Bose - SoundLink Flex (1st Gen)
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Based on 1 year's data from Jan 28, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
412
109
"The roborock I have kicked and smashed with my foot so many times out of anger when it doesn't collaborate, and still he rocks 4-5 yrs later and no broken parts"
"has withstood the last week of winds over 70 freezing kph."
"I've used it daily for at least 10 years now, probably closer to 15 and apart from the fact you need to clean it periodically, it's still works like brand new."
139
53
"For gaming the Tea Pros so far are a 10/10, I play mostly Hunt: Showdown and the additional separation, staging, and tighter but punchy bass were all noticeably better for my ears."
"The best is hearing directly via TV apps such as Disney+, Netflix, Prime and Kayo. The surround, smooth deep bass and clarity with the upfiring speakers on both the bar and rear speakers is 'chef kiss'."
"I don’t listen to EDM, but I can say that Karma (Electric Fountain) from the Tekken 6 OST sounds awesome. The bass rumble feels like it’s always present in the space when the mid-bass punch hits. Meanwhile, the details in the upper-mids and treble are clear but never sounding harsh or fatiguing"
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"Noble fokus rex5 best sounding change my mind. ... Five drivers per ear bud game changing for sure ... Yes, you're so right. They are by far number one. ... There may be a few airbuds that get better battery a little bit, better ANC but right now my two cents worth, there's nothing on a planet that sounds better than these. ... I have all the heavy hitters. The techniques 80/100 Sony 4 and 5 sennheisers 3 and 4 and the Devialet gemini II. ... Ronontech on YouTube did a review on the Aviot a few days ago. I belive he liked the Nobels better. ... Also on YouTube, check out Flossie Carter review on the Nobles, he went absolutely nuts. Best sounding wireless earbuds he has ever heard."
"As for gaming I'd probably rank them 1. A50 ... As for music I'd rank them 1. A50 ... And for movies I would rank them 1. A50."
"these fifth generation A50s sound better than anything I’ve ever used. ... New DAC, new Graphene drivers, really nice sounding."
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"If you want portable that you can take outdoors and get wet, check out the Bose Soundlink Max and Soundlink Flex. I have the flex and take it paddleboarding and camping and love it! Bonus: it floats!"
"they are by far the loudest small size speakers"
"The 4 sounds phenomenal given it's size - if I put it next to my hifi speakers you wouldn't realise that the sound was coming from that little cylinder rather than the hifi"
27
4
"Also, you can get a 2nd one and play them in stereo. ... I am not exaggerating: if I got another, I could put them on either side of my tv and that would be my home theater."
"you can link two of them to run in stereo which sounds way better and louder than a single speaker"
"I liked mine so much that I bought a second one to pair with my original. They're pretty stupendous! ... so you can afford to buy two and pair them up. They're damned detailed, go loud, and a pair really opens up the soundstage."
Disliked most:
73
88
"the current sub is beyond terrible, at least to my ears. ... my 80W 10" Vizio subwoofer that is miles better than the Samsung ... The biggest complaint about the Samsung soundbars was always the lack of bass. ... I returned the B and the D due to the poor subwoofer performance. ... The weak sub was always the main problem with these bars."
"the subwoofer disconnects sometimes every 15 seconds ... now its been ok after reconnecting it for the 20th time"
"Will they fix the subwoofer dropage issues? ... Ended up returning it due to the neverending link problems."
0
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"no chatmix is crazy. ... I feel they could easily update through the IQ software to replace the Bluetooth wheel with chat mix but we'll see."
"And it only uses bluetooth, it has no aux input."
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"Avoid the Bose Flex Gen 2 and Bose Max. They have parisitic battery drain of 10-20% per week. ... These Bose will be dead in 2 months after a full charge. ... The units I have are brand new and no firmware update, because the previous returns had the new firmware updated and the drain was even worse. ... This is about as scientific as you can make it. Test every 7 days from 100% and watch it deplete to unuseable in 2 months. ... There's a huge thread about this subject from many Bose customers. Bose knows about it. Acknowledges it. Does NOTHING about it except offer you an exchange. ... Never seen anything like this in other BT brands. I have an old Sony BT speaker that I haven't touched in 2 years and can still play music!"
"The Bose Flex has a standby battery drain issue. It'll eat 30% a week"
"The battery drains 25% per week while turned OFF!"
7
1
"One thing i would change, is add an option to turn off the positioning eq change, because ONE - it now has a delay when switching positions compared to the old flex, and TWO - i personally rather having one eq for all positions."
5
3
"The ONLY issue I have with Space Travel is low volumn-ish. ... I'm already the lower volumn person yet must crank the bar quite high (70% or perharps more when outside)."
"I have a Bose SoundLink revolve I'm thinking about upgrading to a charge 6 but scare that that might not be as loud"
"only thing I don’t like when it’s at in max volume you can hear in some songs how the volume goes up and down because its to protect the speaker from blowing, it’s not that noticeable But just a bit of a catch there. ... only thing It does is that if a song has too much bass but in max volume you will notice the volume goes up and down. But it’s not as noticeable, still its acceptable to Hear in max volume. ... Yeah I agree, I have noticed that in max volume that in certain songs with too much bass you can hear how the volume goes up and down whenever the bass hits."
Complete-Action5804 0.5I got bose flex (1st gen) , pretty good. Just bought a Marshall acton iii, and the bose is no shame at all compared to that. Of course Marshall fills the room with and of course goes 10-20 Hz lower, so you can distinguish drum kicks better in rock music for example. So still like the Bose Flex as portable Bt speaker.
CourageHistorical100 0.5I tried several models during my search - Bose SL Flex (1 Gen), UE Hyperboom 4 and B&O Explore. The Bose by far sounded the best (out of the box - there’s no EQ) then the others (with EQ). I believe the 1st Gen can get a bit lower bass than Gen 2. If you can get a refurbished gen 1 direct from Bose it’s a pretty good price! If you get a pair I’m sure it will sound even better. I enjoy EDM and beats that have a bit more thump. Obviously the low, lows won’t produce in this size of speaker but the mid thumps are definitely there. For the size, the Bose (IMO) is the best sounding.
The Bose SL Plus will likely be a solid fit for you as Bose has a pretty balanced sound, out of the box. Not sure if you’re looking for indoor v outdoor but you might look into getting two SL Flex and setting them up in stereo mode. They sound incredible.
NoFakeReviews123 0.5I agree as well. I have 2 of the 1st Gen Bose Flex speakers and I use them in stereo mode most of the time. Using the app to pair the speakers in stereo is a PITA. I almost always pair the speakers by pushing the sequence of buttons manually.
I get it, but the professional reviews I have read indicate that the Emberton plays in stereo. No it's not the true separate 2 speakers which we all identify as stereo. But using the Emberton for a few years on the center island in the kitchen is great b/c it has sound projecting from both front and back of the speaker. I also have 2 1st gen Bose SL Flexes that can play in stereo. Although using Bose's app to set the speakers up in stereo mode is a PITA, using the push-button sequence to set them up in stereo is very reliable.
Opening-Personality1 0.5They are Gen 1. Could be a 5-10 second process but frequently it takes multiple attempts to get them to pair. Occasionally not at all. It’s finicky. If I can buy 2 that stay paired, without a downgrade, then that would be great.
Speaker_Critic777 0.5Well it's a premium level well made and designed speaker. Once you hear it you understand why the price is like that. Yes it could be cheaper, but it's bose's branding. They use a high quality full range driver that is amazing at producing lows with minimal distortion. And it only uses bluetooth, it has no aux input. You can even get the older gen flex, which has bluetooth 4.2 but is still amazing sounding and is very similar to the new gen soundwise, can be found for even less than 100$
Well you get both in one. You get plenty of sound out of that speaker, and a pretty low latency, lower than anything iv'e tried. So my recommendation is the bose soundlink flex first gen. If you're able to find it for a good price (lower than 100$), you will be very happy with it i guarantee. Your choice mate.
Yea if you can that's great. I doubt you gonna return it 😅 It's miles better than the speaker you owned
Not the best, but decent.
Tuckyc 0.5Beware in the “technical” opinions, I got robbed and lost my sound flex 1st, read some reviews and decided on buying a bar an and kardon Luna, since it was better you know. Honestly didn’t do much for me, ended up giving to my brother and bought soundflex2. For me the middle to low is better and like it, my brother does love the Luna in his office tho. So it really comes to how it actually sounds to you.
ajmckay2 0.2I got this deal on the Bose flex last time they had it and I'm really happy with the speaker. Overall I prefer the Bose sound profile to the JBL. That being said JBL has a great speaker and I use them for parties where I might want louder sound. For personal use at 50-70% volume and I'm within 20ft of the speaker the Bose is great. My preferred orientation is facing up on a counter. I listen to everything but country with emphasis on metal and electronic generas. Some old skool hip hop too. Battery life and loudness aren't going to be as good as the JBL, but I got it for the sound profile which I'm more happy with. OH - and the costco version of the Bose doesn't have a microphone so you can't use it to make calls.
Totally agree - and that fact isn't readily apparent either! Considering it's shortfalls in loudness and battery life Bose needs additional features to stay competitive considering it's cost. On paper the Bose is a dog! It's a simple single speaker/radiator setup which is antiquated now. The only leg the Bose has to stand on is it's sound profile. Now this works for me personally but $100 is still $100 and I would have been happier had I gotten the microphone (which is likely in there, just disabled in software).
Altruistic-Low-4726 0.2The JBL Charge 5 and Bose SoundLink Flex were everywhere, and from what I’ve used, they deserve it.
_aura2k 0.2motion 300 sounds better to my ears than the flex, especially with some eq. the bose always sounds muddy and closed in due to it being mono
AVELUMN 0.2I found myself the Bose Soundlink Max the best in terms of sound quality. If too expensive, then a Bose Flex Soundlink, the small one sounds powerfull and amazing, even outdoors for small parties and its only about 100 bucks and the beauty of it is that they can be paired in twos so it gives an wide stereo effect, still cheaper then a Max.
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