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For more than 50 years, Bose has had time to learn how to produce professional sound quality. The Bose 300 is a little pricey, and isn't compatible with the existing Bose SoundTouch range, but its main issue is slightly worse sound quality than the competition. The cheaper Sonos One and more expensiveApple HomePodandGoogle Home Maxall sound better than the Bose, with more presence and better bass response. The Bose Home Speaker 300 offers a choice of Alexa or Google Assistant and excellent microphone response. This stereo speaker has impressive directivity thanks to its 360-degree design, resulting in an open, spacious soundstage. For a speaker with an even better soundstage performance, check out the Sony SRS-RA3000.
The built-in microphones with their 8-mic arrays can hear you even when the speaker is playing loud music. The voice control doesn’t disappear, but you can instantly mute all microphones with a single tap when you don’t want t speaker to be listening to your commands. Under the grille, the Bose 450 packs dual 2.5-inch drivers pointed sideways, left and right. According to Bose, these drivers are responsible for delivering “the widest sound of any smart speaker.” For greater bass depth, the speaker features the company’s QuietPort technology built-in. For instance, your music will never be interrupted when your phone dings with an alert, and WiFi is generally going to provide a slightly higher quality stream than Bluetooth would. Sonos does not include remote controls for any of its speakers, again requiring you to rely on the app.
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It's not distortion, but it sounds like the bass is vibrating the enclosure. At first I thought the bass vibrations could be rattling my desktop, but lifting the speaker in the air didn't eliminate the issue. In other words, you can simply adjust the volume a bit until it disappears.
The speaker also features a light bar, which glows as you interact with Alexa, and also changes color depending on the type of audio input you are using to play your music . It needs to be plugged in, so you won't be able to use it as a portable speaker. Bose also says the Portable Home Speaker lasts over 24 hours in standby mode, which is when the device is not playing music but the microphone is on and listening for voice commands. If you power the speaker off entirely, it should still turn on after a month unused. Sonos is a small step below Bose in terms of user-friendliness for single-speaker use.
What you need to know about the Bose Home Speaker 500
Off to the left, there's the Action button, which summons Alexa when touched. (Of course, Alexa can be summoned vocally.) Below it, there's a microphone off button, for when you don't want the speaker to be listening for your commands. To the right, there's an aux button, for switching to the wired 3.5mm input located on the bottom rear connection panel (there's no audio cable included for this input, however). There's also a Bluetooth button for pairing, and below all of these, a row of preset buttons, numbered one to six, that can be assigned to various playlists or radio stations within the app.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Thankfully, the high-mids and highs retain their crisp presence, with bright brass, strings, and vocals commanding most of the attention. Bose estimates the Portable Home Speaker's battery life to be roughly 12 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.
What’s not so good about the Bose Home Speaker 500?
However, the Bose offers a wider and more open-sounding soundstage. While both speakers have Alexa built-in, the Bose also comes with Google Assistant built-in. The Apple HomePod and the Bose Home Speaker 500 are very similarly-performing speakers, so depending on your listening habits, you may prefer one over the other.
This speaker has a fairly neutral sound profile out-of-the-box, with a balanced mid-range that reproduces clear vocals and lead instruments, though they can sound a bit dull. It also lacks a thumpy low-bass, which can be disappointing if you love bass-heavy genres like EDM. Fortunately, there are bass and treble adjustments in the Bose Music app to help you adjust its sound more to your liking. Check out the Bose SoundLink Color II. This compact stereo speaker is shaped like a square and comes in many fun colors, so you can choose one that suits your style. It's rated IPX4 for water resistance, so while you can't float it around the pool with you, it's still certified to withstand small splashes of water like from some light rain. It has a balanced mid-range, ensuring vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix, though they can also sound dull or dark.
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The display shows the time as well as information about the music you're listening to. I played a Dance Hits playlist on medium volume for 3 hours and found that the battery life dropped about 5% every hour. On a brand-new battery, I would expect close to 20 hours of nonstop tunes. That's twice the time you can get out of Sonos Move, which lasted 10 hours on battery power in our tests.
It can get louder than the Revolve+ II with less compression present at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio during louder listening sessions. It also offers incredible voice assistant support with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, and can understand your commands from far and in noisy environments. Its companion app even features bass and treble adjustments to tweak its sound. That said, the Revolve+ II is battery-powered, and has a built-in carrying handle making it more portable. The Bose Home Speaker 500 is a better speaker than the JBL Charge 5, though they have different strengths.
Backing that up with the convenience of Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, along with Alexa built-in, we believe this is a platform that can easily handle all of your musical needs. Bose's speakers offer pretty neutral, balanced sound profiles out-of-the-box, especially in the mid-range, so vocals and lead instruments are usually reproduced clearly and accurately. This makes them suitable for listening to different types of audio content.
It's also a bit bigger than the Bose Home Speaker 300, so you may not be able to carry it with one hand. Olivia was previously TechRadar's Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she's a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism.
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