I recently purchased a Bose Wave Radio from Goodwill for $76 + shipping. It had no remote so add on $10 for a new remote (no battery included grumble, grumble). I’ve always wanted a Bose Wave Radio, but the price always kept me from them ($499 USD retail). Here is a legitimate review from cnet, so many reviews seem so fake or paid for.
https://www.cnet.com/reviews/bose-wave-music-system-review/2/
My review is simple — the Alexa doesn’t hold a candle to Bose in terms of sound quality. The base and drums are deep and rich on the Bose compared to my Mono Alexa. I did three experiments playing the same song Alexa and the Wave Radio. Two of the experiment use Plexamp connecting to my NAS to play an Apple Lossless (ALAC) rip of the physical CD — One via Alexa connected by Bluetooth, the Second the Wave Radio connected via AUX port and cable. The third experiment is using the physical CD as control. I wasn’t expecting Alexa to win, it’s Mono for gosh sake. I can configure an Alexa pair with both a left and right channel but it’s honestly a pain to setup and use so why bother.
Conclusion is go out and buy yourself a good quality Bose Wave Radio at Goodwill and pickup some physical CD’s while you are there. Audio quality is much better than streaming IMHO but YMMV!
