SoundLink Revolve, perfectly omnidirectional

Ergonomics

In the language of Shakespeare, the term revolve conveys the notion of rotation, of gravitation. Paradoxically, the enclosure of the same name is not a cylinder of revolution like the UE Boom, for example, but a more stocky cylinder, with a more assertive dimension. Its center of gravity is therefore lower, which gives it better stability.

Foot and cap are dressed in a rubber disc - sensitive to fingerprints! -, guaranteeing the Revolve greater resistance to falls, while the body of the enclosure, in a single block, is entirely designed in aluminum. Nothing is left to chance: the speaker, available in "triple black" or "luxurious gray", has an impeccable finish.

Like humans, the Revolve professes weakness under the ribs: if its padded ends and its metal bust are designed to withstand shocks, its perforated sides are much more vulnerable. IPX4 certified, the cylinder is protected against splashproof water, but not against the effects of immersion - put it next to the pool, not inside. If you are looking for a multi-resistant speaker, we advise you to throw an ear towards the side of the Flip 4, the Charge 3 or the Boom 2.

The commands available are not only very complete, but also very responsive, and rather intuitive. In the north, the power on / off. In the east, Bluetooth pairing and the decrease in volume. In the west, the increase of the latter, as well as the selection of sources. In the south, a multifunction button allows the pause / play of the track being listened to, the passage to the next track (two short presses) or previous (three short presses), call management (off-hook / on-hook) and waking up the voice assistant of the paired smartphone. Each action is accompanied by luminous and vocal indications which guide the user in a fluid way.

If synthetic voice is not your thing, note that it is entirely possible to deactivate these "voice prompts", as the American manufacturer calls them. The Bose Connect application displays a multitude of options, from the language selection of these famous prompts to the automatic shutdown time of the speaker, including the connection history, the model name or the mode pairing with a second speaker (double mono or stereo).

Do not trust the apparent classicism of the connectors. If, in addition to the Bluetooth connection, there is indeed an analog input in mini-jack and a micro-USB port for recharging, the latter is also used to listen to music. Yes, the SoundLink Revolve also acts as a USB sound card for your computer. The source selection button thus reviews Bluetooth, Aux and USB. And while we are talking about this port, note that the enclosure exceeds its promises in terms of autonomy: 13 hours on the clock at 75% of its maximum volume, against 12 announced. A fast charging base is sold separately, and is combined with the speaker under the universal threaded support allowing it to be fixed on almost all tripods. Note that the speaker can be used during charging.

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Audio

The term revolve takes on its full meaning in this part of our test. Indeed, said speaker promises a perfectly homogeneous emission of 360 ° sound, a promise that has rarely been seen as well kept (see graph below). On the altar of omnidirectionality, it is nevertheless necessary to sacrifice stereophony: the SoundLink Revolve indeed adds the two channels to be able to broadcast the same result regardless of the listening angle ... on the horizontal plane. On the vertical plane, the speakers being located below the enclosure, the impact of the acoustic reflections generated by the nearby materials is considerable. Thus, the sound reproduction depends a lot on the surface on which the speaker is placed: a simple piece of fabric (towel, cloth, t-shirt, sweater - the thicker it is, the better) already greatly helps the case.

The intrinsic sound performance of the SoundLink Revolve is in the pure Bose tradition: the bass is very flattered and the treble, far from falling in the sibilance, sparkle and hiss all the same from here and there. The voices, slightly behind the rest of the spectrum, remain intelligible and benefit from a real presence and warmth thanks to the overweight of low-mids. Despite very round bass - see boomy - which will not fail to vibrate the table, the overall rendering lets each frequency range express itself thanks to the good reactivity of the membranes which offer a pleasant level of detail for a model of this size, especially in the second half of the spectrum. Another specificity of Bose: the Revolve is surprisingly powerful for its size (it only took 110 mV for our analyzer to reach the regulatory 79 dB SPL) and delivers a relatively clean sound up to 70% of its maximum volume.

Thanks to its power, its richness of restitution and its omnidirectional character, the SoundLink Revolve delivers a wide and immersive sound. However, the latency in Bluetooth disqualified it from the outset to watch videos, if you cannot adjust the image / sound offset. And since the American manufacturer wants to subject any sound signal passing through its speakers to a "Bose" treatment, note that viewing in mini-jack will also suffer from a slight lag of a hundred milliseconds.

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Conclusion

The SoundLink Revolve benefits from an impeccable design, very complete functionalities, good autonomy, a splashproof construction and a powerful, immersive and perfectly omnidirectional sound ... 360 ° in any case. The speakers below the speaker, on the other hand, deliver a sound rendering highly dependent on the surface on which the Revolve is placed.

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