Get Them Here:

Bose Smart Soundbar: https://amzn.to/4fBkb1P

Bose 600: https://amzn.to/3YZ9HlW

Sony Bravia 8: https://amzn.to/4eFJley

So this is the Bose Smart Soundbar now with AI, and just so that there isn’t any confusion, yes this soundbar is new for 2024 and its the successor to the Bose Smart Soundbar 600. Now I have always really like the Bose Smart Soundbar 300, and the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 was a solid upgrade that gave you much better instrument separation and true dolby atmospheres support thanks to the new upwards firing drivers. But now, but is getting into the habit of rebranding their old products, slapping AI on them and calling them all new. Nonetheless, today we’re going to check out the Bose Smart Soundbar, the 2024 version and we’re going to see if it worth upgrading if you already have the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 which is the soundbar that I have been using in my bed room for the last 2 years.

Now first off, both of these soundbars are fully self contained systems, as in they dont need an external subwoofer cause they produce their own bass. Now obviously, having an external sub woofer is always better cause this way you’re going to have a lot more bass and you’re going to get a more movie theater like experience. However, everyone might not have the room for an external subwoofer… or maybe you live in an apartment with thin walls and you don’t want to be that neighbor. So in this video we’re going to be testing these soundbars by themselves. And like I said, I like to use these types of soundbars in my room.

However, with both of these soundbars, you can always build them out by adding an external subwoofer and or you can add rear satellite speakers. But in this video we’re going to be using these soundbars by themselves and we’re going to be comparing them to the built in speakers found on the Sony Bravia 8 Tv. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these products up they’ll be linked down below or you can ways press on the YouTube shopping button.

So first theres the design of this soundbar. The new Bose Smart soundbar is identical to the 600. It has a length of 27 and a half inches, a width of 4 inches and it height of 2.2 inches and it weighs in at 7 pounds. It also has a mostly plastic body which does a great job of not causing any reflections, and when on a table, this sound bar is very low profile and it does a great job of just disappearing. But this soundbar is also a great option for wall mounting cause it very compact and light weight, plus it plugs in via an AC port and there is no external power brick that you have to worry about hiding. My only issue with the design of this soundbar is that it doesn’t come with a wall mounting kit, thats sold separately. But besides that, this is a very clean and subtle soundbar.

And when it comes to ports, everything is identical here. You can plug in an external subwoofer if you want and theres an optical port here if you need it. But more importantly, there’s a single HDMI port and you do get an HDMI cable in the box. Now given this soundbar’s price range… an HDMI in port isn’t super common, but I would have liked to at least seen an HDMI in port to help give you a reason to upgrade from the Smart Soundbar 600.

Now regarding wireless connectivity, this soundbar has Wifi and as long as youre connected to the same wifi network you can either airplay or Chrome cast to this soundbar… or you can also connect to this soundbar by using bluetooth, and if you want you can use this soundbar as a smart speaker. But personally I dont like using my soundbar as a sound speaker cause I dont want my content to be interrupted if someone says Alexa or hey google. Maybe they do it by accident, maybe they do it on purpose. And personally I dont like it from a privacy standpoint. Now you dont have to use a voice assistant with this soundbar, which is good. But you cant physically disconnect the mic like you can with lets say Sonos’s new Arc Ultra. And this would have been another upgrade that I would have liked to have seen going from the 600 to the 2024 version.

But the good thing here is, this soundbar is still using the same app as before. And personally I really like this app cause it is very clean and its very straight forward. And from here you can do things like toggle your voice enhancement, you can adjust your bass, treble and the height channel on this soundbar. However, something that I do need to to point out about Bose’s mid size soundbar is that lack of being able to manually calibrate your soundbar for your seating position. Now bose claims that their soundbar is always automatically calibrating itself for the best sound… but with a lot of other soundbars out there, they allow you to use your phone’s mic to calibrate your soundbar for your seating position. And this is something that you can also do with the Bose Ultra Smart soundbar. Except you have to use a wired mic. What I am trying to say here is, I think bose needs to work on their calibration process cause they are lagging here.

So basically, everything here has been identical between these two soundbars, and their speaker setups are identical as well. They both have a total of 4 speakers, 2 of which shoot out the sides and two shoot upwards. They have a single frontward firing tweeter and they have dual bass chambers with exhaust ports that shoot out the sides. So the hardware between these two soundbars is identical. The only difference here is that the new Bose Smart Soundbar is using AI for their dialog mode. And honestly, its not a huge difference. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Both of these soundbars are playing at 75% volume, they’re both using my preferred EQ settings and their both have their dialog modes turned on. And we’re also going to use the built in speakers found on the Sony Bravia 8, but those are going to be running at max volume.

Sound test

So like you may have just heard, since the Bravia 8 is a more premium tv, it has better sound. It uses its screen as a speaker, plus it has two built in tweeters and theres a built in sub as well. So as a result, the Bravia 8 gets very loud, voices are very well pronounced and this TV has a decent amount of bass that doesn’t bottom out thanks to its built in subwoofer. Where as if you were to go with a more entry level tv, then you’re most likely going to have a pair of downward firing speakers that bounce sound off of the table, they dont get all that loud and at higher volumes the bass bottoms out. But regardless, even if you have a more premium TV you’re still going to be better off upgrading to a soundbar for better bass and better openess.

Now the difference between the new Bose Smart Soundbar and the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 is just that its a light brighter than the Bose Smart Soundbar 600. And as a result, the vocals a little more promitnate. But the difference is extremely small and I doubt that an average person is going to be able to tell a difference or even care. And in general, the reason why I have always really like the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 is cause it has always done a great job of bring people’s voices out.

And when we went from the Bose Smart Soundbar 300 to the Bose Smart Soundbar 600… I said that it was worth upgrading cause the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 sounded a lot more open than the 300, people’s voices were more pronounced, and you now had true dolby atoms support thanks to the upwards firing driver. But now, if you have a 600, there is absolutely no reason to upgrade to the new 2024 version.

However, this doesn’t mean that the Bose Smart Soundbar for 2024 is bad. This soundbar is still a great option if you’re looking for something for your small or medium sized living room or bedroom cause this soundbar gets decently loud and it has a decent amount of bass all on its own, so you’re going to be able to feel whats happening on the screen. However, if you do planning on having a lot of people over with this soundbar, maybe to watch a big fight or if you’re having a little house party, dont be surprised if this soundbar is overpowered by your gusts talking.

But overall, the Bose Smart Soundbar for 2024 is a solid pick up if you’re looking for a soundbar. It gets decently loud, it has great instrument separation, and it has a decent amount of physicality in its bass. However, if you already have the 600, there is no reason to upgrade and you’re not missing out on anything. And personally, I dont like this trend from bose where they are just renaming things and slapping AI on them. I think the New Bose Smart Soundbar would have been awesome if it had a manual switch to disconnect your mic, an HDMI in port, or a pair of new center drivers to help give you a stronger center channel. Or Perhaps a passive radiator to help you with your bass.