I have been searching a compact soundbar for my living room. The Bose TV Speaker (2020 model) and Sonos Beam (2018 model) are my final contenders.
Size and Build
Bose 23.5 w x 2.2 h x 4.1 d. Sonos 25.6 w x 2.6 h x 4.0 d. Height is an important factor here considering lots of TVs have very low bottom clearance. For example, LG OLED is only 1.5 inches. Build quality on both soundbars is solid. I personally like the Bose better because it has metal grills instead of cloth on Sonos.
Sound
rtings.com's technical review is spot on. I'm not going to have an in-deep review here, but just to point out a few things I found that are important.
The sound profiles are very similar. Sonos has a little bit wider stage and able to fill the room with music better thanks to its extra side speakers. It's also more neutral sounding. Bose has a noticeable clearer dialogue. They both have a dialogue enhance feature, but I find the result is poor. For Bose, it makes the dialogue harsh and hurts my ears. For the bass, Sonos uses a passive radiator design while Bose uses a ported design. Both are quite good for a soundbar. Sonos has a TruePlay feature that can tune the sound to sound better in the room. I didn't find any improvement in my room. So don't think that can improve the sound dramatically. The last thing I want to point out is that both soundbars have poor instrument separation. Even though Sonos has a wider stage, all sound sources are diffused. Bose has a tiny little bit better separation. I would not recommend using these for serious music listening.
Connectivity
Sonos supports HDMI, optical, and WiFi. It's also a smart speaker that you can use Google or Alexa assistant. If you want to expand Sonos to a 5.1 setup later, you can only choose Sonos products.
Bose supports HDMI, optical, 3.5mm aux, and Bluetooth. It also has a sub out which can be connected to any powered sub.
Sonos does not come with a remote, you need to use the Sonos app. However, it can be set up to use your tv remote to control the volume. Bose has a little remote to control all of its features.
Conclusion
I chose Bose because it's $150 cheaper, better looking, sounds almost as good, much more versatile connectivity. I don't need smart home assistant integration.
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