the Jazz mini is a beautiful and compact aluminum stand for your smartphone that
even holds tablets up to 8 in Click now to learn more now this probably isn't
what you're expecting to hear from me right now but let's all just calm our
boobies on the Bose hate you know buy other sound equipment yeah we've all
heard it for a few minutes and approach the companion fives with an open mind
because while working on my review I did
find some strong points for this particular speaker setup so we'll start
with accessories physical inputs all that good stuff the companion fives come
with everything you see here and everything you need to hook up the two
Satellite speakers and powered subwoofer to your PC Mac or basically anything
else the sub contains the amp and a Dack so you can plug in via USB or with
analog into the puck unit that sits on your desk the aforementioned weighted
control Puck has a great feeling rubberized volume control wheel an
auxiliary input that I guess I mentioned before and a headphone pass through if
you want to use the Companion 5 to power your headphones instead of your normally
terrible front panel audio on your PC it
also features a touch responsive mute that at first I thought was kind of
pointless I was like yeah okay then I had my music cranked I got a phone call
and it was really quick to swat at a touch sensitive Surface versus fumbling
for a button so okay you got me on that one Bose my one complaint about the puck
is that it's it's not linked to system volume in spite of the system being
capable of USB input a feature that other speakers in my Roundup have unlike
something like the audio engine A2 pluses with an add-on subwoofer the
companion fives do not run at all without the subc connected so the number
of cables required to set up this unit is going to be unappealing to some
customers especially when you compare to some of the other speaker sets in this
series of reviews that I'm working on but there's no real getting around this
without putting the and Dack in a speaker which would make it much larger
and would make no sense anyway cuz you've got a sub box already
aesthetically I think the companion fives are a bit of a swing and a miss
the black and anodized aluminum designs from Bowers and Wilkins and simple audio
and the classic black audio engine monitors look more appealing to me but I
can't deny the practicality of the Bose design they're the only speaker in the
Roundup that correctly plays music at my
ears instead of at my chest and that is a pretty major oversight in my mind for
something that you're going to call a desktop speaker as opposed to a
bookshelf speaker I mean I guess you can buy stands for the other stuff so you
can tow them in and then you can put little stands on them to aim them at
your ears but I mean for something that you're calling a kit it should probably
come with everything that you need to get started now when it comes to maximum
volume the companion fives deliver an amazingly full pounding sound that would
be perfect for the occasional house party when you are not listening to
music at your desk I mean yeah they're not going to be suitable for an outdoor
venue perhaps but if you wanted your large living room to be loud enough that
no one can comfortably maintain a conversation while achieving very
listenable sound quality without any noticeable Distortion the companion
fives are going to look pretty good to you in my more you know quality focused
listening tests um I realized that these speakers are really made for a
particular listener no offense to the authors but any user
reviews claiming that they have amazing stereo Imaging clear highs strong
mid-range performance whatever were written by people who haven't heard
better end of story The mids in particular get overshadowed enough that
I had a hard time enjoying male vocalists but for the folks claiming
that this system absolutely pounds with tight immersive base well they could
have easily been sitting in front of their new companion 5 speak enjoying
some tunes or some movies while they wrote the review because they really
really do but honestly that's not what makes the companion 5es a legitimate
Contender for your money they are not the best unit I've encountered for any
kind of music really they're just all right I mean they're not even the
loudest the audio engine A5 pluses get that award in this Roundup but with the
turn of the knob on the back of the sub they go from being apartment friendly to
delivering some pretty fun explosions in your favorite action flicks General
entertainment is where I'd say this Bose unit separates itself from the rest of
the crowd in this Roundup due to the included subwoofer and the fact that it
sounds pretty darn good if you often watch movies at or near your computer
even the A5 plus doesn't really compare there's something about having an actual
sub that is filling the room from the floor or the corner compared to firing
directly at your face that makes the experience feel different with that said
I'd recommend putting the knob back when you're ready to listen to music again I
forgot to do that once and it gave me a real appreciation for the tuning that
Bose did on this product during the design process turning Basse down yields
slightly clearer lyrics but you lose the the kick that I feel is really the big
selling point of this set given it's included subwoofer and it definitely
makes the set much less fun to listen to turning up the dial just drowns out
everything else so it seems like Bose knew what was best for you and intended
for the subwoofer dial to sit around the middle most of the time so the
conclusion here is actually somewhat simple if you're looking to host the
occasional house party and you want something that will keep your guests on the dance floor and you want something
that performs just okay for nearfield music listening but is a lot of fun to
listen to in movies and games M and
games then whatever you want to think about Bose products in general the
companion fivs are actually a serious option if movies and action games are
less of a concern for you than House parties and music then the A5 plus from
audio engine should get your $400 instead but to beat the Bose package and
every category you're really going to have to add a standalone subwoofer to
the A5 pluses something that is more difficult than just buying a subwoofer
and plugging it into them choosing and tuning a subwoofer for your setup is not
as simple as just buying the audio engine 8 and assuming it'll compliment
your speakers perfectly so and it'll be more expensive of course so while mix
and match can and usually does sound better overall if you're not willing or
able to put the work into it a package deal may be a better bet for you anyway
speak speaking of package deals here's another deal from our friends at cherro
now I know a lot of you don't use
iPhones but here me out maybe you know someone who does and this is a great
thing to suggest for them to buy or also a great gift idea chiro's power case for
the iPhone 5 and 5S has a 2300 milliamp
battery in it and considering it's available for $38 right now on Amazon
it's got some really cool features number one is that while you can leave
it on all the time you actually don't have to in addition to a USB cable and
the headphone jack extender the kit comes with a slim Soft Touch case that
offers basic protection for the phone that actually then slips into the
separate battery casing when you want to use it so when you need more juice just
clip the phone in and you're ready to go
the fit and finish of the unit is surprisingly solid and while it does add
considerable bulk and weight to the iPhone it Contours nicely with my hand
and it's easy to hold one last point is that aside from what you can see Cho is
actually using a genuine lightning connector not a knockoff one this allows
the case to act as a pass through so both the phone and the case can charge
at the same time off of a single micro USB port check it out at the link in the
video description I'm not naming any names but from a pure capacity to price
standpoint it's about three times better than the leading brand iPhone battery
case guys like and share this video if
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