Does this Bose setup make any sense ?

[BN1]

I read numerous forums and youtube reviews for the education value and enjoyment of the hobby. Recently, saw an article about a guy who went to Mexico for vacation and took along his Bose Soundlink Mini II speaker for his tunes. The surprising part was that he used $550 worth of dongle DAC and cable to connect the Bose speaker to his laptop for music from Qubuz and Tidal. Other than the fact that he might have had these components laying around, does this setup make any sense ? Would you expect any sound quality improvement ?

 

[DSJR]

From an old 'HiFi Hierarchy' point of view now lost but still important in the vinyl dark ages, I suspect getting the source as capable as possible wouldn't hurt at all. I don't know the current Bose stuff, but price of some items apart, it may actually 'sound' quite acceptable for all we/I know...

The other thing of course, is that but for tests done here, many of us would be looking to dongles costing hundreds when the little Apple one and broadly similar if more expensive cheapies do the same job or better for relative peanuts (ignoring the fact a laptop 'headphone output' may actually be quite passible on its own...

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I read numerous forums and youtube reviews for the education value and enjoyment of the hobby. Recently, saw an article about a guy who went to Mexico for vacation and took along his Bose Soundlink Mini II speaker for his tunes. The surprising part was that he used $550 worth of dongle DAC and cable to connect the Bose speaker to his laptop for music from Qubuz and Tidal. Other than the fact that he might have had these components laying around, does this setup make any sense ? Would you expect any sound quality improvement ?

Sure without have hard facts eg FR on the Bose and price is not necessarily a good indicator for sound quality, one can only speculate.

Most likely is the 550 DAC etc an overkill compared to the 180 USD speakers. But I guess the guy just took is home stuff on the road. So no harm there.

 

[JeffS7444]

I read numerous forums and youtube reviews for the education value and enjoyment of the hobby. Recently, saw an article about a guy who went to Mexico for vacation and took along his Bose Soundlink Mini II speaker for his tunes. The surprising part was that he used $550 worth of dongle DAC and cable to connect the Bose speaker to his laptop for music from Qubuz and Tidal. Other than the fact that he might have had these components laying around, does this setup make any sense ? Would you expect any sound quality improvement ?

My recollection of Soundlink Mini II was that in my room, I measured a + 5 dB boost @ 50 Hz, while high frequencies dropped off a cliff above 10 kHz, so why bother with an outboard DAC. OTOH, 50 Hz from a such a small speaker was a pretty impressive feat.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Bose never made sense

 

[antcollinet]

This is the sound link mini. The length of that "beast" is about 7 inches and about 2 inches tall. (Yes, I know it's not the length that matters )

It sounds amazing for its size, but it is not going to stretch the capabilities even of bluetooth. Using it with a $500 dac is ludicrous, unless you are carrying it anyway for headphones.

 

[DS23MAN]

The same with Dyson.

 

[BN1]

This is the sound link mini. The length of that "beast" is about 7 inches and about 2 inches tall. (Yes, I know it's not the length that matters )

It sounds amazing for its size, but it is not going to stretch the capabilities even of bluetooth. Using it with a $500 dac is ludicrous, unless you are carrying it anyway for headphones.

Actually, it was a Cobalt Dragonfly dongle DAC ($330) and some high-end cable ($220 !!) that he used. He said that the setup did well. I have this same Bose speaker and wanted to generate some inputs on how an external DAC might do for the SQ.

 

[antcollinet]

Actually, it was a Cobalt Dragonfly dongle DAC ($330) and some high-end cable ($220 !!) that he used. He said that the setup did well. I have this same Bose speaker and wanted to generate some inputs on how an external DAC might do for the SQ.

Pretty certain if he did a double blind test he'd not know the difference from the Bluetooth connection. The speaker is good for it's size (I almost bought one once), as I said, but it is nowhere near able to do full justice to any halfway decent digital source.

 

[Haint]

Actually, it was a Cobalt Dragonfly dongle DAC ($330) and some high-end cable ($220 !!) that he used. He said that the setup did well. I have this same Bose speaker and wanted to generate some inputs on how an external DAC might do for the SQ.

Audiophool nonsense he'd have no prayer of A/B'ing unless the DAC is intentionally or unintentionally applying some form of EQ.

 

[fpitas]

Bose never made sense

WAF is their big niche. Tiny cute stuff that the wife will let in the house. And the name resonates with some people to this day, no idea why.

 

[Jimster480]

WAF is their big niche. Tiny cute stuff that the wife will let in the house. And the name resonates with some people to this day, no idea why.

Because their marketing is everywhere. Some of their products are decent and they were some of the first with proper comfortable noise canceling headphones for travel..

Audiophool nonsense he'd have no prayer of A/B'ing unless the DAC is intentionally or unintentionally applying some form of EQ.

I will definitely disagree here. Bluetooth audio sucks in most cases. If he does not have a phone that supports something like ldac and the device doesn't also support ldac then there will definitely be quality differences. Many Bluetooth devices use SBC which is a terrible codec. AAC is a reasonably good codec but even that is very audibly different from just listening directly from a computer. The only thing that I have found to be seriously comparable is ldac. There are probably still differences with serious listening that I have honestly not completed. But I can tell you from personal experience that most Bluetooth devices suck in terms of audio quality. And many times the speaker can be enhanced by plugging in a good source via aux.
I've done it tons of times with my LG G8 into wireless speakers.
I do actually test many speakers as part of my Amazon Vine work. And I can tell you that not only are their major differences from Bluetooth and aux but I would be willing to bet (and have confirmed in some devices) that the DACs used in the BT devices are complete dogshit. Where they sound world's better with aux feed from a phone or other device (tried DACs with a few of them) and it's clear that the cheap BT DAC implementation is just shit.
Now I haven't tested this specific Bose device but I speak from experience otherwise

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

What's his hearing like?

 

[Robin L]

WAF is their big niche. Tiny cute stuff that the wife will let in the house. And the name resonates with some people to this day, no idea why.

I'd say ergonomics more than WAF. The small size means the device won't take over the room. Also compresses everything a tad and emphasize the upper bass. These little boxes are a tried-and-true design, you can place it anywhere, move it quickly anywhere if needed.

But going OTT with a DAC won't change a thing with this sort of device. I've got a precursor in the kitchen from Boston Acoustic. Pre-Bluetooth, but has a 3.5 mm jack in the back for my DAP.

 

[delta76]

Actually, it was a Cobalt Dragonfly dongle DAC ($330) and some high-end cable ($220 !!) that he used. He said that the setup did well. I have this same Bose speaker and wanted to generate some inputs on how an external DAC might do for the SQ.

late to the party, but in most cases the speakers are always the limiting factor. decent $100 dac will be able to feed $1000 or more speaker. he could have thrown that $550 in the speaker and get a significantly better sound.

 

[Jimster480]

late to the party, but in most cases the speakers are always the limiting factor. decent $100 dac will be able to feed $1000 or more speaker. he could have thrown that $550 in the speaker and get a significantly better sound.

Well definitely, especially the wasted money on the cable. I think op is just trying to ask if such a setup really has any benefit.

 

[delta76]

Well definitely, especially the wasted money on the cable. I think op is just trying to ask if such a setup really has any benefit.

and I was trying to answer it . the speaker is the bottleneck, so no matter which dac or amp or fancy (and useless) cable you want to use, it is not getting any better

 

[Jimster480]

and I was trying to answer it . the speaker is the bottleneck, so no matter which dac or amp or fancy (and useless) cable you want to use, it is not getting any better

Kinda depends on the BT implementation in the speaker though and the phone or device it is used with. Which codecs they both support, etc

 

[delta76]

Sure if the Bluetooth implementation on the SoundLink mini II is crappy, or there is not straight line of sight between the source (laptop) to the speaker, adding a stable, reliable connection would definitely help. other than that, I doubt there will be an audible difference between codecs.

 

[Jimster480]

Sure if the Bluetooth implementation on the SoundLink mini II is crappy, or there is not straight line of sight between the source (laptop) to the speaker, adding a stable, reliable connection would definitely help. other than that, I doubt there will be an audible difference between codecs.

Well SBC sounds like crap. AAC is decent but not as good as LDAC. This is apparent in classical and jazz music that is recorded with real dynamic range.
Aac does worlds better than SBC though and so many speakers still use that.