Amazon Echo Input, White +BT Speaker Bose Soundlink Revolve Plus, Lux Grey

Be aware that this is an extremely biased review as I have become a fanatical BOSE supporter as a result of a variety of past purchases and delightful listening experiences. I bought this Soundlink Revolve+ speaker to use mainly with my iPad and have fallen completely in love with it. It is not only beautiful to behold, it is sensual to the touch and is totally blissful to experience the sounds it produces. It is a real pint-sized wonder. The set-up and pairing was so easy. So simple. It comes with a straightforward quick-start guide which meets most demands when used with the brilliant BOSE connect App. A more detailed, multi-language manual can be downloaded from the BOSE site if so required. The speaker is so light it can be easily carried about by a child, yet it is designed to take most bumps should they drop it. It will operate within about 30 feet of the sound source and it is even designed to fit onto most tripods you may care to use if you have no other practical work surface to place it on. Brilliant in the home, it will operate outside and even survive the odd rain shower. It is well worth every penny you pay on Amazon. I went further and treated myself to the optional charging cradle. This lets you play your music even while the unit is charging. It has the additional advantage that the charging cable is connected direct to the cradle. Should accidental damage happen when you connect the cable to the cradle, it is much cheaper to replace the cradle than the speaker! You can pair with up to 5 other sound sources and, if you should need more sound, with an additional Soundlink unit. Wow! If you have not experienced BOSE sound before, and are searching for an excellent sound system, I would strongly advise you to visit your nearest stockist and check this one out. But, be warned, you may just become a BOSE fanatic like me!

I am writing this comparing the Bose Revolve Plus with my UE Megaboom. If you like heavy mids then this speaker isn’t for you. The Bose has a balanced sound, (for my ears), the bass is good the mids and treble are not over powering, whereas the UE megaboom has much heavier mids and highs, the bass is just as good the Bose and vice Versa, the effect of this is that the Bose Revolve Plus is more refined in its sound, whereas the UE Megaboom is more in your face ! Both the Bose and UE devices have an iPhone app, there probably is an android version of each, both apps have a party mode function so you simultaneously stream to another speaker of the same make, both apps will turn the its respective device on remotely, but only the UE app allows you to power off the speaker, the Bose eventually times out and switches off, you can adjust and set the power off time when idle from within the app, however I have found the speaker will stay powered on and connected to your phone or streaming device if the speaker is sitting on its charging cradle connected to the usb charge cable. The Bose app doesn’t have an equaliser built in like the UE app, however its better to use the equaliser on your device rather than the app, Spotify has a built in equaliser and your phone will also have one although you may need to look for it. I haven’t needed to adjust the bass or treble, for me running it flat is perfectly fine, this is what I mean by balanced sound, it’s sounds good out the box as is. I haven’t actually measured how long the battery lasts, it’s pretty good but the UE Megaboom is a touch better, the Bose is IPX4 that means the speaker can cope splashes but cannot be submerged in water whereas the UE Megaboom is IPX7 so if it falls in your pool or bath tub it’s no problem. The build quality of the Bose is excellent, the case is aluminium with rubber protection top and bottom, I dropped mine on concrete by accident from chest height and it was no problem, there isn’t a mark on the speaker anywhere after the drop. The Bose has a charger cradle available which you can buy separately, it really makes charging more convenient and the speaker is always charged, the speaker comes with a usb power adapter and usb cable in the box if you don’t want to buy the cradle. The speaker will connect to devices on power on, for example when I turn mine on it automatically connects to both my phone and iPad, but you can only stream from one device, the speaker automatically switches to whatever is sending a signal, but if you have one of the devices streaming that device has priority, it won’t cut one device off and start playing the other. I’ve used the speaker as a conference speaker with my phone and it worked well. The Bose Revolve Plus doesn’t have Alexa built in. All in all the UE Megaboom version 3 is about £100 cheaper than the Bose Revolve Plus, but the smaller Bose Revolve is around the same price as the UE Megaboom 3. There isn’t to much sound difference between the Bose Revolve and Revolve Plus, the Plus has a touch more bass, unless you have both Bose speakers side by side you are not going notice the difference. if you can listen to Bose Revolve, Revolve Plus and UE Megabboom, Sony SRS-XB41 and JBL Extream, you could end up saving yourself a lot of money. End of the day what matters is how the speaker sounds to you, what battery life you want, how portable you want it to be, if you care about the physical size, if you care about the badge, and which of these thing have priority over the others.

I considered the cheaper little brother to this product, but in the end the reported slightly better sound, volume and battery life swung it for me. I’m glad I did because this product is excellent. Solidly built and great sound; Bluetooth or 3.5mm audio jack; very simple to use (my 1 year old uses it). The battery life is good - probably somewhere in the region of the 16 hours it reports to be. I even quite like the carry handle. I’ve recommended this to several friends since I bought it. Not sure why the silver one was so much cheaper than the black one - but the silver one looks good in my opinion.

Item arrived quickly and was well packaged.Once charged via the included cable and charger it was easy to pair with my Galaxy phone and all was up and running in no time.Initial thoughts were that the sound compared to my Bose Soundlink Mini II were mixed, yes you could put it anywhere in the middle of the room an walk around it and the sound would be the same however it did seem to lack a tad of the drive and rhythm that by other Bose had. After leaving it playing for some hours and the sound was more cohesive. Like the Soundlink Mini II it sounds much more balanced after several hours 'running in'.Sound quality wise it's hard to say if it sounds better than the Soundlink Mini II after running in, it's just different. A warmer sound definitely but the Mini has the edge in my opinion on it's ability to articulate some lower volume instrument sounds but it is more fussy on placement.Overall I'm very pleased with my purchase however my old Soundlink Mini will certainly not be pensioned off and will sit in the room where it spends most of it's time being listened to whereas the Revolve + will be placed anywhere even in areas where it might get splashed with the odd rain drop. It's not water proof but is water resistant. where the mini is not.