I wasn’t totally vlown away with the Bose SounLink Flex portable speakers compared to others I have or have heard. Out of the box it’s a solid well built product. Has a usb-c port which is nice and comes with a usb to usb-c cord in case you dont have one.
The silicone wrapped body feels good in the hand and seals it up tight to be dust proof and water proof, it floats very well in the pool. The built in loop is a good touch, I can see many uses down the road for that.
Be sure to download the bose app to be able ro adjust the sound settings, makes a big difference. At first impression I would have dropped a couple stars but I went ahead and purchase a second one to see if two paired together really made a difference and it really did. As one speaker, it’s not my favorite, but paired and in stereo they sound amazing. I probably would have dropped to four stars without knowing the potential.
There seems to be a passive subwoofer in the rear of the speaker, so setting it against something solid gets better bass notes out of the speaker.
All in all, its just all right alone. Phone calls were seamless with zero complaints, all genres of music sounded about the same. If you can swing two then go for it, if not then look elsewhere.

Great sound with deep bass and incredible sound clarity. Easy connection, amazing design, good battery life. The only thing I would like to see them improve is the app, it doesn’t have many customization features. Highly recommended.

The new Bose Soundlink Flex 2 is Bose through and through. The build quality is the equal of the Bose reputation. And the sound quality? Equally impressive.
I have owned a number of Bose products since purchasing a pair of their 901 Direct/Reflecting speakers in the mid-80s. Since then I have owned several of their remarkable headphones (currently on the first Gen of their QC45!) a pair of their excellent AM-5 speakers (with stands) and over the years I have given as presents to friends and family, several models of Bose headphones and Bluetooth speakers.
The Flex looks and sounds like a Bose should. “Bespoke” is a term that has come into favor recently for use in reviews most often typed in “dulcet tones of reverence”. The Flex 2 deserves better praise through prose, if you will. As I said, it is undoubtedly a Bose product. First off, it looks like a Bose and as you would expect from Bose, it PLAYS like a Bose.
During my testing the battery lasted on average just over 10.5 hours of constant use. The volume was set at an acceptable “I-am-sitting-right-next-to-it level”. The same volume level worked perfectly across a 10′ X 15′ room. I played it as loud as I could personally take it and there was no shortage of music without annoying distortion brought on by shoddy construction! I then moved to the largest anechoic chamber in my home.
That would be our backyard and here (hear?!) the Flex 2 continued to amaze rather than amuse with its excellent reproduction of the soundtrack of my life. Even acoustic Jazz with relatively deep bass was done well by this small speaker! The range of reception for the Flex 2 in my testing was for up to 40 or so feet (approx.) from its playback source. Using my iPhone as the source resulted in the best reception as my 3 Digital Audio Players are all several years old and as such their Bluetooth versions are far earlier and not nearly as stable at longer distances as the iPhone 14. It should be noted that this is NOT the “fault” of the Bose Soundlink Flex 2 but rather the limits of earlier Bluetooth transmit variants. Still, the signal was received and decoded with nary a real problem and that is something to consider in the real world in which we all live. The Bose Soundlink Flex 2 delivers your music with ease.
I am retired now and as such spend a great deal of my days listening to music and the Flex 2 worked great with either my iPhone 14 or any one of my 3 Digital Audio Players! What more could one ask of a modern Bluetooth Speaker? Answer: Nothing really.
The Bose Flex 2 is a quality built speaker with modern good looks and sound quality that goes beyond the level of just being “loud”. But when it comes to satisfying sound this speaker goes to “11”.
Highly recommended? Indeed!

The Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen) Portable Bluetooth (5.3) Speaker packs so much quality sound into a small package – I would say it is incredible, but it is BOSE after all. Since the day I got this, I have been absolutely loving it! The speaker is charged via a USB-C cord, which is included, but I have those all over – for my phone, etc. so I simply plugged it into one to charge while I downloaded the Bose app. The Bose app has a handy little equalizer you can set, but really other than that I don’t see where I will have much use for it. The speaker came almost fully charged, so it didn’t take much time to be ready to go. Intuitively, I pressed the bluetooth logo on the speaker and searched for the speaker name on my phone’s bluetooth list. It connected immediately and, though Bluetooth speakers generally have approximately 30′ connection range, I was able to walk all over my house carrying the speaker and even outside into the yard without any connection issues at all.
How is the sound? MAGNIFICENT! Connecting to Spotify or my phone’s playlist, I get that amazing Bose bass that fills my soul with incredible sound that I can feel. The treble is awesome as well, and can standout more for you if you do an adjustment in the equalizer. I prefer a little more bass over treble with less mids. The sound is clear and amazing at any level and this thing can blast the sound! If you’re having a party, this is all you will need for your playlist. With its shortcut button capability, you can pair it with another SoundLink speaker for even bigger sound. You can even use that button to create a shortcut – I chose to use it for Spotify and when I press that shortcut button, the speaker connects to the Spotify app on my phone. Bose claims a 12 hour battery life, which is long enough for a day in my life, though they do state that at maximum volume the battery will last approximately 3 hours.
The Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd gen) is light to carry at just 1.66 pounds and has a nice feel with it’s soft-touch, silicone-wrapped finish and it is dust proof and waterproof (rated IP67). This is truly portable because Bose built it to withstand, as they say: “drops, crushing, shocks, and rust”, and it has a small hoop to hook it onto your gear. As I was writing this review, my phone rang and I was able to answer it via this speaker! There is a built in microphone so the caller was able to hear me, but said I was fading in and out, though I was sitting in one spot. I was able to hear them clearly. The other problem was that I didn’t know how to hang up via the speaker – I had to have them hang up (of course I could have used my phone).
This Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen) Portable Bluetooth Speaker puts out absolutely incredible sound in a small speaker (H 2.06 inches, W 8.661 inches, D 3.78 inches). This is quality that I appreciate and that I know will last for a good long time. It is everything I want in a portable speaker and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone in the market for an excellent quality small Bluetooth speaker.