Bose SoundLink Plus review: here’s your new beach speaker

I’ve been testing the $269 Bose SoundLink Plus, which is the company’s latest portable Bluetooth speaker. It’s durable, attractive, and designed to join you wherever you go, thanks to solid construction and an IP67 rating. You can toss it in a small backpack or clip it to the outside of one for easy transport to the beach or around town.

However, at $269, the Plus falls into a no man’s land of Bluetooth speakers. It’s more expensive than similarly sized competitors, including the JBL Charge 6, Sony ULT Field 3, and Sonos Roam 2, which all cost $200 or less. The Plus is also about $100 cheaper than slightly larger options with more expansive features, like stereo speakers, Wi-Fi, or smart assistant integration. What it does, it does very well, but there’s little that makes it stand out from the pack.

The SoundLink Plus is a mono speaker with a tweeter, four passive radiators, and a rear-facing subwoofer, which is expected for its price. It can be linked with another Plus to create a stereo pair or connected with other current-gen Bose Bluetooth speakers for Party Mode, where all speakers play the same signal. Only a single Plus was sent for testing, so I didn’t get a chance to test Party Mode (or Stereo Mode, for that matter).

The SoundLink Plus is approximately the same size as a 20-oz water bottle and falls between the SoundLink Max and SoundLink Flex (second-generation). But the size belies how impressively loud it can get.

It provides a good amount of low-end thump, and the overall tuning delivers clear vocals with a crisp high end. The bass line during the verse and chorus of Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” has nice tone and definition, although the Plus gets challenged a bit in the bridge, and instead of the bass hits feeling bigger, they are a little compressed. Throughout, though, the finger snaps and synth are clear and ride on top of the cruising bass.

At mid-to-high volume levels indoors, the upper frequencies can get fatiguing, which I find is generally the case with Bose products. This is particularly true with high hats or metallic-sounding effects, as can be found in “Super Bon Bon” by Soul Coughing. Those frequencies can be tamed a bit by the EQ if needed. And when the Plus gets really loud — around 80 percent and up — some distortion creeps in.

The Plus is wrapped in a silicone coating and has a powder-coated steel grille that matches the available Black, Blue Dusk, or Citrus Yellow finishes. The silicone is durable, smooth, and resistant to getting marked up if dropped, but I was constantly wiping off the lint, dust, and pet hair that it attracted as I moved it around my apartment and outside. Thankfully, it’s easy to clean.

The buttons along the top provide a satisfying click when pressed. There are light indicators next to the power, Bluetooth, and shortcut buttons. The shortcut button can be assigned to either link two Bose Bluetooth speakers together or open Spotify.

Apart from turning the speaker on, however, I rarely used the touch controls. The speaker doesn’t provide a way to advance tracks — just a play / pause button — and the Bose app is relatively bare bones. You can select a source, change the three-band EQ (or select one of four presets), assign the shortcut button, and adjust the volume. It was easier to stay in my music streaming app and control the volume with my iPhone.

The speaker has an IP67 rating, which means it can withstand submersion up to three feet for 30 minutes, making it safe to use around the pool or at the beach. I filled up the tub and tossed it in. The Plus floats, although face down, so you can’t hear it while it’s floating. After being submerged, the power button light will blink white and orange, indicating that the speaker’s USB-C port can’t be used until it’s dry.

It lacks connected audio options that many competitors include, such as the Beats Pill and even other Bose portable speakers like the SoundLink Home (both of which are less expensive). It supports multipoint connection, allowing two Bluetooth devices to be connected simultaneously, but it lacks Wi-Fi, Spotify Connect, and AirPlay support. It’s Bluetooth or bust.

The SoundLink Plus is rated for up to 20 hours of playback time, which seems to be accurate based on my time with the speaker at moderate volumes so far.

The Plus can also be used as a 15W power bank, via its USB-C port, for phones and other devices, which will obviously reduce the playback time. I was able to charge my iPhone 15 Pro by 10 percent in a little under an hour. That’s slow, so I guess it’s only useful in a pinch. It also takes five hours to charge the speaker, so you’ll want to plug it in the night before a beach day.

The SoundLink Plus is a solid, durable, and great-sounding Bluetooth speaker that fills the gap between the Max and the Flex in Bose’s lineup. However, when considering its features in relation to its price, which is higher than that of comparable portable speakers, it becomes a less compelling prospect. If you’re a fan of the Bose sound and are looking for a beach or pool companion for the summer, the Plus is for you. And even if you’re not a Bose fan, the Plus is worth considering, but you should probably wait for a sale.