- [Michael] The Bose SoundWear is not a boomerang,
and airline pillow, or a toilet seat.
It's also not a headset,
at least not in the traditional sense.
Bose calls it a companion speaker.
I call it an indulgence.
But if you don't have the means or the inclination
to buy a home sound system,
it might just be the weirdo piece
of tech you're looking for.
I'm Mr. Mobile and this is the first personal speaker
I have ever tried.
(techno music)
I was not surprised to find that the Bose SoundWear
is for a very narrow range of people,
but I was taken aback to discover after two weeks
I'm sort of one of them.
I'm on the go way to often to invest in a Sonos
or similar speaker system for my home.
Even when I am home, I'm almost always moving
from room to room, so I usually just keep my phone on me
and stick to headphones.
The problem with that is my preferred headphones
are really good at eliminating background noise
and I hate not being aware of my surroundings.
Enter the Bose SoundWear, the idea is you drape it
over your shoulders and create a kind of sphere of sound
around your head.
To get this out of the way now, yes, it looks weird.
Sure you can hide it under a hoodie or a black jacket,
but don't expect to use this in public anyway
because, well, physics.
The speakers are big and they're loud.
But because they're so far from your ears,
they're not always loud enough to overcome
ambient background noise, so you need
to crank them up to max and then everyone can hear
your phone call or your Barenaked Ladies Best of album.
It's not the best.
I say all this to make a point that the SoundWear is not
a replacement for headphones, it's a complement to them.
You come in to work for the day
or come home at night and swap
your commute headphones for this thing.
In my time with the SoundWear, I've used it most often
in the office and it's been wonderful.
From a technical perspective, it's pretty amazing
what a spacious sound stage it can produce.
Rich tones, ample base, even a little bonus rumble
on your collar bone for the peaks.
The moment that really sold me on them was this.
I was listening to a podcast, "Emotional Hangs"
is my new favorite one, if you care.
At one point in the background there was a dog walking
around the recording studio making
that collar jangling noise, you know.
The sound was so authentic that for a half-second,
I thought a dog had gotten inside the room I was in.
It's really stunning.
On the tangible stuff, there aren't many surprises.
On the upside, you can take the fabric cover off
to clean it or swap it for a more colorful one.
It's lightweight enough that you can
forget you're wearing it.
Voice calls are super clear.
I've had a few conversations over both regular cell
and VOIP, and I've had no trouble hearing or being heard.
And if you use the Bose Connect app to manage this thing,
you can now opt out of the data collection
that rightly raised such a stink a few months back.
On the downside, that removable cover is
an absolute bear to replace.
It's like trying to put on a wet sock over a wet foot
when both your feet and your fingers are numb.
It's horrible.
Also the battery is smallish, about 12 hours
between charges is my experience.
In line with Bose's promises,
but only about half the endurance of the BOSE QT-35s.
When you do have to recharge them,
you're stuck with using a micro-usb port,
which was old even for 2017.
The biggest put off for most will likely be the price.
300 bucks for a device that again
doesn't replace your headphones.
If you're a podcase or Spotify binger,
that means you need to budget for these
and another 150-300 bucks to keep you covered
at home and on the go.
Like I said at the top, that makes this an indulgence
for a very narrow-range of customers.
But, like I also said at the top, I surprised myself
in that I ended up liking the SoundWear
a lot more than I expected.
If you're always on the run, like I am,
and you need something that'll keep your ears fed
without totally shutting out the outside world,
the SoundWear deserves a listen.
And I'd be remiss not to mention the competition here
because for a bit less money, LG sells similar set
called the Tone Studio and those have the benefit
of deployable earbuds when you do need to go private.
I have no experience with these,
but both Pocketnow and The Unlocker have covered them,
so I'll drop a link to their videos
in the description below.
Also in that description, a link to today's sponsor.
Thrifter can help you save on headsets like this,
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It's a new way to save money
by shopping based on value and not hype.
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Visit thrifter.com to see the rest of the savings.
Thanks to Thrifter for the support.
Until next time, thanks for watching.
Please subscribe and stay mobile, my friends.