I am testing both surround systems at the moment.
Sonos Arc + Sub + 2x Era 300s with trueplay (iPhone 15 Pro) setup in a 18'x18'x8' room.
Bose Ultra Smart Soundbar + Base Module 700 + Surround 700s with ADAPTiQ.
A couple of observations:
The Arc sounds incredible for watching Atmos Content — specifically TV shows and movies. The Bose also sounds good, but the dialogs aren't as clear, and the surround isn't as punchy — still a very good system.
Sonos was easier to setup in the apartment. I hate that Bose requires you to screw in the wires from the reciever of the surrounds. I can understand how other people might want to custom wire their setups, but as a consumer looking for a plug-and-play home theater, that was annoying.
Both Apps suck.
Setup
Sonos Setup was excellent. Much better than the Bose. The Bose app is pretty buggy while connecting to the speakers and the UX is just garbage. It's crazy how Bose markets that you should pair the soundbar with other specific speakers but didn't build a one-click setup process.
Bose has less streaming options
Sonos buries the settings for your setup, it's kind of annoying. Bose highlights your setup on the home screen and lets you play with the EQ. More controls on the Bose app to tweak the level of the soundbar compared to the surrounds. Sonos only lets you tweak the surrounds.
PCM music from the TV sounds terrible on both, but Bose does a much better job of improving the sound to make it bearable. My Macbook Pro 14" makes the same PCM content sound 100x better. It's frustrating because half the content on Spotify & Apple Music isn't encoded in better formats. When I listen to music on my Airpods or on the Mac speakers, you don't notice the quality drop. On the Arc and Bose, you can immediately tell the quality has dropped.
Music, (Atmos, Dolby 5.1, PCM) all sound better on the Bose. The soundbar's soundstage is more engineered towards music. It feels familiar like all other Bose speakers. The Sonos makes vocals sound very boxy, and slightly echo-y. I removed surrounds on both and the results were the same. It was incredibly annoying to have this distinction given that the Sonos sounds soo good for TV content. :( I must have tested 20-30 different songs with different ranges, with friends and family, and all the same result. I've tested both in different apartments as well.
The Bose costed me $2200, the Arc setup costed me $2000 with Thanksgiving offers. It's annoying that the Bose surrounds can't be used as separate speakers. I can still use the Era 300s as stand alone speakers, and for $2000 I am getting a lot of smart speakers that can work together.
I like that the Bose comes with a remote, but I rarely use it given that most of those controls work from the Apple TV remote.
I wish Sonos had a more EQ controls. I get that the sound profile works for most people, but it's crazy to think that there is a single "scientific" best way to listen to content. I am okay with Sonos prescribing how Atmos content should sound in your room, but I want more controls for Music.
My 1 year experience with the Bose Soundbar 900 and why I would not buy it again
Upgrading my Bose Smart Soundbar 300
My compare and contrast between Sonos Arc and Bose Soundbar 900
[Review] Bose Ultra Smart Soundbar + Base Module 700 + Surround 700s vs Sonos Arc + Sub + 2x Era 300
Does the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar have ethernet built in?
Can you connect a subwoofer to a Bose soundbar?
All the best Bose soundbars in this guide are compatible with the Bose Bass Module 500 and Bass Module 700. These subwoofers can connect wirelessly, letting you place them wherever they sound best (as long as they're near a power outlet). You can also use a wired connection if you prefer.
If you'd rather buy a soundbar that already includes a subwoofer, check out our guide to the best soundbars with subwoofers.
Can the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar be mounted to the wall?
Videos
So, it's been nearly a year now with my bose soundbar 900 and one of the main reasons for buying it was it's sleek design and of course the Dolby atmos functionality. Knowing Bose for good quality and good sound in general I bought it right away when it was on sale last year.
Although the sound is indeed very good, the one issue I continuously have is that it simply loses connection to whatever it claims to work with.
I stopped using it's "smart" feature just a few months after I bought it because it lost wifi connection (with the router being 2 meters in front of it). And no, doing a proper update of the soundbar never helped.
It also still randomly loses connection to my Samsung TV which it is connected to via hdmi arc. The only annoying way to make it work again is to disconnect the power cable and connect it back again. Until it loses connection in a few days again. Great. The best part is that there is not even a "restart this damn device" functionality via the remote, so you have to fucking disconnect the power cable.
This has been going for nearly a year now and I am extremely pissed off that I spent (wasted) hundreds of euros for such a unreliable soundbar.
This is just a warning for anyone who wants to buy one of these. I am aware that there are also people out there with no issues with the soundbar, congratulations to you lucky people. I just wanted to share my experience, since there is no review functionality on the bose page (maybe for a reason), where I bought my soundbar from.
Cheers.