Bose Home Speaker 500

I am a long time Bose consumer (at least for my lifetime)...the Bose sound/speakers is always impressive, but moving into the digital realm, from experience, they can't seem to get the software portion hammered out. After a year of fighting with their tech support on the forums, specifically over SiriusXM failures, I sold most of my Bose SoundTouch speakers, moving to a competitor. I received some incentives to purchase this particular speaker, and the Black Friday discount finally pushed me over the edge. FYI, I am not interested in Alexa or some of the other "smart" features, only the sound quality and playing SiriusXM stations. I have been curious about these speakers since they were released due to their internal speaker positioning, and I have to admit - the sound is phenomenal. That said, the best sound I've ever heard is from the Apple HomePod (with Bose a close second), but the volume isn't there on the HomePod; the Bose 500 has the volume and room filling, high quality sound. I wish the highs were a little clearer and crisper (the SoundTouch 20 handles those better IMO), but that's a very small quibble, as you can adjust the bass/treble via the Bose Music app. Frankly, I was blown away when I first turned it on last night - this one speaker could replace three others in my living room/kitchen open area alone. I played SiriusXM stations, and connected via AirPlay from my iPhone and Mac - works beautifully, very impressed. But, knowing the instability of Bose software as I do, I fully expect something to go awry, and I expect a painful and prolonged resolution, if any. That alone prevents any further from investment in additional Home series speakers. If Bose gets their software into a solid, consistent state, that will change, but not until that day comes, if ever.

I bought this on Sunday and ever since mesemrized by the sound and the voice assistant capabilities. I would have preferred Google Assistant, but it did not get installed. Alexa got installed however. What a sound, depth, clarity...I kept it in a corner, near the wall for the maximum effect.

Sound of the 500 speaker is very good as expected.The real let down is it doesn't integrate fully with Echo products. I bought 3 Echo Dot 3rd generation to supplement the Bose 500 and they all link seamlessly to each other, but not to the Bose 500.I'm sure the day will come that I'm glad I bought the Bose 500, but my feelings are a bit mixed at this time. I have 7 SoundTouch systems and find them far easier to use, plus there are higher performing systems in that product line.i wait for the day when the Smart speaker line has systems like SoundTouch 30

I can't connect my music library from my computer my cloud nor my cell phone via Wi-Fi, even so is a smart speaker is no capable of casting my music, is capable of using google assistant but it will not play from google music nor you tube music via Wi-Fi, on Bluetooth connection the album covers will not show on screens very happy with the sound but not happy that the old sound touch app will let you connect your music library via wi-fi and with the new generation speakers with the new app Bose Music is no possible. Please update this new app to be able to get access to music library of at least be able to cast from a cell phone.

I bought this almost a week ago and since the moment I got it, it's been more and more disappointing. First, I find out that while it does have Google Assistant, it does not yet support Google Music Play. I could only do so through Bluetooth and I might as well use one of my other Bose speakers if I'm going to be using Bluetooth. I found a work around using my Google Mini, but when I do, it only stays connected for a short period and then won't reconnect at all. I tested the Google Mini and it stays connected to anything else with no problem, which shows that it has to be the Bose speaker. And to get it to reconnect, you have to unplug the Bose Speaker and then set the Bluetooth connection up again. I really wanted to like this and was trying to convince myself to keep it, but it's just not worth it with it not having all the functions that I bought it for, on sale or not.

Returned because I could not play any of my music I have on apple can’t imagine a leader like Bose passing on having a way to access my iPhone

The sound is decent but the bass is somewhat lacking. Soundtouch 30 has better bass.. I'm having issues with the voice command and set-up. Initially the set-up seemed straight forward. I started with Alexa assistant. When I ask Alexa to play a musical group or song, it just started advertising for premium service. I then installed Google but same thing started to happen. I called Bose and spent almost an hour explaining but the gentleman seemed clueless. Very frustrating. He said he would arrange a call back in 48 hours.... Oh great, they will call when I'm at work and I can't talk. I called back a few minutes later to see if another person could help me but again no such luck. So now I'm waiting. Its simple, when I ask Alexa (or Google) play the Beatles, I want to hear the Beatles and not some advertisement saying I must upgrade to a premium service. Hey my phone can do it but Bose speaker can't. Smart speaker? BTW you can't get Alexa play a preset. You have to use your phone or walk over to the speaker. Smart speaker?

I switched from an Amazon Echo to this because it boasted an excellent microphone that would pick up commands even in a noisy room. This is not the case - my old Echo performed better than this. In addition, the sound when I'm playing music is not as good as I'd expect from a BOSE speaker - it sounds muddled. I do like the screen which displays the time or the album cover or station that is playing depending on what I'm listening to.