Is Sonos Or Bose Better – Recommendations are selected individually by the editors. Purchases made through our links may earn us a commission.
So you’re ready to enter the world of Dolby Atmos, but you also have some limitations. You want something simple and elegant that doesn’t require cables running everywhere – and you want equally immersive, powerful and detailed sound.
Is Sonos Or Bose Better
A single piece Dolby Atmos soundbar from Sonos or Bose may be the perfect solution. Both the Sonos Arc and Bose Smart Soundbar 900 offer a delicious taste of cinematic brilliance in a compact package, with extras like smart assistant support, multi-room audio, and the ability to expand your system online. But which one is right for you? Below, we’ve compared these two sound pads in several categories so you can find the right choice.
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It’s easy. In a world of tight supply chains and limited chips, these two bars run a cool $900 (or less). Plus, you’ll rarely find one of these systems for sale, so this part is cut and dry, even hot.
Both bars offer a sleek, minimalist style on the front, but it has to be said right off the bat: Bose’s Smart Soundbar 900 looks great. Along with the impressively similar Bose Smart Soundbar 700, the 900 is one of the smartest soundbars we’ve found. For an Atmos bar, it’s pretty thin at just two inches long and less than 42 inches tall. A metal grille on the front meets a glossy glass plate on top for a low and sleek aesthetic. Like the Arc, it’s available in black or white, but be warned that white can distract from your setup.
As mentioned in our Smart Soundbar 900 review, the 900 falls short in some respects, most notably the on-board digital display, which is little more than a blinking white LED pattern. But it does offer a few controls to go along with a full app to control basic EQ, smart assistants, grouping with other Bose speakers, a multi-room sound system, and more.
You can also control the volume of the treble and center channels, and unlike Sonos systems, the 900 has a separate remote control. If you’re connected via the HDMI ARC/eARC input, you’ll use your TV’s remote control instead, but it’s a useful backup.
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The Sonos Arc is attractive even with its minimal design. It has a certain je ne sais qi and will look great on your TV stand, but at three inches high and 45 inches across, it’s more of a log than a bar. That sum pays off when it comes to performance, but if we’re judging by looks alone, the Arch outshines its rival here. Like a Bose bar, the visual interface only needs a colorful LED pattern to keep track of what’s going on.
As for controls, the Sonos app is more functional than the Bose, and it’s even easier to control the Arc with your TV remote for basics like power and volume. Both sound bars support voice command control via multiple smart assistants.
Overall, there are more similarities than differences, but with the edge of analog controls and a classier design, Bose’s Smart Soundbar 900 takes this round.
Boy, if you’re new to the world of Dolby Atmos soundbars, you’ve got a lot to explore with either of these options. With so many similarities, it’s easy to discuss what both bars have to offer before we get to the differences. Here are the similarities:
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As you can see, both offer plenty of options for network connectivity and streaming, and their respective apps have more compatible streaming services. As mentioned, the app offers easy control of audio settings, including speaker channel levels, which help create Dolby Atmos award-winning immersion. The apps let you control any wireless speakers from the Bose or Sonos ecosystems.
Both bars allow you to add and sync speakers throughout the home, or group them with your bar or add them as satellite speakers to create a complete surround setup. But here’s where things start to unravel a bit. While Sonos has a relatively wide range of speakers to pair with the bar, including IKEA’s Symphonic bookshelf speakers for affordable environments, Bose limits your options to surround speakers, which start at $349 a pair.
One feature of the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 that Sonos does not offer is Bluetooth connectivity. If you’re streaming with Spotify Connect or Airplay 2 (for Apple Music), this won’t affect you because Wi-Fi is the best way to stream for any audio quality. Plus, the Sonos app offers plenty of support for other services like Deezer, Tidal and Amazon Music, so most people shouldn’t be without Bluetooth, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Neither bar offers any additional HDMI inputs. Using expensive inputs, you’ll need to connect Blu-ray players, game consoles or other components directly to your TV, making them ideal for those who stream most of their content. Although anyone with a basic HDMI ARC input can stream Dolby Atmos, depending on how old your TV is, this may limit your ability to get uncompressed audio from these devices. You can learn more about these options in our HDMI eARC/ARC guide.
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Speaking of Blu-rays, the Sonos Arc soundbar offers basic decoding for DTS (up to 5.1), but the Bose bar doesn’t. If you have a lot of old media in 5.1 around the house, this may influence your decision, but since you can’t put physical media directly into the bar, your TV plays a role in compatibility. That means everything goes through the TV first, and depends in part on its audio support options (LG TVs made after 2020 won’t even broadcast in DTS, for example). Moreover, none of the bars support Dolby Atmos’ biggest rival, DTS:X.
It’s too close to call. The Arc offers more ways to sync with other speakers and more ways to stream your physical media, while the Bose Bar brings Bluetooth to the table and built-in optical connectivity. We call it another tie.
This means that the rubber has truly hit the road. There’s no doubt that the Bose bar is an impressive performer, especially since it’s smaller and has fewer drivers than the Sonos system. It delivers truly premium sound quality to the bar, delivering detail and volume that elevates everything from brass instruments to bullets to dialogue. It’s a quick upgrade from your TV speakers and many outdoor audio solutions.
The Smart Soundbar 900’s small dynamic drivers sometimes struggle to create powerful surround effects, but the system does an excellent job of spreading virtual effects around the room, creating surprisingly enveloping sound for its size. It’s with the help of a microphone headset that adjusts the sound to your room—the Sonos system requires an iOS device to do so.
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But in this article I will continue to refer to the 900s size. Simply put, it doesn’t sustain an arc for total power or sonic expansion. Meanwhile, the Arc also features rich, detailed audio for all your cinematic and music adventures, including Dolby Atmos music streaming via Amazon Music Unlimited. But with impressively powerful bass for a bar of its size and treble distinct from the bar’s dynamic drivers, it creates a convincing, immersive soundstage when receiving Dolby Atmos content.
While you can upgrade any bar with a subwoofer for a richer cinema experience, the bottom line is the Sonos Arc with extra drivers (four times bigger than a Bose bar), bigger bass and more impressive Dolby Atmos immersion. That’s why we named our favorite soundbar the Arc.
It is awarded by numbers, but there can only be one winner. Thanks to its edge in performance, the Sonos Arc takes the gold.
While both bars are excellent premium soundbar solutions, the Arc is the default choice for those looking to buy an all-in-one bar. It’s easy to use, integrates well with additional speakers (group or surround setup), has tons of great features, and a comprehensive app to control them. Best of all, it delivers the sonic punch you want from a bar, even without a wireless subwoofer.
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Meanwhile, Bose’s Smart Soundbar 900 is also a powerful system, offering many of the features listed above, as well as additional connectivity options and a sleek and stylish design that fits easily under your TV. The real downside is that it’s not nearly as cinematic or powerful without a subwoofer. While you’re writing, adding a subwoofer is much cheaper.
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