Bose is still one of the best sound brands in the world. Here’s why

Bose is an audio equipment company that was founded in 1964 by Amar Bose. It was one of the first to start to manufacture audio products at the time and since then it has grown into the giant corporation and brand that it is today. In the 90’s and 2000’s was when Bose reached its peak popularity, they were offering lifestyle products along with a sound quality that was very hard to match at the time, even in their expensive price ranges. Since then, other brands have started to catch up with them, and Bose has been on the receiving end of a lot of critics and their reputation isn’t like it once was. However, contrary to popular beliefs, especially in the audiophile/sound enthusiast community, Bose is still up there with brands like Sony and Sonos and it is not going anywhere any time soon. Here’s why.

It’s not always just about sound

First of all, something I realized being a sound enthusiast myself is that a lot, and I mean A LOT of people have a hard time recognizing the difference between the sound of high-end speakers and the sound of the built-in speakers of their TV. Which brings me to my point, no matter the price range of the product you buy from Bose, you never feel like you bought something cheap, the build quality is always on point, and the design is always slick. Not everyone wants a giant set of home cinema speakers, or a headphone so big it would protect your head from a sniper bullet, the priority is not always sound quality, but rather to be proud to take your sound devices out in public, or for people to see your living room and feel like your sound products aren’t killing the whole vibe of the room. Finally, let’s be honest, for all the shit they get for the sound quality of their products, the sound quality is great, anyone who is saying that it’s garbage or unlistenable isn’t being fair.

Their ability to make small products sound twice as big

This is definitely Bose’s forte, the knowledge they have in acoustics gives them the ability to produce great and powerful sound even from very small devices. It’s really the only company that will offer small high-end products that usually would find themselves in the 20-60$ price range due to the sound quality limitations of their size. A lot of people don’t have the space or simply don’t want their sound devices to take too much space and their only high-end options in this regard come from Bose. Take for example the Soundbar 700 with the surround speakers, you get one of if not the smallest soundbar in this price range along with surround speakers that you could both hold in one hand ! Minimalist designs are very popular and there’s nothing better than Bose products to add great sound quality to your minimalist design.

Their cheapest products are the best in their price range

I own 2 cheap Bose products in my home : The bluetooth speaker Bose Micro(100€), The Bose TV Speaker (I got it at 200€). I also used to have the Bose soundsport wired earbuds.

I am still blown away to this day of the sound quality I got from those speakers. My bluetooth speaker has incredible battery life and great sound quality in a device that is smaller than my hand and the soundbar fills the living room very well and produces a surprisingly good bass for the price along with a bluetooth connectivity option that has come in handy on a lot of occasions when I have guests at home. At this price range for these two products, there isn’t any other product that offers a better bang for the buck.

Marketing is everything

In conclusion, I would say that the reason Bose has lost in popularity is purely based on the fact that you can get equivalent sound quality at significantly lower prices when it comes to their high-end products. When you use that comparison Bose will often look bad, but I don’t think Bose should be compared to other sound brands in general. Bose represents style, class, comfort and convenience, that is what they aim for as much as they aim for great sound quality, when usually the latter would be the highest priority. Their image is half of their product value, and it’s for a reason. Otherwise they would have fallen into the same abyss Blackberry did when the iPhone came out as soon as brands like Sony, Sonos or Klipsch started to shine in this industry. Thank you for reading.