Bose’s excellent SoundLink Flex Bluetooth speaker sells for around $150 and sometimes goes on sale for less (it’s now $129). The Soundcore Motion 300 is Anker’s answer to that Bose speaker. Around the same size as the Bose, it doesn’t sound quite as good, but it does sound impressive for its compact size and costs only $80 — or $64 as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale (the black model only for now). That matches the lowest price we’ve seen for it to date.
We gave the Soundcore Motion 300 a CNET Editors’ Choice award. You can read our full review to find out why.
Like the SoundLink Flex, the Motion 300 can be laid down flat with its speaker firing up toward the ceiling (or sky) or propped up as shown in the photo above. It’s IPX7 waterproof and delivers up to 13 hours of audio at moderate volume levels. There’s also support for Sony’s LDAC audio codec for Android and other devices that support Bluetooth wireless streaming with LDAC.
Read more: All Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals
The speaker has a bass-boost button that does amp up the low end a bit. But I actually thought the speaker sounded a bit better without the bass boost engaged, because it seemed slightly overdriven with the boost on. The bass just doesn’t sound that tight at higher volumes. That’s where the Bose does better.
But aside from that small downside, the Soundcore Motion 300 is a very good mini Bluetooth speaker and a good value, particularly at $65. It’s available in three colors but, as noted, only the black version is on sale for now.
Read more: Best Bluetooth Speakers of 2023
If you’re looking for a bigger speaker that produces bigger sound and has a handle for easy toting, the step-up Soundcore by Anker Motion X600 is also on sale for $150 or $50 off its list price $200.
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The Soundcore by Anker Motion X600 is available in three color options.
The new mini boom box, which has a premium look and feel with a metal grill and carrying handle and which includes some interesting features like spatial audio and support for Sony’s LDAC audio codec. It sounds impressive for its relatively compact size and is a good value, even at its list price.
Anker bills the Soundcore Motion X600 as the world’s first “portable high fidelity speaker.” Weighing 4.2 pounds or 1.9 kg, it’s got some heft to it but is light enough to carry around without feeling like you’re getting a workout. It comes in gray, green and blue color options and is equipped with five drivers, including two woofers, two tweeters and one full-range, upward-firing driver “in a unique speaker array that combined with Soundcore’s audio algorithm and DSP helps create a wide (and tall) soundstage for listening to any type of music,” according to Anker. It’s rated for 50W of total power, with two 20W amps devoted to the woofers and tweeters and a third 10W amp powering the upward-firing driver.
