Category: bose philippines

Bose SoundTouch 30 Quick Review

Kevin Bruce Francisco Leave a comment

We’ve already given you our thoughts regarding the company’s SoundTouch 20, and now we have in our hands its bigger sibling — the Bose SoundTouch 30. It basically has the same functionalities and features as the smaller model but what would make you want to buy it? Read on this quick review and find out. 

Bose-SoundTouch-30-1

The SoundTouch 30 is basically a bigger ST20 in terms of looks. Its got the same minimalistic approach all around with an outward-curving body, flat surface, and an OLED panel up front which displays song titles, artists, and serves as a connectivity indicator.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-3

Just like its smaller version, the ST30’s flat surface is where the only buttons are found: Power, AUX, Volume up and down, and a 6-button preset where you can assign radio stations and specific playlists for faster navigation.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-2

There’s also an included remote but using your smartphone, tablet, or PC with the SoundTouch app already grants you access to tasks you need to perform like change sources, adjust volume, and select playlists.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-4

It has a built-in diaphragm at its back that promises to provide lows that are not only powerful, but also solid. We’ll get to sound quality in just a bit.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-5

Connectivity-wise, it’s been established before that the SoundTouch series doesn’t rely heavily on wired connections since they’re all about Wi-Fi connection here.  With that in mind, it’s still thoughtful for Bose to include a 3.5mm audio jack for times that Internet is unavailable.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-6

After the easy setup that requires you to connect the speaker to a Wi-Fi, the SoundTouch 30 is ready to go. We had it playing continuously just to stretch its drivers and we were ready to test its sound performance.

So far it’s all been very familiar when it comes to the physique of the SoundTouch 20 and 30. Although as for the sound quality, the two has a distinct difference between each other that should factor in altogether. During our time with the SoundTouch 20 we noticed that the highs were a bit overdone which proved to be too bright for us, but as for this bigger model everything was balanced.

Bose SoundTouch 20 1

SoundTouch 20 – literally just a smaller version of the SoudTouch 30

Treble was crisp without going overboard. That, plus its bass levels that could go deep without getting muddy, was a really enjoyable combination. To top it off, mids or vocals was authoritative but not overpowering. Distortion even at maximum volume was not an issue at all and since we’re on topic, volume level was impressive — it could go all the way up, filling a large room without breaking a sweat.

Bose-SoundTouch-deezer-2

Just like before, this speaker is compatible with Bose’s SoundTouch app that’s free to download for both Android and iOS users. Apart from selecting songs and adjusting volume you can also use it to play songs from your PC’s music library. The SoundTouch 30 also comes with a free 15-day trial of Deezer Premium+ as part of their partnership — it gives users unlimited access to their music library with no ads and also throws in a special offer for a full-year subscription with half the price after the trial ends.

Bose-SoundTouch-deezer-1

Regardless of what music-streaming app you prefer, you will always have the capability to output all your songs to the SoundTouch 30.

 

The Bose SoundTouch 30, although the top of the line model in the series, has a lot of similarity with the SoundTouch 20 in terms of functionality. If you have both set up in your house you can set them to play the same music in each room or you can opt to play different songs for each speaker.

It still heavily relies on how fast your Internet is, so performance and connectivity might be affected if you placed the speaker in a spot where Wi-Fi signal is weak (or if your Internet connection is generally crappy). As for sound performance, we’re glad to report that the downside we previously saw is no longer present in this bigger SoundTouch — what you get is a powerful and life-like sound that the company is known for.

Bose SoundTouch 30 specs and features:
Aux input
Ethernet port
USB ports
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
OLED display
9.7 x 17.1 x 7.1 inches (dimensions)
8.39 kg (weight)
Price: Php49,500

The Bose SoundTouch 30 as well as the SoundTouch 20 are both available for purchase at Bose stores.

The post Bose SoundTouch 30 Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Bose SoundTouch 30 Quick Review

Kevin Bruce Francisco Leave a comment

We’ve already given you our thoughts regarding the company’s SoundTouch 20, and now we have in our hands its bigger sibling — the Bose SoundTouch 30. It basically has the same functionalities and features as the smaller model but what would make you want to buy it? Read on this quick review and find out. 

Bose-SoundTouch-30-1

The SoundTouch 30 is basically a bigger ST20 in terms of looks. Its got the same minimalistic approach all around with an outward-curving body, flat surface, and an OLED panel up front which displays song titles, artists, and serves as a connectivity indicator.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-3

Just like its smaller version, the ST30’s flat surface is where the only buttons are found: Power, AUX, Volume up and down, and a 6-button preset where you can assign radio stations and specific playlists for faster navigation.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-2

There’s also an included remote but using your smartphone, tablet, or PC with the SoundTouch app already grants you access to tasks you need to perform like change sources, adjust volume, and select playlists.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-4

It has a built-in diaphragm at its back that promises to provide lows that are not only powerful, but also solid. We’ll get to sound quality in just a bit.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-5

Connectivity-wise, it’s been established before that the SoundTouch series doesn’t rely heavily on wired connections since they’re all about Wi-Fi connection here.  With that in mind, it’s still thoughtful for Bose to include a 3.5mm audio jack for times that Internet is unavailable.

Bose-SoundTouch-30-6

After the easy setup that requires you to connect the speaker to a Wi-Fi, the SoundTouch 30 is ready to go. We had it playing continuously just to stretch its drivers and we were ready to test its sound performance.

So far it’s all been very familiar when it comes to the physique of the SoundTouch 20 and 30. Although as for the sound quality, the two has a distinct difference between each other that should factor in altogether. During our time with the SoundTouch 20 we noticed that the highs were a bit overdone which proved to be too bright for us, but as for this bigger model everything was balanced.

Bose SoundTouch 20 1

SoundTouch 20 – literally just a smaller version of the SoudTouch 30

Treble was crisp without going overboard. That, plus its bass levels that could go deep without getting muddy, was a really enjoyable combination. To top it off, mids or vocals was authoritative but not overpowering. Distortion even at maximum volume was not an issue at all and since we’re on topic, volume level was impressive — it could go all the way up, filling a large room without breaking a sweat.

Bose-SoundTouch-deezer-2

Just like before, this speaker is compatible with Bose’s SoundTouch app that’s free to download for both Android and iOS users. Apart from selecting songs and adjusting volume you can also use it to play songs from your PC’s music library. The SoundTouch 30 also comes with a free 15-day trial of Deezer Premium+ as part of their partnership — it gives users unlimited access to their music library with no ads and also throws in a special offer for a full-year subscription with half the price after the trial ends.

Bose-SoundTouch-deezer-1

Regardless of what music-streaming app you prefer, you will always have the capability to output all your songs to the SoundTouch 30.

 

The Bose SoundTouch 30, although the top of the line model in the series, has a lot of similarity with the SoundTouch 20 in terms of functionality. If you have both set up in your house you can set them to play the same music in each room or you can opt to play different songs for each speaker.

It still heavily relies on how fast your Internet is, so performance and connectivity might be affected if you placed the speaker in a spot where Wi-Fi signal is weak (or if your Internet connection is generally crappy). As for sound performance, we’re glad to report that the downside we previously saw is no longer present in this bigger SoundTouch — what you get is a powerful and life-like sound that the company is known for.

Bose SoundTouch 30 specs and features:
Aux input
Ethernet port
USB ports
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
OLED display
9.7 x 17.1 x 7.1 inches (dimensions)
8.39 kg (weight)
Price: Php49,500

The Bose SoundTouch 30 as well as the SoundTouch 20 are both available for purchase at Bose stores.

The post Bose SoundTouch 30 Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Bose SoundLink Mini Quick Review

Kevin Bruce Francisco Leave a comment

Portability and sound quality are the two imperative factors when it comes to compact, Bluetooth speakers. Some speakers are light and can be easily carried in a small bag, but then sound quality suffers due to weak drivers. Some are equipped with full-sized drivers that give off high quality music, but are too bulky to be moved around. Let’s see which category does the Bose SoundLink Mini fall under.

Bose_SoundLink_Mini_6

The SoundLink Mini is not one to catch your attention right away. It has a dull, metallic color all around that blends well and disappears when placed beside other appliances in the living room. Though it doesn’t look as fancy as other portable speakers, its build quality is top-notch as it is reinforced with a strip of anodized aluminium as its main housing. This puts a hefty 680 grams on the speaker that makes it undeniably solid and adds a premium feel to it. In addition, the grilles on the front and back are both made of metal.

Bose_SoundLink_Mini_5

The buttons up top are lined up neatly and are very straightforward – you have the Power, Mute, Volume, Bluetooth, and Auxiliary buttons that are protected with rubber. On the right side is a charging port and a 3.5mm audio jack to connect the speaker to a music player using a cable (not included).

Bose_SoundLink_Mini_7

Lastly, you can find a mini USB port under the device for firmware upgrades and some metal conductors that connect to the base dock for wireless charging. The idea is to have the option of just placing the SoundLink Mini on the charging dock and removing it anytime to bring with you.

Bose_SoundLink_Mini_2

Now that we’re familiar with the hardware of this portable speaker, let’s dive in to the sound quality. We started playing music on normal volume and the SoundLink Mini gave out clear and crisp sound. We weren’t really surprised since we have high expectations on Bose when it comes to sound reproduction.

We then cranked up the volume to see how long it could hold before the sound gets distorted. Surprisingly, only little to no distortion was heard after reaching the maximum volume. It managed to deliver sound with impressive clarity and power. Sound quality is sufficiently balanced, but we think the bass could do a little bit better. Still, considering its minimal size, the SoundLink Mini was able to give off quite a big sound.

Bose_SoundLink_Mini_4

Away from its charging dock, the SoundLink Mini packs a decent battery. We used it at an in-house symposium to provide background music while people were talking and it lasted us almost 6 hours before it gets completely juiced out.

To sum it up, the SoundLink Mini is a Bluetooth speaker that can deliver. It falls on the category of speakers having that portable build while delivering impressive sound quality. It’s not made to look pretty, but to perform – and that’s what it does best. Of course if you want a speaker as capable as this, you should be prepared to shell out more than what average speakers are asking for.

The Bose SoundLink Mini is priced locally at Php13,000 and is available at all Bose stores and select authorized dealers.

Bose_SoundLink_Mini_3

Bose SoundLink Mini specs:
Speakers: 2 x 1.5-inch custom-designed Bose transducers with dual bass radiators
Sound engine: Bose Digital Signal Processor
Connectivity: Bluetooth A2DP, 3.5mm audio cable
Dimensions: 2.0”H x 7.1”W x 2.3”D
Weight: 680 grams
Price: Php13,000

What we liked about it:
* Great solid build
* Compact and portable
* Buttons are simple and straightforward
* Top-notch sound quality
* Decent battery life

What we didn’t like:
* No NFC
* No microphone
* Above 10K price

The post Bose SoundLink Mini Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Bose Home Theater Weekend Sale, up to 50% discount

Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

Bose Philippines is running a two-day sale for some of their home theater offerings and is giving away up to 50% discount on select items. Head past the break to see which Bose items are on sale and its respective discounted price.

Bose Lifestyle® 535 Series II

1x Acoustimass Module
2x Jewel Cube Speakers
2x Direct/Reflecting speakers
1x Horizontal Center channel speaker
1x Control Console
1x Universal Remote
Original SRP: Php195,000
Discounted Price: Php156,000

Bose Lifestyle 535 philippines

Bose VideoWave Series II

46-inch Backlit LED display, 1920×1080
16:9 aspect ratio
120Hz refresh rate
Built-in 7.1 surround sound
1x Control console
1x SoundTouch wireless adapter
1x Clickpad Remote control
Original SRP: Php350,000
Discounted Price: Php250,000

Bose VideoWave Series II Philippines

Bose Lifestyle® 525 Series II

1x Acoustimass Module
2x Direct/Reflecting Speakers
1x Horizontal center channel speaker
1x Control Console
1x Universal Remote
Original SRP: Php170,000
Discounted Price: Php136,000

Bose Lifestyle® 135 Series II

1x Acoustimass Module
1x Soundbar Speaker
1x Control Console
1x Universal Remote
Original SRP: Php150,000
Discounted Price: Php108,000

Bose CineMate Series II

1x Acoustimass Module
2x Articulated array speakers
1x Four-button remote control
1x Interface Module
Original SRP: Php52,500
Discounted Price: Php36,765

Bose Acoustimass 10 Philippines

Bose Acoustimass 10

1x Acoustimass Module
1x Horizontal center channel speaker
4x Direct/Reflecting speakers
Original SRP: Php53,000
Discounted Price: Php26,500

For more information about these units on sale, you can drop by Autostrada Maserati Showroom located at 32nd and 4th Crescent Park West, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The post Bose Home Theater Weekend Sale, up to 50% discount appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Bose SoundLink III Review

Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

Along with the SoundTouch 20, we also received the Bose SoundLink III a couple of weeks back for review. And after using it as our daily driver, we’re ready to share with you guys our full review of this portable wireless speaker.

Design and Construction

Design-wise, the Bose Soundlink III is as basic as it comes. Truth be told, there’s nothing about this speaker that will immediately catch your attention, other than maybe the small “Bose” logo on the front.

Bose SoundLink III Philippines

We assume that the young and hip crowd will not give this speaker a second-look, and would rather go for the flashy, light-emitting JBL Pulse which we’ve reviewed just recently. However, the more laid-back consumers will certainly appreciate its no-frill design which is complemented by the SoundLink III’s grey paintjob with a touch of white paint at the top.

The same minimalist approach is applied to the speakers control panel which is situated at the top portion of the device. The left portion of the panel comprises of the Power, Bluetooth and Aux buttons, while the other half is reserved for the keys that controls the sound output of the device (Mute, Power Up/Down).

SoundLink III Philippines

The SoundLink III’s front section is mainly occupied by the speaker grilles which hide the quartet of drivers from plain sight. The only other components worth noting here in this area are the four LED lights on the front of the speaker which corresponds to the speakers Bluetooth and Aux functions, as well as the Mute and Battery/Charging state.

Apart from the Micro-USB port and two other ports for charging and Aux-In, the back portion of the speaker looks pretty much like the front end; uncluttered but rather uninteresting.

Other features (or the lack of it)

If you’re planning to shell out almost twenty grand for a wireless speaker, you’re most likely to expect a little some extra on the side than what the competition is offering. Well, we hate to disappoint, but that’s not the case with the SoundLink III.

SoundLink 3 philippines

Although it pretty much have most of the basic things covered (the inclusion of a Play/Pause, Previous and Next buttons would’ve been nicer), this wireless speaker doesn’t have NFC or Bluetooth aptX support which are slowly becoming a staple for mid-tier to high-end wireless speakers.

That said, the SoundLink III, in our opinion, is just a straightforward Bluetooth speakers that functions the same way as a normal wireless speaker would, but costs two times more than what the competitions are offering. But then again, it’s made by Bose so what can you expect.

Sound Performance

A good portion of what you’ll be paying for the SoundLink III goes into the four neodymium tranducers inside of it which, by the way, are also partly the reason why the speaker weighs so heavy despite of its deceivingly lightweight form factor.

Needless to say, these drivers are fine tuned to deliver above-average sound quality that you’d expect from a speaker of this caliber. And although we have to admit that its sound performance alone wouldn’t suffice to cover the whole price of the admission, it certainly helped in making its SRP a little easier to swallow.

Test parameters:
(24 hours of burn-in was done prior to the actual test)
Device: iPhone 4S
Volume: 90%
Equalizer: Off
File format: Combination of MP3 and ALAC
Track bitrate: 256Kbps and above
Tracks:
• Back to You – John Mayer (Good)
• King of anything – Sarah Bareilles (Best)
• Headlights – Eminem ft. Nate Ruess (Best)
• Mrs. Fely Nimfa – Itchyworms (Good)
• 19-2000 – Gorillaz (Best)
• She wants to move – NERD (Best)
• Basket Case – Greenday (Good)
• Perfect – Pink (Best)
• Love Song – 311 (Good)
• Sunset Daze – Selfish (Best)

Let’s talk about its sound signature. Right from the get go, we noticed that there’s plenty of bass to go around with. Perhaps a little bit too much as it tend to somewhat overpower the treble, resulting into a rather veiled output, particularly in the highs and upper mids.

Not only were the highs are slightly attenuated, the chimes (and other similar-sounding instruments) lacked vibrance to point that it sounded flat. The vocals, on the other hand, don’t seem to be affected that much by the SoundLink III’s powerful bass. It sounded very clear and blended well with the speaker’s deep bass.

Battery Life

Apart from its respectable sound output, battery life is another strong suit of the SoundLink III. Bose claims that it can last up to 14 hours of continuous music playback (wirelessly) on a single full charge and based on our test, the speaker, or should we say the battery, works as advertised and sometimes even surpassing the claimed mileage depending on the usage.

soundlink 3

Of course, we didn’t have the luxury of playing tracks for 14 or more hours straight. So what we did was we ran a timer whenever we’re using the speaker, and stopped it whenever we’re out in the field. On average, we got around 16-18 hours’ worth of juice before we reached out for its proprietary charger.

Conclusion

It was back in 2011 when Bose introduced the first SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker. The competition in the wireless speaker arena was not as fierce as compared to today, and all the company needed to do to win the crowd was apply their signature sound and slap it on to a portable speaker that can be synced wirelessly to the audio source.

Three years and two iterations later, the company still decided to use the same principle on the SoundLink III. And while it’s true that the battery life is significantly better than the two previous models combined, not to mention the current version has a more refined sound quality than its predecessors, we think that Bose could’ve done more with the SoundLink III given the technology available today.

With everything taken in to consideration, we still feel that the Bose SoundLink III is a decent wireless speaker that offers superb sound quality for its size and long battery life to last you for hours on end. Yes, it doesn’t have the fancy add-on features that other wireless speakers in the market have, but if you’re just in the market for a Bluetooth speaker from a reputable brand and money is not an issue, then the SoundLink III should definitely be on your list.

What we liked about it:

* Above-average sound quality
* Vocals and Bass are well-pronounced
* Loud enough to easily fill a mid-sized room
* Decent build with a minimalist design
* Long battery life
* Optional Cover (sold separately, comes in 5 color options)

What we didn’t like about it:

* PRICEY
* Highs are a bit recessed and lacked vibrance
* Lacks Bluetooth aptX and NFC
* Proprietary charger
* Doesn’t charge via Micro-USB port (only for service and future software updates)
* Doesn’t come with a remote

The Bose SoundLink III is available locally for Php19,000.

The post Bose SoundLink III Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.