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There's no built-in voice assistant support, but you can use voice assistants from your paired smartphone, which is nice. Our team of audio experts spent weeks living with the 8 best home wireless speakers. We consulted an audio engineer to develop an exclusive testing plan, and then we proceeded to listen to a huge variety of music. Our teams tested these speakers side-by-side to evaluate sound quality, user-friendliness, maximum volume, quality of wireless connection, and how easily they integrate into a multi-speaker system. Whether you want a speaker for every room of your home or a single melodious machine for your main living area, our in-depth review will help you find the best wireless speaker for your needs and budget.
If it's smart features you're after, but at a lower price, consider the Sonos One. The Home Speaker 500 won't disappoint, but there's no denying the price is a bit high. It has a fairly neutral sound profile, so vocals and lead instruments are reproduced clearly and accurately. However, they may also sound a bit dark due to the underemphasized treble range. However, there are bass and treble adjustment features in the app to help you customize its sound more to your liking. If you're looking for a speaker with a more extended low-bass, consider the Denon Home 350.
Sony SRS XB21 Review
If you're looking for a voice-enabled home speaker, the Bose Home Speaker is a better choice. It offers fantastic voice assistant support with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in. It also has better directivity, resulting in a more spacious and open-sounding soundstage.
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.
However, should you be looking for a speaker to fill a living room with a high-quality auditory field, the Sony SRS-RA3000 offers a fantastic experience. Bose Home Speaker 450 is designed to deliver powerful stereo sound from a single speaker. The two drivers fire off the sound in opposite directions to bounce off the walls and create a soundstage from the entire room. No matter how loud you play the speaker, there is little to no distortion. The high-mids and highs are well balanced, delivering a sound signature that is clear and rich, while there is enough bass to pump some oomph.
What’s not so good about the Bose Home Speaker 500?
In 2013 Bose introduced its first multiroom system,SoundTouch, which grew to incorporate sound bars, a subwoofer, adaptors and tabletop speakers. It performed well and no doubt is still enjoyed by many Bose owners. Even so, the soundstage still feels remarkably wide, which makes for a truly room-filling sound – impressive, particularly when you consider it’s diminutive size.. You can store presets using the Bose app, although next year Bose says it will be updating the speaker to allow you to create presets using your voice.
It also has better directivity, resulting in a wider-sounding soundstage. The Bose Home Speaker 500 is a better speaker than the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II overall, though they have different strengths. The Home Speaker can play stereo content without downmixing it to mono.
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Despite its wide array of positives, the Sony SRS-RA3000 did have some downsides, the most glaring being its convoluted app system for controlling the speaker. The primary app, Sony Music Center, only controls basic speaker settings. Much of the Sony SRS-RA3000's other functions are only accessible via multiple third-party apps, each requiring separate apps. Furthermore, despite boasting an incredible audio experience, there were several instances when we noted the bass dominated the output overpowering some of the music's softer elements. Lastly, while the speaker filled the room excellently, our testing indicated that the sound had difficulty carrying over long distances.
Thus, our testing focuses on listening to a wide range of music on our speakers, one right after another, and judging those four qualities. All told, we found all of these speakers to sound good, and we honestly think most people would be pleased with even the lowest-scoring model. However, if you're willing to pay a little extra for one of the high-scoring models, you can get exceptional sound. The Bose Home Speaker 500 sounds great for its size, and the bass rattling can be forgiven because it only happened on one track and wasn't actually distortion. Regardless of how rich and crisp the drivers can sound, however, the wide stereo experience that Bose claims is not something we experienced in testing. If you don't need the smart speaker features, $400 can get you a more powerful wireless speaker, like the Marshall Woburn II Bluetooth or the JBL Boombox.
The speaker ships with a USB-C charging cable that connects to a wall adapter, and there's a charging cradle available for an additional $29. There is a Bluetooth button for pairing, and below all these, six preset buttons for assigning to various playlists or radio stations within the app. A seamless, anodized aluminum body gives elegance to the design and makes sure the speaker will blend in any home decor.
Yes, it's nice to see the audio source displayed along with album art, but there are other ways to do this that don't remind us of old-school iPod displays. If you want a cheaper option with Google Assistant integration and good sound, the Google Nest Audio is a great option. You can even pair two together to get stereo sound, or put multiple in different rooms to create a home ecosystem. It’s a good idea to know what you’re getting into when you’re buying a smart speaker, so here’s some of the most important things to know about the Bose Home Speaker 500. I wish the buttons gave a better indication when pressed, like a sound or an LED on the touch panel. The Home Speaker 500 has a touch panel for controls on the top of the speaker.
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