Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth Speaker: Small Portable Waterproof Speaker with Microphone, White Smoke

Full transparency - I'm a huge Bose fan. It wasn't until later in life that I was able to afford their products, but now given the choice I prefer to go with Bose. This little speaker is just the latest in my history of Bose products. I had an older Bose Sound Link Mini that worked well but was starting to show its age. It was also a bit clunky and very, very delicate. I was perusing Amazon and came across this little gem and bought one for my wife. She was so impressed with hers that I bought one for me. What I like - well, obviously, it's Bose. The sound is crisp and rich in replicating lows and highs and is characteristic Bose. Obviously bass is somewhat less than other speakers, but for this size speaker the sound is incredible and I'm not a huge fan of "thumpy" bass anyway. I also like the portability. I used the strap to attach the speaker to my belt while doing my evening walk at work and loved that I was able to listen to my MP3 player without having to worry about headphones and potentially getting hit by some of the maintenance vehicles in the factory. I like the Bose app that indicates remaining battery life and bluetooth connections. I'm sure I'm only scratching the surface with the available features, but for what I use it for I'm extremely pleased. As awesome as this little gem is, not all is perfect. There are some issues with the speaker wanting to connect to everything in sight. I love that you can connect to two gadgets simultaneously, but sometimes I don't want that feature and only want one. It takes a little doing but it can connect to just the one, but it's not intuitive. Not a deal breaker. Also there is no feature to plug in an analog MP3 player or device, but since I'm using the bluetooth capability as my excuse to the Mrs. for upgrading my portable capability that really is a non-issue. I've only had the speaker a very short time, but already love it. At some point I would like to test the stereo feature when you connect two speakers to one device, but at the moment my wife and I love having our own discrete speakers. Battery life is rated at 6 hours, but anecdotally it seems to last longer than that. I also don't blast my music at loud volume, so I'm not certain if there's a correlation there. I may have to update my review at a later date after I collect more data and get more enjoyment from the speaker. In summary, the buyer should know that this is what it is...a small, portable and extremely capable Bose speaker. If you're looking for incredibly high highs and rap lows, this may not fill your bill. But if you like your music on the go and with pleasant sound, this is your recommended default.

I've had this little portable speaker for years now and I love it. It's been perfectly reliable with great sound quality and long battery life. Charges up pretty fast too. There's a stretchy band on the back that is super handy for hanging. Very reasonable price for what has turned out to be an excellent speaker.

I've owned Bose "portable speakers" in the past. I've also owned lesser known brand portable speakers in the past. After a year of use, I have to say this is the first TRUE portable speaker I have used. We've had it to the beach, Miami, Cruise Ships, biking, kayaking, you name it! The bluetooth connection is amazing. It connects to my phone almost instantly. I'd say 1 second after turning it on. It also alerts you and tells you what device it is connected to. This is really helpful if you've connected it to multiple devices and they are by each other. It'll also connect to multiple devices. The range you can walk away from it with your phone is very impressive too. The battery last a long time. It has a little light indicator to let you know where the battery is. It'll also tell you when you first turn it on. I've used it for hours and hours without needing to charge it. I've also forgotten to charge it before heading out and it still works like a champ! The sound. Wow! It sounds great and it gets really loud without losing quality. On the beach I have zero problem hearing it over the sound and other people's music/talking. I could crank it up even more if I wanted half the beach to hear. Portability. This is where it really shines. It has a rubber strap on the back that allows it to wrap around poles or other objects to keep it attached. I've only had it fall off a few times. I've wrapped it to bike handles, kayak handles, beach umbrella poles, you name it! It's small enough I can just throw it in a bag and run! I really like this speaker and use it all the time! The price point is also perfect for what you get. Not too expensive but still has that Bose quality feel and sound! I'd highly recommend this if you want something you can throw into your bag and run around with!

Something's wrong. I thought. I must have a bad speaker. The "small" sound I was getting from this little unit was nothing like advertised. I should have ordered the Soundlink Color II I thought. But everything else was so perfect, the mounting strap, the fact that you can slip it into your shorts pocket, the ability to survive a full dunking in a pool. This was supposed to be the perfect speaker for my stateroom on my upcoming cruise. As I listened to it in my office cubicle with the volume down real low, I was sure I had made a mistake. The sound was clear, but oh so weak. Where was this bass I heard about. I could hear it trying to spit out some bass if I put the bottom to my ear. But I just couldn't see where all the 4 and 5 star reviews were coming from. Best sounding in it's class? Really. Then this class of speaker must really suck.... However, when I got home I powered it up to about 1/2 volume on my phone, this "ugly duckling" became a swan. The sound was amazing, full and vibrant. There was a nice level of oomph without being overly powering. More than enough volume to fully fill my stateroom and anywhere else I might want to use it. Add to the fact that it also works as a speakerphone, you can access siri through it and you have pause and play controls on the unit and you have yourself a perfect beach speaker while your phone stays in the relative safety of your pocket. Having a rugged IPX 7 waterproof speaker doesn't mean you have to sacrifice sound quality that much. I should have never doubted Bose. They haven't let me down yet. NOTE. The included charge cable takes a LOT of force to seat. Too much in my opinion. I thought it was first a problem with the speaker but noticed other cables fit fine. Save yourself hassle and just buy a third party USB cable. The included one is too short anyways.

The Bose SoundLink Micro is far and away the best small speaker I've used yet. I've used countless no-name brand speakers and other brand name speakers (and countless ~20-30 dollar 'waterproof' speakers on Amazon) and this one absolutely blows those away. I already had expectations as to what this would sound like, however, I was still surprised by the amount of bass the speaker was able to put out. And I don't mean loud, droning bass, but bass that makes a song sound like it's coming from a bigger speaker - everything sounds authentic. Drum kicks and other instruments come out convincingly with a nice punch. The Micro is a very musical speaker with nice presence. The treble is very smooth - so you can listen to it for long periods of time without it tiring your ears out at high volume, but it's also never dull - everything has a nice sparkle to it when called for. Everything but the Girl's 'Missing' (2013 remaster) immediately shows off the Bose's advantage in bass compared to other speakers of its size (particularly against the JBL Clip 3, and JBL GO). The song starts off with a constant bass line and adds another on top that matches the rhythm of the music. The Bose reproduces the two distinct bass lines with confidence without sounding muddled. Tracey Thorn's vocals come through excellent and aren't drowned out by the bass - and neither are the other instruments in the midrange. Madonna's Music titletrack has a very deep bassline. The Revolve+ renders the song with a little too much upperbase - while it sounds fine at normal volume levels, at high levels the Revolve+ sounds boxy and smaller than it should. Due to the Micro's smaller size, and even though it is bass-boosted like the Revolve+, it actually ends up sounding more natural than the Revolve+. Volume pumping is minimal in this track. The Micro can occasionally volume pump at levels greater than 2/3 when the music stops as an artist continues singing or during the start of a song before the music starts. While not ideal, it doesn't volume pump as much as I expected it to. Rush's YYZ has great treble presence at the beginning with cymbals and other instrumentation. It comes through very crisp and cuts through the midrange and bass without issue. Geddy Lee's bass solo near the middle really comes through. Classical music, and really most music in general, from pop, rock, country, electronic/dance sound very decent as the Bose maintains a flat sound signature in the midrange with a small boost in bass. The treble is somewhat rolled off, but this prevents the speaker from sounding harsh - which I prefer. It's able to maintain most of its composure up until around 75%. You may notice compression at this level under certain circumstances. It'll sound decent up until around 85% - at this point basslines may disappear, depending on the song, however, it music still sounds full and it won't sound tinny. For the most part, it still sounds like a bigger speaker at this level. Above 85% up and up til 100% can be dicey. Most music actually sounds fine with the speaker pointed toward you head-on. Off-axis, it may sound strained, but not bad. It gets surprisingly loud. Older music, such as from the Beach Boys' actually sound very decent at these high levels (likely due to the fact that the songs have little bass), and the basslines they do have, typically remain while most newer music is compressed more at these higher volumes. You can fool the speaker into playing louder if you don't mind reducing bass with an equalizer app (e.g. reduce the left-hand side of the equalizer adjustments). Some reviews have complained about the treble or are trying to compare it to the Soundlink Mini (which I also have). It is different - the Micro is a 'flatter' and more accurate speaker than the Mini - which has a noticeable treble boost which some people say gives the old Mini 'clarity' over the Micro - even though the Micro is technically the more correct speaker. This isn't in the Mini's favor at high volumes as the compression can make the Mini sound sharp, while the Micro doesn't end up hurting your ears. And you don't lose anything with the Micro being a mono speaker compared to the Mini being stereo - while it's possible to tell the difference between the two from that perspective, it just isn't practical as you lose stereo separation if you are more than a few feet or otherwise are not facing the mini directly. The Micro sounds the same from most directions as audio fires up instead of from the front of the speaker. The Micro's battery lasts for quite a while. At volumes above a little above half, I get around 6-7 hours easily, and get 8-12 at even lower volumes. The speaker sounds great even at low volumes. Bass is dynamically boosted at lower levels - keeping the sound full, which is a problem for many of these small speakers. In general, I find most smaller speakers don't sound any better than your phone's built-in speakers at low volumes. The Bose definitely has a nice presence at low volume - it makes it easy to fall asleep to if you use it before you go to bed. I also have the SoundLink Revolve+, and until you reach the top volume of the Micro, the two speakers sound remarkably similar when paired in party or stereo mode. They only differ in certain tracks with very deep bass or when you push the Revolve+'s volume past the Micro's max volume - but listening to them in stereo is a surprisingly pleasant experience. It seems like the speakers volume match when they pair - so it sounds fairly balanced, you can however make one louder / quieter than the other by pushing the volume buttons separately on each speaker. The Bose app is not required to use the speaker. However, you can adjust the auto-off time in specific increments and remove previously paired devices through the app, otherwise, most things within the app, like turning voice prompts off or shutting the auto-off timer entirely, can be done with button presses on the speaker. You can easily find the manual by going to Bose.com -> Speakers -> SoundLink Micro and the manual is under their Support section. As for its closest competition, the B&O P2, the Bose is fully waterproof while the former doesn't have any weather proofing (I didn't think B&O advertised any water resistance but apparently some reviews state the speaker is splash proof). The battery on the Bose lasts much longer on maximum than the P2 (2-ish hours compared to a 5-ish for the Bose), even though the P2 isn't much louder than the Bose. And most importantly, the Bose is way cheaper and has a flatter frequency response than the P2. However, I actually like the flatter form factor of the P2 - you'll notice in B&O's advertising that they show the P2 can fit in some jean pockets - while the Micro fits more in larger cargo pants/shorts or coat pockets. The P2 and the Anker's I have above have a large treble boost which, superficially, may sound nice for a few minutes, but quickly becomes tiring when the speaker is within a few feet from you since things become bright and shrill easily. In my opinion, the Anker Soundcore Sport is the next closest competition. It is pretty much the same size as the Micro, they're both IPX7 waterproof, and they both feature ~1.5 inch drivers with a passive radiator. It's also only 40 dollars compared to the Bose. However, the Sport is covered in a hard rubber and the buttons on that speaker have practically zero feedback - so no 'click' or noticeable indent when pushed - which can make the speaker hard to use, especially when wet. Sound-wise, the Bose definitely wins - but the Anker puts up a good fight for being only $40. Primarily, it lacks the bass the Micro offers. As a plus, the Sport doesn't have the trouble boost it's smaller and non-waterproof brother, the Soundcore Mini and the B&O does - it sounds pretty flat across the midrange and treble - but just doesn't sound as full as the Micro. If you can afford it, the Bose is an easy choice over either Anker. The newest competition in this speaker size is probably the Minirig Mini. Reviewer Oluv (as noted in his own review of the speaker on this Amazon listing) has done an extensive review of the Minirig Mini on his YouTube channel. I have not heard it in person but it does appear to have an advantage in sound quality if you're willing to forego the smaller size of the Bose, along with waterproofing (the Minirig Mini is supposedly water resistant, like the Revolve+ - so it can handle splashes, but I wouldn't trust getting water on a paper-cone speaker that the Revolve+ and Minirig Mini have). Minirig's parent company specializes in underwater audio, however, so it seems odd to produce a speaker that isn't actually water proof. I used to scoff at speakers that introduced water resistance or 360 degree sound - but now that I have them, I don't think I'd give them up. Keeping all that in mind, the Minirig Mini's can automatically pair in stereo mode, without needing an app or complicated button pushes on every use, once you've set them up previously, which I'm jealous of. If something were to happen with my Micro, I would easily buy it again (even though it being the cheapest Bose speaker, it still isn't cheap and cost ~5x as much as the Anker speakers) because simply: it sounds better, the battery lasts much longer than many others in it's class (much longer than the Anker's max), and I don't doubt its durability. Edit: I added some more about the Anker Soundcore products I have since those are the closest in competition next to the B&O P2, in my opinion. Edit 2: 04/2018 - 6-ish months later. I've used this speaker every day since I got it back in October of 2017 (I listen to music a lot). It's probably my favorite bluetooth speaker that I have ever purchased (even including the original Soundlink Mini and newer and larger Revolve+, both of which I still have) not necessarily because it sounds better than the two - but it can definitely compete at lower volumes, but because of its small factor and waterproofing. This is the first expensive speaker that I have that actually feels durable - I don't worry about babying it like I do with the Mini and Revolve+. Along with the Revolve+, as I noted above - they both work surprisingly well when paired together in party/stereo mode - so if you need something louder than the Micro (and can afford it) I would definitely recommend getting the Revolve+ and pairing the two together so you can have something small for regularly every day use and something for a party on the weekends! Edit 3: 07/2018 - 9-ish months later: I've added more comparison speakers and updated how the speaker sounds with certain test tracks. Micro is still going strong (and still use it everyday). Edit 4: 10/2018 - A little after the 1 year mark. Still use it every day since I've gotten it - battery shows no sign of decline. I wanted to point out a few things I missed and noticed haven't been mentioned in other reviews: 1) Even at low volumes, you can really feel the bass when holding the speaker. The speaker won't vibrate due to its soft silicone covered body - but there's something fun about not just listening - but literally feeling the music. 2) A lot of people are complaining about a *very neat* feature that most other non-Bose bluetooth speakers do not have in that you can turn on the Micro (and other Bose Revolve speakers) remotely from your device e.g. selecting the Micro in your Bluetooth list automatically turns it on without needing to push the power button on the speaker. This is particularly helpful on their larger speakers, like when the Revolve+ is mounted on a tripod somewhere. This only works if your device has previously paired with the speaker (as evidenced in the Bose Connect App device history list) - so only you can turn the device on remotely. But some are complaining because they decided to connect it to a smart device i.e. an Echo, Fire stick, etc. - with the problem being that when those devices update overnight, for example, they'll reconnect upon completion which makes the speaker wake up in the middle of the night. You can simply disable the pairing in the Bose app for the problem smart device and this fixes the issue. I would be very disappointed if Bose removed this functionality due to a small few who can't use the speaker correctly. 3) I will note a flaw with connecting the speaker to a PC (or a Mac) which also effects the larger Revolve speakers. PCs don't support linked volume control like our phones do - i.e. when you change the volume on your phone, it immediately changes on the Bose, and vice-versa, but instead you have independent volume control (e.g. the PC has it's own volume level and the Bose has it's own volume level set by the volume buttons on the speaker itself). However, when connected to a PC, the Bose's volume buttons are locked (when you push -/+ the status light on the speaker blinks on/off to like that action is unavailable). This would be fine if the internal volume on the Bose was set to 100% - where then you can simply use the PC volume to control the speaker volume - this would mimic absolute volume control. However, the Bose's internal volume fixed at a low volume - meaning even if the PC volume is set to 100%, the volume may still be quite low on the speaker. Bose should allow the physical volume buttons to be used in this case to increase the volume on the speaker's end or simply max out the internal volume while we control the volume from the PC. None of this changes the 5 star rating. On a future gen Micro, though, I would like to see, at a minimum, a type-C USB port with USB audio like the larger Revolve line which has micro-USB with USB audio. It would be nice to see an increase in either battery life or fidelity at higher volumes (not necessarily louder but I definitely wouldn't complain).

This is a great speaker. For its size it’s amazing. I bought two of them. With a little practice, you can put them into stereo mode using the Bose app. It takes a little while to get the hang of it. But I can set them up anywhere in the house or on the road and get great audio. I had to give it four stars instead of five, because, well just two minor things, first of all they’ve got an old-fashioned charger jack. I don’t know why they don’t make a change in the design and modernize it to a USB-C jack. And one other thing, it seems odd to me is that it has a rounded bottom. Why not make a little bit of a flat spot on the bottom so it can stand up on its own? I mean, it’s not the worst thing, I just bought a couple of cell phone stands that hold them up wherever I put them in the house. Anyway, all in all a great product.

I have had two of these for several years now. Usually I only use one at a time but sometimes I will connect both and put them in stereo mode. They are my favorite bath toy (ahead of my waterproof Kindle). They are one of my favorite pool toys (I have accidentally submerged both of them in the deep end of my pool). I have strapped them to my body while doing yard work and had them violently ripped off by getting too close to something. No damage. I've used them biking (a little). Skiing (a lot) - I put one in my pocket and crank it up - works well. But I also will just use them on the kitchen table, or anywhere else. I am a lifelong musician and audiophile, and own many pieces high end gear ($2k speakers, tube amps and stuff). You need to LISTEN to audio devices to judge them (not read specs or reviews). So how do the Micros sound? I think they sound amazingly accurate. Near field, at low levels, they are a wonder. When you use them in a bigger setting, they are not going to go loud enough to fill a space, but for intimate settings, they work well. Small parties, not big parties. I listened a number of other Bluetooth speakers and many don't sound very good. These do. In fact, I found all the Bose portables to be best of breed. I also own a Bose Soundlink Mini that I bought before the Micros - it has a somewhat bigger, cleaner and brighter sound, but it isn't nearly as portable and requires placement near a wall or something to relect the bass. In most settings, speakers create most of the distortion in audio - the other components only contribute a little, speakers a lot. Bose speakers distort a lot too. But the way the Micro was engineered - with digital signal processing to optimize the device - it produces a full sound across a wide frequency spectrum. Bluetooth is a funky technology. It uses goofy compression to send a lot of quality sound over radio waves. The connectivity can be a little hinky, especially when you connect to a lot of different devices. But it all works well (most of the time), and gives acceptable results. This is the speaker you want to get for quality sound anywhere you go. They are a good value because they have better sound. After I got one, I wanted to buy them for everyone as gifts. So far I haven't done that, but I bought myself another. I gave them cool names - Little Boomer (for the first one) and The Missing Link (for the second, because they sound great in stereo).

I am so excited about this portable, Bluetooth speaker that I'm writing this review less than 24 hours after receiving it. This device also seems to support hands free calling per the instructions, but I haven't tried that yet. As soon as I have time I'll post a video proving what I'm saying here, but for now I am just blown away with the sound quality and volume I can get from this compared to MANY other portable Bluetooth speakers I've tried. I bought 2 off Amazon and returned them (I left the worst review I've ever written for one and just couldn't be bothered with the other). It takes a lot to get me into an actual store, but I even went to Best Buy and a very sharp sales guy pointed me to the 3 best options they have. After listening to them I was underwhelmed and disappointed. I almost gave up on finding a small, portable speaker that was significantly better than my iPhone speakers so I can listen to audiobooks/music off my phone while driving. My 2005 SUV is in amazingly great shape, but it doesn't have Bluetooth or hands free calling built in. I struggle to hear my iPhone speakers over road noise and I don't like wearing earphones every time I get in the car, which is why I was looking at portable Bluetooth speakers. Plus I can use the speaker around the house for my iPhone, tablet, etc. This thing quite literally rocks! It gets so loud that I didn't even get to the max volume before it actually hurt my ears, and that was with the speaker on the other side of the living room. No other portable Bluetooth speaker I tried even came close to this! And even at a very loud volume the sound quality is shockingly good, especially considering this is such a small device. I am just thrilled with this purchase. I can hold it in the palm of my hand and there's a rubber strap to "mount" it on an umbrella pole or other small diameter item. I wouldn't trust the strap to hold tight on a bike or other moving object, as the Bose documentation suggests, but it's a nice little feature. The only two "cons" are price and setup, but these are minor in context. Most competing products I found range from $30-$60, but everything I found in this range is about on par in terms of sound quality/volume...they suck. So the $109 price point for this Bose speaker is high in comparison, but well worth it when you consider the vastly better sound. FWIW, some of the speakers I tried at Best Buy were also around $100 and they were terrible. As to the setup, Bose instructs you to start by downloading a mobile app, but to be honest, I haven't yet figured out why you even need that app since it's so straight forward to connect a phone/tablet/etc. to a Bluetooth speaker. I feel like the Bose app complicates that process for no good reason, but there may be something super cool you can do via the app that I just haven't found yet. I'm going to play with it over the weekend and will update this review if I find something. Either way, this more odd than a big deal so I wouldn't take away a star for it. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a portable Bluetooth speaker with outstanding sound quality and volume. Many others claim you can use their speaker to add music to an impromptu get together, but this is the first I've seen that stands up to that claim!

Es un aparato de buena calidad con un bonito diseño, robusto, ergonómico y con un buen acabado. El sonido es excelente y tiene unos grabes que no es frecuente oír en dispositivos tan pequeños (poco más que la palma de una mano) pero no es un altavoz para grandes espacios y su uso es más bien individual. El máximo nivel de volumen parece bajo al principio pero hay que entender que es muy pequeño. Por eso es ideal para usarlo en cualquier actividad sin molestar a terceros. Se adapta con sencillez y seguridad a cualquier cinturón, correa, etc. Indica el nivel de batería al encenderlo y la duración supera con creces las 6 horas que garantiza la marca. También se puede sincronizar con otro altavoz del mismo modelo y oír el sonido en estéreo por lo tanto supongo que el volumen será mayor, pero eso no lo sé.

Amazing sound quality and depth

It has amazing sound. It is compact an handy as well.

I have used it for my car for a while when my car audio was broken. Its sound is great and the volume is good enough even driving on a highway. Bluetooth phone quality is good I guess the mic works well too. Now the car audio is fixed so I am using it in the shower booth and outdoor. The water resistance works very well too. Plus I love the colour too! I listen to music with google nests since they're around me at home but if I'm going somewhere where I cant take nests with me, I always bring this. The battery is good too. I don't have to charge it so often. And you can plug it while you listen to something anyways. Enjoying this product ever since :)

We bought two of these and have been using them for more than a year. The sound they produce is incredible, and the battery life is very good, and seems to last all day. Range from our bluetooth device is also better than expected. We tend to plug in our devices to save on battery life, and just move the speaker to wherever we are. Sometimes we get a little to excited and have to move them closer, but most of the time they work well beyond what would be expected. We even use them in the house instead of our big stereo because of how simple they are, and to be honest the sound is just really good. We have a 7.2 surround system, and love music and quality sound. Obviously just our opinion, and yours may differ. Again, great sound, great quality, and for us, an easy recommend! We love em!