Powerful, high-quality sound in a portable Bluetooth speaker

On the heels of the popularity of its Soundlink Flex, Bose released a larger, more powerful portable Bluetooth speaker, the Bose Soundlink Max. In a category that prizes loudness over accuracy, the Bose SoundLink Max provides plenty of both. It’s one of the best-sounding Bluetooth speakers available.

The BestReviews Testing Lab checked out the SoundLink Max in a variety of scenarios, noting its size, play time, charging time, portability and more. Despite lacking speakerphone functionality, it’s clearly one of the best overall portable Bluetooth speakers we’ve tested, with excellent sound quality, loudness, durability and battery life.

What is the Bose Soundlink Max Portable Speaker?

It’s easy to take the party anywhere with the Bose Soundlink Max.

Product specifications

Battery life: 36 hr (tested) | Wireless range: 80’ (tested) | Dimensions: 4.73" H x 10.42" W x 4.13" D | Weight: 4.9 lb | Bluetooth: 5.4

The Bose Soundlink Max is a portable, rechargeable Bluetooth stereo speaker. It’s rated IP67 dust-resistant and waterproof to withstand sand, dirt and water ingress, and it can float if immersed. It’s compact compared to some rivals, measuring less than a foot wide and less than 5 inches tall and deep. It feels somewhat heavy for its size, but not unpleasantly so, at 4.9 pounds. It comes with a removable woven handle.

It has dual drivers to provide stereo sound and can reach impressively loud, room-shaking sound at only 50% volume, with a maximum 50 watts of power at its loudest. Its built-in battery lasts at least 20 hours at 65% volume, but we managed to get over 36 hours of playback time in our testing, and 15 hours at maximum volume. It can charge a smartphone or similar device using its USB-C port and takes five hours to recharge.

See how it compares to other products in its space — check out our reviews for the best Bluetooth speaker. 

Price and where to buy

The Bose Soundlink Max has a list price of $399. It’s available from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and directly from Bose.

Why we like it

• Battery life: The Soundlink Max is advertised by Bose to have up to 20 hours of battery life at 65% volume while playing music. We tested it at over 36 hours of battery life while playing white noise.
• Sound quality: We liked the sound quality of the Soundlink Max, hearing clear stereo separation and articulate mids and treble, not just powerful bass.
• Waterproof and dustproof: The Soundlink Max could float in water and survived drops of 3 to 4 feet onto grassy turf with no damage.
• Portability: While it was a little heavy for its size, we liked how compact the Soundlink Max felt in hand and how comfortable it was to hold by its handle.

What we don’t like

• Price: Retailing at $400, the Soundlink Max is more expensive than many top competitors.
• Connectivity: We wished the Soundlink Max could connect to more than two devices at a time.
• No speakerphone: The Soundlink Max lacks a microphone, making it unable to be used as a speakerphone like some competing Bluetooth speakers.

Bose Soundlink Max Portable Speaker setup

It took the testing team less than a minute to set up the Soundlink Max.

Setting up the Bose Soundlink Max was easy, taking only 45 seconds during testing. The unit comes conveniently packed in a flip-up product box and is already partially charged. Once it’s unwrapped from its protective wrapping, it’s ready to pair.

The Soundlink Max powers on quickly once the on-off button is pressed. To pair, simply hold down the Bluetooth button until its indicator light begins to flash. Then proceed to the source device’s Bluetooth options and pair as normal. We encountered no issues or glitches when pairing the Soundlink Max.

The Bose app can also pair the Soundlink Max and also updates its firmware. We did a firmware update during testing and observed no issues.

Design and build quality

The Soundlink Max did well outdoors during our testing and was easy to clean up afterward.

The Bose Soundlink Max sounds bigger and weighs more than it looks. Made of aluminum, plastic, fabric and steel, it’s more compact than many competing Bluetooth speakers and can fit easily inside a large tote bag or small suitcase if necessary. It looks and feels solid, with a soft-touch matte surface over most of its body and a satin-metal grille. Surprisingly, it lacks a cover for its USB-C and aux ports, but we experienced no problems with the ports exposed.

Unlike some competitors, the Soundlink Max has an understated design without bass radiators or LED lights and is available only in two subtle colors to keep its focus primarily on sound quality. 

Sound quality

Its bass is powerful, filling and shaking the room even at only 50% volume.

The Bose Soundlink Max had the best overall sound quality among tested portable Bluetooth speakers. Its two drivers allow it to produce stereo sound with notable separation and soundstage despite coming from a compact unit. As should be expected from Bluetooth speakers, its bass is powerful, filling and shaking the room even at only 50% volume. At the same time, its mids and highs had presence and articulation, sounding full without the tinny quality common among portable speakers.

The Soundlink Max can output up to 50 watts of power. It maintained its sound quality up to 65% of volume, with the mids and highs growing sharper as volume increased. At full 100% volume, the sound finally distorted with piercing trebles and bass that could carry over long distances, and it was too loud to listen to. We recommend an indoor listening volume of about 30%, which was more than enough for enjoyable and full-bodied sound in our tests.

Connectivity features, battery life and charging

The testing team found that the Bose Soundlink Max offers 36 hours of battery life on a single charge.

The Bose Soundlink Max uses Bluetooth 5.4 and supports multipoint connections. We successfully connected it to two different audio sources over Bluetooth and could switch between them without issue. We didn’t experience any interference or disruption while connected over Bluetooth, and pairing a new device only took 25 seconds at most. We did wish it could maintain a connection with more than two devices — for example, for a party — but this was a small quibble. It maintained a Bluetooth connection of almost 80 feet outdoors in direct line-of-sight and had no problems maintaining connections through walls and doors while inside. We appreciate it also includes a line-in port that takes a standard 3.5-millimeter aux plug.

Its battery life was impressive. Rated for 20 hours when playing Top 40 songs at 65% power, it lasted over 36 hours at that volume level while we played white noise with it. Likewise, its advertised five hours of battery life at 100% volume playing music became 15 hours playing white noise. It could also recharge a tablet 20% in 10 minutes from its USB-C port, although it took five hours for it to charge itself from empty.

Portability and ease of use

The rope handle of the Soundlink Max can be removed and replaced by an optional shoulder strap.

The Bose Soundlink Max is conveniently portable and easy to use. While it’s small enough to fit in a tote bag, we think it’s more fun and comfortable to transport by simply carrying it with its padded rope handle. Our only reservation is that its 5-pound weight might eventually feel tiring after long periods of holding it.

Its control interface is simple, with buttons for power, Bluetooth, source, volume and playback. We liked having separate power and Bluetooth buttons rather than a combined button, as it keeps power cycling and Bluetooth pairing separate. We also liked that it has a play/pause button and separate volume up-and-down buttons.

Waterproof and dustproof capabilities

The Soundlink Max survived full immersion in water without incident and could play (but not charge) while wet.

The Soundlink Max is shock-resistant and rated IP67 against dust and water ingress. It survived several drops from 3 to 4 feet onto grassy ground with no damage and very little dirt or grass getting into its grilles and functioned normally afterward. It survived complete immersion in water without functional issues and could float with its grille inverted — although it couldn’t play audio while submerged. An indicator light glows red if it senses water in its ports, which prevents it from charging while damp while still being able to operate normally.

How does it compare to other portable speakers we’ve tested?

The Bose Soundlink Max has the best or among the best audio quality of portable speakers we’ve tested, including the mono JBL Charge 5 and the stereo Soundcore Boom 2 Plus. It’s smaller than the Boom 2 Plus and lacks LED lights, and it can’t function as a speakerphone, but it has a fuller sound. It’s superior to the JBL Charge 5 in sound quality, and unlike the JBL has a handle, but it’s slightly larger and heavier.

Testing the Bose Soundlink Max Portable Speaker

The testing team evaluated it for sound quality, loudness, connection stability and more.

We tested the Bose Soundlink Max for sound quality, loudness, connection stability, build quality and durability and battery life. We timed how long it took to unbox the unit and pair it with a Bluetooth source, and we noted what, if any, steps we needed to take when using it with its Bose smartphone app. We looked at its controls and interface and judged them for ease of use and functionality, including the controls on the app.

We played a standardized playlist of songs from all major genres at different volume levels to test its sound quality, noting its frequency response and any distortion at high volumes. We also connected it to an audio source via an aux cable and switched between multiple paired devices to test connection quality.

We played it at maximum volume outdoors to test its loudness and power, and measured how far we could go before it lost its connection to a source. We also dropped it multiple times onto grassy turf from heights of 3 to 4 feet to test its durability. Finally, we soaked and immersed it in water before operating it while wet, to test its water-resistance.

Should you get the Bose Soundlink Max Portable Speaker?

Compared to other portable Bluetooth speakers in its class, the high-quality Bose Soundlink Max is tough to beat.

The Bose Soundlink Max is an excellent portable Bluetooth speaker. We were impressed at its sound quality, its loudness, its battery life and its portability. Its only major drawbacks are its lack of a mic for speakerphone functions and its high price. If it’s within your budget, you should consider purchasing the Bose Soundlink Max.