Bose Speaker With Radio And Bluetooth

TechRadar Verdict

The Domicile Speaker 500 sounds fantastic, providing a room-filling wall of sound despite its small stature. But, information technology's very expensive, and y'all tin become speakers of like quality for less.

Pros

+
Fantastic sound quality
+
Sleek design
+
Alexa congenital-in
+
Sensitive microphones

Cons

-
Very expensive
-
WiFi setup doesn't always work

Bose has a long history of producing high-quality wireless speakers - like, for example, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ - and with the launch of its latest, the Bose Domicile Speaker 500, the company shows no signs of slowing downwards.

The Bose Dwelling Speaker 500 is available to purchase for the princely sum of $399.95 (£399.95 / AU$599.95) – which makes it more expensive than the Google Home and Sonos One combined.

So what do you get for your money? The main affair that sets the Bose Speaker 500 autonomously from its competitors is its utilization of Bose's pioneering sound applied science, which should make it a smart speaker for audiophiles. While Google and Amazon'south speakers are certainly smart, the vast majority of their smart speaker catalog leaves something to exist desired in the audio operation category.

This Bose speaker, still, does not.

Whether you feel this is practiced value for coin actually depends on how much yous're willing to pay for the high audio quality that has come to exist associated with Bose, combined with Amazon Alexa's vox banana smarts.

Pattern

All in all, the Home Speaker 500 looks very impressive, with a seamless elliptical shape and an anodized aluminum casing that, if you lot opt for the silver model, reflects the light in your room beautifully.

Nosotros tried out the glossy black version, which looks just every bit elegant, and may be a better option for those who desire a more unobtrusive design.

On the front of the speaker is a small full color screen that displays anthology artwork as you play music – the screen too has auto-dimming then you won't be blinded when you're using information technology in low calorie-free atmospheric condition.

The screen can also display the fourth dimension, which is a squeamish feature, however smart displays like the Google Habitation Hub and the Amazon Echo Show, not only display the fourth dimension but artwork, news and so much else. That makes Bose's simpler brandish experience e'er-so-slightly obsolete.

The speaker'due south grille is precision drilled for both audio accuracy and a high quality end, and overall, information technology looks actually bonny.

Although the Domicile Speaker 500 has been optimized for vocalism control via Amazon Alexa, there are buttons for basic functionality on the top of the speaker, as well as half dozen preset buttons that y'all can program to play your favorite playlist, radio station, or album after one impact.

Y'all can store presets using the Bose app, although next year Bose says it volition be updating the speaker to allow you to create presets using your voice.

The speaker also features a lite bar, which glows every bit y'all interact with Alexa, and also changes color depending on the type of audio input you are using to play your music (for case, blue for Bluetooth). It needs to be plugged in, so you won't be able to utilize it as a portable speaker.

It'due south actually aesthetically pleasing, and looks good enough to exist a design focal point in the home without clashing with your fashion of decor.

Features and performance

1 of the principal selling points of the Home Speaker 500 is its utilization of the company's proprietary mic technology, which allows the speaker to pick upwardly commands even when music is playing loudly – it contains an eight microphone array designed for near and far field listening.

We found the microphones were really adept at picking up our voices from quite far away, so y'all can comfortably interact with the speaker from the other side of the room.

Right now, the Abode Speaker 500 only supports Alexa, just Bose plans to update the new range to back up Google Assistant this year. (Don't worry, if y'all have a lot of different Alexa-enabled devices in your abode, you don't have to worry about all of them going off at one time when you make a command - only the closest speaker to you will respond.)

In terms of audio, the Home Speaker 500 sounds actually impressive. This is partly thanks to it'due south two custom drivers that point left and right – Bose says that this allows true stereo separation without needing to buy a second speaker.

Audiophiles probably won't exist convinced by the stereo separation; it just doesn't quite measure upward to a ii-speaker stereo setup, and it didn't feel like nosotros had multiple speakers playing in the room while we were testing information technology.

Even then, the soundstage withal feels remarkably wide, which makes for a truly room-filling audio – impressive, particularly when you consider it'southward atomic size..

Firstly we tested the audio on The Strokes' 'One Way Trigger', and even though the vocals sit low downwardly in the mix in this particular track, they didn't feel subdued at all while being blasted through the Domicile Speaker 500.

Similarly impressive were the retro arpeggiated synths and distorted guitars, which sounded smooth and well-rounded, while meandering bass lines were thumpy and powerful.

Percussion comes across fairly well, although we felt a lilliputian more clarity in the higher frequencies wouldn't go amiss; the speaker has a generally warm, counterpart-way sound, which may not appeal to everyone's tastes. There's no denying that it sounds fantastic, though.

We also listened to Hot Chip's 'Boy From School'. The close vocal harmony sounded snug and velvety, while pulsating synths and clattering beats were defined and crisp.

Once over again, bass lines sounded vigorous and forceful; however, the lowest frequencies never bled into the mids and trebles, which is a testament to how well counterbalanced the overall sound of the Home Speaker 500 is.

It actually sounds pretty similar to the Apple HomePod, but with a subtler audio that will probably appeal to audiophiles more than Apple's bassier offering.

When it comes to music playback yous have a few dissimilar options; you tin connect your device to the speaker via an AUX cablevision, wirelessly connect via Bluetooth, or set the speaker upwards on your home'due south WiFi network.

Initially, we had a little trouble setting the speaker up on our WiFi network using the Bose Music app, and we found that the app didn't e'er piece of work depending on which phone model we were using; the app wouldn't recognize the speaker when we were using an older iPhone, but worked fine when we switched to an iPhone seven.

Through the app yous can connect to a number of different streaming services, including Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, TuneIn, and SiriusXM, giving you lots of selection between podcasts, music, and radio stations.

If y'all like to start your morning with a particular radio station, or y'all've curated the perfect conditioning playlist on Spotify, existence able to store presets via the app is a handy characteristic. Once you've done that, you'll be able to select from up to six presets using the buttons on summit of the speaker.

Concluding verdict

In that location'southward a lot to like almost the Domicile Speaker 500: It sports a sleek, sophisticated pattern, a nifty display, and it sounds fantastic. Its room-filling audio volition likely impress audiophiles and casual listeners akin, although we don't retrieve it quite delivers truthful stereo separation like Bose claims it does.

That beingness said, information technology'south a shame that the speaker is currently limited to Alexa, but Google Assistant functionality should be coming to the Abode Speaker 500 soon if Bose is true to its word. Worse, for virtually $400, it would be fair to await the setup procedure to be entirely seamless, so this is one area that we feel Bose needs to improve upon earlier nosotros tin confidently say the Home Speaker 500 provides true value for money.

So, is this the smart speaker worth investing in? While you'll notice it's by and large comparable to Apple's HomePod, the Domicile Speaker 500 does feel more than subtle, especially when it comes to bass frequencies. The Dwelling Speaker is a fleck cheaper than the HomePod, too. (For comparison, the HomePod costs $349 / £319 / AU$499, around $50 cheaper than the Home Speaker 500.)

Overall, the speaker is on par with Apple tree's smart speaker and sounds a lot better than the vast majority of smart speakers on the market. If y'all don't heed a potentially catchy setup process and a steep price bespeak, it's well worth considering.

Interested in the competition? Check out the best smart speakers you tin purchase

Olivia was previously TechRadar's Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she's a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She's previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject field of multi-room sound, chaired panel discussions on diversity in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Spotter, Top Ten Reviews, Artistic Bloq, and Croco Magazine. Olivia at present has a career in PR.