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Bose Solo 5 Quick Review

Written By Kevin Bruce Francisco
Published • September 16th, 2016
AudioGadget Reviews
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We’ve recently got our hands on another audio solution from Bose and this time, it’s the Solo 5 sound bar. It’s not like one of those full-blown home theater speakers and, in fact, has a compact form factor that should save some space in your set up. Join us in this quick review and find out how it fares.

Table of Contents

Design and Construction

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The Bose Solo 5 is a one-piece sound bar which belongs to the Solo family, joining the Solo 15 sound system. It measures less than 22 inches wide so it doesn’t require its users to set aside a large place for it.

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Unlike other fancy speakers, the Solo 5 is pretty minimalistic with its all black hue and the company’s logo lodged at the center. This makes it easy to blend in with any living room setup, aesthetics-wise.

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The facade is made up of an entire grille which stretches all the way to the side.

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Turning it around, we see the embedded holes so you can hang it on a wall in addition to just placing it on top of a surface.

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Since it’s a one-piece device, it’s got a built-in subwoofer at one edge which should provide extra bass for its users. It has no dedicated subwoofer, so we’re not expecting heart-thumping performance on this. More on that in just a little bit.

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At the opposite end, we have the USB port for service and updates plus the connectivity ports consisting of a 3.5mm slot for AUX mode, optical slot (cable included), and coaxial port.

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The package also comes with a remote control that has all the buttons for its features. Additionally, it not only controls the sound bar since users could also program it to connect with their TVs. It’s basically a universal remote.

The Solo 5 has no buttons of any sorts on the bar itself and everything is operated through the remote. This is a good thing since it will be pretty much used in the living room and you wouldn’t want to keep on standing up just to adjust settings every now and then.

Features

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The sound bar isn’t really loaded with tons of features but it’s got some promising ones. For one, it has a dialogue mode on its controller that enhances the treble resulting to more audible dialogues while watching a movie.

It also implements the company’s TrueSpace technology which spreads and distributes sound in a wide area for a more immersive feel. Meanwhile, its bass control lets you add more power to the lows.

In addition to its analog inputs, users can also wirelessly stream music using its Bluetooth connection.

The Solo 5 is pretty simple and has no displays or screens to indicate navigation or show the volume level. Instead, it “communicates” with the user thru LED lights. When you turn up the volume, the light blinks and comes to a steady light when you reach the maximum volume. Bluetooth connectivity is also represented by a blue LED bulb.

Sound Quality

We’ve used it for about a week while watching movies or simply listening to music while working. The Solo 5 provided detailed quality which is what we’ve come to expect from a Bose speaker. Although, we noticed very slight distortion when we turn the volume all the way up. It’s not distracting or anything, and casual listeners might not even notice it, but it’s there.

Speaking of volume, it could go pretty loud but there were times we still wanted to crank it up especially while watching movies but we easily reach the limit so we were sometimes left wanting more.

Its dialogue-enhancing feature does improve the concentration on mids but not in significant ways.

The built-in subwoofer is also decent, but we wouldn’t recommend it for bassheads that look for really deep lows. Other than that, mids are clear while highs are warm and crisp which is good for listening to acoustic tracks, pop, reggae, and a bit of R&B.

Conclusion

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We like the simplicity the Solo 5 offers in terms of physique and its compact size. Setting it up is easy and only takes a few minutes so that’s always a good thing. Once everything’s connected, users only have to switch between modes using the remote so that makes things pretty convenient.

Sound quality is clear and detailed, although those particularly needy in terms of bass performance need to look elsewhere (even after tweaking the bass control).

Overall, casual listeners and movie-watchers will find this appealing enough, but those who want a big, immersive sound should try investing in a more serious audio solution.

The Bose Solo 5 is priced at Php15,500 and is available in the following Bose retail stores:

Alabang Town Center
Greenbelt 5
Glorietta 3
Power Plant Mall
Shangri-La Plaza
SM Aura
SM Mall of Asia
SM Megamall
Trinoma

Bose Solo 5 specs:
2x audio drivers
Optical audio input
Coaxial audio input
3.5mm AUX input
Bluetooth connectivity
21.6 x 3.4 x 2.8 inches (dimensions)

Pros:

Compact build saves space
Overall detailed sound quality
Bluetooth connectivity
Easy switching between different modes

Cons:

Could go pretty loud but still a bit lacking at times
Slight distortion on maximum volume

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Kevin Bruce Francisco

Kevin Bruce Francisco is the Senior Editor and Video Producer for YugaTech. He's a Digital Filmmaking graduate who's always either daydreaming of traveling or actually going places on his bike. Follow him on Twitter for more tech updates @kevincofrancis.