Bose Solo 5 Reviews: Is It Worth A Buy?

Sound quality when watching movies was pretty good. Dialogue even without the specific mode turned on was crisp and easily comprehensible. the Dialogue mode will be useful for anyone hard of hearing as it not only emphasizes spoken word but also decreases the bass to improve intelligibility.

Inside the Solo 5 are only two speakers that are both located towards the center of the speaker. There isn’t as much stereo separation as we would have liked and the soundstage is very narrow. It meant sound effects lacked directionality when watching films and you don’t get the enveloping audio that larger soundbars can provide.

If you find your television’s built-in speakers are a little quiet, you’ll be pleased to find the Bose Solo 5 can reach a loud enough volume to fill a medium-sized room easily. Listening to music, the Solo 5 performed well. Mids and trebles were nice and crisp but you might find you’ll want to dial the bass up from its factory setting as the lower frequency sounds lack presence otherwise. This was also the case when watching movies. You’ll want to turn up the bass to make movie explosions have more impact.

The Bose Solo 5 is mediocre for mixed usage. Its balanced mid-range can reproduce dialogue-heavy content like podcasts and TV shows clearly. However, its integrated subwoofer struggles to create a low bass, which can be disappointing for some music fans. It doesn’t support Dolby Atmos content, and it downmixes surround sound into stereo.

Overall the Bose Solo 5 is a simplistic soundbar that ultimately achieves its two main aims – to boost your TV’s sound and look good while doing so.

The problem is that it doesn’t add a great deal more to the experience outside of that. It has more talented competition, which might not match its dimensions and convenience, but blow it out of the water when it comes to performance.

If you’re looking for a dinky soundbar to add a touch of weight and clarity to a smaller TV in your house, you might want to take a look. For anything more substantial than that, you can do better elsewhere.

The Bose Solo 5 TV Sound system is an excellent soundbar for those looking to upgrade their TV speakers. While it may seem small at first glance, the size works in its favor as you can mount this under any diagonal of your television without worrying about blocking any ports or cables.

In addition, its simple design makes setting up and using this device very easy. All functions are controlled by an included remote control with minimal buttons- perfect for people who don’t want too many bells & whistles on their remotes.

The design of the Bose Solo 5 soundbar is elegant and straightforward with its matte black body. It can be mounted on the wall or placed on a table. The soundbar has an internal amplifier that provides precise audio performance with minimal distortion. It is a good choice for small living space and a limited budget.

The Solo 5 produced decent sound in our testing, but just not the kind of sound we would generally expect from a Bose speaker. It ended up scoring a 5 out of 10, which was just a bit below the average.

It was able to produce decently powerful bass considering its small size, but that bass often sounded muffled and indistinct, particularly in action movie scenes where explosions were going off and engines were roaring.

Its dynamic range was broad enough for loud noises to sound surprising and hushed dialogue to carry the requisite intrigue, but most of the models we tested had noticeable broader dynamic ranges. Overall it had good clarity, but the slightly cheaper Yamaha YAS-108 sounded a bit more crisp, which overall made for a more enjoyable listening experience.

The Solo 5 would definitely be a big upgrade from the built-in speakers on your TV, but models like the Yamaha YAS-108 and the Samsung HW-K450 provide better listening experiences in the same price range.

Given its sub-$200 price tag, we already went in with diminished expectations. But the Bose Solo 5 failed to stand tall on whatever was left. It misses out on most major audio codecs, has no sound enhancement features, and has a limited number of connectivity ports.

To its credit, the sound profile is balanced and reproduces mid well, and handles treble with ease. But the lack of bass and HDMI In port can be a deal-breaker. Even if you are looking to upgrade your TV speakers, it is unlikely that it will act like one at all. We suggest looking at other options instead of the Bose Solo 5 soundbar to get better returns on the money spent.