The Bose Soundlink Mini

If you’re into music and care about the quality of sound coming from your speakers, you will inevitably be aware of the market heavyweight: Bose.

If you’re not a sound enthusiast, here’s a little recap of why Bose remains, to this day, one of the most important producers of speakers in the world. The Bose corporation has been around since 1964 and was founded by one Dr. Amar G. Bose, then a professor or electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in order to improve on the sound output available by the products on the market at the time.

Bose captured people’s attention during the 1970s with its exceptionally small pentagonal Model 901 home system speaker. Since then, the company has remained synonymous with palm-sized exceptionally clear, hi-definition speakers.

Not to be left behind the curve, in 2009 Bose released its first wireless speaker, the SoundLink Wireless Music System, which retailed in the United States at an eye-watering $550. A couple of years later, Bose released the first of the SoundLink Mobile series which was smaller and lighter than the previous unit. Bose recently opened its first store in Kenya at Sarit Centre. The shop sells the third edition of the SoundLink Mobile Series and a new, highlyportable Bluetooth speaker named the Sound- Link Mini. So, how good is the SoundLink mini and should you consider investing in it?

What’s to love?
The Bose SoundLink mini is about half the size of its bigger brother the SoundLink Mobile Series III and the audio quality is undoubtedly lower. The design is sleek and box-like and is built in a light aluminium enclosure which makes it light and easy to hold in one hand. The protective rubber covers come in seven different colours of which the green, orange and blue are available to buy in Kenya. If you plan to take your SoundLink Mini out for many walks, you might consider buying its travel case too.

The speaker is battery operated and can be charged beforehand or alternatively left on charge without running the risk of burning your battery out.

What could be better?
When you consider that the speaker retails at $200 in the United States, you realise that the Kenyan price tag of Kes 29,500 is altogether quite prohibitive. Furthermore once you have listened to the SoundLink Mobile III, it is difficult to come to terms with the loss of bass which comes with the smaller version. While the SoundLink Mobile III has a good twelve metre range, the Mini cuts this by about half.

Bottom line:
Although the sound quality is without a doubt extremely good for such a petite device, when compared to other similarly sized devices available on the Kenyan market (like for example the Lifetrons DrumBass Xtreme which retails at Kes. 17,000) it does feel quite pricey. Sound enthusiasts might disagree, Bose is all about the name and if you are married to the brand then no one will convince you to look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a small portable Bluetooth device that doesn’t cost the earth you might want to do some more due diligence.

Tech specs:
• Input Type: 3.5mm Stereo Jack
• Connections: Bluetooth
• Speaker Configurations: Stereo
• Power Source: AC, Battery Power
• Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion
• Height: 2 in./5.08 cm
• Width: 2.3 in./5.84 cm
• Weight: 1.47 lb./0.67 kg
• Length: 7.1 in./18.03 cm

You can buy this product, and any other in the Bose line, at the Bose shop on the first floor at the Sarit Centre, Nairobi.