Nov 22, 2019
Read MoreSonos Beam vs Bose Soundbar 500 review
Sonos Beam review
There are five “distant” microphones in Sonos Beam so that Alexa's voice assistant can hear you even at a great distance. During the test tests, this worked well, even if music or TV sound interfered with the speech. However, unlike Echo, here Alexa signals that it is ready for commands not with an LED ring, but with a short beep and a flashing indicator on the upper side of the soundbar. There are 3.0 built-in channels. Sonos Beam supports playback from Apple devices according to the new Airplay 2 standard. In addition, it can be controlled, like all Sonos models, directly from the Spotify application. If you want to squeeze even more out of your home theater, expand the hardware of the Sonos soundbar with additional devices. For surround sound you will have to purchase two Sonos Play:1 or Play:3 and use them as “rear” speakers (“rear speaker”). 
Bose Soundbar 500 review
The Bose ADAPTiQ automatic sound calibration system of its own design optimizes the sound of the system taking into account the unique characteristics of the room, which guarantees maximum playback quality. Operate the Bose Soundbar 500 soundbar with the included remote control and listen to music through the Bose Music app. In the future, the soundbar will receive new features, including support for voice control. To do this, you will need to update the software when it is available in your area. 
Sonos Beam pros & cons
Pros
- The surround sound is almost as good as my full 5.1 previous system
- The native Apple Airplay streaming without the need for the Sonos app is a great bonus also
Cons
- The issue I have is codec support. Sonos has DD support and literally nothing else
Bose Soundbar 500 pros & cons
Pros
- The installation process is just as simple as setting up some random online account
- Bose quality is always great
Cons
- Lacks HDMI inputs
- I hoped the sound was more surrounded giving that it’s Bose
Sonos Beam vs Bose Soundbar 500
Sonos and Bose
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Common
Product
Sonos Beam
Bose Soundbar 500
Model
Beam
Soundbar 500
Brand
Sonos
Bose
Reviews
3280
407
General
Placement type
table-top, wall-mountable
table-top, wall-mountable
Connection to source
wired, wireless
wired, wireless
Soundbar buttons
volume down, volume up, microphone, play/pause
microphone
Audio features
Built-in channels
3.0
3.0
Amplification type
active
active
Output power, W
Separate speaker (in package)
0
0
Separate speaker connections
wireless
wireless
Subwoofer
Built-in subwoofer
Separate subwoofer (in package)
Separate subwoofer connections
wireless
wireless
Streaming services
Apple Music (AirPlay)
AirPlay 2
AirPlay 2
Amazon Music
Spotify
Other streaming services
Pandora, Tuneln, Chromecast
Pandora,Tuneln, Deezer, iHeart, SiriusXM
Connectivity
WI-FI
Bluetooth
Ethernet (RJ45)
1
1
NFC
HDMI input/output
1/0
1/0
HDMI ARC
HDMI eARC
HDMI CEC
Optical digital input/output
1/0
1/0
USB
1 (USB 2.0)
Coaxial digital input/output
0/0
0/0
Analog audio input/output (RCA)
0/0
0/0
Headphone output
0
0
Subwoofer output
0
0
Features
Voice control
Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
App control
Microphone
Remote control
Multi-room
Multichannel surround
Dolby Atmos
Dolby (other)
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
DTS:X
DTS (other)
has not
has not
Dimensions
Size (Wx H x D), cm/in
65 x 6.8x 10/25.6 x 2.7 x 3.9
80 x 4.3 x 10.1/31.5 x 1.7 x 4
Weight, kg/pounds
2.8/6.2
3.1/7
Other
Release year
2018
2018
Soundbars CHooseratoR comparison rating
- 6Sonos Beam
- 7.4Bose Soundbar 500
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