Bose Smart Soundbar 600  Soundbar Review

This soundbar has a similar design to the Bose Smart Soundbar 300. The main difference between the two bars is the 600's metal grille, which covers the up-firing drivers within. There's a variant of this bar called the Bose Soundbar 550 at Costco, and it has the same look, though it lacks voice assistant support.

You can add on a sub from Bose separately.

Bose sells compatible satellites, which you can purchase separately.

The Bose Soundbar 600 is the same size and shape as the Bose Smart Soundbar 300, so it's quite compact and fits between the legs of a 55-inch TV stand.

You can mount this bar to the wall, though you must purchase the brackets separately.

With a great build quality, this soundbar feels quite sturdy and solid overall. The metal grilles on the front and the sides of the bar protect the drivers inside, and there's a plastic top that feels quite solid with the up-firing drivers underneath the grill. Rubber feet underneath the bar help to hold it in place, too.

• Manual
• Optical cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• Remote with battery
• Power cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

It's a unique bar with TrueSpace technology inside to process stereo content with height effects when you listen. The overall sound is pleasing, with a clear and detailed representation of voices and other lead instruments in the mix and a touch of extra punch in the high bass. It's a little artificial-sounding, though, as you can tell the bar is pushing the soundstage wider and wider. You can't turn TrueSpace off, but it's not an issue if you like a more cinematic sound.

As of firmware 9.0.11-1280+18778d5, it sounds almost the same as its successor, the Bose Smart Soundbar. It pumps a good amount of boomy bass, with a dip in the center of the mids that slightly pushes melodic instruments to the back of the mix. Meanwhile, the treble reproduces clear vocals. Of course, as a standalone bar, there isn't much rumble in the low bass, but you can add a separate sub if you wish to improve its bass reproduction. You can also adjust its bass and treble.

You can adjust the bar's bass and treble, and they're marked by increments of 10 by the manufacturer. You can go above or below neutral (or zero) to +/- '100'. Setting the bar's bass setting to '-30' and upping the treble to '30' results in a more balanced and even sound, as you notice less punch in the high bass. Voices and other instruments remain clearly and accurately reproduced from the bar.

The Bose Soundbar 600's stereo soundstage is decent, thanks to its unique side-firing stereo drivers that push sound well past the edges of the bar itself. However, the overall effect isn't as immersive-sounding as with Bose's more premium offerings since the focus is just okay. Sound effects seem to come from more general areas, and there's a different timbre to audio as it stretches to the far edges, which doesn't feel as real or natural as it does in the center of the soundstage.

This soundbar gets loud enough to fill larger and more open rooms with sound. There's compression in the low bass when you push it to max volume, though this occurs mainly in frequencies that the soundbar barely plays back anyhow. Your audio will sound clear without noticeable pumping artifacts.

With a discrete center channel, this soundbar reproduces dialogue in the mix with great clarity and accuracy. The frequency response on this channel is very even and balanced, too. It's easy to follow along with conversations on screen as a result.

The Bose Smart Soundbar 600's TrueSpace technology uses side-firing stereo channels, center channel, and up-firing height channels to simulate a phantom surround. The extra height effects bring a more cinematic feel to the sound. Still, it's not quite as clear or accurate as soundbars with discrete satellites, and it trends towards boomy with a de-emphasized treble range.

The bar uses up-firing drivers to ricochet sound off the ceiling, simulating the illusion of height. It's not quite as clear or as real as what you get with a home theater setup's down-firing speakers, but it's a common setup with soundbars. The balanced frequency response on these channels means that sound effects are reproduced with accuracy, too.

Subjectively, the bar's soundstage with Atmos content is impressive, given its small size. Sound extends to the space around you as if you've been dropped right into the middle of the action. Compared to more premium models like the Bose Smart Soundbar 900, you don't notice as much height. In movies like Ready Player One, helicopters and drones don't seem to fly from overhead, but rather, it feels like they're centered in front of you. There's not a lot of rumble, either, but it does well for a small standalone bar.

If you choose to mount the bar to your wall, use the Bose Music app to activate the Wall EQ, which lets you choose between different audio settings based on its positioning. However, there's no setting for leaving the bar flat on a table, and you don't get a true room correction feature like with more premium models like the Bose Smart Soundbar 700. As a result, the bar sounds a little different depending on the room you're in, but at least you can adjust its bass and treble to compensate a bit. You won't find an EQ, though. The presets in the app let you set up your favorite radio stations for easy access, but they don't impact the bar's audio reproduction.

You can connect the bar to your TV over Optical or HDMI connections. There's also a BASS port to connect a Bose Bass Module, an IR port for an IR emitter, and a micro-USB port to service the bar. However, there's no HDMI In, so you can't use the bar as a hub between devices or for video passthrough.

Via ARC, the bar supports many different audio formats, including 7.1 surround formats like Dolby Digital and lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos. Unfortunately, it doesn't support DTS.

The bar supports Dolby Digital over Optical, which is commonly found on many different streaming platforms and Blu-rays.

This soundbar has low latency via ARC. You don't notice any major lip-synching issues, even with dialogue-heavy content. Some apps compensate for latency differently, but if you experience any issues, you can manually adjust the delay with the audio sync feature in the Bose Music app.

Latency over an Optical connection is great, too. You'll get a bit more latency with Dolby Digital vs PCM, but you can always use the companion app's audio sync feature to manually compensate for delay. It's also worth noting that some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently.

You can wirelessly stream audio to the bar from your mobile devices with ease.

There's no display, but a group of LED lights on the front of the bar flashes different colors and patterns depending on the settings you adjust. You can see the manual for a full list of the meanings behind each pattern.

The bar's controls are simple: there's a microphone mute button to disable the built-in voice assistant, as well as an Action button that lets you manually enable Alexa. You need the remote or the app to play and pause your audio.

The remote is simple and lets you control the bar's most basic features. You can find additional support via the Bose Music app, so if you own compatible Bose speakers, you can connect them to the bar.

Built-in Amazon Alexa support lets you control the bar with your voice, and you can set up this feature in the Bose Music app. Plus, if you have a third-party Google Assistant device, you can connect it to the bar using Chromecast built-in for additional voice assistant support. Voice assistant isn't available with the Bose Soundbar 550 variant at Costco, though.