The Bose SoundWear Companion Speaker is a wireless around-the-neck companion speaker that won't be versatile enough for most uses. It isn't the best option to use outdoors, since it leaks like a speaker and doesn't isolate from ambient noise. However, it's a decent option for listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks at home or at the office. It also has excellent breathability and good comfort since it doesn't cover your ears. It'll sound good enough for most listeners, but it lacks quite a bit of bass due to its very open design.
Our Verdict
The Bose SoundWear is sub-par for mixed usage. It has a very niche design and appeal, as it's a personal listening device but provides no ambient noise isolation and leaks a lot. This makes it a decent choice to use at home or in an isolated office since breathability and comfort is very high. It also has a decently balanced sound, although it may lack a bit of bass. Unfortunately, it's poorly suited for everything else and wouldn't be ideal to use outdoors since you'll most likely distract everyone around you and won't be able to focus on your music or podcast.
- Great breathability and comfort.
- Tactile bass and unique soundstage.
- Decent battery life.
- No isolation from ambient noise by design.
- Niche design with limited uses.
The Bose SoundWear is average-at-best for neutral listening. It has a unique soundstage since it's a speaker that you wear around your neck. This gives it a good ambiance that some neutral listeners may like; however, its sound quality isn't the most balanced. It has a decent representation of instruments and vocals, and it doesn't sound too sharp on already bright tracks. Unfortunately, it doesn't pack a lot of bass, but it's tactile so you do feel it in your body. It sits relatively far from your ears, especially when compared to headphones, and since it doesn't create a seal with ear cups or an in-ear/earbud fit, it has a difficult time producing a lot of bass. Moving the neckband closer to your ears somewhat mitigates this issue, but it's not a practical fix and won't be ideal for everyone.
The Bose SoundWear Speaker isn't suitable for commuting. It provides no isolation from ambient noise and leaks loud enough to be distracting to everyone around you, even on a busy bus.
The Bose SoundWear Speaker is average for sports. It has excellent breathability since it doesn't cover your ears. It's comfortable and has an easy-to-use control scheme. Unfortunately, it's not the most stable option for more demanding exercises, as it moves and bounces around a lot and may fall off your neck if your workouts involve a lot of tilting and laying on your back. On the upside, it should be stable enough to jog and would be a decent option to use on your treadmill at home.
The Bose SoundWear Companion Speaker is sub-par for office use. Unless you work alone or in an isolated office, the leakage level will be too bothersome for those around you. Also, since it doesn't block any noise, you'll hear all the ambient sounds in your environment fairly easily, even when listening to music at higher-than-average volumes.
The Bose SoundWear Speaker is sub-par for gaming. It has a bit too much latency for gaming and is a Bluetooth-only speaker that won't work with your consoles. It also doesn't come with a cable to reduce latency. It's leaky and provides no isolation, so it won't be the best option for most gaming environments unless you game alone.
The Bose SoundWear Companion Speaker isn't suitable for wired gaming.
Changelog
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Jul 13, 2018: Review published.
- Updated Jul 11, 2018: Our testers have started testing this product.
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The Bose SoundWear is in its own class of personal listening devices, so it's not really comparable to any of the headphones we've tested. It doesn't cover your ears, so it has excellent breathability and great comfort. It also has a wide, spacious, but unnatural soundstage since it's basically a speaker you wear around your neck that doesn't block any noise. Unfortunately, this also means it won't be versatile enough to use outdoors. Its sound quality isn't quite as good as a real speaker setup or headphones close to your ears that can reproduce bass a little better. It's a niche device that won't be for everyone but will be exactly what some listeners are looking for, especially if you work from home.
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