Sonos Vs Bose: Which Soundbar Is Right for You?

Sonos Vs Bose Which Soundbar Is Right for You

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Soundbars make a huge difference for the sound quality of your home theater, vastly outperforming your television speakers and making your entertainment experience all that more rewarding. A single soundbar speaker can beat having to set up multiple speakers for your sound system, so it can be a great purchase for your home theatre setup. All soundbars basically look the same, though, and it’s not easy to find the right one.

If you’re looking for the best soundbar out there, two names that you’ll probably keep coming across are the SonosPlaybar and the Bose SoundTouch 700.

To figure out which of these soundbars is the right home speaker for your sound system setup, let’s take a close look at the Sonos system versus the Bose speaker system to find out what makes each one special.

Sonos vs Bose

Before we get down to comparing these two soundbars, let’s take a look at the features that each has to offer.

1. Bose SoundTouch 700

Bose SoundTouch 700
  • Features immersive sound and deep bass
  • Easy setup with the Bose Music app
  • Built-in Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant smart speaker
  • Noise-rejecting mic to easily pick up your voice
  • Voice control for your Alexa-enabled TV, cable box, or satellite box
  • Make or take calls with Alexa
  • Stream via Bluetooth, home Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay, or Spotify Connect
  • Control soundbar functions via voice, app, or remote
  • Works with Bose Smart products and can play audio and music in other rooms with Bose speakers
  • Equipped with Bose SimpleSync technology for easy pairing with other Bose products
  • Mountable, but the wall bracket is sold separately
  • Dimensions: 38.5” x 2.25” x 4.25”

1. SonosPlaybar

SonosPlaybar
  • Setup is easy with the Sonos app
  • Tuned by Oscar-winning sound engineers to enhance human voice and speech in your favorite movies or TV shows
  • Automatically adjusts sound depending on whether it’s mounted or placed on a console or table to always deliver the best sound
  • Connects with other Sonos speakers in the house over Wi-Fi
  • Control the sound with voice or app
  • Works with Alexa devices
  • Mountable, but bracket is sold separately
  • Dimensions: 35.5” x 5.6” x 3.4”

Comparison

Now that we know a little bit more about each of these soundbars, let’s take a closer look at the comparison of the Sonos vs Bose soundbars.

Sound

Let’s just get right to the most important thing, when it comes to Sonos vs Bose, how do they sound? Well, to be honest, they sound a lot alike. The mids and highs are great on both of these soundbars.

Both Bose and Sonos have excellent bass response, though if you like a lot of bass, you may want to think about adding a subwoofer. Neither one of these soundbars is particularly over-the-top.

Now, the differences. The Bose soundbar is a little better, producing a surround-sound effect, while the Sonos soundbar is tuned by Oscar-winning sound engineers to enhance human voice and speech. Both of these soundbars are great and either one is better than your TV speakers. But keep these sound differences in mind when choosing. If you prefer, say, action movies, then Bose’s surround sound effects may be more appropriate. If you like dialogue-heavy movies or documentaries where voice is important, the Sonos may be a better way to go.

Design

As we said, all soundbars look very similar. Both have a sleek design that’s simple and modern. The Sonos is mostly black with a silver stripe with the logo across the bottom front, while the Bose is only black.

If you prefer a sleeker look that’s more likely to blend into all of your other sound equipment, the Bose is a better choice, but there are two caveats to that. One, the Bose soundbar is three inches longer than the Sonos, so if you have limited space, keep that in mind. The other is that the way these soundbars look doesn’t have anything to do with how they sound, so looks only matter as much as they matter to you.

Controls

One of the biggest differences between these two soundbars is that the Bose comes with a remote, which is exceptionally convenient. In addition to using this remote to control the soundbar, it also acts as a universal remote that can control your TV.

The Sonos soundbar does not come with its own remote, but you can usually program your TV remote to control it. This is also exceptionally convenient since you don’t have to add a new remote to your arsenal. So, there’s an upside to either one of these soundbars.

Now, all that said, you don’t have to use a remote to control either one of these soundbars. They are also both equipped with voice control and each has an app that you can use, too. Ultimately, there aren’t that many differences between these two as far as controls are concerned – unless you have a strong feeling about using remote controls.

Extras

Both of these soundbars work with Alexa. The Bose soundbar has Alexa built-in, while the Sonos pairs with Alexa devices. If you already have an Alexa device, this shouldn’t really affect your decision. But if you don’t have one, you will need to get one if you want to use it to control the Sonos.

The Bose soundbar pairs to other Bose speakers, and the Sonos soundbars pair to other Sonos speakers. So, if you already have a Bose or Sonos speaker, keep that in mind when choosing a soundbar.

Both of these speakers connect to wifi, but only the Bose is Bluetooth enabled. This makes it really easy to play music directly from your smartphone. Depending on what you want to use your speaker bar for, this might be the only significant difference you need to consider.

Which Is Better?

Both of these soundbars are awesome, but we think the Bose has a slight edge, if only because it is Bluetooth enabled. It’s also slightly better at emulating surround sound.

That said, the Sonos is a great product, too, and definitely worth the investment. When it comes down to it, the biggest thing that should influence your decision is whether or not you have any other sound equipment in your home. Both the Sonos and Bose soundbars pair to other speakers of the same brand, a feature that only works with compatible equipment.

Source of featured image: canva.com

A passion for writing and ongoing research projects gives Catherine an incredibly broad knowledge of all things. She has authored an incredible number of articles and can be found in the wilderness when not attached to technology or listening to podcasts.

This post was last updated on 2024-03-28 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.


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