Sonos Move vs Bose 500 – Which One Is Better?

Sonos Move vs Bose 500, which one you choose? Sonos Move has similar features to Bose 500, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and voice assistant. Both does not have speakerphone. Sonos Move can offer one thing that you cannot find in Bose 500, which is the battery.

Sonos Move vs Bose 500 – In the Box

What will you get inside the box of Sonos Move Speaker?

• Sonos Move speaker
• User manual
• Charging base station
• Cloth pouch

What will you get inside the box of Bose Speaker 500?

• Bose Speaker 500
• User manual
• Power cable

Bose Home Speaker 500 vs Sonos Move – Design

First, you can compare Sonos Move vs Bose 500 based on the style. Both of these devices do not have RGB lights. Sonos Move come out with sleek and simple design that can blend with your home decor. It has a wireless charging base and it has a battery powered design. It means that you can use Sonos Move around easily.

The Bose 500 is a wired-only speaker, which means that you only can sit this device vertically. The design is similar to the Bose Home Speaker 300. However, it is bigger and it has a display screen located on the front. The display will tell you the time and information about the music that is playing. It has two color options.

Second, we can talk about the portability. Sonos move is quite portable. It is not very big and it is wireless smart speaker that has built-in battery design. At the back of the speaker, you will find a hollow part that works as a handle to support one-hand carry. It can be the alternative if you need something more than Sonos Roam or Sonos Roam SL.

Meanwhile, the Bose 500 is not very portable. It is a wired smart speaker that you must plug it into a poweer source so it can work. It is bigger if you compare it to Bose 300. Therefore, you cannot carry this device for one-hand.

Bose Smart Speaker 500 Vs Sonos Move – Build Quality

Sonos Move has great build quality with solid material even though it is made of plastic for its top, that makes it a little bit cheaper, but the rest of its build is great. For example, the company protects the drivers using a metal grille. It is rated IP56 for its dust and water resistance. It means it is certified for extra protection against the direct contact with water for more than three minutes and dust for about two to eight hours.

On the other hand, Bose Home Speaker 500 has a fair build quality. The body is from an aluminum with a grille to protect the driver. The top is made of plastic with tactile buttons. There is also a color LED screen located on the front. The build has solid and durable design.

However, it does not have advertised rating for any water resistance. You must be careful if you want to use it for water activities.

Sonos Move vs Bose 500 – Control

Sonos Move has a very straightforward control scheme. It has touch-sensitive buttons with four-dot that you can tap to volume control or swipe to skip tracks. Even better, you can mute the mic. You can find a special designed play or pause button. There are also physical buttons so you can switch between WiFi and Bluetooth connections and power this speaker on or off.

Move on the Bose 500, it has a great control. It comes with tactile buttons to adjust the volume and to play or pause the audio. Eventually, there is the AUX button to help you activate the input once the device is plugged into the speaker. Pressing the play or pause button twice will help you skip to the next track. Meanwhile, if you press it three times, it will skip to the previous track.

Besides, there is a Voice Action button to enable the voice assistant, six preset buttons, and a Bluetooth pairing button. This way will help you program it using the app. The mic mute button will stay red when it is on, and this is handy. The color LED screen will display the volume adjustments, pair the information, and information about the track that you are listening to.

Sonos Move vs Bose Home Speaker 500 – Sound Quality

This speaker has a built-in room correction that works to optimize the audio reproduction automatically. It works depends on the acoustics of the room you are in. Sonos calls this feature as automatic Auto Trueplay. What makes it different from from other Sonos models, once you move this speaker, it will recalibrate itself.

The frequency response of this Sonos Move is good. This speaker has balanced and even sound profile to make it perfect for listening to various types of audio content. Voices and lead instruments are recreated with good accuracy. So, it will add more bass for hip-hop or EDM genres.

Besides, this smart speaker can customize the output by customizing the bass and treble. If you compare it to Sonos Era 300, it does not have extra features like Dolby Atmos Music.

The Bose 500 comes out with fair frequency accuracy. It can reproduce vocals and lead instruments accurately and clearly. So, the neutral sound profile for this smart speaker is fairly good.

However, Bose 500 also sounds a bit dark because of underemphasized treble range. Bose 500 struggles to recreate a low-bass. You can use the bass and treble adjustments features from the app to get the right sound based on your preference. If you want to get a smart speaker with extended low-bass, then you should go with Denon Home 350.

Sonos Move vs Bose 500 – Battery

Sonos Move can last for about 10 hours off in a single charge. You can use the charging dock or a USB-C connect to recharge it, and there is no included cable. It goes into a sleep mode after being idle. Or, you need to force the sleep mode using a single press on the power button. The company also offers replacement battery kits if the original battery is not working anymore. Bose 500 works as a wired-smart speaker. So, it does not come out with battery.

Voice Assistant

The voice assistant in Sonos Move is amazing. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in. So, there should be no issues when you are at great distance. Since the voice assistants cannot work via Bluetooth, then you must connect it through WiFi.

If you cannot let the mic is always listening, then you can disable the mic easily by pressing a single button. The ambient noise performance feels not as impressive as Echo Dot 4. You may experience a little trouble to give your commands if you are using it in a noisy setting.

On the other hand, Bose Home Speaker 500 offers exceptional voice assistant. It works with built-in Alexa and Google Assistant that you can activate these features using your voice.

When you are using Alexa only, then you must make commands to other Bose smart system. Amazon Echo products or anyone in the contact list. This speaker can hear you very clearly even though you are not very close to it or if you are in a noisy setting. Also, you can disable the mic if you do not want the smart speaker keeps hearing your voice.

Sonos Move vs Bose Smart Speaker 500 – Price

Sonos Move offers two variants, black and white. Meanwhile, Bose 500 Home Speaker 500 has two variants which are Luxe Silver and Triple Black.

At the time of writing this information, to get the Sonos Move in Black, you need to spend $322.95. Meanwhile, the Bose 500 in silver is about $379.00.

Summary

The Sonos Move is a little bit better than the Bose Home Speaker 500. It has a slightly better-balanced sound profile to produce more extended, low-bass than Bose Home Speaker. Thus, Sonos Move is a great choice for outdoor smart speaker. Bose has wider-sounding soundstage. It is because the company supports it with 360-degree design. Plus, Bose has the capability to play stereo content and it is more immersive.