A few days ago, I was reading through the press release for Bose’s new Smart Soundbar when not one but both of my eyebrows were raised. It had nothing to do with the design – there’s only so much you can do with a long rectangular bar, after all. And it had nothing to do with the price tag, which is £500 / $499 / AU$800, in case you were wondering.
What really caught my eye was the mention of a specific new feature which I thought was bonkers and brilliant in equal measure. I actually had to re-read the press release just to make sure I hadn’t misread the explanation of Bose Personal Surround Sound.
You see, skimming it I thought Bose was introducing a feature similar to Sonos’ TV Audio Swap, i.e. the ability to hand over the sound from its soundbars (Arc, Ray or Beam Gen 2) to its Ace wireless headphones. It’s the kind of feature that is ideal for late-night movie-watching.
But no. What Bose Personal Surround Sound allows you to do is use its Ultra Open Earbuds as actual surround channels when paired with either the Smart Soundbar or Smart Ultra Soundbar. Now, I don’t mean you can wall-mount the buds behind your listening position they’ll fire out room-filling surround effects.
You place them in your ears as per normal and, when the soundbar is doing its thing and providing audio from its front channels and upfiring speakers, the earbuds will provide the spatial effects you normally get from rear surround speakers.
It sounds a bit wacky and a bit of a gimmick, but when you actually sit down and think about it for a few minutes it could actually be genius. Well, I think it could be if it’s executed well enough.
You see the design of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds is perfect for this sort of application. Because they’re not traditional wireless earbuds designed to burrow into your ear canal and isolate you from the world outside, the open design means they actively encourage outside sounds to come through.
Which is just what you need for this new immersive sound mode to be effective. You want to be able to hear the soundbar but also want just enough information to be fed into your ears by the buds so it feels like you are getting a convincing surround effect.
Okay, it’s not one for purists but it could open up possibilities to a whole new market of movie-lovers. Depending on where you live, it can be hard to accommodate a soundbar, let alone a full-blown surround sound speaker package. This makes it a great idea for someone who wants to enjoy surround sound but doesn’t have the space for additional speakers.
Now, I say some-one because Bose has told me you can currently only have one pair of Ultra Open Earbuds connected at any one time. Could you have two people using the feature at the same time? Would you even want this? At least you could hold a conversation while you were listening.
Of course, when we review the soundbar we will be evaluating its sound quality first and foremost, but I’m seriously intrigued by this new feature. How well executed will the synchronisation between the bar and buds be? How smooth and seamless will the panning of effects be? How much customisation and what EQ options will be available to the user?
In Bose’s promotional video for the feature, it appears there is some scope for adjustment. It looks as though you can use the Bose app to tweak volume, adjust the centre channel and add or remove height and surround effects, altering their levels.
I’m also interested to see how they match the tonality of the soundbar to the buds so the effects aren’t jarring or sound completely out of character, compared to what’s coming out of the soundbar. The best surround sound speaker packages create a cohesive, all-encompassing soundfield so I’m wondering just how effective Bose’s processing will be at communicating that.
But I’m excited to find out. It’s the kind of left-field thinking that I think is sometimes required in this industry. Some manufacturers are quite happy to just follow what others are doing, so bravo to Bose for trying something slightly different. I’ll be sure to report back with my findings once I’ve managed to take Bose’s set-up for a spin.
MORE:
How to choose and set up a soundbar
5.1 vs 7.2 surround sound: which is better?
Our pick of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
