Very Happy with this Purchase - Excellent Streaming Speaker
For the past few years, I've been listening to music on Amazon Echo speakers, which I had synced in various rooms throughout my house. Because I had been listening to music more and more, when my family and I decided to move, I wanted to upgrade my speakers. I originally was set on getting a pair of the KEF LSX. Though I've never heard them, after all my research, I am sure they are amazing speakers. I also wanted to get some other less expensive speakers (at least compared to the LSX) for other parts of the house that I could sync to (using Air Play 2). I tested out a lot of options in this price range (and even a bit more expensive, like the Sonos Play 5). When we were in the process of moving, I decided on and ordered a Home Speaker 500. After using it for a day, I was so impressed by this speaker that I decided to forego the KEF LSX and just use the Bose throughout the house, so I ordered two more. So, for about the price of on set of LSX, I now have awesome speakers throughout my house. I'm sure I sacrificed sound quality by not getting the LSX (and I definitely sacrificed getting stereo sound on a wide soundstage), but, honestly, I love the sound of the Home Speaker 500, so I don't think I need anything that is 'audiophile' grade. What I Love Most: -The sound is full and rich. I don't know how to describe it otherwise, but everything I listen to sounds fantastic. -The speakers can also get really loud without any discernible distortion. I haven't pushed them to their full volume as they are quite loud enough even at 50% or 60%, and the sound really does fill the room (and the next room!). -The look & overall build quality. They are really handsome speakers with a substantial size without being too bulky. I also appreciate the aluminum finish much more than I expected I would. The aluminum also gives the speaker a really nice heft to it. Nothing about this speaker feels or looks cheap to me (which is partly why it's not a cheap speaker, obviously). -The screen. I have read reviews that criticize the screen as not useful and not in line with the current aesthetic for speakers. But, honestly, I listen to a lot of playlists on Spotify, and it's nice to be able to see what's playing. And, even when I'm playing stuff I know, I like seeing the album art. -EQ adjustments in the Bose app. You can change treble and bass on a pretty wide range (-100 to 100, with 0 being default). When we first moved in, we didn't have any rugs down, so the sound was way too bright. A small adjustment in the EQ made a huge difference. Now that we have some rugs down, I've adjusted the EQ again back towards the default, and they continue to sound great. Even though these speakers don't self-tune like some of the other speakers in this class (Sonos, Apple, and Google all do to some extent), the tuning you can do as a user I think will make these speakers work for you in any space. And, the speaker does have a host of microphones, so self-tuning is always something Bose could add in the future. (Minor) Complaints -The way groups work is a little different than with Amazon's Echo ecosystem. Instead of creating groups ahead of time, you have to go into the Bose app to create groups ad hoc. So, you can't ask Alexa to play music on a particular group of these Bose speakers. Instead, you have to get music started on one speaker and then create the group you want in the Bose app. Once it's set up and is playing continuously, any music command given to Alexa continues to play on that group. If you stop playing music, the group eventually dissolves. The positive to this is that you can also edit groups (add and remove speakers) on the fly without really interrupting the music. With the Echo ecosystem, I don't think this was possible (except possibly if you were using Spotify Connect with your Echo groups). -The app and software can be a bit buggy. It always does what I want it to -- eventually. And it doesn't take long to do what I want it to do. But it also doesn't always work the first time (such as creating or editing a group). Also, album art sometimes disappears, replaced by a generic, white musical note. I will say that the more I have used my speakers, the less buggy the system tends to be. Maybe I'm just becoming more proficient at navigating the software's quirks, or maybe Bose is making some updates to the speakers that I am not aware of. -Bose used two side-firing drivers in this speaker, which is supposed to give a wider soundstage for stereo sound. I don't really hear much stereo in these speakers, even with songs that have a lot of it (such as "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service). That said, the side-firing speakers do create a more room-filling sound as Bose claims. And, really, similar to the Echo, the sound quality doesn't change a lot no matter where you are in relationship to the speaker (though the little stereo you might get straight on gets lost completely if you are not more or less straight on to the front or back of the speaker). All in all, I absolutely recommend this speaker. It's a bit on the pricier side compared to some of the other speakers it gets compared to (but not all), but, for what I was looking for, I'm really quite satisfied. Read more
