 The Jazz Mini is a beautiful and compact aluminum stand for your smartphone that even holds tablets up to 8 inches. 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 5's 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 5's 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 DAC 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's 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 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 Audioengine A2 Plus's with an add-on subwoofer, the Companion 5's do not run at all without the sub 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 amp and DAC in a speaker which would make it much larger and would make no sense anyway because you've got a sub box already. Aesthetically, I think the Companion 5's 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 Audioengine 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 5's 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 listen to-able sound quality without any noticeable distortion, the Companion 5's are going to look pretty good to you. In my more quality focused listening tests, 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. I didn't 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 bass, well, they could have easily been sitting in front of their new Companion 5 speakers 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 5's a legitimate contender for your money. They are not the best unit I have encountered for any kind of music, really. They're just all right. I mean, they're not even the loudest. The Audioengine A5 Plus's 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 bass down yields slightly clearer lyrics, but you lose the kick that I feel is really the big selling point of this set given its 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'll keep your guests on the dance floor and you want something that performs just okay for near field music listening but is a lot of fun to listen to in movies and games, then whatever you want to think about Bose products in general, the Companion 5s 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 in 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 S8 and assuming it'll complement 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. Speaking of package deals, here's another deal from our friends at Chiro. Now I know a lot of you don't use iPhones, but hear 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 hour 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. Just 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, Chiro 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 you liked it. Dislike it if you disliked it and leave a comment on the Linus Tech Tips forum linked in the video description if you want to discuss the product or you have any constructive criticism for me and my team. Also linked in the video description is our support link with options to buy t-shirts like this one, give us a monthly contribution or give us a kickback whenever you buy random junk on Amazon. I hope you enjoyed our videos, it helps us out a whole bunch and as always, thank you for watching and don't forget to subscribe.