Amazon is still running Cyber Monday prices well into December, so people who missed the first sales rush can still get the Bose SoundLink Flex at a lower price. This portable Bluetooth speaker is now $119 instead of the regular $149 price which means that premium Bose audio is now available at a mid-range price, where you would normally find speakers with bad sound quality.
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The SoundLink Flex has PositionIQ sensors that can tell if you’ve put the speaker upright, flat, or hanging from its utility loop. It then automatically changes the audio output to keep the sound quality at its best no matter how the speaker is positioned. This awareness of space is important because speaker drivers send sound in a certain direction, and what sounds balanced when you’re standing up can sound muddy or thin when the speaker tips over. The onboard processing changes the audio profile in real time, so the speaker works the same whether it’s on a picnic table, in your shower, or clipped to your backpack while you hike.
Bose designed the acoustics around a custom transducer and two passive radiators that give the small enclosure (3.6 by 7.9 by 2.1 inches) a surprising bass response. The passive radiators vibrate in sync with the active driver, which makes the low-frequency output go beyond what the small cabinet volume would normally produce. This bass emphasis doesn’t drown out the mids and highs because Bose tuned the frequency response to keep vocals and instruments clear even at high volumes. With complex music, you’ll be able to hear the different parts clearly instead of everything blending together into a mushy mess like cheaper portable speakers do.
The IP67 rating means that this speaker is truly waterproof, not just splash-proof like many of its competitors claim. It can also protect against dust and submersion up to one meter deep for 30 minutes. After a day at the beach, you can rinse it off under the faucet or let it float in the pool without worrying about water damage. The outside is covered in silicone, which protects against scratches, rust, and UV damage when the device is outside for a long time.
Bluetooth 5.3 lets you connect to your paired device wirelessly up to 30 feet away and uses less power than older versions of Bluetooth. This helps the battery last longer between charges, up to 12 hours. Bluetooth 5.3 has more bandwidth, which means that audio compression artifacts that can make sound tinny or distorted on lower-quality speakers are less likely to happen. With multipoint pairing, two devices can connect at the same time. This means that you and a friend can take turns controlling music without having to keep disconnecting and reconnecting through Bluetooth settings.
The speaker charges through USB-C instead of the older micro-USB standard which means you can use the same cable that charges new phones and laptops to charge the speaker. The battery can charge quickly to a partial charge when you need to leave but forgot to charge it overnight. The speaker is only 1.3 pounds, so you can easily fit it in a daypack without adding too much weight or bulk.
The SoundLink Flex is a strong competitor with brands that can’t match its combination of sound quality and durability because it costs $119, which is a lot less than what you’d normally pay for Bose audio quality. The $30 off might not seem like much compared to some holiday deals, but Bose doesn’t often offer big discounts on its speakers, so any price drop is important.
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