Customer Ratings & Reviews

This review is for the brand new Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. I bought this soundbar for my bedroom as the factory speakers in my 55" Hisense tv did alright, but I was hoping to get a lot better sound from a soundbar. This is my first soundbar that I've ever owned, though I listened to 8-10 different soundbars to see what sounded best to my ears and within a certain budget. Ultimately, I settled on this brand new Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. IMHO, Bose does a terrific job with their audio products by getting great sound out of tiny speakers. Whether that speaker is a soundbar, headphones, portable speakers, or even a home theater set up. Right from the start, I'll tell you that you won't get the same type of surround quality in a soundbar that you'll get from a dedicated 5.1.4 set up like I have in my home theater, or even a simple 5.1 setup that I have for regular tv watching. It's impossible to do that with just a single soundbar. But, with a very good soundbar like the Bose Smart Ultra, you'll get vastly improved sound quality, as well as more spacious sounds that what you'll get from just the speakers in your tv. For the audio, Bose uses their PhaseGuide technology that simulates surround effects by reflecting sound around your room. And the ADAPTiQ audio calibration adjusts the sound based on your room's size and shape. My tv is not in an ideal place in my bedroom, it's in a corner. So, the sound that comes from the sides get reflected off a wall six inches on the left side, and 27 inches bounces off a dresser to the right. The two speakers that face up are in somewhat the same predicament of just being in that corner. But, even with my in the corner placement, it's way better sound quality, as well as the spaciousness of the sound that what you'd get with just the tv speakers. FYI, you can also buy additional speakers for the rear as well as a separate subwoofer. Bose also usually has an "all in one" set up for the higher end speakers like the Smart Ultra Soundbar that include two rear surrounds as well as the subwoofer. But for me, I just wanted the one speaker for my bed room that sounded very good and at least with some spaciousness and more bass that the tv speakers could ever do. And while my corner placement for the tv and soundbar isn't ideal, it still sound pretty goo. The reason for this is Bose uses a surround process that uses either your Android or iPhone with their app. The app is free to download, and pretty easy to use to set up as well as register your soundbar.Using the Bose app, and this thing that you put on your head that's kind of like headphones, but it has a microphone on top. You plug this into your soundbar, and then by following the prompts from the app, you'll go to different areas where people will sit when they watch tv. I believe that I measured in five different areas. Then the distances are calibrated in less than a minute, and the speaker will sound way better than when you first plugged it in, By the way, the cord that plug into the soundbar that you wear on your head measures 22' 3" so you should have plenty of length to reach your favorite seating positions. You can control the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar setting such as treble, base, balance, volume and more using the app on your phone or the included remote control. The remote control is very small at just 4.25 inches tall x 1.5 inches wide x 1/3 thick. So, it might get misplaced very easily. And just in case you're wondering, no, the included Bose remote is not back lit. The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar isn't a small soundbar either. It's 41 inches wide x 4.25 deep x 2 .25 high. It weighs roughly 12.5 pounds. It only comes with a one year warranty. For this price, I really think it should be two years just because of how much it costs. For reference of the size of this soundbar, in my pictures you can see part of my tv. It's a 55" Hisense. OK, some of you reading this may want to mount this soundbar under your tv. Great, as that's what I wanted to do. But, you really don't want to mount the soundbar a few inches under your tv as that will interfere with the up firing speakers. You'll want your Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar at least a few inches in front of your tv. If you do want to wall mount your Bose soundbar, those are something extra you'll need to buy from Bose or your retailer. They are not include with the soundbar. They're not exactly cheap either. They're about $39.00. Underneath the soundbar, there are two rubber feet that will protect what ever your sitting the soundbar on. But, those rubber feet are held on by velcro, and that's where the screw holes are located if you want to wall mount your Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. I also love the Bose Ultra Smart Soundar for listening to music from SirusXM. This soundbar sounds way better than the blue tooth speaker I was using. I'm listening through Alexa app +that's built into the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. This speaker also works with Android, Apple Airplay, Spotify and Google Home. Dolby Atmos is built in. The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar also works with Bluetooth and WiFi as well as an ethernet port. Overall, this is a terrific sounding soundbar. Then why only four stars instead of five stars ? The price, plane and simple. Many people may not want to spend this kind of money for just a sound bar, or can't afford to spend this much. Believe me, I truly understand. For roughly the same amount of money, you could buy a lower end home theater receiver, or even a really good used one, 3 speakers for the fronts, and a smaller subwoofer to start with, a 3.1 set up. And possibly adding two rear surround speakers later on for a 5.1 set up. But, if you just want one speaker that sounds terrific and produces a very good sound stage for movies, tv or music, then look no further. I highly recommend the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. Pros : Great sounding whether it's for movies, tv or music. Various ways to cast audio to it. Dolby Atmos built in for decoding this audio format on certain movies and tv shows. The included 58" HDMI cable to hook up to your tv's Very nice looking and it has some weight to it. Not some cheap plastic speaker. Very long, 22' 3" cable for the calibration of the soundbar. Cons : Short power cable at only 58" long. IMHO, it should be 72" Just a a one year warranty. For this price, I really think it should be two years just because of how much it costs. The price.

The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar is a beautifully designed, simple and elegant. The front is the black perforated metal grill, covered on top with a glass (or Plexiglas) cover, it measures about 41” wide. It looks very similar to the Bose Soundbar 900. Unboxing and setup: The speaker is fairly heavy, one of the first things I noticed is how solid it felt. Setup was simple, I went with the HDMI ARC. The other option is optical – toslink cable. There is also a wired Ethernet port available. Using the app, I setup mine using WiFi. There is 1 HDMI out port on the Bose, no inputs. I’ve used other sound bar that has HDMI inputs as well, this one does not. This soundbar is not meant to be mounted on the wall, it’s meant to be placed on top of a shelf or entertainment unit. Once the soundbar was plugged in to power and the TV, I was able to use the Bose app to setup the WiFi and add it to my Bose devices. In addition, I enabled Alexa. The next step was to plug in the headphone like device and have the soundbar calibrate it to my room. This process was very simple, using the app, all I had to do was move to several seating locations, the soundbar would play some sounds to assist with calibrating. Sound quality: With setup complete, the first movie I played is the Matrix, specifically the lobby scene! I really enjoyed the sound coming from this soundbar, the sound quality is very crisp and clear. As the empty shell casings were ejected from the guns, you hear the high pitch sound of the empty casing hitting the floor clearly. As I was watching this scene, I heard water seemingly come from the right of where I was sitting. It happened a few times, I thought I had a leak in my house, only to realize it was from the soundbar! It’s amazing that the soundbar is in front of me, but it’s able to project the sound to other areas of the room. Playing the car scene in 6 Underground, the sound quality is excellent, the immersive experience is tough to beat. From the tires squealing to the gun shots fired from all sides, it sounded fantastic! Next up, I watched my son play Call of Duty for an hour, he liked this soundbar better than the one I had, lets call this soundbar J. The Bose sound is noticeably cleaner, less muddied then soundbar J, which I recently added. The only area soundbar J beats the Bose is the base, and that’s because it has a subwoofer. Add a subwoofer to this Bose soundbar and it’ll be perfect! The Bose is pretty good out of the box w/o a sub, but I would def add a sub to give it those heart pounding lows it truly deserves. Playing music and music videos on the soundbar, as predicted was also excellent. Having good sound quality makes listening to music so much more enjoyable. I used AirPlay to send audio to the soundbar, it worked flawlessly. Alexa: I was able to have Alexa in the soundbar turn off the TV and back on, increase and lower volume, I believe I can change channels also, but I don’t have cable service. There are 2 other Alexa’s nearby from where I’m seated, but I believe the microphone is more sensitive on the soundbar, it picked up while the other 2 did not. Conclusion: I am very impressed with this soundbar, the rich, clear audio transforms my basement living room into a mini theater! Bose just raised the bar on subwoofers!

Bose - the top of the line sound for any product line I've ever tried them with. Sure, you can blow out a whole lot of extra money on a soundbar, subwoofer, and rear speakers on ANY brand, but based on my testing if you get the same setup from Bose, it's going to sound better. This soundbar is no exception. I went a slightly different route than most people do with this - I replaced an aging 500w Logitech sound system on my gaming PC with this soundbar. Having utilized a few other soundbars in the past (purely for testing purposes), I can categorically say that the Bose soundbar produces so much better sound (all around). If you want richer bass on both, you have to add a subwoofer, but if we're comparing apples to apples (soundbar to soundbar), the Bose soundbar wipes the floor with the others. It's just that much cleaner at high and low volumes. I play several FPS games on my PC, and this soundbar makes them even that much more immersive to play. Not only do I play games though, yes, I've played music on this soundbar - a lot of it - and WOW , just WOW - it really is the best sounding soundbar I've tried. Bose never ceases to satisfy (and then some!)

Unboxing the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar, I was shocked at how similar it looked to the Soundbar 900. The weight was impressive and the glasslike finish adds an elegant touch, though now I need to figure out how to fill the space in my cubby! Initial setup of the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar was relatively straightforward. I encountered a minor setback when attempting to use the app on my iPhone running iOS 17, as it persistently crashed. Even with a few resets and updates the app still crashes upon startup to this day. This led me to use an iOS 16-equipped iPhone, which fortunately established a successful connection. Once connected the rest of the set-up process was easy to follow the on-screen instructions. The best feature of the Smart Ultra Soundbar is its seamless compatibility with AirPlay 2, which means I can use in conjunction with all my Apple devices and speakers. The best part was the soundbar's natural assimilation into my existing HomeKit framework, bypassing the need for additional setup – it simply materialized my home's audio list. I literally have no wires running to the soundbar aside from the power cable and it works flawlessly with my AppleTV setup. When evaluating sound quality, the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar consistently excels, particularly in the domain of dialogue articulation. Dialogue is crisp and decipherable, which is key in a room with lofted ceilings Furthermore, the sound stage made me feel like there was a wall of sound with multiple speakers. While not exactly the same as a dedicated surround sound system, it was quite impressive for a single unit. As a beta tester of iOS 17 I won't deduct a star for compatibility issues. The iOS 16 device as a workaround, while functional, does underscore the need for swift resolution by Bose. The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar, with AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, coupled with its noteworthy audio prowess, is definitely and attractive option in the soundbar arena. For those seeking an elegant soundbar that seamlessly integrates with their Apple-oriented ecosystem while delivering high-quality audio, the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar warrants serious consideration.

I am replacing a top of the line Samsung soundbar that was expensive and is huge and glitchy. It constantly lost connection. So I replaced it with the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar and immediately was impressed with the MUCH better sound quality and the ease of setup and use. The sound is excellent of course but its also more intelligent in that it enhances the words and manages the backgrounds against them. Im really please and highly recommend this next generation soundbar.

Works great on movies. However what I learned is that on regular tv it wasn’t to much different than the TV itself. Sony 48A9S is not bad to begin with. It’s only as good as what’s input to it. Direc TV only outputs in LPCM. But when you use an app like HBO max and make sure the movie is 4K and Dolby atmos this is where the Bose shines. Sounds like a theatre. I also learned that ARC/EARC does not work so good. Read reviews about this. I have a problem that when my Gemini air turns everything on it confuses the TV. Sony not only has slow user interfaces but cannot handle more than one device. The tv goes back and forth between tv speakers and external speakers. My work around is use the tv remote to turn everything off and on. Then I can use the Gemini remote for everything else. No one wants to take responsibility for proper communication. So before you think that a sound bar is the answer research how your tv handles ARC/EARC by searching forums and learn about the different sound formats and if your provider can provide them. I also learned you cannot get 4K and Dolby atmos from the apps if you have lower tiers. Also the only one that works with Direc TV is HBO/MAX. And Netflix. The others will not allow it due to agreements. Had I known all this I may not have purchased this

I bought this soundbar for use with my PC. I had to buy an audio extractor (OREI brand) in order to get the Atmos from my PC to the soundbar, but once I figured that out, it sounds wonderful. Streaming services with their own stand alone apps, especially netflix, take full use of the soundbars surround sound capabilities. Watching netflix (via my computer) I catch myself looking over my shoulder, and I'm impressed at how the soundbar throws sound all around me. With its smaller size, it fits just right on my desk, and gives me full, premium sound.

We had a hunt for a good surround sound after our previous Bose surround went off to the big entertainment center in the sky. We were told Sonos and Sony were better, and bought them both returning them each within hours due to flat non immersive sound, and this was the third system we bought in one day. We went back figuring we would have to settle for interpretive dance instead of sound going forward when the salesman pulled this heavenly gift from the back. It wasn't on display, we didn't know there was a bar above the 900. It was more costly, but can you put a price of peace of mind, yes. Apparently $799 during the holiday sale. It has the IQ feature, which is the headband you get to wear and sit in five different spots in the room where you will have people sit or where you want sound to be directed. Old school bose classic. By the way, for those that don't know, sonos won't allow you to calibrate unless you own an iphone. Bose says hold my beer, we treat all people equally, just wear this silly wired headband for one minute and get the best sound of your life. Then sit back and be prepared for fully immersive clear sound coming from everywhere. A lot of other companies (looking at you sonos and sony) pretend they have this 360 immersive sound but they are terrible liars, and Bose is just the king and will most likely always reign in this category. I am grateful to have sound in my living room again, and not noise. There is a HUGE difference between immersive blending sound with warm tones and voices of clarity versus noise volume from extra speakers. Bose is just the bees knees and the new app they have for this product made it seamless. Connected in just a few minutes. Paired this with the 700 bass and its perfect. Highly recommend. Its sleeker and smaller than the sony and sonos, looks 100x better, sounds 100x better and cost less than the sony and cost just above the sonos if the sonos is on sale. Bose is to sound like Kerrygold is to butter. No competition.

The Bose Smart Soundbar has an amazing sound and really sounds like you have a surround sound system with multiple speakers, The product right out of the box has a very nice weight to it and a solid construction feel to it as do all BOSE products. The glossy reflective finish on the top of the soundbar looks very sleek and modern but it is a fingerprint and smudge magnet plus dust shows up very easily on it ruining the sleek glossy finish. The physical setup was an issue for me, I was unable to connect the soundbar via the HDMI ARC- my video device does not have an HDMI output. I was able to use the optical output adn was able to get great sound. The setup using the BOSE APP did leave something to be desired, i got various errors when adding the speaker and it would freeze up. I was finally able to add the speaker using the app and activate some of the new features such as the enhanced audio for dialogue/spoken words. I was able to effortlessly use the included mic and use the adaptiq feature and move the mic to my 5 favorite places to sit near the speaker and the mic and app were able to optimize the sound for each location thereby giving me the best sound in each spot. I was able to listen to the same amazing sound from various spots and distance from the soundbar. The included remote was helpful and nothing is quite as quick and convenient as using a remote to raise the volume and switch modes. The APP does allow for other features when the WIFI is connected but i really didn't use the other audio features-most were music streaming services. OVERALL it is a high end device that takes a little setting up but once you are zeroed in and adjsuted your settings the sound is AMAZING! makes gaming and movies sound like you are at the theater.

This sound bar gives a nice rich full sound the only draw back is the remote… you need to use the remote separately from the tv… but the sound is great!

The Bose Soundbar delivers an impressive mix of clarity, power, and sleek design that easily elevates any home entertainment setup. Its audio performance stands out—dialogue is crisp, bass is surprisingly full for its size, and the overall soundstage feels wide and immersive whether you're watching movies, gaming, or playing music. Setup is simple and intuitive, especially with the Bose app, and the soundbar integrates seamlessly with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for effortless streaming. The build quality feels premium, and the minimalist look fits well in any room. If you're looking for a compact, high-quality sound system that punches well above its weight, the Bose Soundbar is an excellent choice.

The product is amazing. It is very easy to setup and the sound quality is supreme. The adaptive technology is a unique feature that can elevate the overall experience by focusing on your selecte

I purchased this Smart Ultra Soundbar to replace an older model (over 10 yrs old) that suddenly stopped working. I also had a Bose 10" subwoofer that was wirelessly paired so I wanted to stay with Bose. I definitely am glad that my old soundbar fried itself! The Bose SUS was easily set up, paired easily with my existing Bose subwoofer, and also paired with a wireless turntable and my phone without a glitch. The sound in my basement rec room (approx 30' X 25') is excellent, and definitely an upgrade from the old model in clarity and breadth of sound. The app on my phone is great, and easily switches between the turntable and phone for input. It sounds great with my TV also! Some may argue it's a bit expensive, but imho you get what you pay for.

Too much hype on reviews. The bar sounds ok. Good for a small room and for playing movies. Not good with music. Previous versions were better and less expensive, and had more kick. I bought it based on reviews. The unit gets distorted when having a boost on low range. You have to really play with the EQ on source to find the right tone. You will find that a subwoofer is really needed. If you want to connect it to your mobile device, like a phone, you will find out you can’t be moving aorund. Very shortly the sound will cut off or will have hiccups. If you want to connect it to a computer, terrible idea if you have a standing desk. Once you raise the desk, the sound will start the hiccups. Hard to connect to a digital output. Don’t waste time there. Also, it disconnects from Bluetooth when not playing something while working on a pc, you will have to keep going to settings to turn it back on. Very loud when connecting to Bluetooth, if you turn it on specially at nighttime. Makes a loud ding. Looks good though, I have in white finish, but not the best option. I like Bose, but not a fan of this one. I might give it away to somebody that needs a small speaker setting just for a tv.

Great Sounds Just the Right Size and Easy to set up.

A great product and rich sound, but when setting up the height settings for the sound in the app it's not very clear and it results in a lot back and forth adjusting.

Love this soundbar. It’s perfect for my needs. I admit I did add the 500 wireless sub to give the audio in movies a bit more depth but it really wasn’t absolutely necessary. Light years better than my Polk soundbar IMO The remote is bare basics and to fine tune the audio you do need to use the app, which I’m not real fond of. It’s a little too basic for a soundbar that’s got the capabilities of this one.

I upgraded from my Vizio which I had not real issues with. But this sound blows the vizio out of the water. They AI adjustments for dialogue really takes the cake where the bass isn’t drowning out the dialogue. I plan on purchasing the sub as well but it’s definitely not needed. The AdaptiQ is a really cool feature and you can hear just as clearly in different areas of the room.

This is a phenomenal soundbar. Sound quality, it’s got a good weight to it, fills up the room with sound. However, one small caveat. It does have some connectivity issues. Sometimes it will not connect, or no audio will get output. So, although not a huge issue and easily fixed, just a warning.

Love this thing. If you want the best of the best sound, for movies, music, gaming, and tv watching, there is no other soundbar for you! Add the Bose 700 base module and a set of Bose 700 surround speakers and you have the ultimate home theater/ ultimate home stereo for music. I cannot stress enough how amazing this system is. You are put in the middle of whatever is happening on your screen and the sound just envelopes you and comes at you from every direction possible. Bose has changed the way I enjoy home entertainment. This soundbar is the gateway to the best movie and music sound you can experience in your own home..The bass is perfectly powerful…..you will literally be blown away. And I haven’t ( and I’m not gonna) even got started on all the features, like built in Alexa, google chromecast, etc. I haven’t because the most important thing to me about a soundbar, is the sound. I challenge anyone to find a superior system. This thing THUMPS