker anyway.
This thing sounds wonderful with bright shiny high-end, a full mid-range, and more than enough bass than I’ll ever need from a portable listening device. Some folks will wish there was a fully customizable EQ, but I don’t.
Additional tech and app-control
As alluded to above, there really isn’t any. It’s all about the solid build and audio playback here. There’s a few basic EQ presets you can toy around with in the companion app, and you can toggle the onboard shortcut button to link additional speakers together or connect right to Spotify, but that’s about it.
I guess for some this will be the downside of this speaker, but I personally don’t care. When I’m looking towards a Bose experience, it’s for one, maybe two, things only – high-quality audio and built quality (or great noise cancellation on the headphones), and this speaker delivers on all fronts.
Here’s a look at some of this app side:
Shortcut button options.
Basic EQ preset options.
There’s a water detection indicator so you know whether it’s dry enough or not to connect to power.
And that about does it. This is a fantastic sounding speaker, that looks and feels great with a solid metal frame build that’s perhaps too expensive for just about anyone that doesn’t already invest in the Bose ecosystem. But even with the $269 list price, I would say this is a wonderful speaker to own if you can swing it, providing you don’t care about all of the extra bells and whistles and so forth you will find elsewhere.
Buy the Bose SoundLink Plus Portable Bluetooth Speaker
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