Bose - Soundbar 700 Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant - Black

TL;DR: The Bose Soundbar 700 is the perfect solution for someone who is looking for room filling sound without having a large soundbar or bulky audio equipment. It is also for those who are primarily looking for improved audio for content viewed on their TV, but also wish to use it as a streaming speaker or Alexa device. After unboxing the SB700 (Soundbar 700), I could appreciate the refined build quality. Glass with minimal touch controls top a dark gray perforated metal grill. Around the back the SB700 has a recessed breakout for I/O, but notably Bose dropped the second HDMI port (video passthrough) from the Soundtouch 300 in favor of a single eARC port. At this time, the SB700 only supports Dolby and DTS so it remains to be seen if Bose will expand the supported formats with this enhanced port. For optical diehards, the obligatory TOSlink is provided as well. The SB700 measures roughly 2.25” H X 38.5” W X 4.25” D, being far shorter than most soundbars. Inside, a single center tweeter is flanked by 4 proprietary low profile drives and 2 PhaseGuide transducer arrays with dual ports in the back/rear. Size wise the diminutive speakers are not very impressive on paper, but this is where Bose engineers claim to work their magic. Set up was quick and easy, which is good because I had to do it a few times due to some initial bugs. Out of the box (no EQ adjustments), I was initially underwhelmed by the sound. Testing some music out of my Apple TV…the sound was very thin and processed, not surprising considering the size of the internal drivers/speakers. On a whim I asked Alexa to play some music and was surprised at how much fuller the sound was. Clearly, Bose has different DSP (Digital Signal Processor) presets based on audio source; fortunately bluetooth and streaming music services sound truer to what you would expect. After playing a dozen or so songs from my favorite genres I went back to TV content, to give it another chance. I found what originally would be described as thin for music, sounds clear and precise for dialog heavy TV. The Bose music app provides rudimentary EQ refinement and I was able to reduce the treble and increase bass to compensate for the soft mid-range and tune for what I felt was more natural. I would be remiss to not mention I reviewed this soundbar with the sub (Bass Module 700) providing a dedicated low frequency driver. I wish Bose offered bass control independent of the soundbar. Sometimes I found myself wanting the bass to be fuller on the soundbar but turning it up too far caused the subwoofer to be overactive for some content. After dialing in the DSP, I viewed a few action movie scenes to test the spatial audio Bose touts sets the SB700 apart.(Bose offers?) Since this is technically a 3.1 system (including the optional bass module), I was interested to see how the PhaseGuide tech would perform with beam forming sounds compared to a more traditional 5.1 or even a 5.2.1. Surprisingly, VideoStage 5 matched with Bose proprietary transducers does provide an immersive viewing experience. Obviously there isn’t any sounds from behind (it can be expanded to 5.1 with addition of rear speakers) or above (Atmos) the viewer, but it is far wider and enveloping then any other 3.1 soundbar I have used. Where I found myself wanting the system to have more tone while listening to music, the SB700 provided clear and precise effects, deep thumps, and room filling audio to pull you into the scene. Of course it should be noted this was after running the Bose room tuning feature, AdaptIQ. A minor complaint with regard to my particular setup is the universal remote does not have IR built in, rather communicates with the soundbar via RF(bluetooth) and the soundbar has the IR emitters. Which is great for controlling things in line of sight of the soundbar (TV) and pointless for everything else that might be inside a TV stand (Apple TV, game consoles, etc). The soundbar does offer an IR port, so it is possible an emitter can be added to negate this annoyance. A few other issues I have had appear to be software related (Alexa/ethernet), causing me to factory reset the device. Unfortunately, these bugs are the only reason this isn’t a perfect soundbar. However, I am confident Bose will iron out the software issues along with adding new features such as AirPlay 2. Overall, Bose offers a great, consumer friendly product that most will think sounds impressive despite its size. I highly recommend the Bose Soundbar 700 for someone who is looking for a refined and slim soundbar over a larger, more feature set solution.

Music is my life. I’ve been a musician for over 40 years and through that time I have developed a trained ear when it comes to sound. Up until now, I have always had components and separate speakers for surround. Enter the Bose 700 system. This soundbar coupled with the fully enclosed subwoofer, has made me rethink what is needed to achieve a fantastic result. So much, that I have dis-assembled my entire “man cave” surround stereo setup in favor of this simple, but elegant Bose system. What was once a receiver controlling all of my components, center channel, two main speakers, and two rear surround speakers, has simply become this two piece setup. Being clutter free and having less is more is important to us these days, as we have a one year old that can easily knock over speaker stands and much, much more. The soundbar and sub are crafted extremely well and are very solid in terms of hardware feel. They are both made of aluminum and have a black glass top which makes them super stout and easy to keep clean. The soundbar is about 38.5 inches wide and the sub is roughly a 12” cube in size. Both items blend in with any decor and look so good that you’ll want them to be seen. The remote is also very nice and with the Bose Music app you’ll have your Smart TV, Blu Ray, PS4, XBox, etc., all configured and working from this single remote in no time. A note on the Bose Music app / Alexa… Some reviewers have stated that the app needs a lot of work and that they can’t get it to work properly with any of their components and/or Alexa (more on Alexa later). I am not sure if recent updates have now solved the issues others have reported, but I have found this to be no issue whatsoever. I had Alexa, my Samsung TV, PS4, and SONY Blu Ray player all recognized and set up within minutes of downloading the app. FWIW, I am using a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with Android 8.0 Setting up your system… This system is ARC ready and will control all of your HDMI devices with ease. A quick web search will tell you everything you need to know about ARC and its benefits. When setting up your room, I highly recommend using the ADAPTIQ audio calibration system tool (provided in package) to “tune” your room. Every room is a different size and provides seating in different areas, making this step an important step in your setup. Once your room is tuned, everyone will enjoy great sound from any seat in the room. It is actually crazy how this two piece system can mimic an entire surround system so effectively. This is yet another reason why I was okay with getting rid of so many speakers to go down to this small system. The ever important sound quality... Being a new Bose product, I was expecting it to sound good, but not as good as it really does. Once properly configured, I was shocked at the clear crisp sound this combo was producing. The first thing I did was load up an HD title to test. The voice channel is superbly clear and punctual. The mains are full and have the perfect amount of depth. The sub connects to the soundbar wirelessly and provides the exact amount of bass needed to produce a cinema like experience. Whether watching a Superhero movie, listening to music, or getting a quick weather forecast from Alexa, you will be satisfied with the Bose 700 system. In the case of the Bose 700 system, size certainly does not matter. Long gone are the days of 15” main speakers. Through brainiac engineering and technological innovation, these days you can get impressive results from a much smaller footprint. Alexa… To be honest, this was not a big reason for me choosing this product, but now that I have it and have used it, I am not sure how I ever lived without it. We have been invited to upgrade our homes into smart homes more and more lately and I am slowly understanding why. Ease of use and quickness in our fast paced society is the bottom line with the way tech is trending. Being an Alexa noob, I am still scratching the surface of what it can offer, but I can see how huge the potential is. A good example of what I did once I had her all setup, was to simply try and ask her something, anything. I chose what came to mind first and said, “Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.” Well guess what! She did it without fail, repeating / confirming to me, “Playing Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd on Amazon Music.” Hahaha, so awesome. I dialed up some Rolling Stones, some kids music, whatever I asked for, she found it. I even tried saying, “Alexa, turn volume up five” and she did that too. If you get the chance to mess with this, or if you are buying this system because of the fact that it is Alexa ready, you won’t be disappointed. If your store has this on demo, do yourself a favor and give that button a press. I can’t recommend this product enough.

I didn't have a choice of 4.5 stars so I went higher rather than lower because the overall performance is excellent. However, there are a few caveats. While I have read reviews that say it performs well even without the sub woofer, I would have to disagree. In fact, the system only really comes into being a high performance system when you add the sub and the 700 satellites for the rear. This makes it a much more expensive system but the same is true for the Sonos Arc system and I first tried the Sonos Arc system and I did not think it sounded as good. I used this with a new Samsung 65" Frame TV and there were issues with the setup that bear mentioning. The Samsung has an HDMI/eArc port for use with a sound system. It is very sensitive to the cable being used (it took a while to discover this problem with calls to Bose and Samsung pointing fingers at each other and not providing a solution). The Samsung software wants an HDMI 2.1 cable if you have anything else plugged into another HDMI port on the TV (in my case a Portal TV). It interferes with the TV's ability to properly detect the sound bar and thus no HDMI option appears when setting up sound, only Bluetooth, internal speakers and Optical. It would occasionally provide a connection and then the connection would disappear. After I put all HDMI 2.1 cables on my TV for the sound bar, the Portal TV and the Cable company box the problem vanished. Best Buy did not have the right cables so I purchased them on Amazon (also much less expensive). The cables I used are the Zeskit Maya 8K 48GB for $19.95. I am very technically knowledgeable but it took a lot of time and effort to find this solution. Additionally, I was not able to get Alexa to work on it. I will probably not bother to trouble shoot this issue because the Samsung TV offers Alexa as does the Portal TV and I just don't need 3 devices all running Alexa right next to each other. The Samsung also offers Bixby which is a better fit for TV use. The bottom line is that as both a music system and a TV 5.1 system, when used with the other components it is an excellent though expensive sound system. Yes, you could do better with audiophile discreet components but you would have a far more complex setup and if your significant other is like mine, she would not like the appearance of speakers all over the living room and dominating the aesthetics. Fortunately, the rear satellite speakers are slim and very small and pretty much disappear into the background.

I am using the Bose 700 sound bar as a PC speaker, I am also using the Bose 700 subwoofer which in my opinion is a must have. I am using a LG OLED 48" TV as my PC monitor. I know this is overkill for a PC system but I also watch movies in my man cave. I also auditioned the Sonos ARC sound bar and Sonos subwoofer. I did not need nor do I care about ATMOS at this time. The audio quality is crisp and clear for PC gaming and movie watching and music listening is also great.

This Bose 700 Soundbar is really awesome. I’ve had some other non-Bose soundbars that have been pretty good, but this one takes it up a notch. I watched several different types of shows/movies/sports that had commentary, music, cartoons, etc. Comparing it to my existing soundbar system, this one is more crisp, full and overall more realistic sounding. It sounds really good without the subwoofer, but if you want the true full movie experience, you must buy the Subwoofer. The best part was when I was watching a Transformers movie battle scene with vehicles flying across the screen, rockets blowing up, and my floor and walls rockin’. I honestly thought it was like a movie theater, and I could actually feel every moment in the movie. I had a smaller sub with my existing system, but even when it was turned way up, it was never even close to this Bose subwoofer. Right out of the box, the packaging is well labeled (sort of like a mini puzzle), and it would be hard to be damaged when mailed. That is always my fear, when I have something mailed to me, versus picking it up in the store. No need to worry, Bose is well aware of it, and the packaging is perfect. You will need to download the Bose Music app to connect the soundbar and subwoofer. I didn’t see that in the instruction guide, which surprised me. It connected the soundbar easily, and then had to do the same process when adding a subwoofer. To pair a subwoofer, click on the circle icon of the 700 soundbar in the bottom right corner of the dashboard. Click the “Settings” icon, then click the “Accessory Speakers.” Lastly, click the “+ Add Bose Accessory Speaker” and it will begin searching. With the 700 subwoofer, there is no pairing button on the unit, it will automatically show up if it is plugged in. (note: The 500 requires you to push a button on the bottom by the power cord.). I have a 700 and a 500 soundbar/subwoofer, but it will not allow you to connect a 700 and 500 together with the same soundbar. Trust me, I tried to add 2 different subs to the same soundbar, and really rock the house. But, unfortunately, it will only pair with the same version soundbar, so you can connect (2) 700 subs together with the 700 soundbar, but not a 700 and 500 sub to the 700 soundbar. However, you can connect (1) 500 subwoofer to the 700 soundbar, or (1) 700 to the 500 soundbar. The 700 is a much better subwoofer (larger too), but the 500 is no slouch either. Something that I have not heard of before, is the “Dialog Mode” option that adjusts the soundbar to have a better sound for programs that are dialog, such as Football games, or tv shows. It is different with movies, but I found that it increases the volume for the range where human voices fall into. For the subwoofer, I have my setting at +80 Bass, +30 treble, +0 Center Channel, and it sounds great overall. On the action-packed theater-style movies, I HIGHLY recommend turning the bass up to 100, and you will feel the floors rumble, no joke. I do really like the Equalizer-like adjustability for the sub and soundbar (-100 to +100 for bass/treble/Center Channel volume). Most others don’t have that capability. You can toggle the subwoofer on/off too, so if you are watching it late at night, while the baby is sleeping, you can simply toggle it off in the Accessories Settings, and it will turn off. Phaseguide technology gives the illusion of the sound coming from all the different directions. It comes with a headset unit for the AdaptIQ calibration, that you program the soundbar what it sounds like in your “favorite spots.” Basically it has you set about 4 or 5 spots in the room where you would be sitting to hear the sound. It has instructions on the screen, so you need to hook up the HDMI cord to the TV, to make it work. Since the soundbar uses Alexa, you can say things like, “Alexa, turn the volume up” or, I can say, “Alexa, turn the volume to level 30,” and it will adjust it. It can connect to Bluetooth devices, radio stations, TVs, you name it. The remote control is universal and programmable, which is nice. My wife made fun of all the different remotes that I had, but now I don’t need all the different remotes any longer. It is not radio frequency like my DirecTv is, so I can’t get rid of my DirecTv remote, since my box is mounted behind the tv, and not in direct line of sight. Based on the device you are trying to use, it lights up the needed buttons, so you can see it in the dark, and only use those buttons. When it comes to what you want to hear, you have so many options. Play your favorite music services over a home Wi-Fi network, like Spotify or Amazon Music, at the touch of a button. Or, use a Bluetooth connection to play anything from a phone or tablet. The app allows you to make several custom presets for songs/sounds/list, but since I don’t really have many subscriptions to Spotify or Amazon Music, It is not that big of a deal to me. I have several different Google smart home devices, so when I heard it was only Alexa, I was a little hesitant. However, because my TV is a smart TV, I can still cast things to the TV, and it will play on the bose soundbar. I connect the TV to WiFi, so essentially the Soundbar uses Google Assistant as well. The setup/cords I used was with the HDMI Arc connectivity, so the TV will turn the soundbar on and off. That way, if I cast something to the TV, using Google or Alexa, then it turns the soundbar on, and plays the movie/song that I want. The soundbar has a pretty good voice pick-up from across the room, so I don’t have to yell at it. If you want to mount it to the wall, it is going to use a specific wall mount (not included), that is basically small bracket shelves that the soundbar sets on top of. I have a fireplace mantle that it currently sits on, and it is about 48” tall. I have tried it in 2 different orientations (1 on the fireplace top, and 1 on the brackets), but after running the AdaptIQ configuration in both places, I cannot tell a difference. It apparently uses the sound to adjust how it sends the sound, and it can tell with echoes or something. In conclusion, this is by far the best sound system I have ever had, and I have had quite a few over the years, upgrading each time, different homes, different rooms and setups. I am a big Bose fan to begin with, purely based on the direct comparisons with other similar products, and it is extremely hard to beat the sound from a Bose speaker system.

Bose has gone to a modular setup with their systems; meaning every piece is purchased separately, which allows you to build your system the way you want to. This was an upgrade from a Lifestyle v30 (still in love w/madly). Setup is no longer accomplished through on screen, but through their Bose Music App. We went with the 700 series soundbar and sub to match the soundbar. Setup was around 10 mins, literally open the app, create Bose account, it searches for and walks you through all of the setup process. Adding it to your Wi-Fi, accessories, performing Adapt-IQ, setting up the remote, activating and connecting Amazon account, Amazon Music, iHeart (free), Pandora (free), Spotify (needs to be premium—we couldn’t connect), Bluetooth, TV, Blu-Ray, and all other streaming players except for Amazon Firestick. Unboxing is quick, open the top, grab the sound bar, and all accessories needed for setup/connection and plug into TV and power. Looks great with the glass top and very limited wires. Pros: Easy setup, 10-15 mins depending on the person. Two connections (power/HDMI), you can connect LAN direct. Sound matches and is sharper than our Lifestyle v30. You can control the system via remote/mobile via the Bose Music app (Android/Apple iOS). Yes, it does include volume which is great. Full music app integration, Alexa is great, but not using her except to mainly get the weather forecast. The HDMI cable provided the eHDMI (eARC) ready for current and future. Cons: Cost will set you back, but remember you are buying a Bose product that lasts. We did notice this evening after watching another movie, we do need to add the additional rear speakers (approx. $300) as we noticed while sound and bass is nice, we miss the true surround. Future purchase.

This thing can throw sound around like crazy. Sounds coming from places where there are no speakers. Clarity is 110%. I have mine mounted under my TV. That way, no matter which way I turn my TV (with a full motion mount), the sound turns with it. Alexa gripes: I can't use the Alexa app since my daughter's name is Alexa. It keeps activating it. The soundbar won't let you change the wake name to something else like other Alexa units will. Also, you can't add this speaker to any Alexa multi-room audio groups.

This soundbar is wonderful. My only gripe about it is the silly set up process, but it is actually worth it once complete. Some of the best audio out there in my opinion. Unboxing: The device is packaged well in the usual nice Bose packaging. There is a huge universal remote included, batteries, the sound bar, a headset for setup (I’ll explain more later), a HDMI cable, a optical cable, power cable and usual instructions/warranty. Setup: This is mostly simple, I recommend you download the Bose Music app for full control. I put power in, plugged it into the HDMI and got it started. Initial setup is entertaining as part of it includes placing the headset which looks like a tiara on your head. You plug it into the back of the soundbar and with a very long cable sit in five places in your room while it plays tests sounds to calibrate it to your room. My wife and kid laughed as I hopped from place to place wearing the odd device on my head. It was entertaining but will give you the best sound quality for your space in about 10 minutes. You will connect to wifi through the app, connect services such as Spotify, Amazon music / Alexa and Pandora. Then you will set up the remote to use on your TV. Sound quality / build quality: This is clearly a high end device in every way. The build quality appears to be top notch with high quality plastics, metal and glass throughout the device. LED lights provide nice accents for the controls. The sound quality is amazing, there is a good amount of bass for just a sound bar (I also added the sub-woofer which is in a separate review). There is good detail all around. To best test it, I connected some direct audio feeds from my phone and enjoyed all the music I could throw at it. The typical Bose sound is here with a slightly heavy bass but great audio at all frequencies. Details you might have never heard before seem to come out. Movies sound very cinematic with very clean audio. The sound quality is some of the best. Extras: You can pair this device with an additional Bose 700 Bass Module and some Bose surround speakers. Pairing is easy using the app and I never had any interruptions between the devices. The remote is universal and has a lot cool lights but it is almost comically large (pictured). Alexa is built in once you pair Amazon with it in the app. It works pretty well but the microphone is not the best I have seen. It is a useful feature though. Summary: The setup is easy and comical, the soundbar is one of the best ones I have ever heard. The controller is silly but useful and works well. Even with the cons, this soundbar is absolutely amazing.