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The DSP , however, thins out deep bass at top volumes quite noticeably, and on tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," there's some notable rattling of the enclosure. In other words, the low-frequency response here is more suited for styles of music that are not pumping seriously deep bass out, and at this price, that's a bit of a disappointment. The Bose Home Speaker 500 is a better speaker for most uses than the Denon Home 350.
If you do own one of these products, Sonos is offering a trade-in program where you can send in your older products and get a 30% discount on their upgraded versions. Additionally, all products made from here on out will only work with the S2 app and thus will not connect with the oldest, non-S2 compatible products. The Bose speakers we've tested don't offer a room correction feature, so your audio sounds different depending on the room you're listening in. The touch controls on the Bose Home Speaker 500 are quick and responsive, and there are six buttons on the touch panel for presets, so you can quickly play your favorite playlist or song at any time. On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, allowing it to retain its punchy attack, while the loop also gets plenty of added bass depth. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered without the serious depth they can possess through subwoofers—here, we get some of the lows, but we mostly hear the top, raspy notes.
Sonos Beam
If you have an Apple device, you can get around all these issues by using AirPlay, but Android and Windows users are mostly out of luck. In May of 2020, Sonos released new speakers that are not compatible with some of its oldest products. These newer speakers can only run with the new and improved S2 app, and some of the company's older products don't have enough processing power to keep up with the said app. These older products generally were not the most popular, so this change hopefully won't affect too many customers.
The speaker performs best at medium-to-low volume despite its capacity for massive noise. While the Sonos Move doesn't get as loud as the Bose Portable Home Speaker, the Move sounds excellent at its max volume level. It delivers powerful volume levels, but at the expense of smooth sound. I left the Bose Portable Home Speaker on my deck while I took my dog for a walk down the block, and I could still hear remnants of Spotify's New Music Friday playlist 10 houses away.
How does it sound?
However, the Bang & Olufsen is a battery-powered portable speaker with EQ presets and a 'Beosonic' sound customization feature to tweak its sound. It also comes with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, so you don't have to worry about it getting a bit wet or dusty while outdoors. That said, while it comes with Alexa built-in, it uses the Wi-Fi connection from your smartphone to work. It's battery-powered and comes with a built-in carrying handle, making it more portable. Its sound profile is also more customizable thanks to the graphic EQ and presets in its companion app. That said, the Bose is a wired home speaker that offers outstanding voice assistant support with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in.
The cylindrical Portable Home Speaker comes in black or silver and measures 7.5 inches high, about 4.0 inches in diameter, and weighs 2.4 pounds. A thick, clothbound handle for easy portability is connected to the top portion of the speaker, and a rubberized base stabilizes the body as it sits upright. The lower half is covered in wraparound grille, behind which a mono driver delivers sound in all directions. There are also grille perforations on the top panel, encircling the controls and protecting the mic array. I compared the Bose against all of its rivals in this price bracket, including the Riva Concertand Google Home Max, and found that each of them outperformed the Home Speaker 300.
Best Multi-Speaker System Centerpiece
It sounds great and looks handsome when sitting on its charging dock in your living room, and then can easily be moved into the backyard to provide a dulcet soundtrack for volleyball games and barbeques. It even sports IP56 water/dust resistance, meaning it can shed pool splashes and rain showers without harm. If your WiFi doesn't quite reach into your backyard, this is the only Sonos speaker that offers Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to beam music directly from your phone to the speaker sans WiFi network. While some of Bose's more premium speakers are compatible with the Bose Music app, which gives you access to bass and treble adjustment features, they don't offer graphic EQs for full sound customization. Other Bose speakers don't have any sound customization features at all. The Bose Portable Home Speaker is one of the more intuitive smart models we've tested, and if you have other Bose smart speakers, it will fit right into your multi-room setup.
Despite its wide array of positives, the Sony SRS-RA3000 did have some downsides, the most glaring being its convoluted app system for controlling the speaker. The primary app, Sony Music Center, only controls basic speaker settings. Much of the Sony SRS-RA3000's other functions are only accessible via multiple third-party apps, each requiring separate apps. Furthermore, despite boasting an incredible audio experience, there were several instances when we noted the bass dominated the output overpowering some of the music's softer elements. Lastly, while the speaker filled the room excellently, our testing indicated that the sound had difficulty carrying over long distances.
Bose's $349 Portable Home Speaker lets you carry Alexa and Google Assistant around with you.
As mentioned, its primary disadvantage is the lack of Bluetooth, which forces you to connect only through WiFi or a cable. We really like this app for its ease in managing a multi-speaker system, but the lack of Bluetooth capabilities still felt limiting. You can't just quickly connect to any device without first downloading the app and logging into various accounts . This also makes it very difficult to make a Sonos speaker the main audio output for your device (i.e., even with the Sonos app on your computer, you can't play YouTube or Netflix through the speaker).
Overall, Bose makes a large selection of speakers that can please many different listeners, including smart speakers, portable Bluetooth speakers, and speakers for musicians. Their speakers are usually Bluetooth-compatible and offer balanced sound profiles out-of-the-box, but lack premium sound customization features like graphic EQs or room correction features. They also may have to downmix stereo content into mono to play it, which isn't very immersive-sounding. You can use them with voice assistants, either from a paired device or via built-in support. The Bose Home Speaker 500 is a slightly better speaker than the Sony SRS-RA5000. The Bose offers outstanding voice assistant support, with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in.
Additionally, most Bose speakers offer remote controls, which can be super useful for quick volume adjustments. The vast majority of their functionality can be accessed without making an account or downloading an app. For those that want to build a multi-speaker system, or at least want the option to, we think Sonos is the easiest way to go. The Sonos app offers an intuitive and streamlined way to manage multiple speakers and to do more advanced things like connecting a soundbar to speakers to create a true, 5.1 surround sound system. Additionally, most of Sonos' speakers are compatible with one another, so you rarely run the risk of getting a new speaker and realizing it won't play nice with your current speakers. The Bose Home Speaker has capacitive touch controls on the top of the speaker, which allow you to adjust volume, play and pause music, turn on Bluetooth, turn the microphone on and off, and select presets.
Its balanced mid-range reproduces clear and accurate dialogue, though it may sound a bit dull or veiled due to the underemphasized treble. However, there are bass and treble adjustments in the Bose Music app to help you tweak its sound. While it gets pretty loud, unfortunately, there's some compression present when you play it at max volume.
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