Bose Soundbar 600 boasts Dolby Atmos, eARC and Chromecast in a compact design
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Looking to upgrade your home cinema setup for the holidays? Good call. The brand new Bose Smart Soundbar 600 is worth checking out – alongside our best soundbar buying guide, of course.
A trusted name in hi-fi and home theater, Bose consistently claims some of the best AV products on the market, and this small, sleek soundbar seems poised to continue that form.
At the top of the Bose Soundbar 600’s spec sheet is Dolby Atmos support, aided by the company’s proprietary Bose TrueSpace technology to promise “exceptionally immersive audio for its size.”
How good is the Dolby Atmos likely to be? Well, we haven’t heard it (yet), but on paper it’s a winning formula, consisting of five transducers to produce sound all around you, even if there are no speakers. Paired together, two side-firing racetrack-shaped transducers project audio horizontally into the room, a center tweeter delivers dialogue, and two upfiring transducers not only help the horizontal soundscapes, but reflect sound upward from the ceiling to make it appear as if though it comes from above.
So when Dolby Atmos content is available, the fine-tuned Bose digital signal processing and Atmos decoding is combined with that driver array to deliver the goods and give the feeling that high-speed chases are coming after you – not directly at you. .
Not watching Dolby Atmos content? Either way, Bose promises immersive audio. Supporting those same five transducers, TrueSpace intelligently analyzes signals other than Dolby Atmos – such as stereo or 5.1 – and remixes them to produce a more spacious, encompassing sound.
This bijou ‘bar from Bose promises a lot of good
Do you think all those drivers mean a bulky design? Not at all – the Soundbar 600 is 5.61cm high, 10.39cm deep and 69.44cm long, giving it a low profile and fitting effortlessly under almost any TV without obstructing it. For reference, the Sonos Ray is 7.1 x 9.5 x 55.9cm, so similar in height and depth, but a lot shorter across, like you would watch it under your TV. Want something bigger? Look at the Devialet Dione, a beast measuring 8.8 x 16.5 x 12 cm – but you have to pay for it…
Back to the Soundbar 600 and design wise it’s a decidedly reclusive aesthetic from Bose, with a matte case with a wraparound metal grille, all in black.
The Soundbar 600 also features built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Chromecast for total control over streaming (including Spotify Connect and Apple’s AirPlay 2), and works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa for built-in voice control.
And it’s packed with technology to work within your Bose ecosystem, too. Combined with Alexa, Bose Voice4Video technology makes it possible to turn on your TV, switch inputs and tune in to your favorite channel with a single command. Bose SimpleSync lets you pair the Soundbar 600 with all other Bose smart speakers and soundbars, plus compatible Bose headphones or Bluetooth speakers to further enhance your listening experience with the Bose Music app.
And the setup? Easy. Just connect one cable – an HDMI eARC or optical cable – from the soundbar to your TV and immerse yourself in audio. Teaming up with one of the best 4K TVs on the market can be a winning recipe.
The Bose Smart Soundbar 600 will hit shelves on October 24 for $499 / £499.95 (that’s about AU$800) and can be pre-ordered at Bose (opens in new tab) from today.