The Bose Smart Soundbar 600 ($499) packs impressive technology into a compact design. Notably, it adds height channels to the standard left-center-right driver arrangement, creating a large sound field with excellent spatial audio imaging. It also features Amazon's Alexa voice assistant and Apple AirPlay 2 and Google Cast. Without a subwoofer, however, the soundbar's audio balance is skewed toward the high-mids and highs. This makes dialogue easy to understand at the expense of bass response. While the Sonos Beam ($449) also doesn't have powerful bass and lacks height channels, it has many of the same features, costs less, and offers a more balanced sound signature.Compact Design The Smart Soundbar 600 is fairly small, measuring 2.2 by 27.3 by 4.1 inches (HWD) and weighing 6.9 pounds. Those are approximately the same dimensions as the Sonos Beam (2.7 by 25.7 by 4.0 inches). It’s short enough that you should easily be able to fit it comfortably in front of all but the lowest-sittin...
The Bose Smart Soundbar 600 is a small and feature-packed speaker that features upward-firing drivers for height-based spatial audio, but its highs can be cutting and its bass response is often too thin.
Wide sound field with strong height imaging; Crisp highs make dialogue pop; Amazon Alexa, Apple AirPlay 2, and Google Cast support
Highs can sound harsh; Weak bass output