In praise of Bose SoundLink Mini II and Bose repair

[Multicore]

We have a SoundLink Mini II. It's used daily and gets moved around a lot. After six years the battery was needing charged nearly every day and the silicone cover for the buttons was cracked over the power switch making it hard to operate. I looked for a replacement battery but found only no-name knock-offs. It seems you have to send the unit to Bose for service to get a new Bose battery. So we did that. When it returned, it was clearly our unit but had been fully refitted. These are the replaced components.

Apart from being pleased with the repaired unit, I am impressed that Bose has clearly engineered this product for repair and has a repair facility socked and staffed to take the thing apart, inspect, debug, assemble and test. For a class of product that's widely understood as disposable. Props for that, eh?

 

[Andretti60]

I have the same model, the battery is still operating but the cover for the top buttons in pretty much gone, how much does Bose charged you for the repair?

In my experience, Bose repair service is very expensive. The QC headphones (the around the ear model) are very comfortable (hence the name) but the cushions and the headband don’t last long, in all the models (I started using them because at the time I was traveling a lot and they are great to change a miserable ten hours flight into a barely ok one). When the cushions of my first model started disintegrating I called Bose, they offered me no repair, rather an exchange for a new model, half price (I had to sent back the old one), I accepted even though it was still a good deal of money, but I got a more recent and improved model. I don’t recall how much they asked me more recently, but I said forget it, I bought on Amazon a replacement kit for cushions and headband, good decent fake leather, easy to install, not as comfortable as the original but still very good (and much more durable) for a fraction of the price Bose asked for.
I now have the QC 20 model, the wired one, all the silicone around the battery box completely gone in pieces, but they still work (and by far the best model I have owned) but I don’t travel anymore.

Recently I tested the Soundlink Mini side by side with a JBL Flip 4 (that was available in a rental vacation home) and I was astonished on how much better the sound from the Flip was. Still the sound of a small can, aided by DSP, but much more balanced.

 

[Multicore]

I have the same model, the battery is still operating but the cover for the top buttons in pretty much gone, how much does Bose charged you for the repair?

It cost $55 plus the cost of shipping it to Bose, which was about $15. If the price I paid for the unit was fair for the service/value I got from it over 6 years then this repair cost seems fair. Idk, maybe it fails again tomorrow but I doubt it and I expect many more years of use. Over the years I have occasionally looked to see what's available in that market and I always decided to keep what I've got.

In other repair news, I replaced the front switch in my 20-year old Rancilio Rocky grinder last week. And my Asko washer is 26 years old and still working great with two belt replacements, one set of motor brushes, and one fuse. We use a piece of sticky tape to keep the detergent drawer closed since it's latching mechanism failed.

Sorry about the mess in the thread head post. That was a photo of the unit in my hand (for scale) and with dogs (for loveliness) and I don't koow what went wrong and I'm not permitted to edit it, afaict.

 

[Multicore]

This unit failed again.

What should I replace it with? I want something small. It will be used mostly for speech and not very loud.

 

[Penelinfi]

You could remove the little speaker drivers and passive radiators from it, and sell those they are quite interesting

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

This unit failed again.

What should I replace it with? I want something small. It will be used mostly for speech and not very loud.

What requirements do you have? In other words, what are you wanting to use it for?
You mentioned speech, are you trying to use it as a PA speaker, or just listening to talk shows / podcasts?
Is battery power / portability important?

Generally I find the JBL Flip / Charge series to sound very good, and they seem to be reliable / durable. However, if you don't need Bluetooth or battery then there are better options.

 

[Multicore]

What requirements do you have? In other words, what are you wanting to use it for?
You mentioned speech, are you trying to use it as a PA speaker, or just listening to talk shows / podcasts?
Is battery power / portability important?

Generally I find the JBL Flip / Charge series to sound very good, and they seem to be reliable / durable. However, if you don't need Bluetooth or battery then there are better options.

Bluetooth. Listening to audio books and podcasts from quietly (bedtime) to not very loud. Rechargeable battery. No bigger than the Bose and lighter.

 

[MinimumFaze]

I enjoy my JBL Charge 3 for listening to music outdoors or in the shower. It has hugely exaggerated bass via the passive woofers that could make podcast vocals sound throaty. It doesn't bother me on music vocals but YMMV. Durability has been rock solid and battery still is in good shape after 4 years.

 

[GXAlan]

have you looked at the Sonos Roam?

Since you paid Bose for the repair, you should see what they say? You can say you expected another 5-6 years…

 

[Multicore]

have you looked at the Sonos Roam?

Since you paid Bose for the repair, you should see what they say? You can say you expected another 5-6 years…

I did today. They offered me another service. I may take it. I became quite attached to the old thing.

 

[GXAlan]

I did today. They offered me another service. I may take it. I became quite attached to the old thing.

I try to reward repairability. Might as well while you try other setups.

The one peace of mind you can have is that the majority shareholder of Bose is MIT. The make profits to pay salaries and I am sure the execs are competitively paid, but ultimately the money does support education.

The sad part is that Bose rarely has any contemporary products that are worth the attention of audiophiles. They do have nice portable speakers and headphones, of course.

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

BTW, I know the thread is kind of dead, but (IIRC) the new JBL bluetooth speakers have basic EQ capabilities in the app. So basically, if there is too much bass, you can turn it down.
The charge series, in my opinion, is worth the extra space / cost over the flip series. This is because it uses a tweeter and woofer, with the 2 passive radiators. The flip series only uses 2 full range drivers, and the passive radiators. The tweeter really makes a difference, but given your use case I think the flip would be plenty fine as well.

But in conclusion, if you like the Bose and they are offering another repair, take them up on it. I have heard good things about Bose's repair / service department.
If it fails again, I would hope they would take care of you. Or you can just get a JBL Flip (whatever number they are on now)...

 

[Multicore]

Life got in the way and we didn't send the device for repair and then yesterday I put it on the charger and it charged up properly and then worked normally. I guess all it really needed to recover was a good long rest. I got a dose of the coronas and I'm hoping that's all I need too.