The Bose 500’s high price might not make sense to discerning listeners because of its poor port selection and missing subwoofer. However, it will work for casual buyers who care about build quality and clear dialogue when watching TV shows or movies over anything else.
The Bose Soundbar 500 is a high-end soundbar first made available in mid-2018. The soundbar has great build quality, but because it doesn’t ship with a subwoofer, its bass levels are not as low.
Its soundstage is also slightly wider than its size, but audio objects are still a bit difficult to pinpoint. Like most of the best speakers around, it also comes with a room correction feature to adapt its sound output to the room size, and a dialogue enhancement feature to improve its vocals.
It also fares better than most popular soundbars in terms of connectivity since owners can stream their music through Bluetooth, WiFi, Chromecast built-in, or Apple AirPlay.
The Bose 500 also has a setting for bass adjustments and supports Dolby Digital as an audio format – attributes it has in common with the Bose TV Speaker, which we’ve covered in our Bose TV Speaker review.
Consensus
our Verdict
The Bose 500 soundbar shines when listening to on-screen dialogue in movies and TV shows because of its clear vocal reproduction, but it has lackluster bass levels, and even though the side placement of its speakers helps to widen the width of its soundstage, the lack of support for Dolby Atmos suppresses the surround sound experience.
It gets loud, and even though the soundstage is wider than the soundbar’s size, object sounds are still harder to pinpoint, but low tested latencies of 50ms (ARC) and 46ms (Optical) facilitate in-sync audio-visual content.
The soundbar’s Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity means seamless music streaming, but the lack of a subwoofer makes our Bose Solo Soundbar Series II review worth looking into. Additionally, specialists were also disappointed with the missing Full HDMI In ports.
Reason to Buy
High build quality
Great for listening to dialogue
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity
Decent surround sound performance
Reason to Avoid
No HDMI In ports
No Dolby Atmos support
Disappointing bass levels
Doesn’t get as loud
Sound distorts at a high volume
Bose Soundbar 500 Specs
Bluetooth Enabled
Yes
Depth
4"
Dialogue Enhancement Feature
Yes
Energy Star Certified
No
HDMI ARC
Yes
Height
1.75"
Number of Audio Channels
3
Subwoofer
Optional (sold separately)
Surround Sound Supported
Dolby Digital
Voice Assistant
Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
Wall Mountable
Yes
Weight
7 lbs
Width
31.5"
Wireless Connectivity
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
Wireless Subwoofer Connectivity
Yes
Works With
Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
All Specs
Test Results
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The Bose Soundbar 500 is a high-end soundbar first made available in mid-2018. The soundbar has great build quality, but because it doesn’t ship with…
The Bose Soundbar 500 is a high-end soundbar first made available in mid-2018. The soundbar has great build quality, but because it doesn’t ship with a subwoofer, its bass levels are not as low.
Its soundstage is also slightly wider than its size, but audio objects are still a bit difficult to pinpoint. Like most of the best speakers around, it also comes with a room correction feature to adapt its sound output to the room size, and a dialogue enhancement feature to improve its vocals.
It also fares better than most popular soundbars in terms of connectivity since owners can stream their music through Bluetooth, WiFi, Chromecast built-in, or Apple AirPlay.
The Bose 500 also has a setting for bass adjustments and supports Dolby Digital as an audio format – attributes it has in common with the Bose TV Speaker, which we’ve covered in our Bose TV Speaker review.
The Bose Soundbar 500 is only available in black while the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is available in both black and white. Also, the Bose…
The Bose Soundbar 500 is only available in black while the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is available in both black and white. Also, the Bose 700 supports the DTS surround sound format while the Bose 500 does not. The Bose 700 also has a universal remote whole the Bose 500 does not.
The Bose Soundbar 500 supports Bluetooth connectivity while the Sonos Beam does not, but the Sonos Beam supports the DTS audio format while the Bose…
The Bose Soundbar 500 supports Bluetooth connectivity while the Sonos Beam does not, but the Sonos Beam supports the DTS audio format while the Bose 500 does not.
The Bose Soundbar 500 is a 3.0-channel soundbar that most buyers might consider because of its support for voice assistants such as Google Assistant and…
The Bose Soundbar 500 is a 3.0-channel soundbar that most buyers might consider because of its support for voice assistants such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. However, it ships with a HDMI cable while the Bose Smart Soundbar 300 does not, and in contrast, the Bose 300 includes a Digital Optical Cable while the Bose 500 does not.
