Bose House Speaker 500 Evaluate: Good, Trendy, Encompass Sound

Bose House Speaker 500

MSRP $300.00

“Wealthy, expansive sound helps this good speaker ship a virtuoso efficiency.”

Professionals

• Expansive stereo sound
• Smooth, engaging design
• Selection of Alexa or Google Assistant
• Straightforward-to-use controls
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and line-in choices
• AirPlay 2

Cons

• Costly
• Some music companies not supported
• Barely awkward multiroom management
• No Chromecast possibility for Android

Within the early days of the good speaker revolution, discovering a speaker that was each good and had nice sound was a problem. Fortunately, these days are lengthy gone. With merchandise from Sonos, Marshall, Apple, and Amazon, now you can have your cake and eat it too. However earlier than you choose a brand new wi-fi good speaker from a kind of firms, it’s best to take into account the $300 Bose House Speaker 500.

With an intriguing mixture of smooth design, expansive sound, and a alternative of digital assistants, it may very well be simply the good audio system your private home has been lacking.

However is it best for you? Let’s have a look.

Design

Simon Cohen / Digital Tendencies

Out there in your alternative of triple black or a complicated two-tone of silver and white, the Bose House Speaker 500 is deceptively sized. With an elliptical form that’s a lot wider than it’s deep, its base is sufficiently small that it ought to simply discover a perch on a counter-top, bookshelf, or mantle. At simply 4.75 kilos It’s additionally surprisingly gentle for its dimension.

Nothing breaks up the speaker’s clean aluminum and plastic contours — even the included auxiliary enter is barely noticeable, hidden on the again close to the underside. My triple black overview unit appeared nice irrespective of the place I positioned it.

There are those that are tempted to cover their audio system (even the great wanting ones) the place they are often heard however not seen, however that might be a mistake with the House Speaker 500. Not solely would that make it arduous to make use of the thoughtfully designed contact controls that adorn its prime floor, however it might additionally forestall you from seeing its front-facing coloration display screen.

Not that it is advisable to see it, or contact it (it’s not a contact display screen), nevertheless it simply seems so rattling cool that it might be a disgrace to not place it the place it may be appreciated.

However I can’t assist pondering that Bose has missed a chance right here. Whenever you’re listening to music, the 3-inch display screen shows the album artwork for the presently taking part in observe, together with the artist and observe title. When the speaker is idle, you possibly can select a clock face or nothing in any respect, however that’s all it does. I can consider a number of methods to make use of that display screen: Climate forecasts, information feeds, and even only a alternative of gently animating display screen savers.

Provided that the House Speaker 500 can be used a sensible speaker, it might be tremendous cool to see the display screen used as a secondary show for voice instructions, e.g. when you mentioned, “Alexa, what’s the climate like?” and the display screen confirmed you the present climate together with Alexa’s spoken response.

However I digress. Those that prefer to hearken to the identical artists, playlists, or radio stations frequently will respect the House Speaker 500’s six devoted preset buttons. You assign them throughout the Bose Music app, and they are often related to nearly any music supply that the app helps.

Setup

Sonos has at all times been my benchmark for quick and easy setups, however Bose is an in depth second. Utilizing the Bose Music app, I acquired the House Speaker 500 configured for my house Wi-Fi, related to my Google account for Google Assistant entry, and fortunately streaming tunes in beneath 5 minutes.

The Bose Music app is straightforward and for essentially the most half very intuitive to make use of, with nice directions and suggestions at each step.

Connections

Simon Cohen / Digital Tendencies

Some house wi-fi audio system like Sonos solely do Wi-Fi, however the Bose House Speaker 500 offers you 3 ways to attach: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the line-in enter I discussed earlier. Except a USB port for accessing hard-drive-based recordsdata, you possibly can’t ask for extra.

Nonetheless, Bose has opted to not embody an ethernet jack, one thing you may miss in case your Wi-Fi community is spotty in locations. Sonos consists of them on all however one in all its audio system, however I think only a few of their clients use them — I definitely have by no means wanted to.

Wi-Fi, with its increased bandwidth than Bluetooth, must be your connection methodology of alternative, however that is the place issues get a bit difficult.

Wi-Fi enables you to arrange and management the House Speaker 500 from the Bose Music app, and that features with the ability to stream music from Spotify Premium and Free, Apple Music, TuneIn, Pandora, SiriusXM, Amazon Music, Deezer, and iHeartRadio. It’s a wide variety, however not practically as complete as that supplied by Sonos. Tidal and YouTube Music, for example, aren’t among the many decisions. Neither is there any option to stream from a private music assortment on your private home community.

If you happen to’re an Apple system proprietor, AirPlay 2 can go a protracted option to making up for this shortfall, letting you stream nearly any supply of audio out of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, to the House Speaker 500. However when you’re an Android person who finds the Music app missing, your solely fallback possibility is Bluetooth.

Chromecast for audio could be a future Wi-Fi path for Android homeowners, nevertheless it’s not supported but on the House Speaker 500. When it does present up, it will likely be as a subset of the Google Assistant, so those that favor Alexa — or no assistant in any respect — will nonetheless be caught with Bluetooth.

Sound high quality

Simon Cohen / Digital Tendencies

Bose makes a fairly large declare for the House Speaker 500: “The widest sound of any good speaker.” I put it side-by-side with the $200 Amazon Echo Studio, which has a really related inside driver format and each merchandise are designed to supply immersive sound. The House Speaker 500 carried out admirably, delivering a barely wider soundstage than the Echo Studio, regardless of having weaker bass response.

Simply how expansive the sound will get is partially affected by placement. In a super world, you’ll give it numerous respiratory room, away from partitions and ideally not tucked right into a bookshelf.

Widest or not, I feel you’ll love the best way this speaker sounds. Bose has positioned the inner drivers in such a manner that sound waves are dispersed in a type of lopsided 360-degree area. By that I imply the most effective seat in the home is sitting straight in entrance of the speaker, however you’ll nonetheless be capable of get pleasure from about 80% of its full high quality from nearly anyplace else.

It’s an impact I realized to understand when reviewing Bose’s glorious Moveable House Speaker, which produces an nearly completely round sound area.

What’s spectacular is that not solely do you get real room-filling audio, however you additionally get some fairly respectable stereo separation — not a straightforward feat for a speaker this small.

You may tweak each bass and treble from throughout the app, however except your tastes run actually robust in a kind of instructions, the manufacturing unit EQ delivers a lovely steadiness of each.

If there’s a weak point, it’s within the midrange definition — a difficult space for even the most effective small audio system. It’s most noticeable when taking part in genres like classical or jazz — devices that dwell within the center frequencies like cellos, and a few woodwinds, can get a bit flattened. However general, the House Speaker 500 is a pleasure to hearken to, whether or not it’s offering the backdrop to an intimate dinner or a raucous get-together.

The House Speaker 500 can be able to some downright spectacular quantity ranges. Max this factor out and be ready for loads of knocks on the door from irritated neighbors.

Multiroom audio

Simon Cohen / Digital Tendencies

One of many advantages of shopping for a wi-fi speaker for the house is with the ability to play totally different music in every room, or the identical music in all rooms (or some mixture thereof). The House Speaker 500 can simply be grouped with different Bose House audio system, just like the House Speaker 300, or the Bose Soundbar 500, through the Bose Music app.

Nonetheless, utilizing multiroom requires a little bit of planning. As a result of you can even create speaker teams utilizing AirPlay 2, it is advisable to resolve whether or not you propose to stream from a music service throughout the Bose Music app — through which case you’ll handle your speaker teams there — or, from one other app in your cellphone or pill — through which case you’ll handle the teams utilizing the AirPlay 2 interface.

The 2 methods don’t play nicely with one another; teams created within the Bose Music app don’t prefer it while you attempt to modify them utilizing AirPlay 2 or vice versa.

There’s additionally no option to create stereo pairs utilizing two Bose audio system. If multiroom audio is a prime precedence, I feel you’ll be happier with Sonos.

Nonetheless, Bose does have one trick up its sleeve that I haven’t encountered on any wi-fi speaker system, together with Sonos. Bose calls it Simplesync, and it enables you to group any Bluetooth audio system, from a transportable speaker to a set of wi-fi headphones, with the House Speaker 500. Bose says this characteristic works greatest with the corporate’s personal Bluetooth audio system and headphones, within the sense that audio will likely be extra precisely synced.

It’s true. I attempted Simplesync with a JBL Flip 5 speaker I had readily available, and whereas setup was a snap, there was some split-second latency between the 2 audio system. I wouldn’t depend on it for doing multiroom audio, nevertheless it’s a fairly helpful possibility.

Voice assistants

Bose has adopted Sonos’ lead on its good speaker technique, and that’s a superb choice. Like Sonos, Bose enables you to select between Alexa and Google Assistant on the House Speaker 500 as a substitute of promoting two totally different variations of the speaker as different house audio firms have finished.

I selected Google Assistant for this overview as a result of I’ve extra appropriate merchandise in my house, nevertheless it’s simply as simple to arrange the House Speaker 500 with Alexa. Bose has actually nailed the good speaker expertise. Voice instructions are acknowledged effortlessly even in pretty loud environments, and from distances so far as 15 toes while not having to essentially increase your voice. If privateness is a priority, a devoted microphone-mute button ensures an A.I.-free setting.

Response instances are additionally excellent; I didn’t discover any distinction between the House Speaker 500 and my Google Nest mini when it comes to response instances.

I particularly appreciated that the glowing white LED strip above the colour display screen supplied immediate visible suggestions that my instructions had been heard. Most good audio system have an identical visible cue, but when they’re solely seen from the highest floor (like Sonos good audio system or Google’s House and Nest minis) you possibly can’t see them as simply from throughout a room.

There may be one caveat when you’re selecting the Bose House Speaker 500 to be your good speaker, and that’s music service compatibility. Though Google Assistant and Alexa can take management of a wide range of music companies, if the House Speaker 500 doesn’t assist a particular service (see above, beneath Connections), you received’t be capable of use these voice assistants to manage it. Google Play Music (now largely transitioned to YouTube Music), Apple Music, and Tidal are all examples of companies that may’t be voice-controlled by both assistant on the House Speaker 500.

Our take

At its new lower cost of $300, the Bose House Speaker 500 prices the identical because the Apple HomePod and Google House Max, two excellent good audio system. However with Bluetooth, line-in, a full-color show, and your alternative of voice assistants, it delivers extra worth than each of those merchandise and sounds superb too.

Is there a greater various?

For $200, the Sonos One delivers very good sound and helps practically each streaming service on the planet. It doesn’t have the House Speaker 500’s ultra-wide stereo soundstage, Bluetooth, auxiliary enter, or fancy coloration display screen, nevertheless it has the most effective multiroom audio system we’ve ever used. It’s nonetheless our top-rated good speaker for a motive.

If you happen to’re on board with Bose’s tackle the good speaker expertise however would favor to pay rather less, the $200 Bose House Speaker 300 loses the colour display screen and large, stereo sound however retains each different characteristic.

How lengthy will it final?

Bose builds nice merchandise that usually final a very long time. It solely covers the House Speaker 500 with a one-year guarantee, although that is pretty normal for related merchandise from different firms.

Must you purchase it?

Sure. The Bose House Speaker 500 combines attractive design with voice assistant flexibility and an expansive stereo sound that’s outstanding for its slender physique. The colour display screen is a pleasant contact too. Android customers ought to pay attention to the shortage of Chromecast as a Wi-Fi streaming possibility, however Apple customers must be more than pleased with AirPlay 2 as a Bluetooth various.

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