Bose SoundTouch 30 Series III Wireless Music System

Product Information

Annoyingly, you can’t skip to a later point in a song, which isn’t helpful if you want to get to the good bit. It's targeting people who want a system that's simple to set up and use and is most likely tapping into a music service such as Spotify, Pandora or Internet radio.

With its big chunky enclosure and black styling, SoundTouch 30 could hardly be described as elegant or compact, but it still cuts a fine figure. By including six shortcut buttons on both the unit and an accompanying remote control, it's a lot easier to get music playing on the Bose system if you don't have your phone handy. The app scrolls through huge music libraries without much hesitation – I whizzed down a list of more than 900 albums on my NAS drive and it needed only a brief pause when it reached “M”. You can also control the music that’s playing—for example, say “Alexa, pause the music in the Kitchen,” “Alexa, resume the music in the Kitchen,” “Alexa, turn up the volume in the Kitchen,” “Alexa, skip to the next song in the Kitchen,” and so on. But perhaps the biggest challenge is Bose, which is also targeting mainstream consumers and has been steadily improving its software to make its systems easier to set up and use.In terms of audio features, the SoundTouch 30 uses a ported box design with two custom-made mid-range/high-frequency drivers with exclusive waveguide technology and a subwoofer to give bass frequencies a boost. The SoundTouch 30 – Series III is our best-performing, one-piece wireless speaker with Bose waveguide speaker technology that produces deep, rich sound to fill your largest room. The speaker's upper-mids emphasis helps if you're using this as a speaker for your TV (yes you can do that using the audio input).

And you really want to feel it, especially for those big holiday gatherings or “just because” parties you love to host. The useful “Recents” (sic) option at the top displays the last 24 tracks you’ve played, while the Settings option lets you change account settings, add new speakers, rename the speaker or tweak the bass level. From your date of purchase your product is warranted against faulty materials or workmanship for a period of 24 months. But there are a few holes in the feature list – there’s no AirPlay support, which might deter Apple devotees, and no hi-res music playback either. After listening to a variety of songs through the SoundTouch 30, its sound is best described as “meaty”.

But if you're looking for a speaker that you can crank up at parties (and also sounds good at more moderate volumes), the nod definitely goes to the Sonos.