This is the review of the comparison between two speakers from the same brand and from the same series. The comparison here is between the Anker Soundcore Flare and the Anker Soundcore Flare Plus. There is around 40 dollars difference in their price range and that does bring a difference in their features and performance. To know which one is worth buying for the price, go to the detailed review.

Anker Soundcore Flare	Anker Soundcore Flare Plus
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Punchy sound for such a compact speaker. Affordable. Lights well executed. Waterproof. Lightweight and portable.	Good Bluetooth connection. The light show feels like a ‘free’ extra. Well-done bass boost. Great price.
CONS	CONS
Clunky voice control compared to smart speakers. Various EQ modes don’t really alter audio that much. Highs can be harsh.	The default light mode is too hyperactive. Complex tracks will show the limits of the speaker.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Anker Soundcore Flare

The Anker Soundcore Flare is a nice speaker that comes with 360 degrees sound output. This speaker contains quite a good feature at the lowest cost and gives a nice sound too. This speaker is retailing for around sixty-four dollars currently on Amazon. This speaker does come with an integrated microphone and it is also waterproof IPX7 rated.

Anker Soundcore Flare Plus

The Soundcore Flare Plus is the updated version of the original Flare speakers. It is a waterproof, 360-degree audio, Bluetooth speaker with LED lights. The Flare Plus boasts a bigger body, a bigger battery, and a much bigger sound. This speaker is retailing for around a hundred dollars currently on Amazon.

DESIGN: 

Anker Soundcore Flare

As far as the design of this speaker, it has a cylindrical shape and covered with a nice fabric. The fabric gives a nice feel and also, gives a grip to hold the speaker in our hand without dropping it. The Speaker has also, got a rubberized material at its bottom so that it does not fall down from your table and gets stick to your table. The fabric material used in this speaker also has another plus point that it remains clean compared to the rubberized top because rubber material gets fingerprints on it, and also, gets dirty soon. At the bottom of the speaker, there is a ring that has lights in it and gives you the light show.

On the top of the speaker, you have got all the media control buttons such as the plus and minus buttons to control your volume, play, and pause button, a button with an arrow showing upwards is for bass up mode, and a button with a light symbol to change your different light modes available. On the back of the speaker is where you have got other two buttons, that will be your power button and your Bluetooth button. Also, at the back of the speaker, you have got a rubber flap. When you will open the flap, you will find an aux port to play this speaker wired and also, a micro USB port to charge your speaker.

Anker Soundcore Flare Plus

Many features are carried over from the Flare particularly when it comes to the design. The most notable change being we have a carrying strap for the taller and heavier Flare Plus. Again, we have that conical shape, reminiscent of the Bose Soundlink Revolve and a soft fabric exterior, which has become popular amongst many waterproof speakers. The fabric offers a good grip and importantly will stay looking cleaner and new for very long periods of time. An issue with rubber-bodied speakers for example is that dirt and fingerprints show up very easily, and quickly spoils the speaker’s presentation. The fabric also helps to maintain great durability, and the Flare Plus will certainly be able to withstand a few knocks or drops.

The speaker’s top surface is made of silicon rubber and houses the five tactile controls. There’s an integrated microphone allowing you to use the Flare Plus as a speakerphone. On the side, you’ll find the power and Bluetooth buttons, and also a rubber seal protecting the speaker’s IO, consisting of the aux-in, a micro USB charging port, and two new to the Flare Plus a USB out for charging up something like your smartphone. The bottom surface has a texturized rubber to prevent slip, and definitely, its signature LED light ring. To be honest, this isn’t the most attractive design of seen for LED lights but using the speaker in a dark environment, the Flare Plus really comes alive and the lights definitely add to the party element. 

FEATURES:

Anker Soundcore Flare

This speaker comes in a nicely packed box, and the box contains the speaker itself, a micro USB cable to charge your speaker, a user manual, and a warranty card. This speaker features Bluetooth 4.2, IPX7 rated means this is submersible in one meter of water for around 30 minutes, has 12 hours of battery life, and the Soundcore companion app. This speaker also has a nice feature called the bass-up function that actually increases the punchiness of the bass and makes the speaker louder.

The lights can also be customized to some degree within the Soundcore app, allowing you to cycle through a handful of preset color themes, and also to adjust the LED brightness or pulsation. There’s even a bedtime mode offering softer warmer colors. Ideally, though I would like to see more customization offered here in the future. Within the app, you can also change the equalization settings but the options here not only offer very mild subtle changes but are also quite limited. Fortunately, with a recent update, you can customize the sound profile to your liking with a decent amount of control.

The app also supports stereo and the performance here was seriously impressive. I didn’t experience any annoying dropouts during playback. You could control your music using either speaker and turning off either speaker turns off both in the pair. Actually, this speaker has some connectivity issues and there is a noticeable lag while watching Youtube and Netflix. As for battery life, the claim by the company is at 50% volume. If you want to use this at maximum volume, then you need to expect it at half of what the company claims which is around 6 hours. If you want to extend the battery life then you can turn off the LED on the speaker and also, there is a feature that allows you to save your battery by turning off the speaker automatically when it’s not in use after 30 minutes.

Anker Soundcore Flare Plus

The fabric material lends itself to a cleaner sound compared to the fabric which ever-so-slightly muffles the audio. This is a really pedantic detail, that’s almost unnoticeable in real-world use. I can definitely see the benefits to durability and waterproofing that the fabric offers. The speaker is fully waterproof with an IPX7 water resistance rating meaning you can fully submerge the speaker up to one meter for 30 minutes and the speaker does floats. As expected the microphone isn’t particularly sensitive, so using the speaker for phone calls is about as effective as you’d find on any other Bluetooth speaker but for those who will end up using this feature, it’s good enough.

Wire charging tech company like Anker still hasn’t brought USB-C to its audio range is a drawback and charging by micro USB is that there are consequently no fast charge options, so you can expect a full charge of this speaker after around four hours. But with this slight increase in charging time comes a huge eight-hour increase in battery life, offering a total of twenty hours, which I did find to be accurate after testing a listening volume of 50 percent. Although you’re probably going to get closer to half battery life listening at max volume with the LEDs turned on. You can also continue playing music whilst the speaker is charging, so if you want to use this speaker in a permanent setup perhaps even an Amazon Echo companion, you can. If the speaker is left without playing music, it can auto turn off after 30 minutes to preserve battery life.

Turning it on, the speaker locates and automatically pairs to the last connected device very quickly, and with the improved Bluetooth 5.0 the Flare Plus gave me a line of sight distance of around 84 feet before the signal began to cut out.  The Flare Plus is undeniably a fantastic Bluetooth speaker, and at this price point, it’s certainly one of the better value speakers on the market. It is missing a handful of flagship features such as NFC and multi-device pairing but I appreciate that omission helps to keep the cost down. However, there really is no excuse for not having USB Type-C. The introduction of Bluetooth 5.0, the bigger battery, and improved audio are welcome updates to the Flare Plus but probably not quite enough to justify an upgrade from the original Flare, and the retention of micro USB charging was definitely a missed opportunity here.

SOUND QUALITY:

Anker Soundcore Flare

This speaker has impressive crisp vocals and high clarity on a much bigger scale. Even with the default sound profile, the mid-range is well balanced and offers a decent amount of detail. Bass up at significant weight to your audio doesn’t blow to the mid-bass or boom at any point. Stereo playback across two paired speakers sounds particularly fantastic and offers a wonderfully immersive listening experience. The speakers do however tend to sound better at mediums or high volumes, so these perhaps aren’t your best bet for quiet relaxed listening.

Anker Soundcore Flare Plus

The Flare Plus features two 2 inch drivers each with corresponding passive radiators at new to the Plus models, corresponding tweeters too. The Flare Plus handles the high-end frequency much better than the original Flare, which has been noted for the occasional harsh sounds at high volumes. As far as the Flare Plus’s Soundcore bass-up technology, it is very effective in this. The bass is deep but more controlled than you’d find in something like a UE speaker, which I personally find lends itself to a more pleasant listening experience. Since the balances are well maintained, the resulting audio is rich, full-bodied, and lively. Whilst the low-end is probably the Flare Plusses greatest strengths know frequency bands feel overpowered. 

WHICH ONE IS WORTH BUYING?

 In my opinion, the Anker Soundcore Flare Plus is worth buying than the Anker Soundcore Flare because the Flare Plus has Bluetooth 5.0, sounds better, and better battery life than the Anker Soundcore Flare. So, if you want to purchase a Flare speaker and confused about which way to go, then I definitely recommend you to spend a little extra on the Flare Plus. If you’re in the market for a reliable Bluetooth speaker with great connectivity and impressive audio, the Flare Plus is a fantastic option at great value for money.

Expert Reviews of Anker Soundcore Flare:

By kit.honestjohn.co.uk
Anker’s Soundcore Flare is a portable waterproof speaker — fully submergible in water, no less, so you’re safe if some idiot kicks it into your swimming pool at…

By PCMag
The Soundcore Flare from Anker is a powerful portable speaker that puts on a cool LED light show.

By TechRadar
The Anker Soundcore Flare combines the best features of its competitors into an affordable package that’s tough to beat. For the price, the Flare offers good…

By Sound Guys
The Anker Soundcore Flare might be the speaker to beat this summer. It’s waterproof, inexpensive, and has a much better design than any of the previous Soundcore speakers.

Expert Reviews of Anker Soundcore Flare Plus:

By gadgetspeak.com
Developed by Anker, the Soundcore Flame + is a portable 360 degree Bluetooth Speaker. Currently, my review sample of this product is delivering a selection of my favourite music…

By androidguys.com
There’s a lot to love with the Soundcore Flare+. Sure, we have our nitpicks, but the number of positives far, far outweigh the negatives. There are a million Bluetooth speakers out there and…

By soundphilereview.com
Let’s face the fact that we, as audiophiles, don’t always need extremely high-quality audio. If you’re at the park, camping, at a party or in some other…

By Trusted Reviews
Fun features, excellent sound, plus deep bass at a competitive price make the Anker Soundcore Flare Plus a winner – even if it isn’t the most refined speaker around.