Bose Soundtouch 300
FOR Neat, discreet build; loud, expansive sound; features AGAINST Lacks subtlety and crispness; bass short on depth
Bose’s latest soundbar offering, the Soundtouch 300, is much like the Build-a Bear concept. Choose your basic product first, then accessorise away to your heart’s content.
In this instance, you can add Bose’s Acoustimass 300 wireless subwoofer (£600) and Virtually Invisible 300 wireless surround-speakers (from £250) for a surround sound system that’s more compact than most traditional speaker packages. Wireless multi-room set-ups are on the menu too.
Feature feast
Having Bluetooth built in puts the 300 on a par with the other soundbars in this test, and the convenience brought by NFC is a sure-fire bonus. Less typical of the soundbar marketplace is the 300’s ability to stream music, from the likes of Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music, directly via the Bose Soundtouch app.
The remote handset, which can be programmed to control other sources too, is still the go-to for playback controls, but for streaming, the app is one of the most user-friendly we’ve come across.
This soundbar uses Bose’s Phaseguide array technology, introduced in the brand’s first ever soundbar, which is designed to separate channels of a soundtrack and push it out wider than the physical size of the bar.
The purpose of Bose’s Quietport technology is to ensure distortion-free deep bass at any volume, and the ADAPTIQ calibration feature helps it optimise its sound for your room.
Premium look
The perforated wrap-around metal grille and glass top distinguishes it from the plastic builds common lower down the price band, and while physically it’s a good spread across a 50in telly widthwise – and a discreet 6cm tall – there’s no question it has the breadth of sound to be used with a bigger screen.
Which is exactly what you need when experiencing Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray on a 65in Samsung UE65KS9500. We connect it up via HDMI and hit play on our Cambridge Audio CXU Blu-ray player, and immediately find the Bose has no issue pushing the soundtrack well beyond each corner of the screen.
Sense of space
While ships hardly feel as though they’re flying overhead, there’s a good sense of them entering, travelling across and exiting a soundfield that’s big, expansive and well integrated.
We can’t resist whacking the volume up for the legendary Star Wars theme, and the Soundtouch 300 doesn’t dampen the occasion. It’s capable of volume that will have your neighbours knocking at the door in no time, and thanks to the presentation’s weight and body, it stays reasonably composed.
Even so, the Bose ultimately falls short of the standard set by the class-leading competition, which includes the multi-award-winning Dali Kubik One (see opposite). The Bose has the upper low-frequency punch and power to get behind exploding ships and collapsing planets, but doesn’t burrow deep enough to communicate the underlying thrum – a gap for the Acoustimass 300 wireless subwoofer to fill. Dynamically, the orchestral score doesn’t rise and fall as dramatically as it should either.
When you’re spending this much on a soundbar, a thrilling sound is no less a requirement than a suite of inputs. Sadly for the Bose Soundtouch 300, its generous network features and practical design can take it only so far.
Unless you’ve already bought into the Soundtouch family and are dead set on expanding your set-up, we’d be cautious about spending your cash here.
“The remote is the go-to for playback, but for streaming the app is one of the most user-friendly we’ve come across”