So this is the Soundcore Motion 300, its a very portable, durable and loud 30 watt speaker that’s also very affordable. For today we’re going to see how it compares to the Bose Soundlink Flex. Now these two speakers looks very similar to one another… but they are very different from one another.
And one of the first major differences between these two speakers is their price. The Bose Soundlink Flex has a retail price of $150… but is does like to go on sale from time to time. But then theres the Soundcore Motion 300 and it has a retail price of $80… almost half as much as the Bose. Now both of these speakers are good but the Bose does have some extra features. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two speakers up it’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now both of these speakers have a candy bar design to them, they both have a metal front and they are both wrapped in silicon. So both of these speakers won’t have any problems standing up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes and they’re both water proof so water isn’t going to be an issue for them. However, size wise, I do have to say that the Bose is just a little smaller than the Motion 300… also, with both of these speakers they can be used while they are standing up right and they can both be used while they are laying down flat, but with the motion 300, it will automatically change its EQ depending on whether its standing, letdown flat or if it is hanging from something. Now with the Bose, you can also hang it from something… but its loops isn’t stretchy and you can’t open it. Where as with the Motion 300, its loop is larger but you can also more easily attach this speaker to something. So overall portability wise I am going to have to say that the Motion 300 is better cause you can more easily attach it to things.
Now regarding battery life, these speakers are pretty much the same. The Motion 300 has an advertised battery life of 13 hours where as the Bose has an advertised battery life of 12 but real world use with both of these speakers playing at 80% volume both of these speakers are good for about 8 hours of playback time.
and when it comes to charging these speakers, they both charge via a USB C port as they should. And with both of these speakers this USB C port is the only port that you’ll find of them cause they don’t have an audio jack… so you can only use these speakers wirelessly… which is unfortunate but it is rather standard now for speakers of this size.
But when it comes to wireless connectivity, both of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ, and latency isn’t an issue for these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone.
But when it comes to audio codecs, the Bose Flex has support for SBC and AAC which is good… but with the Motion 300 it has support for SBC and AAC… but it also has support for LDAC which is Sony’s high res audio codec. However if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user and if you do decide to use LDAC, then that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set ups, the Bose has a single frontward firing driver and dual passive radiators that shoot out the front and out the back. Where as with the Motion 300, it has dual frontward firing woofer and dual passive radairots that shoot out the front and out the back as well. But now lets jump into the soundtest. Both of these speakers are playing at 87% volume and the Motion 300 has its bass up feature turned on.
Sound Test
Now when it comes to sound quality, I am going to have to say that its very close… very close. In this soundtest the Bose sounded a little more open than the Motion 300… but the reason why the motion 300 sounded a little narrower than the Flex, it was because it had its bass up future turned on… if the Motion 300 had its bass up feature turned off, than the mids and highs would have been more prominent thus making it sounds a lot more similar to the Bose Flex. But also, when it comes to max volume performance… the Bose gets decently loud, but the Motion 300 gets noticeably louder than the Flex as well. And finally there are the EQ’s on these speakers… with both of these speakers you can go into these speaker’s apps and you can adjust their EQ’s to your liking. But with the Motion 300, it will actually automatically change its EQ depending on the position that you have it in. And you can either use its stock EQ’s or you can make your own EQs for each position as well. Overall both of these speakers sound good… but performance wise, I am going to have to give it to the motion 300 here cause it gets louder and it sounds very similar to the Bose Flex if you use it with its bass up feature turned off.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with the Motion 300, if you have another motion 300 you can wirelessly pair them up and you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode. And when your two speakers are playing together… you music is going to be louder and your music is going to sound a lot more open thanks to the two separate channels.
But with the flex, the flex is a soundlink speaker. Meaning that you can pair it up to one other bose soundlink speaker and either get them to play in sync or you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode. And the easiest way to do this is through Bose’s Connect app. Or if you have one of Bose’s smart sound bars or smart speakers… you can pair a Flex to them though Bose’s Music app using simple sync.
So overall, both of these speakers have limited speaker pairing protocols… but with the Bose Flex.. you also have the option to pair it to your Bose sound bar… and personally I really like the Bose Smart Sound bar 600.
But with all of that being said… both of these speakers are good they sound good and they are very portable… Now even though I really like the Bose Soundlink Flex… personally for me it is very hard to justify it over the Soundcore Motion 300. The Motion 300 sound very similar to the Bose Flex, it gets noticeably louder and its easier to attach the Motion 300 to things than with the Bose cause of its clasp. But more importantly, the Motion 300 sounds and preforms very similar to the Bose Flex, but at almost half the price.
