Bose Soundbar 500 Vs 700 Which Is Better?

By having this Bose Soundbar 500 vs Bose Smart Soundbar 700, we are putting the two heavyweight soundbars from Bose in the right and letting them fight it out to the death, kind of like the final fight in the Kumite from the awesome movie, Bloodsport which still does not have a 4K or even a proper Blu-Ray release! Anyway, to get back on topic, what we are looking at today is the best of the best (another awesome martial arts movie by the way) of what Bose has to offer in terms of their soundbars. While these are rather expensive, we do have many other soundbar guides such as The 6 Best Soundbars Under $300 article, which looks at soundbars that are lower on the pricing spectrum compared to what we are looking at today.

The Price

We all know that one of the first things that people look at when they buy anything is the price tag. I do have to say that both of these are what I would class as expensive soundbars. These are like the Ferrari of soundbars and if you feel that you have clicked on the wrong article, do not worry as we do have a fantastic Best Compact Soundbars Under $200 that are great for TV article, that looks at some of the more affordable soundbars that are on the market.

Bose Smart Soundbar 500: Believe it or not the Bose Smart Soundbar 500 is actually quite hard to come across now as the 700 replaced this. This if you can find it brand new is probably going to cost you in the 500 bucks range which is certainly no small chunk of change. However, if you do shop around, on places like eBay, you can find this for anywhere in the range of 300 to 450 bucks, maybe even less if you get really lucky. I have noticed that there seems to be a pretty big market for refurbished ones so that might be something to look for.

Bose Smart Soundbar 700: What we have here with the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is the elite when it comes to Bose soundbars. The brand new asking price for this is currently £799.99. I know that the price is high, but from Bose, this is as good as it gets! I would actually even say that the asking price for this is not that bad at all when you take into consideration what this can do. I do also want to say that if you shop around on eBay, you can find this a bit cheaper. I am not just talking about used or refurbished ones too, as of me writing this there is a store on eBay selling this for 650 Bucks! which is an absolute steal… all be it a still expensive steal, but you know what I mean!

The Verdict: There is no doubt that neither of these are cheap, but the fact of the matter is the 700 is a few hundred bucks more expensive than the 500. While that would normally mean it was a slam dunk for the 500. I have to say that the 700 is giving you excellent value for money and if you can shop around and get the price closer to the 600 than 800 dollars mark, the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is the clear winner.

The Design

I am having a hard time thinking of another company that makes cooler looking soundbars than Bose. If you have a cool TV, you want a cool soundbar under it. Even if you have purchased a cool projector from our, 4 Best Ultra Short Throw Projectors Under $100 article, you still want a soundbar that is going to make your movie room look that little bit cooler. Thankfully, both of these have some seriously cool style about them.

Bose Smart Soundbar 500: I am a huge fan of the way that the Bose Smart Soundbar 500 looks. The dimensions of this sleek SOB are, 31.5” x 1.75” x 4. I know that 31 inches is pretty long, but it is so sleek, it does not take over the whole area you have this. So, if you do have it under your TV, it will blend in really well, but at the same time when it does capture your eye, you will not mind one bit. This has that “Bose” look that all of their soundbars have.

The majority of the soundbar is made with black plastic which is to be expected. On the front and wrapping around the side, we have this very stylish metal grill that really does finish of the design very well. On the top of the soundbar are the two touch buttons that you can use to activate it and also mute the mic if you want. It has a very cool and high-end look about it and I do feel that when you look at this, you know you are dealing with something that is high-quality.

On the back of the Bose Smart Soundbar 500, you have all of your hookups. You have your power of course, but there is also an Optical and HDMI Arc for you to hook it up to your TV with as well. There is also an ethernet port and a micro-USB port that is used for updates and there is a port for a subwoofer too.

Bose Smart Soundbar 700: Cool is a phrase that is used a lot and heck, I use it as much as Lloyd and Harry from Dumb and Dumber do! However, there is no better word than “cool” to describe how the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 looks. This is a rather large soundbar coming in at 38.5” x 2.25” x 4.25”. At 38.5 inches long, you will certainly want to make sure that your TV unit is able to handle this beast. I actually like the long length of this thing as it makes it really stand out.

If you were to take a quick look at this, you would be sure that it was just the same as the 500, but bigger. However, that is not the case at all. To start with, Bose does offer this in white also. We though are sticking with the black design. What makes this really stand out is the top that is made from glass. This gives the soundbar a very classy and elegant kind of design. I would go as far as to say it is possibly the best-looking soundbar on the market. This glass is great, but it does require a bit of TLC, especially if you have kids as this loves fingerprints! The subwoofer still has that same stylish metal grill on the front and wrapping around the sides.

As far as the back of the soundbar goes, you have the same hookups that you get on the 500. So you have your HDMI Arc, Optical, subwoofer input, ethernet cable, and a handy micro-USB in case you need to do some kind of update on the soundbar.

The Verdict: We had a look at some other “higher-end” soundbars in our 4 Best Soundbars Under $600 guide. These were all great, but in terms of the design, I have to say that the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 leaves them all standing. It is such a great-looking soundbar. The thing is, while I am picking the 700 for this category. I still have to say that the 500 is a fine-looking soundbar too and any movie room or home theatre would be happy to have it in it.

The Sound:

At the end of the day, the most important aspect of a soundbar is the way that it sounds. If you want it for movies, TV shows, games, or even for streaming music from your phone. If you are dropping this much money on a soundbar, you need to know that the sound is going to be rocking.

Bose Smart Soundbar 500: The first positive thing I have to tell you about this is that the sound can be very loud and there is no distortion in any way. We watched Ready Player One with this and I was very impressed. Not only was the sound great when there were action-heavy scenes, but there is also a scene in a club that has guns going off, music playing and people talking all at the same time and it was all very clear. This is a 3.1 setup where you have a center speaker and a left and right also and the sound really does smack you right in the face.

Like many other soundbars, the Bose Smart Soundbar 500 is trying to offer as close to cinema sound as possible in the comfort of your own home. While I would not say it is full surround sound, I will say that this is able to truly fill the room with sound. One movie, in particular, I want to shout out is The Incredibles 2 which had phenomenal sound coming Even TV shows sound great with this, we watched the season premiere of The Flash with this and it was great!

While this is great for movies and TV shows, as this has Bluetooth, you can also use it as a speaker for your phone. I streamed some Iron Maiden from my Spotify account on my phone through this and was very impressed with the results!

Bose Smart Soundbar 700: There is a good reason why the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is the crown jewel in the Bose soundbar range. This thing is amazing, truly amazing! I watched The Matrix Trilogy on 4K through this and it was just like I was in the movie theatre. The way that this is able to fill the room with sound is something that is truly mind-blowing and I have to be honest and say that reading about it does not do the sound this produces justice!

Even though this has the same 3.1 setup as the 500, the larger size of this does give the sound that little bit more power which makes a big difference. I had the house to myself and watched, From Dusk Till Dawn at a very high volume and I was very impressed. It was loud when it needed to be, but the vocal clarity was just amazing. I really do not think there is anything that this could not do!

I do also want to mention the Bose Bass Module 700 which is designed to go along with this soundbar. This is an amazing subwoofer that will take this already amazing soundbar to the next level, but it costs nearly as much as the soundbar itself! Even without that though, the bass levels of this soundbar are great, which is very impressive when you consider that there is no subwoofer in here.

The Verdict: Look, the Bose Smart Soundbar 500 is great for a time it was the best soundbar that the good folks at Bose offered. But I have to say that the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 offers the better sound. Both are great, but I do not see any universe in where someone would say that the 500 is better. Is the 700 a couple of hundred bucks better? Well, at the end of the day that is all down to your budget.

The Remote Control

Both of these have good remotes, but spoiler alert here people, one of these soundbars has a remote that is so cool I thought it was going to let me control the world like the remote Adam Sandler had in the movie, Click. 

Bose Smart Soundbar 500: The remote that comes with the  Bose Smart Soundbar 500 is great, it really is. It gives you a lot of control over your soundbar and it does have a few different presets that are fun to flick between so you can find the perfect sound for whatever it is you are watching. If you use Alexa or Google Assistant, this remote can be used with both of those. There is also the Bose app which is awesome an absolute must if you have this soundbar as it gives you even more control.

Bose Smart Soundbar 700: The remote that this comes with is just insane. I have never seen a remote come with a device that is as cool as this. This button is like the remote of the future. What is really neat is that the buttons will light up depending on the option/preset you are using so you do not press the wrong buttons by accident. It is awesome, it really is. Like the 500, you can use this with Google Assistant and Alexa if that is your jam. Also, you can use this with the Bose app too, but it is not as necessary here as you pretty much have full control of the soundbar with the remote.

The Verdict: Look, the Bose Smart Soundbar has a great remote and a remote that I do not have any issues with at all. But, the remote that comes with the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is one of the best remote controls that I have ever used.

What Is In The Box?

Both of these are expensive so it is only natural that you would want to know what is in the box. Well, it is very similar with these so let’s take a look at what each one is offering you.

Bose Smart Soundbar 500: You get the soundbar and the power cable so that you can actually use it. This also comes with an HDMI cable and an optical cable too so this is ready to rock right out of the box. They give you a Bose ADAPTiQ headset too which can come in handy if you want to get really technical when it comes to setting up your soundbar.

Bose Smart Soundbar 700: Inside the box of the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 you of course get the soundbar and the power cable, but there are other goodies here too. You get both an HDMI and an optical cable and you also get the Bose ADAPTiQ headset which is more of a toy than anything else if you ask me. You also get a nice little cleaning cloth inside the box which is very handy for cleaning fingerprints off the glass top of this soundbar.

The Verdict: Apart from the cleaning cloth that comes with the 700, you are getting pretty much the same amount of value in terms of the content that is in each of these boxes. The fact they both come with an optical and an HDMI cable is very cool

What Is The Better Soundbar?

I want to start my summary by saying that the Bose Smart Soundbar 500 is truly an amazing soundbar. There is a good reason why this was the best soundbar that Bose offered for a while. The thing is, the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is one of the best soundbars that I have ever had the pleasure to use, and as I sit writing this I have one under my LG OLED65CXPUA Alexa Built-in CX 65-inch 4K Smart OLED TV and I have no plans at all to even look at replacing it any time soon. The big question you have to ask yourself is if you can swing the asking price of the 700. I think that the 500 is great, but if you can afford it or even if you are willing to save a little longer, the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 is the best soundbar.