Modern TV sets have come a long way since their days of weighing a million pounds and being a million inches thick. But the problem with super-thin TVs is that they come with super-small internal components, which is not a bad thing unless we’re talking about speakers and sound quality. And we are.
One way to boost the sound quality of whatever show, movie, or song you’re streaming on your TV or mobile device is by getting a soundbar. From the sea of soundbars currently available, Bose is among the most reliable manufacturers of great-sounding, high-quality bars. The company’s four soundbars are the 500, the 700, the Bose Solo 5, and the SoundTouch 300. All four of these products have left quite an impression on their customers, but which of them deserves the title of Best Bose Soundbar? Let’s check out what each of them has to offer.
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Sound Quality
500
The most important thing to check when shopping for a soundbar is whether it can produce high-quality sounds. The Bose Soundbar 500 is in the middle in terms of sound quality. It generates high-resolution audio, but it’s nothing that will take your breath away (at least in our opinion). There are several more impressive soundbars out there.
700 and SoundTouch 300
The Bose Soundbar 700 and SoundTouch 300, on the other hand, are among some of the best soundbars currently available. They both come with the same number of speakers that release the best-sounding audio you have probably ever heard without headphones. Using the company’s PhaseGuide Technology, distortion is virtually unnoticeable and the sound fields are widened to beyond what you might expect.
Solo 5
The Solo 5 is the least impressive of the four Bose soundbars and probably among several other non-Bose soundbars as well. Although there’s hardly any sound distortion, the sound field is much too narrow to enjoy crazy cinematic explosions and character dialogue truly.
Conclusion: If we had to rank these soundbars, it would go 700 and SoundTech 300 tie for first place, the 500 comes in at a close second, and Solo 5 is left in the dust. The Solo 5 is not “bad” by most standards, but considering the other Bose soundbars available, you will not get what you’d hope for.
Smart Soundbar with Built-in Alexa Support
500, 700, and SoundTouch 300
The Soundbar 500, 700, and any SoundTouch product from Bose are all compatible with Amazon Alexa. This means you can play music, listen to podcasts, hear the news, or check the weather with the sounds coming out of these soundbars’ crisp speakers. They’re also compatible with Google Assistant if you don’t have the Amazon Alexa app installed.
We have to let you know that many people – ourselves included – have experienced trouble setting up Alexa to these soundbars. You have to turn the microphone on with a push of a button (LED turned off means the mic is on) before Alexa responds. For whatever reason, Bose neglected to put these instructions in the user’s manual.
Solo 5
The Solo 5 is the only Bose soundbar that is not compatible with Alexa or Google Assistant. By no means is this a deal-breaker, especially if you’re paranoid about the government or a huge corporation listening in on your conversations. However, it is worth noting considering most modern soundbars have Alexa support.
Conclusion: Although Alexa and Google Assistant don’t do anything to enhance the quality of these soundbars’ sound, it does have a lot to do with the user’s experience in owning and operating a soundbar. If you’re comfortable with conversing asking Alexa to do your bidding, then the Solo 5 is not the device for you.
Bluetooth Support
500, 700, and SoundTouch 300
Perhaps you’d like to bump music for your phone or tablet through a wall-mounted soundbar. If this is the case, then you’ll need a soundbar that has Bluetooth support – something that the 500, 700, and SoundTouch 300 all have. Simply connect your mobile device to the soundbar via Bluetooth after scanning and voila! Your soundbar is not an awesome Bluetooth speaker that you and your next-door neighbor can enjoy.
Solo 5
Once again, the Solo 5 is unlike the other soundbars. This device cannot connect to your phone through Bluetooth. The Solo 5 connects to a TV directly via an optical cable (sold separately). Chances are your phone or tablet does not have an optical audio port.
Conclusion: We can see a clear distinction between the more technological advanced 500, 700, and SoundTouch 300 and the Solo 5. The Solo 5’s lack of Bluetooth support doesn’t leave you with a lack of audio crispness (the speakers do), but it does mean that this device has limited capacities.
Remote Control and Downloadable Music App
500, 700, and SoundTouch 300
The 500 and SoundTouch 300 both come with a remote control that lets you control these soundbars from afar. The 700, on the other hand, has a more advanced universal remote that can be configured to control almost any piece of your entire entertainment system.
As for the downloadable music app, the 500 and 700 both use the same Bose Music app, whereas the SoundTouch 300 uses the out-of-style SoundTouch app. Both of these apps can virtually do the same thing, but if you have already invested a small fortune in SoundTouch products, then the Bose Music app can do nothing to help you.
Solo 5
Like the 500 and SoundTouch 300, the Solo 5 comes with its remote control which is dedicated to only the soundbar. But unlike the other Bose soundbars, the Solo 5 is not controllable via a downloadable app. To configure the sound settings of the Solo 5, you’ll have to lift and point – a problem in and of itself (just kidding).
Conclusion: All of these devices have their remote controls, and only the Solo 5 is incompatible with any of Bose’s downloadable music apps. Although Bose continues to offer support for both Bose Music and SoundTouch apps, the latter belongs to an older product series which is not going to work in congruence with Bose’s newer products.
Multiroom Usability
500, 700, and SoundTouch 300
If you have multiple 500s, 700s, or SoundTouch speakers in different rooms, then you can use the downloadable app to play the same music or podcast on all speaker in your home. The app also lets you play different songs from different speakers. Play jazz in your garage workshop while Pinkfong sings Baby Shark to your child in the living room.
Solo 5
If you haven’t drawn the conclusion on your own, we’ll tell you now that the Solo 5 is one of the most basic soundbars available. It’s missing a lot of bells and whistles that you might like to have in a smart device, and multiroom usability is one of them.
Conclusion: For many people, a multi-Bose setup may not be the most realistic thing, thus rendering the multiroom function utterly useless, thereby making the Solo 5 the most efficient way to improve your TVs sound quality. However, if you’d like to futurize your home and have multiple speakers installed in different areas of your home, then the 500, 700, or SoundTouch 300 would help you in that department.
Sound Module Compatibility
500, 700, and SoundTouch 300
The natural bass of the 500, 700, and SoundTouch 300 is quite good. In fact, for the average listener (like us), the bass quality is more than satisfactory. But if you’d like to up your sound game, then you might be happy to know that all three of these soundbars are compatible with Bose bass and surround sound modules (sold separately).
Solo 5
No… Just… no… As is, the bass quality of the Solo 5 is comparable to the other soundbars’ natural bass. It’s just a shame that you can’t hook up a bass module to have Mufasa’s powerful bass voice blow you away.
Conclusion: Surprise, surprise, the 500, 700, and SoundTouch 300 all have something that the Solo 5 doesn’t. But once again, this may not be the worst thing in the world, considering that many people are looking for something to boost their TV’s sound and nothing more. If you’d like to crank the bass or have sounds blasting at you from seemingly every direction, then skip the Solo 5 and opt for any of the other three soundbars.
Verdict
It’s obvious that the Bose Solo 5 is marketed to those who aren’t that into a whole-home entertainment system, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The sound quality of the Solo 5 is great but not amazing, unlike the other Bose speakers.
The Bose Soundbar 700 and SoundTouch 300 are capable of giving eargasms, whereas the Bose Soundbar 500 is an excellent soundbar, far above the Solo 5 but not on the same level as the 700 or SoundTouch 300. And apart from the sound quality that each of these soundbars produces, there’s virtually no difference between the 500, 700, and SoundTouch 300.
However, we would like to remind you that SoundTouch is an older series that Bose has practically left in the dirt. Sure, SoundTouch still receives updates now and then, but the series has been abandoned and replaced with newer Bose products which do not sync with SoundTouch. Keep this in mind if you’re thinking of purchasing your first Bose soundbar.
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