It's been a couple of years since Bose released the SoundLink Mini ($129.95 at Amazon) , a portable Bluetooth speaker that seriously impressed us with its smart design, features, and big sound. The updated SoundLink Mini II is priced the same ($199.95), and looks quite similar in terms of size and design layout. New features include improved battery life and speakerphone functionality, but the main attraction remains an uncanny ability to produce convincing bass from its tiny frame. It may not sound like a subwoofer is involved, but this speaker can muster enough low end that, at times, you'll ponder its size in minor disbelief. Portable Bluetooth speakers have a long way to go before audiophiles and purists hop onboard, but for those looking for a powerful, clean audio experience from a tiny speaker, the SoundLink Mini II earns our Editors' Choice award.

Design
The SoundLink Mini II ($160.69 at Amazon)  replaces the SoundLink Mini. Like the original, the speaker is easily portable in terms of its 2-by-7.1-by-2.3-inch (HWD) dimensions, but its weight can be a bit deceiving. At 1.5 pounds, it isn't exactly heavy, but it could weigh down a backpack or tote over time. The design itself is typical, sensible Bose, available in matte gray or off-white anodized aluminum. You can also buy soft covers for the speaker in red, green, blue, black, or gray for $24.95 each to add a flash of color.

Power, Volume Up/Down, and Bluetooth buttons, along with a Multifunction button (Play/Pause, call management, track navigation, and selecting the language you receive alerts in), sit across the top panel. A port on the right panel houses the micro USB charging connection and a 3.5mm Aux input for wired listening. There's no included audio cable, however, which is disappointing at this price.

The pairing process begins as soon as you power up and choose a language for the speaker, after which a voice guides you through the quick steps to connect to a Bluetooth device. The SoundLink Mini II will automatically re-pair with the same device, provided it's on and within range, every time you turn it on. The system has a built-in speakerphone feature, which the previous iteration did not have. You can also connect two Bluetooth devices simultaneously—your tablet for music and your phone for calls, for example. 

The SoundLink Mini II comes with a charging cradle, but it can also be charged directly; both the cradle and the speaker itself are fed power via a micro USB cable. A wall adapter that the cables plugs into is also included. The use of micro USB for charging instead of a proprietary power connector is a notable upgrade over the previous SoundLink Mini. Bose estimates the battery life to be roughly 10 hours, but your results will depend upon how loudly you play back your tunes.

Performance
Bose uses digital signal processing (DSP) to prevent distortion through the SoundLink Mini II's drivers. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the bass response seems to change depending on the speaker's volume level. At mid-level, the bass sounds rich and quite powerful for a speaker so small. At maximum volume, the speaker doesn't distort (thanks to the DSP), but the heavy thumping of the deep bass on this track turns into more of a tap. You'll still get a sense of strong low-end, but the DSP clearly alters the lows at high volumes to prevent distortion. Purists, therefore, won't appreciate the SoundLink Mini II, but anyone looking for clean, powerful audio from a portable speaker will enjoy its overall performance.

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On tracks with less intense deep bass, like Bill Callahan's "Drover," the SoundLink Mini II does an excellent job of conveying his baritone vocals with richness, without ever allowing things to get muddy. The vocals also receive plenty of high-mid presence, along with the guitar strumming, so the mix retains a nice crispness. The drums on this track, which can often sound overworked on systems that boost the bass response too much, sound full and natural here, and are neither overly boosted nor meek.

The kick drum loop on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" has an attack that gets enough treble edge to retain its sharpness, slicing through the multilayered mix. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are more implied than delivered, especially at top volumes, when the DSP kicks in and the lows are somewhat restrained. At mid-level volume, a bassline that often gets lost in the mix seems to come more to the forefront through the SoundLink Mini II; its passive radiators really do bring out the low-mids and lows at moderate listening levels. The vocals on this track float clearly over the entire mix, regardless of volume level. 

On classical tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the SoundLink Mini II delivers the lower register instrumentation with some definite boosting, primarily in the low-mids. It adds quite a bit of body and richness to the mix, without sacrificing the crispness of the higher register instrumentation.

It's pretty clear that the SoundLink Mini boosts bass, but mostly in the low-mids and lows rather than the sub-bass realm. In fact, sub-bass can get limited by the speaker's DSP, depending on the volume level. All this considered, this is probably the best bass response you can find from a compact, portable Bluetooth speaker. If you're looking for booming lows with subwoofer-style bass, you simply need to buy a much bigger system, like the SoundCast Melody ( at Amazon) , which is quite large and certainly not portable in the pocket-able sense. If you like the SoundLink Mini II's dimensions and overall sound signature, but the price is a bit high, the Divoom Voombox Party ( at Amazon) , the Jabra Solemate Mini ($24.99 at Amazon) , and the Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth Speaker ($80.49 at Amazon) are all solid options that cost a bit less, but they won't deliver bass with the same richness and power that the SoundLink Mini II musters. For its rich bass delivery matched with clarity in the highs, and its impressively small frame, the Bose SoundLink Mini II wins our Editors' Choice.

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