My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: This Bose Smart Soundbar
We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
The Bose Smart Soundbar wasn't very well received by reviewers when it came out last fall, citing small improvements for a larger price tag. But now with a $100 discount, we can have a serious conversation about who it's good for. You can get the Bose Smart Soundbar for $399 (originally $499), the lowest price it has been, according to price-tracking tools.
Bose Smart Soundbar Channels: 3.0.2, Physical Connections: HDMI, optical, IR, subwoofer, USB. $399.00 at Amazon

The Bose Smart Soundbar is the successor to the Bose Smart Soundbar 600, which was already a very good soundbar, so needless to say, standards were high. Bose essentially made a new soundbar with more modern features, but didn't upgrade the hardware, bringing into question the steep price increase, according to PCMag's and many other reviews. If you already have a 600, it's not worth upgrading even with the discount. However, if you're looking for a modern premium soundbar that has enough bass to not need a subwoofer, then consider the new Bose Smart Soundbar.
Like most premium speakers, the soundbar doesn't need a subwoofer, because it creates its own bass, but the output will never match that of a dedicated subwoofer. This works well for bedrooms or small apartments. But keep in mind you can always add a subwoofer and/or rear speakers. Speaking of which, if you own Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, you can connect them to the soundbar to work as rear satellite speakers, creating a pseudo-surround-sound system (only for you, though).
As the name implies, this is a "smart" soundbar, with wifi, meaning as long as you're in the same wifi network, you can stream your media to it with AirPlay or Chromecast. They also work as a smart speaker since it comes with built-in Alexa. The instrument separation is what makes this soundbar shine, which goes hand-in-hand with the AI Dialogue Mode feature for dialogue enhancement. But, if you can afford to spend a bit more, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 is the best stand-alone soundbar you can buy.