Bose SoundTouch Reviews

There is no way thia app could possibly get 4.7 stars when myself and 2 others have the same problems repeated across the Internet involving Bose’ lack of technological reliability. Problems with BoseSoundTouch and Bose products not functioning properly when networked is thoroughly documented on the Internet, if you know even basic search techniques. Basically BoseSoundTouch has to be installed and reinstalled each time you use the wireless networking option of these surround systems. I have 3 thestre setups that sound amazing, one on each floor. Try using it to play all three in a group with the Sirius radio function within BoseSoundTouch . IF and ONLY IF you get it to work, let it play for about 1+ hours. Every single time I do that, BoseSoundTouch will not reconnect, and back to walking all three floors to manually shut down. Frustrating if you paid thousands for Bose systems throughout the house and there is no answer. All theatres, all phones, all routes, everything updated. No change. I regret not investing the $6k into Sonos instead of thinking that Bose might have fixed this within the year I had the system.. They are lacking in the networking department and BoseSoundTouch is blatant proof. Get new staff, save the company. Your future depends on it.

I love my Bose radio, but BoseSoundTouch is absolute crap. When I stream an Internet radio station through it, the signal drops every 3-4 months for pockets of about 20 seconds at a time, while the label on the radio says "loading." The problem is not my Internet connection; I know that, because for years I have streamed the same station on my laptop, and I never had to deal with interruptions. Also... when I use the notebook version of BoseSoundTouch , it often says, for no obvious reason, that my iTunes library isn't available, and the only solution is to shut down BoseSoundTouch , shut down iTunes, and restart both. (And even then, sometimes the situation isn't resolved until I install whatever SoundTouch update just became available -- it seems every day there is a new one, as constant nagging messages remind me). Lastly, BoseSoundTouch does not let you stream podcasts, which is a sad limitation for this type of app. If you want to listen to a podcast, you have to download it on your notebook or PC (not your phone..), add it to an iTunes playlist, and stream it from your iTunes library (which by the way, won't refresh while BoseSoundTouch is running). My 19-year-old nephew could have designed a better app.

Speaker sound quality great. The software and daily use of this renders it absolutely useless. BoseSoundTouch and firmware have to constantly be updated to work as advertised. It seams like every other time I try to connect to my speaker in the living room. It does not work. I have stop what I’m doing and spend what feels like 30 mins screwing with it to get it to work. I have to go through every speaker and app. Half the time I have to call a buddy over and use his time to get it working. Also, It’s another email password you have to remember. Which is a pain for friends that only come over once every 6 months and want to play their play list. I wish I had not bought this stuff. Just want to go back to plugging a wire in. At least that works every time without fail. I don’t like leaving negative reviews. But I bought this to have something cool to present every 2 or 3 months to show off and enjoy... without fail, this has disappointed me and disappointment is what comes to mind every time I see the word BOSE now...
If this is the same system all WiFi speakers have... Stay away from them. Save your $ and quality speakers that don’t have the WiFi feature. It’s and expensive lesson to learn otherwise.

Yes, it would be nice if more platforms were supported… That said, the platforms that are supported should work consistently. I have had an ongoing problem that I have reported multiple times where Pandora will play one song then BoseSoundTouch freezes. I have to turn it off and turn it back on. It will then begin playing in the middle of the last song and if I don’t skip to the next song, it will freeze again. This will happen multiple times a day every day. It may then play five songs in a row just fine and freeze again. Sometimes, it will play for an hour or more before this starts. Then, I may go three or four days where it works just fine. Then, it will randomly start again. I’ve done everything from factory resets to creating new accounts from scratch. It has done this on multiple WiFi networks. If I use the speaker has Bluetooth, it’s just )so long as I’m within Bluetooth range).
I have had this speaker for years and it worked flawlessly until about a year or so ago. I originally intended to buy more speakers and expand. I think I will have to start over and spend my money on Sonos instead.

Let me start by saying the Bose speakers are of high quality but that’s about all the positive feedback I can say about Bose. They are an antiquated sound company that has stopped innovating years ago and have been left far behind in innovating it’s software to work seamlessly with their own hardware. I wish I could say they are catching up and if you call Bose they will claim to have a “quality” software team. Unfortunately years of hoping and waiting for Bose to catch up with its competitors has left disappointed. They are not only not catching up but falling further and further behind the competition. BoseSoundTouch is a great representation of malfunctioning and incompatibility. Rarely updated and when it is updated they are fixing bugs from 6 months to a year from when they are first reported.

As for BoseSoundTouch it rarely connects to the speaker even when streaming works and speaker is able to connect to the internet app always and I mean always gives an error stating speaker cannot be reached. Compliantly and utterly useless unless you reset wifi and spend 10 to 20 minutes every time to reset it.

Connection with my radio is slow and unresponsive, although improved over earlier versions. Browsing music through my NAS library sometimes works, sometimes slowly, sometimes not at all. Completely random, as far as I can tell, and unrelated to my home network status. The library search function is a joke - as near as I can tell when searching capitalization has to be exactly as in the album, artist or track name, and can only search from the beginning of those fields (e.g. when searching for “Can’t Buy Me Love” you must search for Can’t Buy Me Love - the terms “love” or “Buy Me” for example will return NO RESULTS).
Added functionality of being able to switch to Radio receiver and presets would be nice; why is this not present already? Intuitively it should be there.
I cannot fathom how BoseSoundTouch gets almost 5 stars as an average. I literally hate BoseSoundTouch and only use it because I really have no choice if I want to be able to use all the smart functions of the radio. Fix it.

I have two soundtouch speakers to play in stereo, however here’s the catch. If I want them to play in stereo I have to do 15 mins of setup. Every. Single. Time. Every week there’s a new update for god knows what which will take anywhere from 5-15 mins, then I have to spent 10-15 extra mins trying to get the things to play together. The setup requires you to connect to the speaker, then connect the speaker to your WiFi and then connect your phone back to the WiFi which isn’t that hard to do seeing as it only takes 5 mins but then I have to do it again so it takes ten minutes in total. That, in addition to weekly updates means that the average setup time to play my music is 10-25 mins, 10 mins isn’t bad. But 25 is. And that’s not all, if I setup it will only work while I am using it. If I use it for more than an hour or so or stop using it and come back later, I will have to go through the setup again. WHY DO THEY HAVE TO CONNECT TO WIFI????????

Just updated BoseSoundTouch . It can now send AUX to any speaker. Don't know what the big deal was. Something having to do with licensing? But no license for Bluetooth rebroadcast?
The ability to rebroadcast needs more work. I love this ability...if only it were better. I have 3 SoundTouch speakers. The only one that video syncs is the one physically connected to the video source (TV AUX out). But when I try to bring up the second then 3rd speaker, it rebroadcasts, but it drops. And when the drops stop, the audio is distractinglily delayed. It does say it's a beta version so hopefully Bose reads these.
I went from a Logitech squeeze box network, to sound touch and I love it. Richer sound and It's more stable. Only one wish: can you do something about the preset memory buttons? There are only six. Why not allow the ability to save individually? Meaning I have 3 radios. Each have six presets. For those of use with more than one unit, why not allow me to combine them, that gives me presets for 18 stations! Logitech allows you to do that. But not Bose? If it's an issue for some, why not make it a selective option for the user?

First BoseSoundTouch is great; it’s come a long way, with that said the ability to search for a particular artist, album, or song when connected to your “Music Library” via your computer would be a GREAT addition. It’s annoying having to scroll from songs with the number 1 all the way to the “Ms” just to get to an album that starts with the letter M.

Secondly, BoseSoundTouch splitting songs up based on whether or not there’s a featured artist on the song is irritating. I find a album after having to manually scroll thru all albums to get to it to only then find out that only 6 of the 13 songs are displayed because the other 7 have featured artist i.e.; I select Lloyd’s album “Tru” and only 4 songs display yet if I go back to the album selection page there’s 6 additional songs by Lloyd that appear such as; Lloyd [Featuring Rick Ross] that do not show up under the actual album “Tru” simply because there’s a featured artist on the actual song therefore I have to go back and forth to play the full album.

Fixing these issues would make BoseSoundTouch a 5 for me.

BoseSoundTouch takes a bit of getting used to but it works very well. Selection of albums, tracks and artists are available using the search function. Transmitting the sound to various devices in different rooms is easy enough but you need strong broadband for it to work continuously. Using the system during the peak “movie viewing evening period” can be frustrating. I like too, that I can select international wi-fi radio stations and pair them with 6 buttons on the SoundTouch devices. FM radio stations can also be paired to these 6 buttons. However, the SoundTouch Wireless Link Adapter does not have presets but it does allow the addition of Bluetooth pairing to the system. The Bose Wave also has Bluetooth pairing as does 3rd generation SoundTouch speakers. All pulled together, it makes a fine multi room system when several SoundTouch units are added and synced with BoseSoundTouch , and played in unison. Some Bose SoundTouch tv speakers can also be controlled and added with BoseSoundTouch . Bose have made significant grades to BoseSoundTouch from time to time.

My home is full of Bose products. From the series 1 901,s stored in the garage to the five speaker Home Theater System.

Re: Sound Touch.

I have every model in my home and feel that I could make a few user comment.

Model 10. I have a pair in my bedroom. I Listen to them every night and morning. I decided recently that I wanted to play my flat screen tv through them. Checking the owners manual I could find information on this setup. Called the tech line and was told that to do so I would have to separate right and left and use the aux inputs. Turns out that the 10's don't have a stereo function when in aux mode. Operating the 10's as two separate speakers the remote tries to operate both. I gave up. Mayhaps if I add Bluetooth to my my tv I could do it.

20's, 30's and Wave Clock Radio. Use them almost every day.

Main System: I have it connected to my Bose home theatre system. The theater system has been tuned to the room using The provided computer balance system. Room sounds great!

Here's the rub, the Sound Touch Main system favors the right channel and the home theater and the main unit offer no right / left balance.

System: all of my units occasionally drop out for a few seconds. The interesting thing is that not all the systems fail at the same time. I feel I have good internet service but the dropouts are annoying.

I will continue to favor Bose products.......Nothing better.

Our problem were: trying to figure out a way to stream music in multiple rooms and have surround sound for the TV. We purchased a Bose Wave SoundTouch and a Bose SoundTouch 300. This got us exactly what we wanted and they communicate over our wireless network so setup was really easy and fast. Bose does not do a good job of making it clear that these two products can work together. It is clearly stated that the Bose Wave SoundTouch works in conjunction with the Bose SoundTouch 10, 20, and 30, but not clear about the SoundTouch 300 sound bar, bass and rear speakers. Even the very unhelpful store employees told us that these products would not work together. I did some research online while in the store and came to the conclusion that the employees were wrong. We took the chance and bought both and am glad we did. They work perfectly together. We can play music in one room, watch TV in the other, stream the same music in both rooms, or different music in both rooms. The system is very flexible like that. BoseSoundTouch is easy to use and works great. Sound quality is what you would expect from a product bearing the Bose name. Very happy with the purchases.

I can't speak enough to how happy I am with my SoundTouch 10's. Have 3 and will most likely get another. Being able to have music everywhere I go, inside and outside of my home, whether all playing the same or something different is fantastic. Unfortunately I've recently run into a disappointing problem when streaming shows. They have the capacity to combine and play in stereo, which sounds even better when playing music but when synchronized and watching a streaming show, they fall behind. A delay. Sound is fantastic but you can see mouths moving before you hear the audio. Which is...well, annoying. I sincerely hope there is a fix for this. Using just one when streaming works just fine, fortunately so I will continue to enjoy them and highly recommend this product.

I am absolutely thrilled with the Bose SoundTouch system. I have been a huge supporter of Bose for many, many years. I still have the Bose 901 speakers that I sacrificed to purchase while in college and survived on peanut butter sandwiches to ensure that I could make the purchase. It was more than a purchase, it was an investment in amazing quality soundI am originally from New York City and enjoyed listening to WQXR which is the classical radio station for the New York Times via my Bose speakers. I have a grown-up with the Bose quality line of superior music products and have proudly added the SoundTouch system to my collection. This is an amazing system, I highly recommend it to everyone even my friends who have invested heavily in other products like Sonos. There is no comparison. I will remain a faithful Bose audiophile and look forward to adding additional sound touch speakers to our home to expand this footprint. Thank you for this wonderful, wonderful product that has made my husband and I for both engineers extremely happy.

This is one of the most robust, well thought through and full of features app i have ever used. I can say that who so ever designed BoseSoundTouch and chose features simply used common sense and added what ever users may need in BoseSoundTouch. Quality of speakers add to the experience by playing music flawlessly without any delay on all speakers you choose.
Ability to play same song on multiple speakers at the same time and create play groups on the fly with such an ease through app UI is marvelous. Simple and well thought through app. You will find controls exactly where they should have been. No need to tweak a lot of knobs in settings or navigate through multiple screens to achieve something. I love BoseSoundTouch and its simplicity. It takes care of a lot of things on its own. Adding a new speaker is so simple. They simply used common sense and app turned out so great.

I made a mistake an delete BoseSoundTouch and had to start over . And I actually didn’t need too. After reinstalling BoseSoundTouch it didn’t work. I didn’t need to start from scratch all I needed was to reconnect to the speaker. Trying to be super quick looking at the instructions over 30 minutes and looking for my wave sound system in the instructions and forgot they never name the wave system, I forgot the speaker that they refer to the instructions was actually my wave system. Ok this is on Bose why instead of calling it a speaker why not use the word system. Yes the wave has speakers, but it actually more than a speaker in the instructions replace the word speaker with system because it’s more than a speaker . Other than that it’s sounds awesome. I guess that why I still have my 901’s. The quality is unbelievable.

I love Bose, when it comes to sound quality there's no question that they're systems are some of the best around. I was so eager to get these that I sold my almost new Sonos speakers and replaced them with these. Too bad the Sonos app and speaker capability is FAR superior to Bose. These speakers have connectivity issues on an almost daily basis. I constantly have to unplug them and plug them in again for BoseSoundTouch to 'see' the speaker and for them to be able to network together. This is annoying, more so when you've paid over $1000 for a system.
Additionally, basic features like a sleep function and alarm clock would also be nice (all available with the Sonos). The connectivity issues and extremely basic app aren't befitting of the brand and over a year later I'm still waiting for basic improvements. Very disappointing.

I am a Bose fan. I think Bose is the best. We have music in every room in our house. We even have a speaker in our master closet.

This system does not work with a mesh network. We accept this and have improvised. We have Google Fiber 1 gig. This many speakers (16) need an excellent signal. We have a dedicated router (non mesh) for the Bose system as well. The speakers also need a fast signal. We have the router separating 2.4ghz and 5ghz. We only use the 5ghz. A 5ghz signal, while much faster than 2.4 ghz, doesn’t travel as far as 2.4ghz. The system in our house needs the speed of 5ghz. While there is some fade at 1 outlying speaker, I love this system. It can be quirky. We’ve had this system for several years now. It has been frustrating (extremely) at times. I just had to accept that it WILL NOT WORK with our Orbi Network. It confuses the speaker system. I’ve had to work with this and have improvised as stated earlier.

If you are willing to work with this system’s limitations, it can be wonderful. It’s taken me years to figure it out. I’m still learning and Bose continues to work on issues with BoseSoundTouch .

Bose customer service is excellent. Even when I’ve called in a bit grumpy, they really do care and want their customers to be happy with their products. They will do their best to find a solution.

I hope this review is helpful to others. It comes from lots of experience. Have a nice day and stay well.

I’ve had this in my house for about 3 years now and I still love this system. I get compliments from my guest all the time on how cool it is. I have a speakers all throughout my home which is the equivalent of a different zone for those that paid the hefty price for hardwired home surround sonos system they can be somewhat limited with this. There does seem to be quite a few updates required throughout the year but it’s a quick and painless process to update the speakers through BoseSoundTouch that I didn’t think that deserved to mock a star off. Maybe if the updates could include an extra feature next time it would make it more exciting. How about an intercom addition ? Would sure love to use the speaker in my laundry room to make my kids do their chores.
Overall, easy to use, excellent sound, highly adaptable to needs and you can even grab a speaker if heading on the road. Take that in-home hard wired surround systems!

Decides to go for the gold and bought the Bose SoundTouch 300 Tv sound bar and matching Bluetooth base. We got a free SoundTouch 10 with the purchase. Didn’t really know what I was getting when I bought it. When I realized that the devices themselves attached to the WiFi and played from your favorite music service I was blown away. It’s nice when the money you spend actually pays off. Hats off to Bose. It’s great that you can play same music on any and all the speakers at the same time. I haven’t noticed any timing issues. Great for the whole house. BoseSoundTouch work almost flawlessly. Never had any connection problems. Only thing I wish it had was support for pandora premium. BOSE, IF YOUR LISTENING, PLEASE ADD SUPPORT FOR PANDORA PREMIUM!! It would be nice to search for music and play it, not just the stations. Also if it could have a “my music” tab would be great. All in all great products and software. Bought a SoundTouch 30 for work and am going to get some additional 10s and maybe a 20 for the new house.

I agree with some of the other reviews that state BoseSoundTouch updates a bit too frequently. I wouldn’t mind the updates if I saw some new features or improvements but that really hasn’t been the case. I also find it troubling that Bose dropped the AirPlay functionality and it is far too cumbersome to get your iTunes library working as a music source. If you get it working and decide to use a different computer’s library or, like me, reformatted your hard drive and need to start from scratch, good luck.
What I’d like to see:
1 - more advanced features. Why not give us a “night mode” that automatically reduces the bass after a certain time. I can’t be the only apartment dweller that still likes listening to music past 10pm without headphones.
2 - need better support for built in apple products like AirPlay or simply playing your Apple Music library. Shouldn’t have to connect via Bluetooth to do this when every other source goes theory WiFi.
3. Equalizer - please give us something more than just bass reduction capabilities in your app. Even the built in equalizer for Apple Music would suffice with a quick way to change settings
4. Make BoseSoundTouch experience match the premium speakers. I don’t know exactly what this entails but your app has a distinctly underwhelming feel after getting home from spending $400 for your speaker. The “experience” matters when selling premium brands and only works against you when you don’t get it right.

I give this two stars only because it’s a good concept, but unless you enjoy your music turning off and on randomly and constantly having to power cycle the speakers and reset your WiFi, don’t bother with this system. Sadly if you’re reading this you’ve probably already bought the speakers. If you can still return them, do it. My husband thought for the longest time that my problems were user error but now he’s witnessed it too. Most commonly the speakers will just quit playing but sometimes they’re more creative. One speaker out of six might randomly switch to another station. A speaker may be playing but not know that it is, so you can’t adjust the volume. The most fun is when a speaker that was not playing decides to come on with whatever you were listening to last... invariably it’s Muse coming on in the nursery while the baby is napping. We’ve used this in three houses now so it’s not our internet that’s the problem. I’m about ready to toss the whole thing out the window.