Bose Smart Soundbar 900 review: Decent sound but pricey
Our Verdict
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 supports Atmos, has lots of features and produces skilful sound — though not as expert as you'd expect for the price.
For
- Slim and sleek design
- Automated room correction
- Alexa and Google Assistant built in
- Dolby Atmos support
- Good overall levels of sound for movies
Confronting
- Price
- Bass output is so-so
- Not so great for music listening
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 supports Atmos, has lots of features and produces skillful sound — though not as good every bit you'd await for the price.
Pros
- +
Slim and sleek design
- +
Automated room correction
- +
Alexa and Google Assistant congenital in
- +
Dolby Atmos support
- +
Good overall levels of sound for movies
Cons
- -
Price
- -
Bass output is and then-so
- -
Not so peachy for music listening
Bose Smart Soundbar 900: Specs
Price: $899
Colors: Black and arctic white
Ports: HDMI eARC; Optical input; Ethernet port; ADAPTiQ; Wired bass module (optional)
Speakers: Not specified
Smart Assistant: Alexa; Google Banana
Wireless: Wi-Fi; Bluetooth; AirPlay 2
Size: 41.fourteen x 4.21 x 2.29 inches
Weight: 12.68 pounds
With the Bose Smart Soundbar 900, Bose joins the Atmos political party. Information technology'south Bose's first soundbar to support the immersive surround sound engineering, putting it in direct competition with the Sonos Arc. Both offering multiroom audio, accept integrated voice assistants and can be expanded with wireless surrounds and a subwoofer. And both price a lot: $899.
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 separates itself with its pattern — information technology's smaller and more sleek than the Arc. But, while it sounds very skillful overall, it tin can't friction match the Arc when information technology comes to bass and virtual environs audio.
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Bose Smart Soundbar 900: Price and availability
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 was released in September 2021. It sells for $899 and y'all can buy information technology from Bose, Amazon, B&H and other retailers.
Bose Smart Soundbar 900 review: Design
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 is an elegant looking soundbar that takes minimalism to the extreme. At 41.xiv ten 4.21 x two.29 inches, it's smaller than the Sonos Arc, and its slim profile will work well if your Goggle box stand has a low clearance.
Bachelor in black or white, the soundbar has a drinking glass pinnacle and metallic grill that wraps around the front and sides. There's very little adornment on the unit. Besides the Bose logo on front, it has two touch-sensitive buttons, 1 to activate the vocalism banana and the other to mute the mic. The buttons are so subtle you won't detect them unless y'all wait pretty hard (they're on the top left). At that place's also a slim LED indicator only below the buttons. It glows different colors and in different patterns depending on the function you're using.
On the back, the Smart Soundbar 900 has i HDMI input and one optical digital audio input. It too supports Bluetooth and AirPlay two for wireless sources. It comes with Wi-Fi for a wireless connection to your network, or you can use the Ethernet port for a wired connection. There is also a connection for the Adaptiq microphone (used for automatic room correction), too every bit 3.5mm inputs labeled Bass and IR, for wired connections to those devices.
The Smart Soundbar 900 comes with a minor remote — something the Arc doesn't. Information technology can alter the input, suit the volume and admission presets. If you use HDMI ARC, yous can control the volume with your TV remote. For all other functions, you'll need to launch the Bose Music app.
Bose Smart Soundbar 900 review: Audio performance
The Smart Soundbar 900 sounds very adept, with broad and full audio, just it doesn't sound as expert as you'd expect at this toll. Dialogue is clear and like shooting fish in a barrel to empathise, and it does a good job at virtual surround sound and Atmos height furnishings — just not equally good every bit the Sonos Arc. And the bass is weak while watching movies and Tv set — something I never thought I'd say about typically bass-heavy Bose speakers.
While watching "Foundation," debates between Brother Day and Brother Dusk sounded clear and resonant, though explosions lacked tactile feel because of the limited bass the unit put out. When Thor arrives in Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity State of war, the virtual surroundings sound helped information technology experience similar his axe was moving through the room; but the effect was more pronounced when using the Arc to sentry the scene. And when Thor brings the lightning down on the Outriders, the soundbar didn't produce a satisfying rumble.
The Smart Soundbar 900's Atmos operation was skilful, simply not dandy. When watching an Atmos demo video, rain sounded equally if it was coming down from the ceiling, but the effect was easier to detect when using the Arc.
While the soundbar lacked enough bass when watching movies, it didn't accept that problem with music — it had besides much bass and the depression-end frequencies it produced were a little muddy and lacking definition. On Billie Eilish'south "Therefore I Am," the bass rumbled the floor and her phonation sounded full — though the bass was so dominant it was sometimes hard to hear her vocalism. Similarly, the bass on The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" boomed, simply too overwhelmed the other instruments and vocals.
The Smart Soundbar 900 gets plenty loud to fill a large room. It measured over 95 decibels at full volume, though at that level the sound was too abrupt and a footling distorted.
Bose Smart Soundbar 900 review: Smart features
You tin choose either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant equally your voice assistant on the Smart Soundbar 900 (you can switch your choice in the app). With either, y'all can adjust the book, play music from linked services and control your other smart devices.
The Smart Soundbar 900 was responsive to my requests, whether they involved the functions of the soundbar itself, playing content or switching on smart plugs.
Bose Smart Soundbar 900: Setup
The Smart Soundbar 900 is piece of cake to fix. First, connect it to your TV by HDMI or optical digital. And so launch the Bose Music app and follow the prompts. You'll need a Bose Music account to use the app.
The soundbar comes with an Adaptiq headset for automatic room correction. Don't worry about how silly you feel wearing the headset — it'south worth the effort. Y'all sit at five dissimilar locations in the room as the speaker sends sounds out. That allows it to optimize the speaker levels for your room.
Beyond automatic room correction, you have a lot of manual control over levels in the app. You can boost dialog, or increase the centre speaker book if y'all demand fifty-fifty louder voices. Yous can also accommodate the summit speaker level.
The Smart Soundbar 900 doesn't have whatever other sound modes, but yous can increase or lower bass and treble levels.
You tin expand the Smart Soundbar 900 past connecting wireless surrounds ($349) and a wireless subwoofer ($449 or $799). You tin likewise link other Bose speakers in your house for multiroom sound. One handy thing the Bose Music app lets you practise that Sonos doesn't: you can link any Bluetooth speaker to your Bose network and have reward of its multiroom audio without ownership Bose products.
Bose Smart Soundbar 900 review: Verdict
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 is a very practiced soundbar overall. With support for Atmos, multiroom capabilities and plenty of other features, it has every feature you want in a high-end soundbar. But the sound quality can't match that of another $899 soundbar: the Sonos Arc.
It does accept some advantages of the Arc. It's smaller than the Arc and it has a more elegant look.
If you aren't wedded to the Bose ecosystem and sound quality matters most to you, the Arc is the better choice. If you've got other Bose speakers, it would make sense to stick with a Bose soundbar.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/bose-smart-soundbar-900
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