As soundbars become more and more popular for cinematic home audio, it's also true that the marketplace becomes more competitive. This bar joins the likes of the Samsung HW-Q950A and the pricey but impressive Sennheiser Ambeo – plus various offerings from Sonos. But which to choose?
Bose has long been admired as one of the best brands for home audio, but it's a trickier space than ever, so we put Bose's latest offering through its paces to see if it's really worth your cash.
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Bose Smart Soundbar 900 review: summary
Finally, there's a Dolby Atmos soundbar from Bose — the Bose Smart Soundbar 900. It's an elegant, glass-topped soundbar with bags of features and a wonderful, well-rounded sound.
The Smart Soundbar 900 is a sleek and fantastically well-designed soundbar with lots going for it and a distinctive new look. Bose has ditched the fabric soundbar frontage in favour of a subtle metal grille and for our money, it's one of the best-looking soundbars out there at the moment.
So, how does it compare to competitors in terms of price? The Sonos Arc is one of the key competitors in the marketplace and it's currently sold by Sonos at £899. They're directly comparable as the Arc is Sonos' first Dolby Atmos soundbar and similarly uses both front and up-firing speakers to create an enveloping bubble of sound.
In many ways, it's neck-and-neck between the two, but the Sonos Arc makes a couple of marginal wins when presenting cinematic sound for films, partly thanks to its extra four drivers. Also, it's worth noting that there are more options as regards supplementary speakers from Sonos. So if you're looking to start a larger surround-sound setup, the Arc may be preferred. For more on the performance of the Sonos, take a look at our full Sonos Arc review, in which it bagged an impressive five-star rating.
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 outperforms its younger sibling, the Bose Smart Soundbar 700, but feels like a solid iterative upgrade rather than a revolutionary change. That said, the addition of Dolby Atmos is notable.
We thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent testing out the Soundbar 900. However, there are one or two minor drawbacks. Read on for a full summary of our testing and thoughts on the latest Bose soundbar.
Price: £899.95
Pros:
- Great sound quality
- Looks great
- Dolby Atmos
Cons:
- Is it better than Sonos Arc?
- Expensive
Key features:
- Dolby Atmos
- eARC connectivity
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
- Voice controls
- TrueSpace technology
What is Bose Smart Soundbar 900?
The Bose Smart Soundbar 900 is the first-ever Dolby Atmos soundbar from Bose.
Dolby Atmos technology first appeared in cinemas in 2012 and now represents the cutting edge of home audio tech. Essentially, Dolby Atmos is an audio format that creates a sound bubble, using one or several speakers.
Dolby described the technology as follows: "From music and movies to podcasters and game developers, Dolby Atmos allows creatives everywhere to place each sound exactly where they want it to go, creating a more realistic and immersive audio experience."
This soundbar also packs TrueSpace technology, which helps to give a spatial element to non-Dolby-Atmos tuned audio too.
