I don't think there is any improvement you can make on this unit in regards to sound vs. size. These speakers have amazingly clear sound and incredible bass. It's like there's some kind of magic inside. Using a pair in stereo for backing tracks will spoil you plenty.
There are two things I'd like to see Bose improve on with these units. Adding a master volume, so can change overall output rather than having to adjust the 3 volume knobs independently. Also, since these units are portable and get moved a lot by design, some way to lock lock the knobs or save the mix while in transport would be appreciated.
The app on IOS is OK. Pairing units for stereo output has to be done every time you power up, and sometimes it doesn't work or requires the phone/tablet to be restarted or the units to be re-paired.
The minor annoyances aside, I've replaced my in-house practice PA with a pair of these units with no regrets. The clarity of sound and base response of a much larger system has saved me space, time and make me much more agile for small live gigs or busking.

Our choir group has had this unit for over 2 years now. We mainly use it to plug in an acoustic guitar during worship services (microphones are plugged in the church's PA system). This unit can fill up our church (300 capacity ) even in the back area. We've had a so many people approach us and compliment the sound of the acoustics even from the back end of the church. It is very easy to use and set up. The sound is very clear even if the volume is turned up high. Bluetooth feature is awesome as one time we sang for a wedding and was asked to play Canon in D for final hymn, we couldn't play it live as no one plays piano in our group so we downloaded the song in our Ipad and we played the music thru bluetooth connection on the S1 unit. Highly recommended for anyone who plans to use it for vocal singing and/or acoustic guitar playing as the tone of the acoustic guitar is so rich and crisp and clear.

OK, I've owned this for about a year now. Used it live for an open mic last year. Outdoors 50-60 people there worked perfectly. I am so glad I purchased it, I use it all the time hook it to tv for movies, take it out to the hot tub for music. This is my most used speaker.
For my live setup I run my mixer into it and put it on a speaker stand.
Great Speaker need another one.

I wanted something to practice singing in my living room with backing tracks. It’s a great speaker! Clear, powerful and smooth! I like it has all in one, Bluetooth, reverb, mic inputs! I thought 103db would be little but your ears will hurt badly past that anyways. I like the wide coverage too With the 3 array speakers and 1 x 6inch sub. One speaker can fill a whole living room with cathedral ceilings up to 20ft high, Room size is 14x 26ft! It’s a touch expensive, but as we all know what you pay is what you get. Can also be used in small bars, nursing homes and house parties! Two thumbs up!!

I do electronic music. It sounds pretty good when you're just speaking or playing pianos or strings, but any synthesized bass tones... especially bassdrums distort and rattle the speaker in an unpleasant way. The main thing that's good about it is that it runs on battery, so if you can get battery-powered synth gear to run with it, you can set up in public and have a proper mic and synth input. The other good thing is that it's bluetooth so you can play backing tracks from your phone, and it doubles as a sort of chill party speaker. Just don't expect a lot of bass.

Ok, I’ve used my first Bose L1 compact for years and last week I bought a second L1 on sale so I’m pretty much sold on Bose PA systems.
That said, I was a little skeptical that this tiny, battery operated Bose S1 Pro would be worth the $749 they are asking. I bought it today because of the Black Friday sale and I got the companion backpack ($180 value) for free. Great deal!
I’ve now been using it for the last few hours and I must say that it sounds FRICKIN AWESOME! I really can’t believe that this small speaker can generate such a crisp, clear, warm tone for guitar, vocals and my bass/drum backing tracks and run on a battery for 6-11 hours (depending on volume). I should point out that I get far better tone on both guitar and vocals by turning the Bose Tone-match circuits off and using a bit of the available two band EQ on the vocals. The reverb is great too!
The bottom line is that it was worth every penny! I am always blown away by Bose audio equipment and this S1 Pro is no exception. This little powerhouse won’t replace my two Bose L1’s for bigger venues but for smaller rooms, busking or playing where there is no power you just can’t go wrong!
With this Bose S1 Pro and two Bose L1’s I just cant imagine any gig in my world that I couldn’t do... I highly recommend this speaker!

I got 1 Bose S1 Speakers and recently the Bose F1 Subwoofer.... incredible sound! The HPF on the F1 works so well at keep out the low end from getting to the S1.
Added second S1 (borrowed from my buddy)... can easily fill a large room of 150 - 200 people (possibly more!).
The F1 is for sure on the pricey side but the deep tight bass from the F1 and the crisp mid and highs coming from the S1(s). Great compact mobile PA system!
Very versatile!!

Another reviewer is comparing this to an L1 which is hardly fair for what this product is... it’s a portable P.A. that can run on battery... in this class it’s the best I’ve heard and I’ve tried many. I busk a Pink Floyd set and all I need is this speaker, my battery multifx and my mic and my iPad backing tracks and it sound crazy good... I’m going to test a second one in stereo for coffe house gigs and see how that goes... the only fault in my opinion is the lack of a meaner volume ... I have to adjust all three volumes independently meaning I have to fiddle with the mix for every volume change

Bought one of these because I loved my L1 compact. This unit underperforms as it is not loud enough in my opinion and I think it's because it is underpowered. The reverb sounds just plain awful, overall the sound lacks bass and the speakers distort when using a vocal harmonizer. Sounds ok with pre recorded music via wifi. Way overpriced as usual with a Bose product. Looks like it's a home electronics piece, not confident it could stand up to road use. Returned the unit for a refund, I was so disappointed, I would not recommend this product to anyone.

If you're a musician or event speaker who needs an all in one solution for any gig then this unit has it all. It's small and powerful. It produces professional sound that is warm and comfortable. Its Bluetooth connection is easy to pair and it stays connected. It has a battery that lasts for eleven hours. This little P.A. is a monster in every sense of the word. Best of all it's inexpensive to rent or own.
I'm very impressed with this Bose S1. It's going to travel the world with me.

I have had this great small unit for about 6 months now. I do acoustic guitar with vocals along with a Boss Rhythm Partner plugged in. The portability, size and big sound make it a great option for any type of performing. Love the Blue tooth channel for music from my iPad or iPhone between sets, Can go completely off the grid, anywhere and perform as you like. The battery lasts a LONG time and can handle many hours on the beach or in the woods. Love love love this Bose. If I play in bigger events I simply take the output to my Behringer Europort 2000 portable PA for a huge Kick. Can also use it as a monitor from my Behringer as another great option. Multi purpose and well worth the investment.

This is an unreal PA or just a regular speaker for someone who like loud music. I play a lot of hockey in small towns and a couple days ago there was no sound system in the stadium. I had my S1 Pro with me for playing music in the dressing room. My dad had the idea to take the speaker and play music for all the stadium with the speaker. When I was on the ice or the bench on the other side of the ice I could clearly hear the music and so could everyone else we couldn?t believe what this speaker is capable of. Despite the size of this speaker you can really feel this music in your chest. I also play guitar. The sound of my acoustic guitar through this PA is unreal. Every little accent come through unbelievably. I am more than pleased with this. Definitely pick this up. 100000% worth the price.

I'm a solo singer/guitarist. This year I was given a licence to busk in Mississauga and the Bose S1 was the best thing for me! It's light and requires no power. All I need is my mic and guitar and I'm ready to perform. Setup in 5 minutes!
The battery life has been great for me - 2 hours of busking hardly uses up the battery power.
On Christmas Eve I was accompanying my Dad in his church and decided to take the S1 (I also own a Bose L1M2). Good choice! On a speaker stand I found the sound to be even better than on the floor. I used two mics (with an ART mic mixer) - Shure Beta 58a and SM58 in ch.1 and my guitar (12 string acoustic) in ch.2.
The sound carried clearly to the back of the church.
Overall very happy with this amp. (Even considering selling my L1M2 and getting a second S1!)

We currently use a Bose L1 Model II & were hoping that two of these units would produce a similar experience albeit at lower volumes
We were disappointed...
It is small, portable & has that Bose tone but..
- a bass guitar sounded good at low volumes but was unusable when Bose volume was above 4 due to clipping/distortion
- the BeatBuddy drum machine sound was thin. This unit did not reproduce the tone nearly as well as the larger Bose L1
- Acoustic guitar & vocals were very good

I was in Long & McQuade to pick up another item and I decided to check out The Bose S1. I had seen ads online for them and was intrigued. I already have its big brother, The Bose F1 full size system and I have used this at many gigs. Everything from a small band to small singer-songwriter situations. For really small jobs, though, (backyard parties, senior's home performances etc...) I had been using a very popular competitor's amp.. These are nice enough amps. They theoretically put out 120 watts - enough for most uses I'd ever put it to. They have two full channels, many built in effects, and lots of other features, including phantom power and many in and out connections. If anything, a little bit TOO complicated for my needs. How do you really use that feedback thingie? What do you do with the "Phase" control? Or that button that drastically boosts the signal at the left of each channel?
I confess - I've never really liked ANY acoustic guitar amp I've heard until now. They always seemed to have very tiny speakers for their professed watts. They always sound good in the store, but get 'em out on a real job and they sound a bit flatulent. My guitar always sounds better through just the PA.
So, getting back to the S1 ....First of all...it's tiny! It's a lot smaller than my previous amp, which wasn't big. It weighs less than 15 pounds.
When I plugged in to the one at the store I was, to put it mildly - blown away! All that sound out of THAT little thing?
I used a Taylor guitar, similar to the one I normally use...and wow! It sounded as good as my big L1 system. No distortion or deterioration when cranked it as loud as I dared in the store. Bose never announce the watts for their products. Like Rolls Royce with their cars. The power is "adequate". It sure is! I'd guess around 60 watts? - but it sounds good right up to the highest settings, unlike my other amp, which, theoretically, is 120 watts. The built-in "Tonematch" controls give you a pre-set EQ which works very well for me. Two settings, one for acoustic-electric guitar, and one for microphone. Basically, it sounds just like the full size Bose systems...with total simplicity. Only two main channels, with only volume, bass, treble and reverb (in addition to the "Tonematch" preset switches.) There is a third handy channel which allows "Bluetooth" connections or anything else you can plug in with a small phone jack. Not even a "master volume". To me that's good - no worrying about how to juggle the various levels.
I took it home and gave it a really good workout. I have yet to use it on gig.
Vocals are very clear and crisp, as is, of course, the guitar. And, oh yes, it will supposedly run for up to 11 hours on its internal rechargeable battery! So....it will, I'm sure work beautifully as a guitar amp, a small PA or monitor. I know most of these reviews are written by people who, like me, have just bought the item and are still in love with it. I suspect this love affair will last for many years!

Just got it home, messed with eq, volume, reverb, Bluetooth and tone match. Got everything where I like it in a very short time. I?m very picky about my sound and this little bose impressed me right away with its big sound. Lotsa power for small gigs as well.
I already have the mid range bose system and large bose system which I?ve had since 2010. This will be a nice addition for smaller venues where I don?t feel to carry in the big stuff. Also great service at the peterborough store. Thanks for your help

I bought one of these a few days ago. I already on a complete Bose F1 PA system (2 X F812 and 2 x F1 Subs), admittedly due to the small size of this I wasn't sure if the S1 would measure up to it's big brother. I haven't tried it in too many applications yet but so far streaming music via Bluetooth sounds great as does my guitar played through my Line 6 Helix into the S1.

I've used it to monitor my keyboards. The band (bass, drums, two guitars and vocals) ran through separate monitors and PA. For a country/rock band that likes to be able to hear vocal harmonies and therefore don't play too loud, I found the S1 on the floor was loud enough for the job. I traded in my 300 watt Traynor K1 for the Bose S1 and I have no regrets. The S1 is not as loud as the K1 but it's 1/4 the weight and the mids are much more useful for me. I found that I rolled off a lot of bottom eq on the S1 to stay clear of the bass player yet i could still hear well defined low notes from my left hand. If I needed more volume I could just put it on a stand to bring it closer to my ears. A good friend of mine does solo piano/vocal gigs and has abandoned his current setup for the S1. Audience satisfaction and the simple setup with built in bluetooth, eq and reverb make it his go to set up for restaurant/lounge piano vocal gigs. Battery power is very useful for outdoor patio/wedding gigs. I initially had concerns about the "processed" or "overly eq'd" sound that is typical of the bose systems. However, I quickly adapted and found it worked much better for me in a band situation than my very heavy yet more powerful keyboard amp. My band mates were VERY impressed when I played back reference tracks of our cover tunes through the bluetooth and completely filled the practice room without having to run the tracks through the PA. It was also nice to avoid hooking up another cable and just run my ipad wireless. Incedentally, I did plug my keyboard into the aux input and it worked! Bluetooth was no longer available and the gain was a little lower but theoretically you could run two mikes and a piano into this thing if you needed to. Finally, my wife bought who bought the S1 for me, uses it for school functions, outdoor events and presentations and no longer needs me to set up heavy/complicated gear for her. This rig is simple and effective.