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Bose Solo 5 vs Bose Soundbar 500

Bose Solo 5

68 reviews

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Bose Soundbar 500

Bose Soundbar 500

94 reviews

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Great sound quality

Gets loud without distorting

Compact size is perfect for smaller rooms

Easy to set up and use

Affordable price point

Great replacement to TV's built-in speakers

Lots of flexibility with the built-in Alexa function

Well-balanced and neutral sound profile

Rich, clear audio

Easy to set up and use

Not compatible with HDMI

No surround sound capabilities

Limited connectivity options

Not as loud as other soundbars

Lacks sub-bass

Can be difficult to reset if needed

Verdict

The Bose Solo 5 TV Sound System is a great choice for those looking for an entry-level soundbar with included subwoofer. It has good sound quality and gets loud without distorting. However, it does not have an HDMI connector, which may be a dealbreaker for some users.

Verdict

The Bose Soundbar 500 is a great soundbar for those looking for a replacement to their TV's built-in speakers. It offers lots of flexibility with the built-in Alexa function and has a well-balanced and neutral sound profile. However, some may find that it lacks sub-bass and can be difficult to reset if needed.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Speaker System

youtube

Bose Solo 5 Soundbar Review

It's very very clear, and actually i listened to this one uh, the bose five solo compared to the bose tv speakers and the bose tv uh did not sound as ...

Positive

youtube

Bose Soundbar 500 Review | Small Soundbar, Big Commitment

But this little soundbar is a big commitment. As you can see, the Bose 500 starts with minimalism right when you pull it out of the box. This is a sma...

Negative

Speakers

What Soundbar is expandable to a 5.1 surround sound system?

Bose and Sonos are the brands, whose products consistently can be upgraded to a 5.1 systems (exceptional the Bose Solo 5 and the Bose TV Speaker). With LG and Samsung it is really dependent on the specific soundbar.

Positive

reddit.com/r/Soundbars

youtube

Bose Home Speaker 500 Review - Impressive, Most Impressive

With a lot of older smart speakers whether they were team Alexa or team Google you were sometimes forced to use voice commands cause those speakers ju...

Negative

Connectivity

Left as an Exercise for the Student

The problem: The manual control is incomprehensible and the instructions seem to have been written as some MIT Problem Set, with expectations that the "student" can find out how to solve all the problems, and there are a lot of problems. First, before getting a speaker to work, you have to sync up the TV set, the Cable sets, etc which is near impossible if the code is not there. So try this one on for an hour. Second, assuming you got past step one you try to figure out if this controller replaces your cable controller, which it does not, since you cannot change channels, period

to work some of the times. This is usually a pretty big hassle (ends up taking 15-20 minutes of fiddling to get audio) and I just end up unplugging the soundbar and plugging it back in. Very rarely has the soundbar worked flawlessly from the time the tv is turned on. Sometimes, even if the soundbar starts working when the tv is switched on, the audio cuts out after 5-6 minutes of usage, and I’m back to unplugging and plugging it back in for it to work

Negative

reddit.com/r/bose

Remote Control

youtube

Bose Solo 5 Soundbar Review - YouTube

I programmed my Apple TV remote to control the sound on here too. Really darn simple. So I'm keeping this remote though because I love this remote. Bu...

Positive

CEC (aka ARC HDMI) not responsive after 6 months

Unfortunately that’s multiple remotes but I recently bought an Apple TV device and that can control other devices via IR (similar to what Logitech does with their fancy remote).

Sound Quality

Easy to install and quality sound (UPDATED Jan 2021)

Install was super simple since there are only two cords: the power cord and the optical cable that goes from the speaker to the TV. It doesn’t have the same punch as a surround system with a subwoofer, but it’s definitely better than the internal speaker. Great value, especially for a Bose product.

Bose Soundbar 500

The Bose Soundbar 500 is an okay soundbar when used by itself without the separate sub and back satellites. It doesn’t get as loud as other soundbars but its sound profile is fairly well-balanced and neutral sounding. However, some may feel like this bar lacks sub-bass. On top of not being able to get very loud, it has trouble performing at max volume, and compresses a lot, especially in the bass range

Neutral

Warranty

I called back (waiting another hour) before talking to a representative. Getting no satisfaction I asked to speak to an supervisor. When finally connected, I asked why I was offered a 30% discount when the warranty said it would be repaired or replaced. She said it was not repairable

Bose soundbar 500 no responding

Right now, I sent the Soundbar 500 into their extended warranty repair company square trade (by Allstate.) ill let you know what they find.

Positive

reddit.com/r/bose

Design

Good Medium-Range Sound Bar for TV Watching

Whoever designed this remote took some time to think about how the human hand holds a remote, placing curves and arcs in the right places. Furthermore, the remote itself feels of exceptional quality: this does not feel like a squeaky afterthought. It is a remarkably robust remote that not only has the right shape, but also feels extremely solidly built. And, surprise, as I mentioned, it is a UNIVERSAL remote, so after you spend some time programming it, it should control most all your devices

youtube

Bose Soundbar 500 Review

So this one’s a little smaller at only thirty one and a half inches wide but maintains the same well. Similar design. It’s got an extremely high end, ...

Positive

Features

youtube

Bose Solo 5 Soundbar 2022 Review

, And one really cool feature about this remote control is it does support over 1800 different third party codes from all AV devices, which makes it p...

Positive

LOUD. Great for the theatre room

This thing is powerful! I bought it for the Bose quality and because it had Bluetooth capability. I'm using it for a theater room and using a Bluetooth transmitter to run sound from the projector to the speakers wirelessly. So far it works like a charm and pairs nicely with the surround sound speakers. Great sound for the big screen

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