If you’re looking for an upgrade to your home audio, but you don’t have a lot of room to spare, the Bose Smart Soundbar is an excellent option. Normally $499, it’s currently marked down to just $419 on Amazon. With full Dolby Atmos spatial audio, a unique musical profile, and all the features you’d expect from a modern soundbar in a small package, there’s a reason it’s our favorite compact soundbar.
The biggest selling point here is the design. The Bose Smart Soundbar has an impressively small footprint, perfect for apartment-sized entertainment centers and cramped living rooms. It’s just 2.2 inches tall, making it easy to slide under basically any screen, and its 27-inch width even makes it a viable option for smaller panels. There are a surprising number of speakers inside, including a pair of proper up-firing drivers, so you get real spatial audio and full Dolby Atmos support, something fairly uncommon for soundbars.
Despite the size, the Bose Smart Soundbar has a great audio profile and feature set that’s just as good as any full-size bar. It has a more musical quality than most, which works just as well for an action movie or catching up on your favorite show as it does for listening to some music while you hang out on the couch. If you have a pair of Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, you can even pair them up for a personal surround setup, a feature unique to the Bose.
If you often have trouble catching what characters are saying, there’s an AI Dialogue mode that boosts the clarity and volume of speech. It’s a feature we’ve seen on other soundbars, but it stands out here with its excellent implementation, bringing any dialog into sharp focus at the push of a button. You can really hear the difference when switching the feature on and off.
If you have a little more space under your TV, or you’re just curious what other options are out there, make sure to check out our full guide to the best soundbars. Otherwise, you can head to Amazon to grab the Bose Smart Soundbar for just $419.
