Design and build:

Sony HT-A5000 and Bose 900 soundbars are made of plastic and covered in metal grille. Bose 900 model has a glass top that you can pair with 75” TVs easily. Sony HT-A5000 is longer in width and is suitable to fit under large TVs like 75 to 80”. They can be wall mounted but only Sony comes with mouinting brackets making it much easier. Overall, the build quality of these soundbars is quite good and sturdy.

Performance:

Sony HT-A5000 and Bose 900 are 5.1.2 channel soundbars. Sony HT-A5000 has five front-firing, 2 side-firing and 2 up-firing drivers. It has 2 Sony X-balanced built-in subwoofers. The X-Balanced design is used in Sony drivers to ensure boosted bass and crystal-clear vocals while reducing distortion. It has S-Force Pro Front Surround that uses digital sound field processing technology to ensure powerful surrounds.

With Vertical Surround Engine, the soundbar tries to deliver sound in vertical space without having ceiling speakers. It does not support DTS and DTS: X audio formats that are available in the Bose soundbar 900. In terms of overhead effects, they are present but not as prominent as the Sony HT-A7000. The bar can bring out details, deliver good sound effects with precision.

With Sony Sound Field Optimization, the built-in microphone analyzes room layout to enhance the sound. It has a balanced audio profile which is suitable for most contents. It can get quite loud which is adequate to fill large rooms. This is similar for the Bose 900. However, since they are standalone bars, try placing them in medium sized rooms. Both these soundbars have clear and intelligible dialogues thanks to the independent center channel.

Similar to Sony, Bose 900 also has room calibration software known an ADAPTiQ. It has clear voices and instrumental sounds are accurate. The bar has a total of 9 drivers. It utilizes several technologies like Truespace and PhaseGuide. These are known to deliver height effect for non-Atmos content and give a multidimensional soundspace around the user. QuietPort feature minimizes the turbulence and produce cleaner bass.

With bass and treble controls, tweaking the sound as per your likings is easier. Comparing Sony HT-A5000 vs Bose 900 soundbar, the 900 bar has a wider and engaging soundstage. It tries to achieve accuracy where the sound will follow the objects on screen. The Bose 900 model also has more immersive surrounds than the Sony HT-A5000. This is due to side-firing drivers that helps to produce surround sound that engulfs the user from all around.

The height effects of Bose 900 is superior and more clear than the HT-A5000 Sony soundbar. While both the bars use up-firing drivers, the result is clearer with Bose.

Features:

Both these standalone soundbars are versatile in terms of features. If you connect Sony Bravia XR TV (2021 and up models) then both the soundbar and the TV will act as center channel. This is done with Acoustic Center Channel Sync. Since the Sony HT-A5000 has HDMI 2.1 and support for ALLM, it is a great soundbar for gaming. It does not have any bass or treble adjustments. On the other hand, the Bose 900 soundbar does not support night mode or subwoofer adjustment option.

Compared to the Bose 900, the HT-A5000 has more options and settings. You can adjust inbuilt subwoofer level, night mode, EQ (enable Sound Field or off), etc are available. Bose 900 does not have night mode instead there is option to adjust bass and treble. Sony HT-A5000 is a 3D ready soundbar which means you can stream 3D content through HDMI.

Bose allows a total number of 4 zones where you can stream via HDMI or Bluetooth. Airplay 2 and Chromecast open door to many options. With Airplay 2, you can stream contents from Apple devices and apps. It allows you to talk to Siri to control playback. Along with streaming contents with the Cast button through Chromecast, you can create multiroom audio. For that, you need Chromecast supported speakers.

Connectivity:

Sony HT-A5000 and Bose 900 has HDMI eARC, optical and Ethernet ports. In addition to this, the Sony HT-A5000 has HDMI In which means you can connect TV, satellite box or gaming console. With HDMI 2.1 support, this soundbar is best for gaming. It will allow 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz passthrough. Bose 900 has a bass port for connecting a subwoofer.

The soundbars are versatile in terms of connectivity. They support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for streaming music wirelessly.  

Multiple speaker pairing:

Sony HT-A5000 can connect Sony SA-SW3 or SA-SW5 subwoofers wirelessly. This will help to achieve enhanced low ends. The Sony rear speakers (SA-RS3S / SA-RS5) is available to pair with the bar. In this case, 360 Spatial Sound Mapping works to deliver broader listening area and multidimensional sound space.

You can connect both surrounds and subwoofer to the Bose soundbar 900. It will work with Bose Bass Module 500 or 700 and Bose Surround Speaker or Bose 700 surround speaker.

Control options:

Comparing Bose 900 vs Sony HT-A5000 models, the HT-A5000 has all basic physical control options on the bar. It has volume up/down, play/pause, Bluetooth, source changing and music service touch buttons. Bose 900 does not want the user to control the bar in this way. It only has a mic mute and Action button. It has a small and compact remote with basic buttons. Sony HT-A5000 has a large remote with several buttons.

Another difference between the Sony HT-A5000 and Bose 900 is, the Sony soundbar does not have any built-in voice assistants. You need to use 3^rd party voice enabled devices to use them. With Bose 900 there isn’t any such hassle. Controlling the bar with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant is easy as breeze.

Cost:

Comparing Sony HT-A5000 vs Bose 900, the Sony HT-A5000 is less costly. This means the HT-A5000 bar is suitable for users with budget constraints.

FAQ:

What is Bose SimpleSync?

With Bose SimpleSync, you can connect Bose 900 bar to another device from the Bose Home Speaker Family. You can connect either the Bose SoundLink portable speaker or noise canceling headphone. Look for the SimpleSync option on the Bose Music app. Then connect the devices where they should remain within 30’ range. Unlike multiroom setups, you can listen to same content on both devices.

Sony HT-A5000 or Bose 900, which one should I choose for 8k TV?

If you have the newer 8k TVs, then you need to go for the Sony HT-A5000 soundbar. It has HDMI 2.1 that allows 4k@120 Hz and 8k @60 Hz passthrough.