It offers great cinematic audio without needing to plug in more than a single cableand power.
On the music side, the soundbar supports AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth.
Its a TV speaker and a music speaker.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
Dialogue, ADAPTiQ calibration, and Bose SimpleSync.
This is a tricky problem to assess because sound mixing varies from show to show.
In short, I thought it helped make voices a little more distinguishable, but not dramatically.
Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar with Dolby Atmos® and Bose TrueSpace technology separates instruments, dialogue, and effects, and places them in different parts of a room for a truly immersive spatial audio experience like you’ve never heard it before.
The background noises were still present.
Movies still sounded like the movies the filmmakers intended.
It could work great or be a little too aggressive.
Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar with Dolby Atmos® and Bose TrueSpace technology separates instruments, dialogue, and effects, and places them in different parts of a room for a truly immersive spatial audio experience like you’ve never heard it before.
Dialogue mode is the primary difference between this Ultra Soundbar and the Bose Soundbar 900.
Thats not what Bose is doing here.
The process is silly, but it isnt hard or complicated.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
Mostly, I wish it could have happened without the need for the one-time accessory.
The calibration probably helped make the sound better suited for my room, but it wasnt obvious.
This feature should be uneventful for a lot of people who have traditional square and rectangular rooms.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
The company labels the ability to connect its headphones and earbuds with the Smart Ultra Soundbar as Bose SimpleSync.
Essentially, compatible headphones or earbuds are another speaker that can be grouped with the soundbar.
Once activated, the soundbar continues to play audio out loud, but it is also pumped into headphones.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
When I tried this feature, it felt a little buggy.
No audio played through either unit on the first connection.
But the second time, after reconnecting, it worked as intended.
Its hard to tell how popular this feature will be because it will be redundant for most people.
SimpleSync also provides some insight into what Sonos might do with its rumored headphones in 2024.
It has been nice.
SimpleSync is just that at the moment, howeversimple.
Id love to see it gain more capabilities and even be able to be grouped automatically in some circumstances.
you oughta group SimpleSync headphones in the Bose Music app, which is available for iPhone and Android.
The app interface is well-designed and all the common features are easy to find.
I especially liked that the screen showing what was playing listed what pop in of audio was coming through.
This makes it easy to confirm you’re getting Dolby Atmos from the source content.
In recent years, its also meant not sacrificing too much on audio quality.
The Smart Ultra Soundbar worked wonderfully.
I thought the soundbar handled the movie incredibly well and successfully reproduced those elements.
Dolby Atmos is a mixed bag, but it’s also less noticeable on the Sonos Arc too.
The allusion that up-firing speakers can facilitate heavily depends on the room’s acoustics along with your seating position.
All that combined with which movie you’re watching.
I mentioned that this soundbar can also be used as a music speaker when the screen is off.
Price and Availability
The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar is available now and retails for $899.
It did go on sale at the end of 2023 for as low as $799.
The soundbar comes in black and white colors.
