1.   Try searching by:
    1. Category (Best $100 Headphones, Best 50 Inch TVs, …)
    2. Brand (Sony, Samsung, LG, Bose, …)
    3. Model (S405, QC 35 II, …)
    4. Etc...
Get insider access
Get insider access
Preferred store
Notice: Your browser is not supported or outdated so some features of the site might not be available.
Best
Bluetooth Portable Outdoor Bose Loud Home Shower Parties Alexa JBL Small Brands Budget And Cheap Bluetooth For Bass Waterproof Bluetooth Golf Bluetooth For Sound Smart iPhone Karaoke
Tools
Compare Table Review List Review Index Graph Custom Ratings
Popular
JBL Boombox 3 JBL Flip 6 JBL Charge 5 Bose SoundLink Max Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd Gen) Harman/Kardon Go + Play 3 JBL Authentics 500 JBL PartyBox Stage 320 Bose SoundLink Flex Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 4 JBL PartyBox Club 120 Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 4 Ultimate Ears HYPERBOOM JBL Xtreme 4 Sonos Era 100 Sony SRS-XB100 JBL PartyBox 310 Sonos Move 2 JBL PartyBox 710 JBL PartyBox Encore Essential
167
Speakers bought and tested
Supported by you via insider access, and when you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Driven by data, run by a passionate team of engineers, testers, technical writers, developers, and more.
We are hiring!
  1. Home
  2. Speaker
  3. Compare
Notice: Big Spring Sale Deal: The Amazon Echo Pop has dropped by 25% on Amazon.com. See all Speaker Big Spring Sale deals.
  1. Table of Contents
  2. Top
  3. Main Differences
  4. Design
    1. Pictures
    2. Style
    3. Portability
    4. Build Quality
    5. Controls
    6. In The Box
  5. Sound
    1. Frequency Response Accuracy
    2. Raw Frequency Response
    3. Soundstage
    4. Dynamics
  6. Active Features
    1. Battery
    2. Voice Assistant
    3. App
  7. Connectivity
    1. Wired
    2. Bluetooth
    3. Wi-Fi
  8. Comments

Bose Home Speaker 500 vs Yamaha MusicCast 50

Side-by-Side Comparison

Products

Bose Home Speaker 500
Yamaha MusicCast 50

Tested using Methodology v0.8

Updated Nov 28, 2024 07:50 PM

SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Tested using Methodology v0.8

Updated Feb 26, 2024 02:34 PM

SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Bose Home Speaker 500 Picture
Yamaha MusicCast 50 Picture
Bluetooth
Yes
Wi-Fi
Yes
Speakerphone
No
Voice Assistant
Yes
Battery Powered
No
Bluetooth
Yes
Wi-Fi
Yes
Speakerphone
No
Voice Assistant
No
Battery Powered
No

Variants

  • Home Speaker 500 (Luxe Silver)
  • Home Speaker 500 (Triple Black)
  • MusicCast 50 (Birch)
  • MusicCast 50 (Black)
  • MusicCast 50 (White)

Review

See Bose Home Speaker 500 Review
See Yamaha MusicCast 50 Review
0 
0 

Our Verdict

Bose Home Speaker 500

Yamaha MusicCast 50

The Bose Home Speaker 500 is a slightly better speaker than the Yamaha MusicCast 50. The Bose offers a wider and more natural-sounding soundstage, so your audio sounds clean from most angles. It also has Google Assistant and Alexa built-in and does an excellent job of understanding your commands from far and in noisier environments. However, the Yahama has can get louder than the Bose, with less compression at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio during louder listening sessions. It's also more customizable thanks to the graphic EQ and presets featured in its companion app.

0 

Check Price

Luxe Silver
Home Speaker 500
Searching
Finding store
Birch
MusicCast 50
Searching
Finding store
Triple Black
Home Speaker 500
Searching
Finding store
Black
MusicCast 50
Searching
Finding store
 
White
MusicCast 50
Searching
Finding store

Main Differences for
Music

Threshold 

0.10

Music 

7.3
7.0

Soundstage 
 

8.7
6.8

Dynamics 
 

7.2
8.1

Full Comparison

Design

Style  

Style Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Style Photo
Yamaha MusicCast 50 Style Photo

RGB Lights  

No
No
Show Text 

Portability 
 

4.3
3.8

Dimensions Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Dimensions Photo
Yamaha MusicCast 50 Dimensions Photo

Volume 
 

226 in³ (3,702 cm³)
586 in³ (9,600 cm³)

Weight 
 

4.9 lbs (2.2 kg)
9.8 lbs (4.5 kg)

Power Source 
 

AC Only
AC Only

One-Hand Carry 
 

No
No
Show Text 

Build Quality 
 

6.7
6.4

Build Quality Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Build Quality Photo
Yamaha MusicCast 50 Build Quality Photo

Material Quality 
 

Great
Good

Water Resistance 
 

No
No

Dust Resistance 
 

Unspecified
No

Impact Resistance 
 

Unspecified
Unspecified

Floats In Water 
 

No
No
Show Text 

Controls 
 

8.0
4.8

Controls Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Controls Photo
Yamaha MusicCast 50 Controls Photo

Controls Photo 2  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Controls Photo 2
Yamaha MusicCast 50 Controls Photo 2

Ease Of Use 
 

Great
Good

Feedback 
 

Great
Good

Music Play/Pause 
 

Yes (Tactile)
No

Call Answer/End 
 

No
No

Volume Up/Down 
 

Yes (Tactile)
Yes (Tactile)

Track Next/Previous 
 

Yes
No

Microphone On/Off 
 

Yes (Tactile)
No

Additional Controls 
 

Yes
Yes
Show Text 

In The Box 
 

In The Box Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 In The Box Photo
Yamaha MusicCast 50 In The Box Photo
Show Text 
Sound

Frequency Response Accuracy 
 

6.9
6.8

Frequency Response Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Slope 
 

-0.62
-0.51

Std. Err. 
 

3.50 dB
3.29 dB

Low-Frequency Extension 
 

55.0 Hz
55.8 Hz

High-Frequency Extension 
 

17.0 kHz
14.5 kHz
Show Text 

Raw Frequency Response 
 

Raw Frequency Response Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Binaural Recording @ 1m 
 

Binaural Recording @ 2m 
 

Soundstage 
 

8.7
6.8

Directivity Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Directivity Index 
 

2.41 dB
6.02 dB

Stereo 
 

Yes
Yes
Show Text 

Dynamics 
 

7.2
8.1

Dynamic Range Compression  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

SPL @ Max Volume 
 

90.5 dB SPL
95.2 dB SPL

DRC @ Max Volume 
 

2.19 dB
1.35 dB
Show Text 
Active Features

Battery 
 

0.0
0.0

Battery Life 
 

N/A
N/A

Charge Time 
 

N/A
N/A

Power Saving 
 

No
No

Charging Port 
 

No Battery
No Battery

Battery Powered 
 

No
No
Show Text 

Voice Assistant 
 

10
0.0

Alexa 
 

Built-in (Wi-Fi Only)
No

Google Assistant 
 

Built-in (Wi-Fi Only)
No

Speakerphone 
 

No
No

Siri 
 

No
No

Voice Assistant 
 

Yes
No

Voice Activation 
 

Yes
No

Microphone Mute 
 

Yes
No

Far-Field Performance 
 

Excellent
No Assistant

Ambient Noise Performance 
 

Excellent
No Assistant
Show Text 

App 
 

7.7
9.6

App Picture  

Bose Home Speaker 500 App Picture
Yamaha MusicCast 50 App Picture

App Name 
 

Bose Music
MusicCast

iOS 
 

Yes
Yes

Android 
 

Yes
Yes

EQ 
 

Bass/Treble
Graphic + Presets

Stereo Pair Mode 
 

No
Yes

Party Mode 
 

Yes
Yes

Multi-Room 
 

Yes
Yes
Show Text 
Connectivity

Wired 
 

Aux Input 
 

Yes
Yes

USB Audio 
 

No
No

Other Ports 
 

Yes
Yes
Show Text 

Bluetooth 
 

8.2
6.6

Bluetooth 
 

Yes
Yes

Bluetooth Version 
 

4.2
4.2

Bluetooth iOS Latency 
 

57 ms
-250 ms

Bluetooth Android Latency 
 

88 ms
-290 ms

Bluetooth Range 
 

195.2 ft (59.5 m)
315.0 ft (96.0 m)

Multi-Device Pairing 
 

No
No
Show Text 

Wi-Fi 
 

8.1
8.3

Wi-Fi Version 
 

Unspecified
Wi-Fi 5

Wi-Fi Frequency Band 
 

2.4GHz & 5GHz
2.4GHz & 5GHz

Wi-Fi 
 

Yes
Yes

Apple AirPlay 
 

Yes
Yes

AirPlay Latency 
 

45 ms
5 ms

Google Chromecast 
 

Yes
No

Chromecast Latency 
 

N/A
N/A
Show Text 

Check Price

Luxe Silver
Home Speaker 500
Searching
Finding store
Birch
MusicCast 50
Searching
Finding store
Triple Black
Home Speaker 500
Searching
Finding store
Black
MusicCast 50
Searching
Finding store
 
White
MusicCast 50
Searching
Finding store
Back to Top

Bose Home Speaker 500

Yamaha MusicCast 50

Comments

  1. Comparison
 • Posted 1 year ago

Bose Home Speaker 500 vs Yamaha MusicCast 50: Main Discussion

What do you think of these products? Let us know below.


Looking for a personalized buying advice from the RTINGS.com experts? Insiders have direct access to buying advice on our insider forum.

Follow Discussion0 followingSee All Soundbars & Speakers DiscussionsCopy link
0 
PreviewBack to editorFormat guide
No comments yet, refresh to see new ones
We make money directly from you via insider access (which gives you access to extra features) and when you buy a product after clicking a link to a retailer. Learn more about how we work.
We buy our own products, just like you, mostly from the United States. When a product is discontinued or no longer popular, we sell the review units locally. You can see what products we currently have for sale here.
© 2025 9298-5266 Quebec Inc. All Rights Reserved. Visit our corporate site.