Customer Ratings & Reviews

The sound effects are not as good as the sonos. I was a fan of bose all my life but I am not impressed with this one. My bose from 10 years ago sounds better

Doesn't sound as good as implied by store display. Will not connect to app, so useless as a streaming device and no way to properly set up the surround.

I followed directions but it takes a couple minutes for the sound to come on every day. Probably user error, but I'm good at following directions. Guess it's not the friendliest installation?

I love Bose products. Not sure about this soundbar. Sound is great but having issues with turning volume up and down. Going to contact Geek Squad again.

Honestly i would not say worth the money, vizio has better sound and louder i think and is 1/3 the cost.

Pretty average product from Bose. Their products have recently been a hit or miss. Felt there is so much more that can be done such as the quality of sound (lack of bass notwithstanding), software, and connectivity. To top it all, the top left part of the speaker started shaking quite a bit - not the kind of manufacturing quality you would expect from a company like Bose. Quite disappointed to say the least.

Unboxing the Bose Soundbar 500 with Alexa reveals the soundbar, remote, power adapter, an HDMI cable, and the ADAPTiQ sound configuration tool. I appreciate the free HDMI cable in the box! The Soundbar itself is smaller than I would have expected based on the size of its box. It measures about 32 inches long and weighs in at 7 pounds. Bose makes nice products so I expected a quality looking device and the Soundbar 500 doesn’t disappoint. It’s nicely designed and is looks well made. I referenced the manual for setup. You are instructed to connect the power and connect the Soundbar to your tv via hdmi. The manual then simply directs you to download the Bose Music app to complete setup. The app then prompts you to sign up for a Bose account. You connect the Soundbar to your WiFi network, and link your Amazon account to use Alexa. You are also prompted to configure the sound with the ADAPTiQ tool which is a wired device which you plug into the rear of the Soundbar and wear on your head. The Bose app then walks you through the calibration process by making you sit in five different spots in your room. The Soundbar makes various sound signal which the ADAPTiQ device hears via its microphone. This whole process struck me as somewhat gimmicky and frustrating as the cord on the ADAPTiQ quickly tangled into a huge mess. I wish I had skipped this setup initially so I could determine if the ADAPTiQ calibration was truly effective. There is also a step where you select which music streaming service you want to link to the Soundbar. Services supported here are Pandora, Spotify, Deezer Premium, Amazon Music, TuneIn, SiriusXM, and iHeartRadio. I selected Amazon music since I have an account. After that you’re basically ready to use the Soundbar. I did have some issues getting ARC setup on my TV but finally got it figured out. Bluetooth of course is supported. AirPlay support is apparently going to be added via an upcoming firmware update. Let’s not forget that Alexa is onboard as well, making the Soundbar 500 one special sounding Alexa device. I started testing the Bose Soundbar 500 for music playback via my Amazon music account. I really love the integration of Amazon music control in the Bose app. Here you can select various stations. Once playing you can also add a favorite station as a preset to your Bose remote control. You can then simply press the numbered button on the remote and be instantly streaming your favorite station. There are six buttons available. I love this brilliant option from Bose. As I explore stations I am impressed by the sound quality emanating from a fairly small device. The sound is rich and vibrant. I expected no less from Bose. As I switch to TV as my source via the remote I am somewhat less impressed. It’s certainly better then my TV speakers but it’s somehow lacking in quality but then again it’s just broadcast television. As I switch to a Blu-ray for a source I’m again blown away by the sound quality. The Soundbar 500 is also expendable with add on surround speakers and there’s also an add on subwoofer. I’m sure these would only make this Soundbar even more spectacular. Dolby Digital is supported but unfortunately there is no Atmos support. Overall I really love this product. Sound quality is great. Alexa integration makes it even better. The remote is well designed with audio station presets. The Bose app is intuitive and packed with settings. Great for music and movies. I would recommend this product.

I purchased the Soundbar 500 from Best Buy in April and it stopped working after 6 months and is stuck downloading an update. The light moves from left to right without stopping even after a few days and resetting it hasn't worked. Bose customer service says there's an issue with the firmware so their solution is for me to send the unit to their service center for repair which takes 3 weeks and requires me to purchase packing materials. I took it in to my local Best Buy store and they considered replacing it for me but when they checked, they said it's been discontinued so they can't. At the very least, I would expect that Bose would offer to send a replacement unit and I could use that box to ship the faulty unit back to them but their customers service is very poor and Best Buy can't offer any help either. I'm very disappointed with the lack of support offered to me after purchasing this product.

Big let down no 4K pass through or e-arc. The sound could be better if they actually put more speakers as supposed to simulated sound.

This is a present and I haven’t given it to the person I bought it for yet, so I can’t review it as of yet.

The sound was great but the fact that anyone that wanted to connect to it had to make an account to do so is ridiculous. We had it hooked up with our tv for 2 days. The sound bar and the subwoofer were nearly $1000 and it was horrible. We got a Vizio sound bar and sub woofer for way less and the sound is just as good! Don’t waste your money.

I bought this because of it’s vey low profile. Have other Bose products which I am very pleased with. This sound bar sounded thin and with no richness. I have a Bose Sound Link Mini that sounds better than the Sound-bar 500. I retuned the 500 and purchased the sound-bar 700 which is significantly better than the 500 the 700’s addition $200+ is well with the price

This is not at all mind Blowing sound system from Bose. If you want Bass you need to purchase the Bass Module.

This speaker does not work well. Never connects to wifi. The Bose FAQ solutions don’t work. Definitely not worth the money. I was really surprised at the quality of this product. Google Bose soundbar not connecting and you will see similar stories.

Sound bar has good sound but not out of this world. Doesn't come with sub woofer which for the price should be included.

Title pretty much sum's it up. I mean, it's OK but not what I was expecting. Please note, all of this review is the Bose Sounbar 500 matched with the Bose Bass Module 500. Any mentione of bass will include that Bass Module and may not be reflective of Soundbar 500 as a stand-alone. The Good: +Music sound is very good. Rich, accurate mids and highs and warm bass that is there but not overwhelming. +Overall quality is good. +Aesthetically pleasing. +The technology is there with Bluetooth, WiFi streaming, Alexa (this is my first experience with Alexa so still learning that platform). +The microphones are very good, even at loud volume at listening for Alexa commands. +Tech support was quite good (see later in review, but the fact that I had to contact tech support was a bummer). Th "Mmehh" =TV and movie listening, the sounds are good but not quite as rich and full as I am used to. Was hoping for a little more from Bose legacy reputation. =TV and movie sound is not quite as "real" as I would expect. Don't get me wrong, its not bad per se, but it's not quite "there". I know, saying "real" and "there" are subjective and beyond reasonable measure, but I hope you can understand my intent. =The remote is simple, elegant and functional but the light grey offset in button identifiers is not necessarily conducive with watching movie in a dark room and easily being able to identify what buttons are where. =The exercise to calibrate the ADAPtiQ felt a little gimmicky. =Alexa replies are LOUD. They are out of sync with the fluctuating volume of the speaker. I wish the Alexa reply volumes were either in step with the soundbar volume or were adjustable. The kinda' bummers: -Set-up required a call to Bose tech support because the unit was not broadcasting a beacon for the App to see it. (as previously mentioned and worth noting again, the wait, knowledge and professionalism of the tech support was quite good). -The time-out to shut off power strikes me as pretty short. I paused Live PD for around 20 minutes to write this review and the unit went into sleep mode. Seems kinda' short. -As mentioned, the sound for music is great, but it does not seem to carry the ground-shaking thunder of other soundbar and bass-modules I have experienced. In all, its a decent unit, especially if music is your deal, and it's utilitarian and does its job adequately well. I would recommend it, but with defined caveats. Disclaimer: This product was provided free, or at reduced cost, for the purpose of reviewing the product. Nevertheless, the above review, be it positive, negative, or anywhere in-between, is a 100% honest review, and the price paid played absolutely no part in my review.

I purchased the bose 500 soundbar Nov. 2018. It was working fine until 2 days ago. It worked with our TV until we played music with Spotify. It will still play music thru my cellphone and the bose remote, but will not play thru the tv. We have gone through all the checks with wifi and unplugging and plugging in. Going thru the Bose app is a circle to no help.

I recently purchased this product and it's already having issues with the lights on the front staying on all the time. Their customer service is a disappointment and when I got online and entered the serial number they stated it was out of warranty. I just purchased this 3 months ago. I would go with another brand.

The sound quality is okay, but I could have purchased a sound bar that produced the same sound for less.

As much as I love Bose products and have plenty of them, the soundbar 500 was not what I am use to experiencing with the brand. Once connected to our TV, there would be a delay in the sound versus the motion on tv. We would see the person speaking but the sound would be 3 secs behind their mouth moving.