Summer is coming and the season of taking Bluetooth speakers to the local beaches is upon us. As such, it’s no surprise seeing new releases in the category, especially ones suited for adding a booming soundtrack to all the hours you’re spending with friends and family outdoors. The Bose SoundLink Max is built exactly for those moments,
The outfit’s largest portable Bluetooth speaker yet, it’s basically a mini-boombox to accompany your good times outdoors with big sound. No, not a real boombox, since that’s a bit uncomfortable and unwieldy, but one more suited to today’s more portable consumer devices. Whether you’re spending the clear days of summer at the beach, at the campsite, or at an outdoor festival, this thing lets you bring the party along in a very portable package.
The Bose SoundLink Max measures 10.4 x 4.7 x 4.1 inches (width x height x depth), so it’s big enough to accommodate some big drivers inside, while still remaining portable enough to squeeze into a pack or carry in hand. Inside, it houses three transducers across the front of the speaker producing a spacious stereo experience, as well as two custom passive radiators delivering a bass sound that, the outfit claims, defies the erstwhile portable speaker size. There’s also onboard digital signal processing to help minimize distortion, allowing it to reproduce a fuller, more natural sound.
Aside from housing bigger audio components, the device should also be able to hold a bigger battery than the outfit’s smaller Bluetooth speakers. As such, it’s fitted with a battery rated at up to 20 hours of playback, allowing you to keep the party going for the better part for the better part of the day (and maybe some of the night, too). Charging it back to full takes around five hours.
The Bose SoundLink Max has an IP67 rating, so it won’t just withstand splashes, it can actually submerge in water without taking any damage. It’s designed to float, by the way, so you can take it during kayak rides without any worries, since it will just stay on the surface, ready to be plucked out, if it ever falls off. Do note, this isn’t designed to play music while on the water, since it orients itself with the grill down on water, so any music that comes out will end up sounding muffled.
According to Bose, it’s equipped with Snapdragon Sound, which enables more consistent connectivity with newer Android devices, as well as aptX Adaptive for improved audio quality over Bluetooth. There’s also a companion app, complete with an equalizer for tuning the sound to your liking. Other features include an AUX port (so you can connect to it via wire), Bluetooth 5.3, Google Fast Pair, a removable carry handle for moving the speaker in hand, and an optional shoulder strap if you prefer carrying it hands-free. Both the handle and strap use a rope design that we’re not particularly fond of, but your mileage may vary.
The Bose SoundLink Max is now available for preorder with a May 16th ship date. Price is $399.