Author: Andy Slye (Page 36 of 40)

Bose SoundTouch 10 Wireless Music System Review

August 10, 2016 / Andy Slye / 1,587 Comments

Bose SoundTouch 10 Wireless Music System Review

Buy on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2b6EZ48

Bose was kind enough to sponsor this review of the Bose SoundTouch 10 Wireless Music System. If you love listening to music at home but hate dealing with messy wires, this could be for you.

The Bose SoundTouch 10 Wireless Music System comes in a black or white finish and it’s currently the smallest speaker out of the entire SoundTouch family. It has one goal in mind and that’s for you to easily stream music in your home without taking up a lot of space. Unlike the Bose SoundLink Color which is a portable Bluetooth speaker, the SoundTouch 10 wireless music system does not have a built-in battery. Instead it’s built to be used inside your home on an existing WiFi network or with Bluetooth devices such as your smartphone, tablet, or computer. However, it still provides an AUX port if you want to use it with a wired connection.

With it being the smallest SoundTouch speaker it can be placed just about anywhere in your home especially due to the fact that it has an included remote which is really convenient. If you find yourself listening to too much music in bed, just quickly move the speaker from your nightstand to your living room mantle. But don’t be deceived by its small footprint. It has some kick to it. I’m not an audiophile by any means, but I’ve used and reviewed enough speakers to notice good quality audio when I hear it, and the SoundTouch 10 provides a really nice fulfilling sound for most indoor rooms. It’s clear and rich. Similar to my experience with the SoundLink Color, the loudness of such a small speaker is pretty astonishing. I’m actually kind of scared to push the volume past 50% because I don’t want to disturb my neighbors. Danny Brown at 9am may be too much for them, especially on the SoundTouch 10.

But what’s really cool about this speaker, is that it not only plays audio from any app over Bluetooth, but it can connect to your WiFi network and play music via the free SoundTouch Controller app which is available for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows. I’m usually not a fan of proprietary apps and I can understand why some people wouldn’t want to sign up for another online account and agree to another company’s privacy policy, but you can still use the system with Bluetooth if you don’t want to use the app. It’s not required, but if you don’t mind signing up for a free Bose account with your email address then you can take advantage of the WiFi playback and presets because that’s where this speaker really shines. With the SoundTouch Controller app you can connect the SoundTouch 10 system to your WiFi in a few simple steps. Once it’s connected you can connect your favorite music services such as Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, and a few other options and even your own music library. Unfortunately there’s currently no Podcasting services, and I would love to see an update in the future that allows connecting podcast apps to the SoundTouch Controller. But the best feature about connecting music services to the SoundTouch app is the ability to use presets. You can assign up to 6 presets with things like a certain Pandora station or a certain Spotify artist, album or playlist. Basically the SoundTouch app makes it super easy to instantly play your favorite music with the touch of a button.

So overall, the Bose SoundTouch 10 Wireless music system is perfect for people who are just starting to turn their home into a music streaming zone. Once you have the SoundTouch 10 system you can add more SoundTouch wireless systems from the SoundTouch family such as larger speakers and home theater systems, which I’ll also be reviewing in case you’re interested.

I would definitely recommend the SoundTouch 10 wireless music system under these conditions: if you already have a WiFi network and at least one Bluetooth device, and you want an attractive small wireless speaker that can easily be moved within your home but you don’t necessarily need a portable speaker to take outside of your home. You got that? Ok cool.

By Andy Slye

Bose SoundLink Color Review: Best Portable Bluetooth Speaker?

August 10, 2016 / Andy Slye / 1,564 Comments

Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth Speaker Review
Buy on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2aPy8fh

Bose was kind enough to sponsor this video, and today I’ll be reviewing the Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker. If you’re looking for a high quality Bluetooth speaker that is extremely portable, keep watching.The Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker comes in 5 different colors: blue, mint, red, white, and black. In the box you have the speaker with a built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery, a wall charger, and USB cable. So not only can you charge using a power outlet, but you can also charge it via a USB port which is pretty convenient. The majority of the casing is made of a strong plastic, while the top has a soft rubberized finish, making it both durable and simple. The speaker itself is approximately 5 inches tall by 5 inches wide and about 2 inches in depth so it’s fairly compact. On the back there is the power connector and an AUX port in case your device does not have Bluetooth or you just prefer a wired connection.

But let’s be real, one of the big reasons you’re probably interested in this speaker is its Bluetooth capability. This plays a huge part in the speaker’s best quality: its portability. Bluetooth pairing is super easy, when you first power it on the voice prompts will walk you through the pairing process. Once it’s paired you can start wirelessly playing music to the speaker. You can also pair the speaker to 2 Bluetooth devices simultaneously so for instance if you have an iPad and an iPhone they can both be connected at the same time which makes it easy to switch between the two. The speaker will also remember the last 8 devices paired with it so when you power the speaker off and back on again, your device will automatically pair with it. And let me tell you, the Bose SoundLink Color has the fastest pairing out of all the Bluetooth devices I’ve used. Seriously, it’s Lightning quick.

The Bluetooth range is listed at around 30 feet. I live in a 950 square foot apartment and it works from anywhere inside even passing through the walls. The portability also comes from how lightweight it is, weighing only 1.25 lbs it can easily be taken on the go, whether you’re taking it for a walk in the park or going for a bike ride. It easily fit into my girlfriend’s purse, which is kind of dangerous because we might take it everywhere we go now.

I haven’t owned this speaker for a very long time so it’s hard to judge how the battery will hold up as time goes by, but since I’ve used it the battery life has been fantastic. Bose claims it can get up to 8 hours of play time during a single charge, but I was able to reach 12 hours on a single charge. Of course I wasn’t listening to it on full blast, but even at a consistent 40-50% volume level 12 hours of playtime is awesome. I can see this speaker being great for people who work out at the gym and need music with them at all times because not only is it portable, but the sound quality is good for its small size. It’s definitely the clearest and loudest speaker in its size class that I’ve ever heard. I mean, this thing is loud. It has a deep bass for how small it is, maybe even too much of a bass for some people’s taste. But I like it. I was a bit surprised by the loudness and clarity when I first listed to music on it. It was Chance The Rapper by the way. It’s best to have the speaker in a relatively open space though because if it’s backed up to a wall then the audio, mainly the bass, will sound a bit muffled.

Some of you may be wondering how this compares to the Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth speaker. Well I’ve never used one of those, but I can say that this Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker has at least one advantage and that’s the Play/Pause button. Along with the other standard buttons, the play/pause button is very convenient to have if you want to quickly play and pause music without handling your device, which is something the SoundLink Mini does not currently have. One thing I wish the SoundLink Color had was a USB port to charge your smartphone especially for a speaker that costs over $100. Other than that, I love everything about this speaker so far. In fact, I’m actually going to install this speaker on my car’s dashboard with a little help from some velcro. My car doesn’t have a way to play my phone through the speakers, but the Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth speaker is good enough for me to use it as my audio source when I’m driving. A small thing I noticed was if a deep voice is talking, like on talk radio or a podcast, the speaker has a slight vibration noise during the voice’s deepest tones, but it’s kind of a rare occurrence and not a huge deal for me. So with its clear and loud audio quality, compact size, and long battery life I would highly recommend this speaker to anyone looking for their next portable Bluetooth speaker.

By Andy Slye

Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System IV Review

August 9, 2016 / Andy Slye / 1,592 Comments

Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System IV Review
Click here to buy on Amazon

Bose was kind enough to sponsor this video, and in this video I’ll be reviewing the Bose Wave SoundTouch Music System IV. This is a room-filling wireless speaker but with some other convenient elements built-in to it. So stick around and find out if this is right for you.

The Wave SoundTouch Music System IV is a feature-packed speaker that is looking to be an all-in-one solution for music lovers. It currently comes in 2 colors, espresso black and platinum silver. The system is about 5.5” tall,14.5” wide, and 8.5” deep and it weighs just under 10 pounds. You can wirelessly stream music to the speaker via Bluetooth or WiFi using a compatible device such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer. It also has a built-in radio which I was able to tune into my favorite radio stations just fine with no need for an external antenna. It has dual alarms which come in handy if you and your partner need to get up at separate times, and it also has a CD player just in case you can’t seem to give up those mixed CD’s that you burned in 2007. You know who you are.

First thing you may notice is that the design is really attractive. It’s very sleek and will most likely look good just about anywhere in your home. There is no physical power switch because to turn it on and off all you need to do is tap the top of the speaker which is cool and all but could be a potential nuisance if you accidentally touch the top and music starts playing at full blast when you’re not expecting it. Other than the fact that it’s an all-in-one system, the sound that it produces from a fairly compact speaker is one of its best selling points. It’s able to produce a clean, rich and room-filling sound by utilizing Bose WaveGuide technology. This is essentially a series of passages from the speaker driver to the speaker grill that guides air through two 26” folded wave guides. It makes it possible for a compact system like this one to replicate a larger system’s stereo sound. And it works from what I could tell. I was able to play music from the corner of my living room and you couldn’t really pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from. So it has crisp loud sound quality for sure, but as with most Bose products it has very strong bass. Luckily if you don’t like strong bass it’s easy to reduce the bass through the system settings.

Even though it does have an AUX port, this speaker’s most notable feature is its wireless capability. With built-in Bluetooth you can easily pair it with your smartphone, tablet, or computer and start playing audio immediately. But with the free SoundTouch app you can easily connect the Wave SoundTouch Music System to your WiFi network and play music from popular music services such as Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Prime music, thousands of Internet radio stations and even your own music library. Once your music sources are connected you can play them through the speaker via the SoundTouch app. I pretty much exclusively use Spotify and Pandora on mine, and it seems to work great with both of those. One drawback of playing music through the SoundTouch app is you can’t use your phone’s volume buttons when your phone is locked to adjust the volume. You have to unlock your device to do that or you have to use the included infrared remote.

Now I love this speaker’s ability to set presets with the SoundTouch app. You can set any of your connected songs, albums, playlists, artists or stations to any of the 6 presets and you can then use the SoundTouch app or the remote to press any of those presets and the speaker will automatically start playing that music even if it was turned off. I also love the informational display that shows the title of what’s currently playing.

Since this music system is part of the Bose SoundTouch family, you can easily add more SoundTouch speakers to your home and use the free app to play music across all your speakers at the same time or play different music on different speakers. It’s not cheap, but if you’re looking for an all-in-one music system that has built in alarms, AM/FM radio, and a CD player but mainly excels in sound quality and wireless playback then the Wave SoundTouch Music System IV may be a good investment for you. I would definitely recommend it to people who want a high quality speaker combo.

By Andy Slye