Published On: October 2, 2024

Bose Introduces SoundLink Home: Portable Bluetooth Audio, Designed for Indoors

Published On: October 2, 2024
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Bose Introduces SoundLink Home: Portable Bluetooth Audio, Designed for Indoors

Bose has expanded its SoundLink lineup with the SoundLink Home, a sleek Bluetooth speaker designed for home use, offering a balance of style and performance.

Bose Introduces SoundLink Home: Portable Bluetooth Audio, Designed for Indoors

Bose has introduced the SoundLink Home, a sleek and stylish Bluetooth speaker aimed at home use. While Bose is known for its durable, portable audio devices, this new model focuses more on aesthetics and indoor functionality. With a price tag of $219, the SoundLink Home stands out in its design and offers a balance between portability and sound quality, while some notable features, or lack thereof, make it a unique addition to Bose’s long-running SoundLink line.

One of the most immediate standouts of the SoundLink Home is its design. This speaker is built with premium materials, featuring an anodized aluminum frame that offers a polished, modern look, distinctly different from other Bose portable speakers that emphasize ruggedness.

The aluminum finish is complemented by a fabric speaker grille, which covers the front and back of the unit. Its compact size—8.5 inches wide, 4.4 inches tall, and 2.3 inches deep—makes it easy to move around the house, weighing just under two pounds. It is offered in two colors: a neutral cool gray and a light silver, both of which are designed to blend into home decor.

Bose SoundLink Home in Cool Gray and Light Silver color options.

The physical controls are simple and located on the top of the device, including buttons for power, volume, Bluetooth pairing, and playback control. There’s no touchscreen or app integration, making this model distinctly minimalist compared to more tech-laden speakers. Bose has opted for a more intuitive, straightforward experience, relying solely on manual controls and Bluetooth pairing for connectivity.

The Bose SoundLink Home comes with Bluetooth 5.3, offering a stable connection within a 30-foot range. It also includes Bluetooth Multipoint technology, allowing users to pair two devices simultaneously. However, one of the trade-offs with this speaker is its lack of Wi-Fi connectivity. As a result, features like AirPlay or streaming directly from services without a phone are missing, which might limit its appeal for users looking for more advanced integration with their home network.

Additionally, unlike some of Bose’s other products, such as the Smart Soundbar, the SoundLink Home doesn’t feature compatibility with Bose’s app or the SimpleSync feature, which allows wireless pairing with other Bose products. This restricts the SoundLink Home from being part of a broader wireless audio ecosystem, focusing it as a standalone device or part of a stereo pair if you purchase a second unit.

Bose SoundLink Home in kitchen.

A notable inclusion is the USB-C port, which serves dual purposes. It’s primarily used for charging the device, which takes about four hours for a full charge. The USB-C port can also be used to connect the speaker to other devices, such as a laptop or smartphone, providing more versatility for those who prefer a wired connection.

The battery life of the SoundLink Home is rated at approximately nine hours, but this figure depends heavily on how the speaker is used. At moderate volume levels (around 50%), you can expect to reach the full nine-hour mark, but pushing the speaker to its maximum volume will significantly reduce the playtime, with some estimates dropping as low as 2.5 hours at full power. This indicates that while the speaker is portable and can be moved around, it’s not designed for long outdoor sessions like some other portable speakers in the Bose lineup.

Despite its compact size, the SoundLink Home is expected to deliver strong sound performance. Inside, it features a full-range transducer and dual passive radiators, designed to enhance bass response and provide a fuller sound, especially for a speaker this size. While Bose is known for its ability to produce room-filling sound even from smaller devices, this speaker is best suited for indoor use, where its acoustics can shine in a controlled environment.

Bose SoundLink Home control buttons.

While the SoundLink Home offers some solid features, it also comes with limitations. It lacks any sort of water or dust resistance, meaning it’s not well-suited for environments like kitchens or bathrooms, where moisture or humidity could be a concern. This places the speaker squarely as an indoor device, as even outdoor use is somewhat risky without proper protection from the elements.

Additionally, the speaker doesn’t include an analog input, which is a standard feature on some of Bose’s other products. This could be a downside for users who prefer traditional wired connections beyond the USB-C input. The omission of app control or Wi-Fi connectivity also limits some of the functionality that has become commonplace in modern Bluetooth speakers.

The Bose SoundLink Home is available now in the US for $219 exclusively on Bose's website.

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