Few weeks ago, I was in the market for a new compact-sized Bluetooth speaker for indoor use. My JBL Charge2+ from last year is still in good condition. It’s a decent speaker for outdoor use, or for a reasonably large room. My problem, it sounds bad in the volume level I’d like for a small bedroom. To make it worse, it makes loud beep every time I turn it on and the volume differences within the first 5 steps are too drastic, making it a bit hard to get the volume right when I need to keep it low.

So I did some research and ended up with Bose SoundLink Mini II. Part of it because Bose is a brand I already know and trust, and it was also because I found a real good price on eBay sale.

Bose SoundLink Mini II is a compact-sized Bluetooth speaker promising 10 hours battery life and wireless connection up to 9 m. It comes with charging cradle. The micro USB port to charge the built-in rechargeable battery can be found both on the charging cradle and on the speaker itself. At first I thought it was a bit weird, but then I realised. I can have one cable always connected to my charging cradle, and I can quickly grab the speaker when I need it somewhere else and can still charge it later if needed. This convenience sounded small and easy to miss, but for me it’s a very good thing to have.

There are 5 buttons on the speaker. From left to right, we have power button, volume down button, multi function button, volume up button and Bluetooth button. The use of these buttons are as simple as their names, with the multi function button being used for controlling music sources and speakerphone calls.

Just like most other Bluetooth products, initial pairing was easy and fairly straightforward. The startup chime sounds nice, far more acceptable than the one from my JBL Charge2+. There’s voice feedback, but we can turn it off if not needed. Volume setting is very good, allowing me to choose various level of low volume, up to reasonably loud one. Sure this speaker is not strong enough for large outdoor party, but it will perform just fine in most indoor rooms.

Sound quality is another strong point of this speaker. It delivers typical Bose sound. Clear and detail, enough punch yet not overwhelming. Probably not the most natural sound we could get, but this speaker is great for everyday listening.

There is a 3.5 mm auxiliary port in case your audio device does not have Bluetooth connection, even though I really doubt that people with those wired-only devices would buy a Bluetooth speaker. For added protection, Bose also offers protective covers in 5 colours: grey, black, blue, yellow and red. This protective cover is an optional accessory and is sold separately. Lucky that I got it as a bonus.

Very happy with my new Bose speaker. Strong recommendation from me.