This is solely my opinion so YMMV. But I like to think I have good opinions so trust me.
After a lot of buying, comparing and returning, I’ve concluded that the Flex is the best BT speaker in its class. The sound is very crisp and detailed with a slight bump in bass and prominent vocals. Gets loud enough but not too loud. This isn’t an audiophile speaker but man it’s nice to listen to, it just engages you.
However, I found the real magic happens when you pair 2 Flex’s in stereo mode. Holy shit. These bad boys produce the best stereo image I’ve ever heard out of BT speakers and can easily fill a decent sized room with rich, high quality sound at around 75% volume. Most BT speakers I’ve had tend to sound muffled, distorted, or harsh at higher volumes but not the Flex. The fact that these have a long battery life, IP67 rating and are shock resistant is just the icing on the cake.
The app kinda sucks tbh but I do everything with the physical buttons on the speaker and have had no issues.
I found mine open box at Best Buy and paid just over $220 for both after taxes but they’re worth their full price imo.
tldr: One is great but two is the best $300 you can spend on BT speakers right now. Better yet if you can find them on sale.
Videos
Does the Bose SoundLink Flex have an aux port?
No. The Bose SoundLink Flex only works via Bluetooth and there is no aux port.
Can you pair two Bose SoundLink Flex speakers?
Yes, you can pair two SoundLink Flex speakers together via the Bose app by using either Party mode (both speakers play in unison) or Stereo mode (both speakers play as a stereo pair: one as the left speaker; one as the right).
How many devices can the Bose SoundLink Flex connect to at once?
The Bose SoundLink Flex supports Bluetooth multipoint, so it can connect up to two devices at the same time. However, in our testing we found it could be a bit unreliable at switching between devices. You have to manually start and start playback on whatever device you wish to use (as with most Bluetooth speakers with multipoint support), but sometimes the speaker doesn’t seem to realize this.
Refreshing colors, smaller logo, new multifunction button and pairing to the soundlink MAX are pretty nice editions, along with the aptx adaptive codec support. But is there a sound difference? As far as i can hear, yes.A slight one. The speaker got more clarity, sounds more open, more vocal friendly and has a little deeper bass with less upperbass (most people didn't hear a difference but i did a little) The EQ is the biggest upgrade in my opinion, it really fixes the highs and mids especially in the standing position where the old flex lacks crisp. One thing i would change, is add an option to turn off the positioning eq change, because ONE - it now has a delay when switching positions compared to the old flex, and TWO - i personally rather having one eq for all positions. The motion 300 has the same delay problem but you can turn that off completely. In terms of price and value, the gen 2 is currently 150$ which is the original retail price of gen 1 (which can be found for around 120$ or so) But i think that the 2nd gen is future proof and is a better experience overall. Would be nice to hear yall opinions if you agree or disagree.
I have both. I got the Flex for $109 and the much larger Max for $380. Sure the Max is louder, has more bass, better Bluetooth and an AUX input. But the Flex has it's own features and less annoyances that it's hard to accept the much higher price of the Max.
Here is why the Flex is better:
The Soundlink Flex has a microphone. The Soundlink Max does not.
The Soundlink Flex can be turned on from your phone! When I'm in bed, I can turn on the speaker from a distance using just my phone. For the Flex, I go to the Bose Connect app and slide down the icon to turn the speaker on. However the regular Bose app of the Soundlink Max does not allow this. I must manually press the power button on the Soundlink Max to turn it on.
The Soundlink Flex has no white noise. On the Flex, there is white noise after pausing music but it disappears after 5 seconds and the speaker is completely silent. But for the Soundlink Max, after you pause music, white noise remains indefinitely, and it is noticeably loud when your room is super quiet and your ears are near the speaker. For those who don't know, white noise is the background noise the speaker makes when the speaker is on but not playing sound. It can be annoying for some people.
The Soundlink Flex has accurate battery readings. The Flex has an accurate battery update at all times. But for some reason, the Soundlink Max has a delayed battery reading. I can play music for hours and the battery level on the Max remains at 100% from day to night, giving me a false impression that the battery is that good. But the next day, when I turn the Soundlink Max back on, that is when the battery reading adjusts itself and the 100% battery from the previous night suddenly drops down to like 60% in the morning.
Why aren't people who own both speakers pointing these things out?