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Factory reset on the Home Speaker 500 seems to have resolved. ... View more

I have just purchased a Home Speaker 500 to go with my Soundbar 700 / sub setup.  I am having a similar problem.  If I set play all group from the Soundbar 700 I get music on the Soundbar 700, album art and silence on the Home Speaker 500.  If I set play all on the Home Speaker 500, I get music and album art on the Home Speaker 500 and silence on the Soundbar 700.   Volumes are set correctly and there is no issue playing music individually but this kind of defeats the point of my purchase.  This is happening with Spotify and TuneIn.  The app is showing the speakers as paired.   Steps taken: Power cycle router Power cycle both speakers Reboot phone / Bose music app   The power was turned off at the wall for at lest 10 mins for the speakers.  Any assistance appreciated.     ... View more

You can definetly use bluetooth with a free Spotify account.  Spotify Connect which is over wifi and has better sound as a result didn't used to be available to free account holders (this was limited on Spotify's side not Bose).  It appears that Spotify Connect has now been opened up to free accounts on Spotify's side, but this is only a very recent thing and will depend on manufacturer inplementing the latest SDK, maybe the mods or someone with a free account can answer for sure.  More information here...  https://lifehacker.com/spotify-users-with-free-accounts-can-now-use-their-phon-1830280112   In short, if you are happy to use bluetooth, not a problem.  If you want to use Spotify Connect, this may not be possible.  The Spotify Premium account will work with both and in my opinion is very much worth it but that's just personal preference. ... View more

Hi @Brandon_M, it has previously been stated on here that multiroom is no longer unique to Echo devices.  Unfortunately, I can't remember the original user that posted this in order to give full credit.  Full info is here...  https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/c4bbbbaf-3559-4b5e-b920-83a9d594e732/alexa-play-rolling-in-the-deep-everywhere-announcing-multi-room-music-for-products-with-alexa-built-in.   This would be a fantastic feature and would be great if Bose could implement...  The only reason I can see for Bose not looking into implementing this would be that it would appear to be possible to mix different brands of speaker in a multiroom set up using this framework.  I would be very disappointed if Bose failed to implement for this reason, especially as there seems to be no way of achieving this at present with an all-Bose set up. ... View more

Been away for the week with work and have come back to find my Soundbar 700 working perfectly with Spotify as my default music service without the need for me to update the firmware.  Thanks to the Bose Development Team for sorting this.   Much preferring the new speaker and app to the Soundtouch ecosystem.  Given time, I'm sure that this series will be a credibible alternative to Sonos on features as well as sound if the Developers continue to add new features at this rate.  Happy that I made the switch.  Soundtouch gear currently on eBay with more smart speakers to be added. ... View more

I know that I have moaned a bit on this thread in the past, but at least the Bose mods have now pinned the post to say that Airplay 2 is coming and on that post it says by the end of the year.  I am happy with that timescale but would be even happier if they were to let me know if the ST300 would be likely to be getting the update.   I was really unimpressed with the announcement of the Sonos Beam, in my opinion it's the product that nobody needs.  Looking at a lot of the AV forums, my opinion seems to be shared.  If they would have bought out a full blown soundbar with the same functionality and some better surround codec support I would have more than likely made the switch.   In the meantime, I have purchased a homepod for the kitchen and it blows my ST20 III out of the water for sound quality, the balance is a lot more natural than the ST20 which tends to have too much bass and not enough mid (my assessment may be slightly unfair here as the homepod is streaming over wifi whereas I am still relying on bluetooth for the ST20)...  yes I know it's more expensive but it also has the added bonus of voice control for my Homekit lighting / thermostat etc.   It looks like the ST20 in my bedroom will be going soon to be replaced with another Homepod as I have been really impressed with it.  I have been holding off buying the surrounds to go with my ST300 and sub for the last 18 months until Airplay 2 becomes available.  If it does, I think that the Homepods in other areas of the apartment and the ST300 with Airplay 2 in the lounge would be the perfect system.  I really want Bose to make this happen as I will reiterate that the ST300 and sub is a fantastic setup for film / TV.  It's just lacking with music support.   What I will say here is that Sonos appear to have stolen a march on not just Bose but a number of other established audio vendors.  Bose was a launch partner of Airplay 2 in June last year, Sonos didn't even announce a partnership until October last year.  Other companies are giving timescales of August / September for their implementations.  I work in software specifically for media and there have been a number of traditional hardware companies in my sector which have pretty much dissapeared due to relatively young, but more innovative companies entering the marketplace.  If Bose were to put the effort into development that they do in other areas, they could have the sector sewn up. ... View more

Meanwhile....   https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/6/17434294/airplay-2-sonos-speakers-in-july ... View more

Let's not make this personal by questioning my integrity please.   I'm probably repeating myself a bit here, but I bought my system last year when Airplay 2 compatibility was announced.  This was one of the driving factors in making my purchase as I had been using the original Airplay since circa 2007.   I appreciate that there has been a large delay with Apple bringing Airplay 2 to market.  The Integration with my TV works fantastically, for everything else I have been using bluetooth which has quality and range issues as well as my music dropping out if I get a phone call or my timer goes off.   Sonos is already Apple Music compatible, having Airplay 2 which they have mentioned will be in their future speakers and the resultant ability of being able to integrate into HomeKit would just be a bonus.  If they bring out a AV speaker with HDMI (my reason for discounting them in the first place) as is rumoured then I would have no problem with buying the system that does everything that I need it to do.  I am in a fortunate position where buying a new system is not an issue and if the Playbase is anything to go by the sound should be on a par.   Having said that, if I were to know that my existing system would be compatible by the end of the year I would be more than happy to keep it.  It's the not knowing that is the issue here.  I don't want a system that might not ever do what I need it to.   I don't think that I have any more to say on the matter, so will leave this here as if I repeat myself any more I am going to seriously start boring the people that are following this thread.     ... View more

 wrote: Could Bose be more transparent about the AirPlay 2? Sure. Are they obligated to? No. Apple is currently listing those spearkers who officially announced an update for AirPlay 2 (besides the HomePod no other speakers support AirPlay 2) - and no timeframe when it will be released.    My guess is, that Bose is exploring the possibility on how to implement AirPlay 2 the best way. Suprisingly such a process takes usually some time. I rather prefer to have a "perfect implementation" which takes its time for developing and testing than having a buggy implementation which needs several updates to fix all issues. Sometimes it is impossible to give a timeframe. Apple itself needed almost a year to release AirPlay 2.     I am not convinced that this will be coming to the full soundtouch range based on the following info from the Sonos website ( https://blog. sonos.com/en- gb/ airplay2-coming/) .  Their very detailed explanation says that only certain models will have backwards compatibility due to the amount of computing power required.  I am assuming that this will be the case with some speakers in the soundtouch range.  Sonos also explain that they aim to have Airplay 2 by the end of the year.  If only we could get such transparency from Bose.   All I would like to know is if my ST300 and ST20 III will eventually be compatible.  At the moment this is preventing me from buying any more Bose speakers and potentially compelling me to sell my current set up depending on what Sonos announce as their new home theatre speaker tomorrow.  Moderators, if you are unable to comment any further than you aren't able to give us any info and keep on checking, maybe management should be sent a link to this thread so they can see how dissatisfied their Apple Music using customers are? ... View more

 Apologies...  I appear to have double posted.  Mods, can we delete this duplicate please? ... View more

Thanks for the advice.   I am aware of the ST300, I own one as well as the sub and a ST20 III all purchased within the last year since the Airplay 2 announcement was made.  If both of these are able to recieve an Airplay 2 enabling update within the near future (or at least a promise that it will be available), I will more than likely stick with my Bose.   It is still extremely frustrating that no one from Bose is updating their customers who have invested a lot of money in their kit when their competitors are able to offer this info.  I see that other topics on the forum are being watched by mods so am sure that this is being read.  Bose customer service advice is to continue checking their channels and website when the competition announced which devices would be backward compatible nearly a month a go.  The last offical update from Bose was June last year.   I am aware of the bluetooth option and it is flawed both from an audio quality and range perspective when compared to wifi streaming, not to mention the interruption to music when recieving phone calls.  I fail to see how this 90s technology gives Bose the technical edge over what Sonos are currently offering... for example, being compatible with more streaming services and having Alexa built in just to name a couple.   At the end of the day, I want a system that sounds good, looks good and meets my requirements of working with the TV via HDMI ARC connection and being able to stream over wifi throughout the house with Apple Music.  If another system becomes available that meets these requirements while Bose have still made no comittments to their existing customers I will have no issues whatsoever with buying a new system.   Over to you Bose...... ... View more

I also think that it would be nice if Bose would give us some information, but given my experience as an owner over the last year I very much doubt that this will be the case.  I don't know why they can't have a much more open approach like Sonos and at least let us know which speakers will be firmware updatable even if it is not possible to give a date.  Surely that's not too much to ask?   All this lack of response is doing is making me more likely to get rid of my Bose kit and replace with Sonos which is already Apple Music compatible irrespective of which models are Airplay 2 compatible.   With the upcoming Sonos event next week on June 6th, if they announce a HDMI equipped soundbar as is expected then it wont be a difficult decision for me.  Bose really need to up their game given the current competition. ... View more