Bose Solo 5 Vs. Sonos Beam: Best TV Soundbar?

Looking for the best soundbar for your TV? Bose Solo 5 and Sonos Beam are two excellent options worth considering. One is an affordable soundbar that delivers outstanding audio, and the other is an excellent smart speaker that you can control with your voice.

I will tell you everything about the two soundbars here, from their size to audio quality. Also, I will talk about the ease of use, setup, connectivity, and everything else! By the end of this detailed comparison, you will know which soundbar is the better option for you!

Size And Weight

The best soundbar for you is the one that you can actually fit in front of your tv. If you can fit it below your TV that’s even better! The best soundbars are not ridiculously big or bulky, but they give you the audio of a speaker that’s much bigger than them.

When it comes to saving space, the Bose Solo 5 is by far the better option. It’s almost four inches shorter than the Sonos Beam, and nearly 3lbs lighter. It’s also thinner and narrower, so there’s a higher chance you might be able to fit it below your TV.

However, it is important to mention that the Beam has some controls on the body of the soundbar, so it makes sense that it’s a bit bigger. And the bigger body also means a louder speaker, so it’s going to fill up medium-sized rooms a bit better. Which brings me to my next point – it’s very important that you consider the size of the room versus the size of the soundbar.

Neither the Solo 5 nor the Beam are great for big living rooms. They’re not going to fill them up properly, and you just won’t get that amazing sound experience you can get if you just put the soundbar in a smaller room.

But if you are looking for a soundbar that you can fit in a bigger living room, I think the Sonos Beam is the better option for you. And not just because it has a bigger body – the Beam connects to other Sonos speakers seamlessly, and you actually have the option of getting it in a 5.1 surround sound set.

Even if you don’t want to splurge on the full system immediately, grab the Beam if you want to connect it to other speakers eventually. Or if you want to connect it to speakers that are in other rooms around your house, you can have that fully smart system that transitions from speaker to speaker depending on which room you are in.

Another thing worth noting here is that the Beam is also available in white. And while that doesn’t impact its performance at all, if you’re trying to achieve a cohesive aesthetic in your living room, it’s certainly important enough to mention.

Audio Quality

The Solo 5 and the Beam are very similar in terms of audio quality. In fact, they are so similar that just judging by the sound quality, I honestly couldn’t tell you which one to get. And they both sound a lot better than your existing TV, which is the whole point.

Also, both make it super easy to adjust bass. The Bose soundbar gives you a bass button on the remote control so you can turn it up or down as much as you want. With the Beam soundbar, you just have to open up the Sonos S2 app. It lets you adjust the bass, treble, balance, and volume of the soundbar, in just a couple of simple steps.

In addition to that, the Sonos app actually has a Speech Enhancement feature, which is absolutely perfect for watching movies and TV shows. How many times did you have to turn the volume up when the characters were speaking, only to practically mute your TV when the action exploded in the movie?

This feature automatically optimizes the volume for you, ensuring that you can focus on the movie without thinking about the volume and clarity. ‘

The Solo 5 also has dialogue mode, which enhances speech on programs that focus on talking. You turn it on by pressing the speech bubble on the remote control and that’s it.

However, bear in mind that this feature is great just for programs that focus on speech like the news and talk shows. It’s not really optimized for movies and it would make the quality of music and other effects worse.

Setup And Control

The best part about these two soundbars is that they are both ridiculously easy to set up. Just plug them into your TV and a power outlet and you’re all set!

Also, both soundbars have the option of being wall-mounted if that’s what you’re gunning for. The Solo 5 is even sold in a set with a wall mount, and it’s only $20 more expensive. The wall mount for the Beam, on the other hand, is sold separately and it costs a whopping $60, so it’s not the best idea if you’re trying to stick to a specific budget.

But there are cheaper third-party options available, and I would highly recommend those over the Sonos brand wall mounts. They do the same thing and they’re just as good; after all, Sonos is known for awesome sound quality and not for the design of their wall mounts.

Ease of use and control of the soundbars is where things start to get interesting. If you’re tech-savvy and like playing around with a bunch of different features, I think you will seriously love the Beam. But if you’re a simple user who just wants to be able to turn the soundbar on and off and adjust the volume when necessary, the Solo 5 is more than good enough for you.

The Bose soundbar is controlled with a universal remote control. It is possible to set it up so that you can control other devices with the same remote, which is quite convenient. But that’s only going to work with a handful of compatible devices, so don’t get your hopes up too high.

The Beam soundbar is controlled with the Sonos S2 app. It’s an awesome app that you can download on Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac devices, so you can control the soundbar from pretty much any device you want. And that beats a boring remote control every time of the Solo 5, at least for me!

On the other hand, if you’re getting the Beam for someone who isn’t that good with technology, they will likely find it confusing. The touch capacitive control buttons on the body are barely noticeable, and you don’t even have the option of an old-fashioned remote.

Connectivity

Both soundbars come with several different cables that let you connect them to different output sources. Obviously, you get cables for your TV, and with both, you also get cables that let you connect them to your console of choice.

With the Beam, you need to make sure that the HDMI-ARC cable is connected to the TV, and you can plug the other HDMI cable into the Xbox/PS. If that doesn’t work, try connecting the console and Sonos with an optical cable, and make sure that the console is set up as an output source in its audio settings. That should do the trick!

The Solo 5 also gives you a 3.5mm aux cable that you can use to play music. It’s easy to use with smartphones that have a headphone jack, but you can also make it work with an adapter if the phone doesn’t have a jack. This lets you stream music from YouTube and Spotify to the Solo 5 – pretty convenient considering that the soundbar doesn’t have built-in WiFi.

The Beam does have built-in WiFi, so it’s even easier to stream music to it. You can do it through the Sonos S2, meaning you can stream music from any Android or iOS device, and even from your Mac or PC. In terms of connectivity, the Beam definitely gives you more options thanks to the handy internet connection.

Smart Features

If you like feature-packed gadgets, the Sonos Beam is easily the better option for you. It has built-in Alexa and Google Assistant, which means you get a bunch of virtual assistant functionality from this soundbar.

You can control it with voice commands, tell it to switch input sources, and even play music from YouTube without so much as lifting your finger. It’s a great addition to any smart home, so don’t miss out on the fun!

The Beam’s assistant feature also allows you to set up alarms, check the news and you can even talk to Google Assistant like you do on the phone. You can play trivia games, ask it anything you want and even command it to tell you jokes. Pretty cool, right?

The Sonos soundbar doesn’t have built-in Siri, but it does support AirPlay so you will have no problems when streaming music from Apple devices.

Additionally, you can even use some TV specific commands if you own a compatible TV. You can tell the Beam to turn the TV on and off, to mute it and to turn the volume up or down. But that’s only if your TV supports CEC features and if you connect it to the soundbar with an HDMI-ARC cable.

The Bose Solo 5 soundbar doesn’t have any smart features. It’s a very simple gadget without all those bells and whistles, but that’s perfectly fine for the price.

Beam Exclusive: Built-In Microphones

The Beam soundbar supports voice commands, which means it has to have built-in microphones. There are five of them, and they can detect your voice from any direction in the room. Sonos claims that the Beam can hear you loud and clear even when the music is playing and that you don’t even have to shout.

Now, I’m not going to get into the whole thing of the virtual assistants listening to you at all times, but that is something you should bear in mind. And not just with the Beam soundbar, but with any virtual assistant you put in your home – even the one in your pocket right now.

If you don’t want to give Google, Amazon, or Apple the opportunity to collect even more of your data, it’s probably not the best idea to put what’s basically a spying device in your home. But one could argue that you’re already giving them all that data, so you might as well get a kickass soundbar in return.

Anyway, it’s just some food for thought. We’re sacrificing privacy for convenience on a daily basis, so it’s not like this is news. If you’d rather avoid having a gadget that is always alert and listening, you’re probably better off picking up the old-fashioned Solo 5 instead of the fancy Beam.

Pricing

The Bose Solo 5 soundbar is a great buy if you want something that’s not too expensive. At some $150, I dare say that this soundbar is pretty affordable, especially for the Bose sound quality you get. It’s an excellent speaker and for such a good price point, the lack of smart features is completely understandable.

Bose Solo 5 TV Soundbar Sound System with Universal Remote Control, Black

• Connector Type: Lightning
• Included Components: Bose Solo 5 TV sound system

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The Sonos Beam, on the other hand, is a pricey gadget. But considering it has built-in voice assistant and that you can control it from any device with an app, I think that’s perfectly fine. You’re getting more than just a good speaker, and if that’s exactly what you want then the higher price point is probably something you’re expecting.

Sonos Beam (Gen 1) - Black

• The Smart compact soundbar for your TV, music, and more.
• Play everything that matters to you with Beam. Control it with your voice, remote, the Sonos app, and more.

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But if you just want great audio and don’t care about all those extra features, then you might as well save some cash and go with the cheaper option. You’re still getting excellent audio playback, it’s just that you have to control the volume with a remote.