The Bose Home Speaker 500 is not only the largest Onebox model available in the Multiroom line from the US manufacturer. With its front display, it also offers a particularly distinctive selling point. A unique microphone array is also touted to provide excellent voice control for Amazon Alexa users in particular.
Here, the smaller Bose Home Speaker 300 model’s 360-degree directivity pattern has been purposefully left out. The Bose Home Speaker 500 is designed to provide outstanding, but not overly diffuse room image from a single speaker. It has a built-in 2-channel concept with virtual stereo imaging. you can buy this product from amazon.
In exchange, it is also heavier than its little brother by more than twice, yet both are offered in matte white or black. Bose has a proprietary app it runs called Bose Music App, which is required for setup but also has streaming control. In reality, though, the all-in-one speaker will get its music straight from the more well-liked streaming service apps. The most well-known ones, like Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, and Amazon Music, are offered here.
Bose Home Speaker 500 review: Design
The Home Speaker 500 is only 8.0 by 6.7 by 4.3 inches in size and comes in black or silver (HWD). The speaker has an almost flat top surface, a rounded, oval-like form, and a rubberized bottom panel to prevent it from rolling around on tables and countertops.
The Home Speaker 500’s front face sports a small colour LCD on the top half and grille holes on the bottom half. The 2.3 by 1.7-inch display has a little dated feel to it. The quality isn’t great, it lacks a touch screen, and it almost feels like an unneeded addition. Yes, it’s lovely to see the music source and album art displayed together, but there are other approaches that don’t resemble the old-school iPod screens.
The Home Speaker 500 has two 2.5-inch drivers hidden below the grille that are directed directly sideways, left and right. These produce “the widest sound of any smart speaker,” according to Bose. Additionally, there is the business’s patented QuietPort technology integrated, which enables deeper bass.
A touch-sensitive panel of controls is located on top of the speaker. There is a dedicated volume plus/minus button on either side of the playback control, as well as a centrally situated play/pause button. The Action button, which is located to the left, calls Alexa when pressed.
For times when you don’t want the speaker to be listening for your directions, there is a microphone off button below it. An aux button on the right allows you to access the wired 3.5mm input on the bottom rear connection panel; an audio cable is not included for this input, though. Below all of these is a row of preset buttons, numbered one to six, that can be assigned to different playlists or radio stations inside the app. There is also a Bluetooth button for connectivity.
Bose Home Speaker 500 review: Setup
My standard for quick and easy setups has always been Sonos speakers, although Bose is a close second. I set up the Home Speaker 500 for my home Wi-Fi, linked it to my Google account for access to Google Assistant, and was enjoying streaming music in under five minutes using the Bose Music app. The Bose Music app is simple to use and generally highly straightforward, with clear instructions and helpful feedback at every turn.
Bose Home Speaker 500 review: Features and performance
The Home Speaker 500’s use of the company’s patented microphone technology, which enables the speaker to pick up commands even when music is playing loudly, is one of its key selling points. It has an eight-microphone array that is made for both near- and far-field listening. You can easily communicate with the speaker from the opposite side of the room because the mics were quite good at picking up our voices even when we spoke quite a distance away.
Bose wants to enhance its new line of speakers this year to accommodate Google Assistant; as of right now, the Home Speaker 500 only works with Alexa. The Home Speaker 500 produces some extremely great audio. This is in part due to the speaker’s two bespoke left- and right-pointing drivers, according to Bose, which provide complete stereo separation without the need for an additional speaker.
The stereo separation isn’t quite up to level with a two-speaker stereo setup, and when we tested it, it didn’t sound like we had many speakers playing in the room. As a result, audiophiles are probably not going to be convinced by it.
Despite this, the soundstage still seems extremely broad, producing a sound that genuinely fills the space; this is astounding, especially given the device’s small size. First, we listened to The Strokes’ song “One Way Trigger” to test the audio quality. Despite the vocals being low in the mix, they didn’t sound muted at all when played loudly via the Home Speaker 500.
Bose Home Speaker 500 review: Connectivity
The Bose Home Speaker 500 offers two connectivity choices, just like the Bose Home Speaker 300. You can use Bluetooth connectivity to start by streaming from a device or phone. With just a single Bluetooth button on your smartphone, you can establish a connection quite quickly and pick up phones right away. It’s important to know that the Bose smart speaker’s Wi-Fi capabilities requires a little more effort to connect to than its Bluetooth counterpart.
But as soon as your Wi-Fi recognises your speaker, you can quickly sign in to a variety of well-liked streaming services, such as TuneIn, Deezer, and Spotify. We also valued the Bose Home Speaker 500’s potential to continue to function as a bridge between other Bose items in the lineup. This implies that you can connect every one of your items and build a whole sound stage.
Even the Bose app has features that let you join your devices into groups that communicate with one another automatically. The Bose is a connectivity monster when you consider all of its features and the fact that you can always utilise a smart speaker instead of the device’s buttons.
Bose Home Speaker 500 review: Sound quality
There is a lot to like about the 500’s sound if you give it a chance in a sporting environment with some great MQA-powered Tidal Masters content over Bluetooth. Of course, everyone is aware that “plenty of bass” is the equivalent in terms of audio of starting a night out with three shots of tequila; while it may seem like a wonderful idea at first, it will eventually ruin your night.
But to be fair to the 500, it does play What a Waste by Ian Dury & The Blockheads with a resoundingly well-balanced and controlled bass response. Despite the fact that it has a slightly pear-shaped shape, the lowest frequencies start and stop with a good amount of discipline and never seriously threaten to overpower the polite vocal that is located in the mid-range.
The mid-range is quite open and detailed on its own, revealing more than enough to give a performer true character and emotional effect. The mid-range also has a good amount of room because everything that occurs there occurs in the privacy of its own small pocket. Although it may not be as vast as the setup might suggest, the soundstage the 500 aims to create with those two drivers is well characterised and convincing. The 500 plays it slightly safe near the top of the frequency spectrum.
This might be due to a full-range driver’s attempt to produce high treble sounds, or it might be the result of a choice to make everything sound as unthreatening as possible. Nevertheless, the outcome is undeniable: treble noises are rounded off as a result, and the overall Bose sound signature is slightly more blunt as a result.
However, there is sufficient dynamic headroom available here, which contributes to some degree to adding some excitement to the 500’s sound. Although it may reach very oppressive volumes, it does so without significantly changing the overall sound, which is only positive. Additionally, it does a lovely, natural, and convincing job of handling the Foreign River’s rolling rhythm and speed by Anchorsong.
Final Words
Overall, the Bose Home Speaker 500 is an excellent pick for anyone seeking for a high-end smart speaker because it works and sounds fantastic. The main warning is how pricey it is $379 USD which is by far. Any wealthy person who wants a powerful smart speaker for their home should buy this speaker, in my opinion. For the majority of folks, for whom the $379 USD price tag may be too pricey, I wouldn’t advise this.
This speaker isn’t the only option for smart speakers; there are far less expensive substitutes that can be suitable for individuals on a tighter budget. Additionally, I wouldn’t suggest this speaker or any smart speaker, for that matter to anyone who values their data privacy.
The Google Nest Audio is a fantastic choice if you’re looking for a less expensive solution with Google Assistant integration and amazing quality. You can even put multiples in other rooms to build a home environment or couple two together for stereo sound. The Google Nest Audio is available from Google for $99.99.
The Sonos One is a different speaker with many of the same characteristics as the Bose Home Speaker 500. (Gen 2). The Sonos app has in-app EQ, connectivity with Alexa and Google Assistant, and streaming service integration. Despite being more expensive, it is still more inexpensive than the Home Speaker 500. It costs $199 on Amazon.com.
