Bose Soundbar 500 -soundbar, musta

I have been using the BOSE - SOUNDBAR 500 with the BOSE BASS MODULE 500 for a few weeks now and I have to say I am really impressed.

I have tried it with my Games console, bluerays, tv both Films and Sport and I have used its connectivity to Spotify functions a lot as we love to play music in our house.

Setting up was ok, not the easiest as it didnt want to find my network for a while, but this could easily have been an issue with my wifi rather than the soundbar itself.

I tried out the Alexa function, and this seemed to work seamlessly most of the time! However, this has its downsides as now my little boy loves asking for 'Baby Shark' do do do dodo...

Anyway. Overall this is a clean, classy soundbar that looks great and sounds perfect... as you'd expect for a Bose product (and the price tag). It may seem expensive to some, but if it is within your price range, I would certainly recommend it. You will not be disappointed.

I would recommend ensuring you have the ARC HDMI function with your tv, as this makes everything more seamless. It still sounds great through the Optical though.

I would also recommend purchasing the Bass Module, as I feel it needs this bit extra when watching action films and playing on action games. Improves the the sound even further!

Upon opening the delivery, I was majorly excited about unboxing what I knew was packaged.

When you open certain products from certain brands, there’s a sense of suspense almost. The packaging will look professional with it’s design, it will feel like a class above any other product on the market and this just adds to the moment.

It was the case with the Bose 500 Soundbar and Bass Module. Even before opening the box, I’d already locked onto the thought that this was going to be an exceptional product and *SPOILER ALERT* - My predictions were not incorrect.

Often you can find that soundbars, bass modules and home cinema systems overall can look very plasticy, weird material to cover speakers such as a horrible felt can be used or just plain boring and sticks out like a sore thumb in your living space.

However, when you compare it with Bose’s product, the on trend, sleek professional design of the black matte and striking, white LEDs that have been used with the curved edges of the technology, it’s easy to say that it stands out from the crowd in a good way.

Apart from the premium design, the Bose 500 Soundbar and Bass Module boasts of “Alexa” to allow your smart home be easy accessible through talking to this technology.

Once I had got passed the set up with a couple of minor niggles with the Bose Music App, I was provoked to put a peculiar nerdy looking device over my head. This device was the “Adaptiq Audio Calibration” which helps optimise the acoustic performance of the product to the bespoke characteristics of your room. Lots of Sci-fi-esque sounds began to play, seeming to be everywhere around my ears but I was assured that this was all in the name of having the best listening experience possible.

After set up, it was time to play/test with this new device and show it’s true capabilities.

I listened to my music streaming services and the sound that came from this ultra slim and sleek device was truly remarkable to start off with.

I then wanted to test the abilities of punching of different sounds when watching a film. Deep wide sound was instantly provided along with clear dialogue when needed.

It couldn't be this good though, surely?

What about video games? When I have the odd moment, I do like to indulge in playing my Xbox. I’ve found in the past that nothing quite compares to wearing over the ear headphones to perceive true, 3D Surround Sound. Oh how I was wrong! I could hear exactly where certain sounds were originating from and between you and me, I once or twice turned my head around to make sure that it was definitely coming from the Soundbar and not an intruder in my home.

Less about the Sounbar for just a moment though! The Bass Module delivers thunderous bass to heighten the listening experience and only add what the Sounbar already delivers. Everything is customisable to your viewing/listening needs and can be altered from the touch of a button.

With the module only being 25cm diameter, it can easily be hidden out of view due to the wireless connectivity.

The Amazon Alexa feature in my eyes is most certainly a unique selling point. I like to think that I’ve taken my cosy, Victorian house into the 21st Century with it’s smart home additions. To be able to control all these additions with simply speaking to the Bose Soundbar is such an advantage.This is even the case when the music is very loud and you’re unable to hear yourself think, the clear voice pickup manages to do so using it’s Bose magic.

I no longer have to lift a finger again, so my life just got a little bit more lazier, my activity tracker will definitely take another hit.

Although I haven't tested the Soundbar nor the Bass Module to destruction, I do know that it will last better than my other sound modules have done so in the past. You get a good quality product with Bose. It may be a little more expensive to start with but with cutting out the need to replace not much longer down the line, you’re reducing the false economy that we’ve been sold by many of Bose’s competitors.

In my opinion, it’s designed to be compact, slimline and easy on the eye.

This is built to last like many other Bose products and as mentioned, you get a sense of this, just opening the box.

It doesn’t sit in front of your television, making a statement piece of itself. Rather, it blends into it’s surroundings and will adhere to your audio and smart home needs.

The sound quality is superb and already people have asked me if I had the system professionally installed, which should speak a thousand words and reviews for the Adaptiq Audio Calibration. Bose should definitely be proud of this addition.

Once again, I have been overwhelmed at the quality of the product and it looks the part in my living space, subtlety providing the service it brillianty delivers.

Like mentioned, it’s outdone other audio products I’ve purchased from other retailers/companies, this is undoubtedly my favorite out of all of them.

It’s a true necessity in this current time to own a Soundbar and accompanying audio equipment that can carry out the task needed and it’s built to last. With demands for Televisions getting slimmer which leads to speakers being pretty much non-existent within them or so much of a “tinny” sound, they may as well not be there.

As a relatively young professional, with needs for audio quality to be excellent and above the rest, I believe it suited both my needs and the appearance of my home. It gives a professional, cinema-like experience to yourself for a consumer budget.

I wanted this to use as a home cinema system that would not take up huge amounts of space. It does this brilliantly. The sound quality is superb and the ease of use makes setup simple and hassle free. The only issue I had regarding setup is that it didn't come with an optical cable which would have been nice to be included in the box. I ended up connecting via HDMI (ARC) to my TV which obviously worked fine once i realised which HDMI I was supposed to plug into but this was more of a technical ignorance on my part.

The Alexa connectivity and ability to voice command is a very nice feature but as yet I have not worked out how to turn down the microphone sensitivity and this means that pretty much wherever I am in the house it hears me and therefore over rides other alexa devices around the house. In addition, it doesn't seem to recognise that I have a spotify account linked, even though my other Alexa devices do. Therefore when I ask it to play music it says it cannot find it in my library, yet when i go on the app, i can play through spotfiy.

The Bose 500 has a clear and crisp sound, with this it makes very desirable to listen to not just movies as well music or radio. This device can work connected directly to a TV or using as a standalone device connected to your favourites apps like Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer or TuneIN for worldwide radio. You can control the Bose 500 using the remote control or Bose Music app from your device or with a simple help from a voice command using Alexa you can access anything without any major fizz. The Adaptiq audio calibration helps the sound to be directional to any corner of the room it won’t matter which position you are the sound will come clear and crisp. Using the voice commands still not for everyone but with Alexa built in it will help you in major tasks or queries that you might want for information or even playing a quiz game with friends still brings a lot of fun times. If you have a small or medium room or don’t like big devices around the house the Bose 500 would be the ideal device for you. If you are a big movie enthusiast and want the listen the best of Dolby Atmos or Dolby HDR I would recommend adding the additional accessories like the Bose Surround Speakers and the Bose Base Module 500.

withoutived my Bose Soundbar 500 and when I took it out of its box, the look, the feel was smooth a nice finish and premium. Getting the soundbar out of the box, was again I almost feel the excitement of something magical within my hands. After taking the soundbar out of its box, I hunted for its cables, so there is a headset (come to that later), HDMI cable, remote control and obviously the power. The HDMI is an ARC lead which most TVs usually have an HDMI with next to it an ARC in brackets (Audio Return Channel). ARC is a setting which allows the soundbar to interface with any devices connected like a PlayStation, Xbox, Sky+ HD watching on my TV as the sound can go straight into the soundbar without any hesitation. My LG is a 47” from the 2012s, soundbar is in the middle which is lovely, so I was lucky that I didn’t have to buy an optical lead. Once I connected all the cables, I then installed the Bose Music app on my android and iOS, powered on the Soundbar and took me minutes to set everything up.

This is where I come back to the headset, so they give a headset with a very long cable with a small phono plug, this is where you connect into the port of the back of the soundbar names ADAPTiQ. This is to configure the soundbar to fit the sound inside the room. You sit in different locations of the room to enhance the sound of the room. So, Alexa, I use to have an Echo dot, so I registered my account within the Bose Music app. This whole setup took me about 15 minutes. Now for the fun part, In my head, I was thinking what to try first, Star Wars intro theme or The Avengers. I chose the Star Wars theme and had the volume to medium-high and WOW, I got the fun effect. I felt the sound, the moment and the sound did not distort, I was over the moon. Next was the Avengers film, and to my surprise, I felt like I was in a cinema re-living the movie for the first time.

The next thing was to see how the integration Alexa worked from inside the soundbar and with my surprise she listened and did what I asked, while you said “Alexa”, she turned down the volume of what you are playing in the background, waited for you to say something and gave you the response. Then the volume restored of what you are playing. I own Philips hue lights and everything I could have done with my Echo dot could do similar but with more sound and interactivity.

The sound bar is incredible. Classic bose quality, extreme volume. You can us it for normal TV, movies or as a wireless speaker with it coming up as an option on Spotify as a speaker. Alexa is also very useful. Such a sleek design, and will improve your home cinema hugely.

I brought this product because of the Bluetooth feature as I’m hard of hearing I can now use my headphones while my wife can have TV at her level

The only thing bad with it is the and why I’ve not given it 5 stars as of all the other Bose products I have brought is it has the worse Remote I’ve ever seen cannot find or see buttons in the dark or even in the light sometimes

I received this product a month ago to test and review. I am quite a tech-savvy student and my dorm is kitted out with many smart devices.

The unboxing experience was pleasant and everything had its own little place. Bose always nails this. One thing I immediately noticed about the product is that the power cord is really short. Overall it is certainly well built, sturdy, and very sleek. I got the gunmetal grey one, and in the soft LED light it looked stunning.

My issues started with the setup. My WiFi requires smart speaker devices to provide their MAC address in order to be whitelisted. Bose does not give you that out of the box. After several hours on the phone with customer service, I figured I would set it up using my 4G hotspot and hope it shows me a MAC address then. Luckily it did, but it made the whole process a lot longer than it should've been. Easily avoided if they printed the device's MAC address on it with the serial number or print it on the documentation.

Needless to say, the sound of quality you get from Bose is rarely beaten. Clear, crisp audio, and deep bass. Really pleased with the sound and the AdaptiQ works really well to balance the sound based on your room. Truly surround sound from what seems like a stereo source.

The 'Alexa' and smart speaker cabalities work really well as well, and the app makes it really easy to control. You can even set your favourite Spotify playlist as a preset on the remote.

Been using it for about a month now and very happy with it. Wifi disconnects sometimes and rewuires a quick reboot but I guess thats expected from anything these days.

Price could be dropped a little bit, maybe the offer the soundbar and bass module together for the same price tag rather than separate.

On initial setup, the soundbar didn't seem to want to stay connected to my wifi and the app kept losing connection from my android device. But after a couple of days, it all settled down and has been a pleasure since.

Initially we couldn't get any sound out of the unit and then realised I hadn't plugged it into my HDMi ARC connection. Once this was sorted, it banged into life.

The sound is clear and true and adds depth to any program or film being watched.

My kids have mastered its' operation straight away and I haven't seen the remote since!!

It is sleek and sits below the TV, without intrusion. It is solidly built and seems that it will last for many years to come.

Had my Bose Soundbar 500 just over a week now & i'm so pleased I bought it. My films have a new dimension to them now & definitely sound better, but the transformation of my streamed music sound is beyond compare! With Alexa built in I can literally shout from my kitchen to the lounge & ask for a track in my head via Amazon Music & my house is immediately full of great sounding music. But it's not just the sound of my music that has benefitted, my film watching experience has improved immeasurably too. Suddenly the action on the screen has immersed me & it feels like i'm on set! Honestly one of the best purchase decisions I have ever made, if your music lacks depth & quality & your films need livening up, this is the soundbar for you!