Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Bose Home Speaker 500: Smart Bluetooth Speaker with Alexa Voice Control Built-in, Silver

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2022

This speaker is absolutely stunning to the eye, elegant classy build quality is top tier. It screams BOSE. Not only is it a beautiful speaker. The sound from such a small speaker with the that Bose signature sound will make you step back and say “wow”. I promise it.

Now let’s get to features. I had no issues with setup. It was a breeze, Alexa works wonderful. It’s a little disheartening that Apple Music isn’t supported but I tell you. I forgot about that within a day using the Airplay2 feature. I have this hooked to my Apple TV. Being able to control everything from my phone with the Apple Home kit truly gives this speaker much more freedom and range. The Bose apps doesn’t give any issues although I’ve learn to live Airplay as my primary music source. My only wish if Bose makes a new version of this speaker is to have dim soft lighting for the touchpad on the top. Just to make it easier to see in a dark room. I understand this speaker came out a few years back so I’m hoping that will be integrated in the future.

7 people found this helpful

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CLD

Highly Recommend the Bose Smart Speaker 500!

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2023

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

We’ve used our new speaker now for about 3 weeks and couldn’t be happier.

The sound is, of course, sublime. If you’re a classical music lover like me, the bass comes in loud and rich. We have a fairly large living room - the speaker has no trouble filling it with sound. We can also hear it well from our kitchen/dining room is is the next room over.

Functionality is also exactly what we need. We haven’t tried pairing it with our Sound Bar 500, but, we don’t need to. It did take some time to figure out setting up Amazon Alexa. But a quick phone call to Bose support fixed that quick.

Which, by the way, I was very impressed with Bose Support. I spoke with a gentleman based in London and he was very helpful.

Here’s a tip - if you’re having trouble setting up Alexa and getting stuck on linking Alexa with Bose SoundTouch - there’s a linking option *without Bose SoundTouch* you can try. If not, call Bose Support for quick help.

Looks - we got the silver which really compliments the interior decor and style we have. Looks great with everything else in the living room.

It’s pricey, but so far, well worth the price. I’ve had an older Bose iPod dock for 13 years now. As long as this Smart Speaker 500 is made as well as their iPod dock, I trust it’ll stand the test of time.

This is the first smart speaker we’ve owned. But we lived with someone who had an Amazon Echo Studio - I’d take the Bose Smart Speaker 500 over the Amazon Echo Studio.

I would highly recommend the Bose Speaker 500!

7 people found this helpful

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Margeaux

A breeze to set up and flawless performance

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

Sublimely easy to set up. Each unit required an update and that happened quickly, and then we were up and running. I bought two Bose Home 500s to pair in my tiny house and that works great. Previously I tried Apple’s smart speakers. They kept dropping off the WiFi network and I forget if they weren’t meant to pair, except to create a stereo sound system, or they could pair but just were awful at it. Regardless I had to reset one twice daily. They went back. Next I tried a Tivoli all-in-one smart unit. I tried several ways to connect it to wi-do and never succeeded. Meanwhile though I heard what over the air FM sounded like from the unit. Found it highly dissatisfactory and returned the unit as fast as I could get it out the door. I previously used an old Bose Wave and a Tivoli Radio One for my sound system plus a portable UE Bluetooth speaker. These two Home 500s do all they could and more. The sound quality is superb. They’re space efficient and look great. Most of all they are working flawlessly and are easy to operate. Can’t ask for more than that. I should add, I’m using them with an iPhone.

3 people found this helpful

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L&M

Pretty impressive quality in stereo BETTER than any competitors at similar price!

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2023

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

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This review is after 3 months of heavy use…Clear amazing audio with no perceptible distortion (but make sure your source is full hi-fi) PANDORA free version sounds way better than any other provider. Bass and treble are well balanced.
To enjoy the full experience make sure your source is not compressed-as I mentioned before Pandora - is the best with not compromised dynamic nor compressed quality audio at all.
In regards of the voice recognition (Alexa) needs you practice often, so she learn from your voice and commands. After a few weeks of practice it gets better and better, even if you set it in multiple languages…
I ended up buying 2 speakers trying to have full stereo L+R separation experience but it’s not possible per Bose tech support. Anyway the quality you listen pay off your investment. Great value for the money.
Note: I tried 2 Sonos in stereo configuration but they are not even close in regards of audio quality!
Bose Smart 500 speakers provides Full sound that will fills your room with free hands capabilities. Extremely pleased and notice that the screen allows you to see your favorite artist, song’s name and much more, etc.
I recommend it to my coworkers, friends and family!

9 people found this helpful

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Jessica McNamara

Rarely works

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

This will ONLY work with an iPhone or tablet. You can’t just listen to the radio or anything. And when it’s using your phone, you can’t do anything else with the phone. Also, it is very difficult to switch between other phones, once one is connected, forget about it connecting to anyone else’s phone (say a friend comes over and wants to show you a playlist they made). That did happen to me. I had to “forget” the device so they could connect. Now I cannot re-connect my phone. I’ve read multiple forums to no avail and of course Bose has no info or customer service. You’d think a company that charges so much for its products would be able to do a little trouble shooting but nope, not this greedy low quality corporation. Sure, the sound is great, but if you can’t use it… then you have no sound. I will never buy another Bose product.

One person found this helpful

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steve nomes

Great Sounding Speaker - Bose Music app needs work depending on your streaming service.

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

First off i would like to say, i own the Bose 500 and 300 speakers. They sound very good for their size and the 500 can definitely fill a living room with sound. Base is good and everything sounds very clear. If you have other Bose products you know the sound, and wont be disappointed. The main downside with this speaker is not the sound but the accessibility of the bose music app. More on that in a moment

Sound - As mentioned this is one of the strongest features of the speaker. It is a quality sound and can get loud. i have it in my living room and never use at more than 50% volume so cannot comment on distortion but unless your going to be in a massive room i dont think you should need to turn it to the upper volume levels.

Appearance - This looks clean and minimal. It can easily sit on any table or shelf and is unobtrusive. The screen on it is a nice touch though its practicality is limited. The main thing for me is doubles as a clock so you can put it on a table next to the couch and be able to see the time at glance. While it does show the album art this is more a novelty than anything because its too small to really recognize much unless your close and unless you know the album art of every song you're better off just identifying it by listening. still its a nice touch.

Functionality - the speaker has 6 preset buttons on the top which can be set for any cpmaptiable service, whether it be a station, song mix etc. if you have something you always listen to, like a spotfiy daily mix, this is ideal to just walk over and select than have to pull your phone out all the time. It also has a mute button for the mic so you can turn that off if you arent keen on Bose music listening to everything you say. It is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant (not home). though note that google home is more limited functionality. This was added later via firmware update so its not like having a Nest audio. it will perform basic functions like timers, weather, music, calendar sync, but keep in mind that the speaker does not support YouTube Music. Even though they are owned by same company. The speaker also supports apple airplay but NOT chromecast. This is a major issue which i will talk about next depending on what music service you favor. Spotify connect works flawlessly and alexa cast is decent but tends to lose sync more than normal (its still not great even on echos).

Music Services - Bose Music app supports the following services: Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, Pandora, IHeart Radio, TuneIn, Sirius XM radio. Notably missing services are Youtube Music and Tidal. These services are accesed through the Bose Music App, which has limited functionality. The good news with the app is its easy to use multiple services at once. You can switch between any of them seamlessly at any point. The biggest issue is that some of these services have better support through the app than others. Deezer is bare bones and unless you already have all the playlists saved, it is difficult to use it for any type of music discovery. Also you have to have premium version or you only get 30 second previews of songs. Iheart radio is okay if you only use it for radio or shuffle but does not support on demand or podcasts at all. Despite iheart advertising as one of the best podcast services you cannot use them through bose music. If you want podcasts you have to listen through TuneIn or spotify connect. Pandora is also only radio so if you have pandora premium you are SOL. Its very basic implementation.

I would say that Spotify and Amazon music have the most support, while there is a weird quirk with amazon music that for some reason you cannot favorite songs on the app or through voice unless it is on a station. If you have spotify and want a great speaker to play it on, this is perfect as you can totally discount the bose music app and just use spotify connect. i actually think Bose Music implementation of amazon music is better than Amazons own app, but that isnt saying much. Finally, airplay is supported but NOT chromecast. This is a massive oversight considering how poorly implemented some of the other services are through the Bose app. I could look past the medicore bose music app if i could just cast those services through chromecast but alas its not possible. so if you are on Deezer, Iheart, Pandora you are out of luck unless you can deal with the bose music app.

Setup/Ease of Use - when the speaker first came out there were issues with connection and setup. It takes forever to download firmware updates. there are numerous reviews that talk about nightmare experiences trying to get your bose music account synced and setup with the speaker. however, they have made multiple patches and i think now its mostly fine. the grouping also used to be finicky and would not always connect to the second speaker, but again since the last few updates this seems to have resolved itself. the voice functionality works but obviously favors amazon music. im old school though and still prefer to run things off my device and much prefer the original music service apps than bose music half implementation. Sound is great and if you are on one of the better supported services, like spotify or amazon you got a winner here. Its also usually on sale for $100 off so can easily be had for cheaper than list price. the full price is not worth it.

65 people found this helpful

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Grammy in Lees Summit

Beautiful music in a small package!

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

My daughter had a Bose Speaker 500 and I knew the answer to our music needs were answered. I ordered the first Double Black 500 and followed the directions which seemed rather vague. Following the app instructions didn’t seem to help. Thinking it was a lemon, I ordered a Silver 500. Wonder of wonders, there was an instruction pamphlet that was not included in the first speaker. The instructions specified a different Bose app than I had downloaded and all of a sudden things fell into place. I waited for the Silver 500 Speaker to react when installation was complete and the Alexa voice came from the Black one. The one that I was sure was broken had completed installation! I decided to keep both and setup of the Silver 500 Speaker was a breeze. They are both wonderful, the sound is amazing a d we have music in portions of our home where we had no e previously. Having soft music playing is just too wonderful and soothing. I’d recommend the Bose 500 Speaker, both Silver and Double Black. If Installation is difficult, look online and be sure you have all the proper instructions. It is not hard to set up so if you are having trouble, you may be like my first delivery and not have all of the directions. I love mine - they’ve been playing all day and are a great substitute for the blaring television.

One person found this helpful

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Oma Jeannie

Awesome! Sound and quality

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2023

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

We gave this as a gift to our daughter. With the Bluetooth connectivity phones were no longer needed for docking and available to scroll for music but still in your reach for calls and contacts. They loved it.

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K. G. Collins

Easy Enough to Connect

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

…but not to Alexa. Had to use Google Assistant and switch to Deezer. Periodically, I get static on the speaker, but I think the issue may be my Internet (or the 20+ devices I have attached to my network). Will be buying a signal expander.

I bought 2 speakers. I returned one because it was defective. The defective one would not properly connect and it had a lot more static. Bose told me to rerun it rather than dealing with repair. I will replace it soon.

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Carl Sattler

Excellent sound, less excellent user interface

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2024

Color: SilverVerified Purchase

Overall it fills the room with rich music and the WiFi support, while a little tricky to configure, works quite well. One thing I find difficult to believe is that unless your app is out, you can't skip the song or like it. You can choose different presets and change the volume but you can't change the song and even in the app, that's fairly limited unless you connect traditionally e.g. Bluetooth, and open an app but that's not what I paid for.

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