Bose Smart Soundbar 600 Review: Sound Made Simple

Finest Costs In the present day: Bose Good Soundbar 600

$449.00

$449.99

Bose has a knack for pushing the audio envelope with innovation and delivering high quality with out breaking the financial institution. And that’s been a great a part of the model’s success over time.

The audio big’s newest dwelling theatre launch, the Good Soundbar 600, is not any exception. Promising to ship high-end sound together with Dolby Atmos spatial audio packed right into a compact but elegant design and at a extra wallet-friendly worth, there’s a lot to be enthusiastic about right here. The query is, does it hit the mark? And the way does it get up towards fierce contenders just like the Sonos Beam Gen 2?

Design & Construct

• Solely obtainable in black
• Minimal and premium design
• Compact

For those who’re searching for a soundbar that’s minimal but trendy, the Bose Good Soundbar 600 ought to positively be in your radar. It boasts a smooth design that can complement any TV. The construct high quality is top-notch, too, because of some sturdy plastics and stylish perforated metals that give it a premium feel and look all through.

Sadly, this soundbar is just obtainable in a single colourway: matt black, so in case you had been hoping to match it up with any current silver or white Bose sensible audio system in your house, then overlook it.

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On the plus facet, the Good Soundbar 600 is a good measurement. Measuring simply 5.6 x 69.4 x 10.4cm and weighing simply 3.1kg, it’s fairly compact, particularly when in comparison with the model’s bulkier and pricier brother, the Good Soundbar 900. Its comparatively mild weight and compact measurement means it may be simply held on a wall in case you don’t have a TV stand for it to sit down on. However bear in mind that this may require an extra wall bracket that Bose flogs for an additional $39/£34.95/€39. in case you go down the official route anyway (yow will discover less expensive alternate options on Amazon FYI).

By way of controls, the Good Soundbar 600 sports activities a few haptic buttons on prime of the system itself within the type of a mute and voice-control motion button. It additionally ships with a small distant with a barely prolonged however nonetheless very fundamental set of capabilities together with quantity management, enter mode, pause and play. Nevertheless, in case you contemplate lifting a distant an excessive amount of effort, you do have the choice to boss the soundbar round by way of voice because of its baked-in Alexa and Google Assistant assist. However extra on that later…

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Connectivity

• 1 x HDMI eARC, 1 x optical port
• Bluetooth 4.2
• Assist for Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Spotify Join

On the connectivity entrance, the Good Soundbar 600 is provided with a HDMI eARC port and an optical digital audio enter for these older televisions missing HDMI assist.

Whereas the addition of a second HDMI enter for passthrough would have been a welcome function, it’s price noting that this isn’t one thing you’ll discover in all soundbars as of late, particularly extra budget-friendly choices. The equally priced Sonos Beam Gen 2, for instance, additionally lacks this functionality.

However, wi-fi streaming decisions are aplenty within the Good Soundbar 600, with assist for Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Spotify Join, and Bluetooth protocols.

Lee Bell / Foundry

Good Options

• Built-in voice management from Alexa and Google Assistant
• Dolby Atmos assist
• Nice companion app providing simple setup
• Multiroom function is hit or miss

Whereas the primary promoting level of the Bose Good Soundbar 600 is that it’s a compact and versatile all-in-one soundbar, there are different nice options to shout about. The principle one is that it provides assist for Dolby Atmos soundtracks however in a really totally different approach to its chief rival, the Sonos’ Beam Gen 2.

That’s as a result of, of the 5 drivers that it has behind this grille, two full-range drivers hearth upwards to bodily improve the sense of peak of the sound – one thing Sonos’ soundbar does just about. In the meantime, there’s a single driver dealing with the centre channel in the course of the bar, whereas a racetrack driver at both finish of the soundbar provides a wider feeling of sound.

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Different options that assist put the “sensible” within the Good Soundbar 600 embody its deal with hands-free motion, and – as you’d anticipate from a contemporary soundbar – it helps both Alexa or Google Assistant for all of your hands-free wants. This implies you possibly can bark orders at it, like telling it to crank up the quantity or skip tracks, all with the ability of voice. It really works effectively more often than not, however – as with every Alexa-enabled system – it’s removed from excellent and may usually miss instructions, particularly in case you’ve acquired the quantity on excessive.

You’ll additionally discover a host of Wi-Fi streaming companies are readily accessible. This contains distinguished platforms similar to Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, iHeartRadio, TuneIn Radio, and Sirius XM.

Seamlessly integrating with the Bose Music app, the Good Soundbar 600 could be simply put in, tweaked and adjusted as required, with choices to rename it, tinker with its equalizer settings or create “teams” with different smart-enabled Bose audio system, if in case you have them.

Nevertheless, in my expertise, the multiroom or “grouping” function doesn’t at all times work as seamlessly as anticipated. Generally, solely one of many audio system within the group will play the music, regardless of each being listed within the room you’ve created within the app. There’s additionally a delay if you wish to play the audio out of your TV by means of a speaker group, which appears loopy to me. If you wish to expertise encompass sound whereas watching a film, as an illustration, you possibly can’t do it with a bunch of Bose sensible audio system. As an alternative, you’d need to spend money on the corporate’s Encompass Audio system, which join on to the soundbar. This might show very irritating to these with current Bose-based dwelling speaker programs who buy the Good Soundbar 600 for this very motive.

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One other frustration right here is that, when you disconnect from a speaker group you’ve created on the app – for instance, the Bose soundbar and the corporate’s Transportable House Speaker – the group will disappear when you’ve disconnected from it and also you’ll need to create it once more the following time you wish to hearken to music throughout a number of audio system/rooms.

Sound High quality

• Massive sound from a small soundbar
• Handles complicated sound results effectively
• Properly-detailed mid-range
• Missing within the decrease bass vary

So, let’s dive into what makes the Bose Good Soundbar 600 an actual ear-turner. For one, it’s geared as much as deal with Dolby Atmos soundtracks because of its secret sauce: proprietary TrueSpace processing. This tech takes common stereo and 5.1 channel stuff and turns it right into a full-blown immersive expertise – such as you’re proper within the coronary heart of the motion. This ensures huge Hollywood motion flicks pop like by no means earlier than. Even the complicated sound results are untangled effortlessly, which is fairly outstanding contemplating its compact measurement and sub-£500 worth level.

The midrange is stable and filled with loads of element, and dialogue is delivered with focus and readability. It carries a dynamic sound too, with the ability to categorical any shift in quantity effortlessly.

Lee Bell / Foundry

Whereas its audio sport is on level for probably the most half, it does wrestle slightly within the decrease bass vary so that you would possibly really feel like these deeper notes are lacking. And with no subwoofer included, that’s hardly shocking. Bose has crammed a tonne of audio tech into this smooth package deal, so one thing needed to give. However, the soundbar does work alongside Bose’s Bass modules in case you’re actually lacking these deeper notes and don’t thoughts forking out further for one (and once I say further, I imply they begin at £399.95, gulp).

All in all, the Good Soundbar 600’s audio high quality is well-rounded and spectacular. Positive, it’s not precisely audiophile-level, but it surely’s definitely able to providing premium sound to those that don’t wish to half with greater than £500 for a soundbar.

Value & Availability

At $499/£499.95/€549, the Bose Good Soundbar 600 definitely isn’t a finances speaker. It nonetheless prices nearly double the Sonos Ray, for instance, making it extra of a mid-to-high-range soundbar. It will possibly in all probability be higher in comparison with the $449/£449/€499 Sonos Beam Gen 2.

You may seize it from Bose itself, or from the likes of Amazon, AO, Currys or John Lewis within the UK, or Amazon US, Andorama, Dell, Lenovo and immediately from Bose within the US. If you wish to wall-mount it, the official Bose Wall Mount equipment is an additional $39/£34.95/€39.

So how does the Bose Good Soundbar 600 examine to rivals?

For those who’re in any respect conversant in the world of audio, it ought to go with out saying that Bose’s greatest competitor is Sonos, a model that flogs a really equally specced and priced soundbar, the Sonos Beam (Gen 2). Because the two are very comparable spec-wise (each supply Dolby Atmos, for instance), selecting one over the opposite will possible come all the way down to which ecosystem you’d want to be part of sooner or later (in case you increase your own home speaker system throughout a number of rooms, as an illustration).

The Good Soundbar 600 can also be considerably cheaper than the following Bose possibility, the $899/£899.95/€949 Good Soundbar 900, so provides a really comparable dwelling theatre expertise to extra individuals than earlier than.

Try our chart of the most effective soundbars for extra alternate options in case you’re unsure if Bose is the speaker model for you.

Verdict

In relation to Dolby Atmos sound, the Bose Good Soundbar 600 is a giant win. Dialogue readability is phenomenal and its TrueSpace processing tech means it could take common stereo and 5.1 channel stuff and switch it right into a full-blown immersive expertise.

Nevertheless, its compact design does put a cap on its sound potential. A restricted bass vary means you received’t get that full-bodied thunderous bass you would possibly anticipate from high-end rivals that ship with subwoofers. Don’t get me unsuitable, it’s nice for cranking up the leisure worth throughout film nights, however in case you’re an audiophile chasing that deep and super-immersive sound, you may be a tad disillusioned.

On the brilliant facet, this soundbar brings a bunch of cool options that others miss, similar to AirPlay 2, Chromecast and assist for Alexa and Google Assistant Plus. And at just below $500/£500, there’s lots on supply right here – particularly for many who need an awesome all-in-one package deal over mind-blowing sound depth.

Specs

• Measurement: 56 x 694 x 104 mm
• Weight: 3.13kg
• Channels: 3.0.2
• 5x full-range transducers
• Enclosure: Bass reflex
• Audio I/O
• Optical digital
• HDMI ARC/eARC
• Subwoofer output (3.5mm)
• HDMI 2.0b
• Wi-fi audio connection
• Bluetooth 4.2
• Wi-Fi 2.4/5GHz
• Apple AirPlay 2
• Chromecast built-in