back to article New lows at Bose as firmware update woes infuriate soundbar bros

Hoity-toity hi-fi purveyor Bose has inadvertently silenced a bunch of its own soundbars with a recent firmware update. The problems were first reported on the Bose support forum two weeks ago and affect the company's Soundbar 700. Users connecting the overpriced telly speaker via HDMI are being advised to use optical …

  1. JimmyPage
    Facepalm

    WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

    I'd take the TV at a pinch. But what is in effect a glorified amplifier ?

    Maybe El Reg could run a competition where readers submit their suggestions for the most unexpected piece of kit that got borked after a "firmware update" ???

    Not heard any delivery men today ? Hope your doorbell wasn't borked after a firmware update.

    Going out ? Make sure your trainers are patched first .....

    1. Fatman

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      Because it isn't just an analog amplifier, if it has HDMI and Optical inputs. something has to convert those digital signals.

      1. MiguelC Silver badge

        Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

        So does my 20 years old Krell amplifier and it never needed any firmware update nor is it connected to the internet (as if I'd allowed it to be even if it could...)

      2. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

        Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

        Because it isn't just an analog amplifier, if it has HDMI and Optical inputs. something has to convert those digital signals.

        The problem is that I think you will find is that converting digital signals is something this sound bar did pretty well, just until the update stopped it from doing that.

        But like others have said: why on earth is your sound bar connected to the internet anyway?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

          For the same reason my LG dishwasher is connected to the Internet. For the seller to maintain control over the device I purchased.

      3. JimmyPage
        Mushroom

        Re: Because it isn't just an analog amplifier

        And I didn't say it was.

      4. IGotOut Silver badge

        Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

        Wow fatman...how on earth did we use S/PDIF before the internet?

        Just off to listen to some analogue CD's. Apparently those digital ones won't play with a remote server to talk back to.

    2. Captain Scarlet

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      It probably has Alexa or Google Assistant bundled in.

      Edit: Oh it actually has both.

    3. TheVogon

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      £700 quid for a soundbar without surrounds or sub and it doesn't even do Dolby Atmos or DTS-X ?! Pfffft.

    4. Andy Non Silver badge

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      "Going out ? Make sure your trainers are patched first ....."

      I've just had my shoes patched. Thankfully they no longer leak (puddles not data).

    5. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      Going out ? Make sure your trainers are patched first .....

      Sorry to break this to you.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47336684

      The last one off this planet, please turn the lights off...If the app still works.

    6. Phil Endecott

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      Presumably it needs firmware so that it can play adverts to you, or something.

    7. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Re: WTF does a soundbar need a firmware update ?

      Bose uses garbage hardware with DSPs to partially compensate.

  2. iron

    No sound from a Bose speaker sounds like an upgrade to me!

    1. jeffdyer

      No highs, no lows, that'll be BOSE

  3. Blockchain commentard
    Facepalm

    "the irritation of a broken soundbar is made much worse by the two-week silence from the company" sounds (!!!) like Bose use their own speakers then.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what the actual fuck you can't STOP a soundbar from automatically phoning home and updating it's firmware now?

    what next? will it be background analysing all the stuff you're playing extracting music tastes and movie choices and uploading that to some fucking database somewhere to sell to people to make more money for bose to market more shit at you FUCK THAT

    1. Natalie Gritpants Jr

      Of course you can just not connect the ethernet port. I doubt it's getting updates via the HDMI port. Hopefully it doesn't scan for wifi channels because that would make it a spying device.

      1. dubious

        we got you, fam

        HDMI has you covered: 1.4 introduced ethernet over HDMI.

        Thankfully approximately none of the AV makers took them up on that.

        1. katrinab Silver badge

          Re: we got you, fam

          There are zero devices that support ethernet over hdmi. Lots of overpriced cables. It has been obsoleted by Thunderbolt 3 anyway.

    2. Roopee Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Downvoted

      @AC for the gratuitous language - it's not clever and there's simply no need.

      1. Kane
        Boffin

        Re: Downvoted

        As my old man used to say when I was young, and asked him for some money, Git Tae Fuck.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I remember when expensive TVs actually had good speakers in them, rather than being an optional extra.

    1. jeffdyer

      To be fair, it;s not easy to put decent speakers into a flat box without covering up the screen.

      Old CRT box tellys did have decent speakers, but no flat screen I've ever heard has been good enough for a proper living room TV.

    2. Timbo

      "I remember when expensive TVs actually had good speakers in them, rather than being an optional extra."

      Ah - the good old days when TV's were deeper than they were wide, weighed a ton (comparing screen diagonals then and now) and had to be kept away from L/R and Centre speakers (or soundbars) as the magnets in the speakers caused interference on screen (namely colour blotches nearest to the speakers).

      Of course, having plenty of room inside allowed the designers to ensure some decent bass could be produced from the large air volume that was available...and they could magnetically shield the speaker magnets to ensure good picture quality.

      Move on to the present day and "customers" want frame-less flat screens that can be hung on the wall - which pretty much prevents them from sounding good (unless maybe they come with a Bluetooth-equiped subwoofer that can be carefully hidden out of view).

      So, one can understand that "soundbars" can help solve the sound quality issues with flatscreen TVs...and hene why Bose and others have jumped on the bandwagon and produced expensive speakers to replace the "tinny sounding" toys the TV firms use.

      1. Bloodbeastterror

        "sound quality issues with flatscreen TVs"

        I mistakenly bought a Denon soundbar for my new Samsung Series 7 TV. Denon are hifi specialists and I had high hopes. It was ok. The extra bass was nice, but the treble was sadly lacking.

        It kept disconnecting. Richer Sounds were, as usual, excellent and refunded my money without a quibble.

        The cruncher was that quite a few times over the couple of weeks when I had the soundbar I thought "Well, it sounds better, clearer today" only to discover that I was listening to the tinny TV speakers.

        My new audiophile setup is a pair of 12"x4" MDF panels angled at 45 degrees placed under the down-firing speakers. They bounce the sound out into the room very nicely indeed, and at a couple of quid are more satisfying than the £300 Denon.

        1. TheVogon

          Re: "sound quality issues with flatscreen TVs"

          I can recommend the Samsung HW-N950 as the best soundbar setup out of several high end ones I tried. There is a company selling custom made stands for the rear surrounds on eBay too.

          1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

            Re: "sound quality issues with flatscreen TVs"

            Samsung

            *Shudder*.

            It might be good, right up until it explodes in a Death Star-stylee fireball and burns down your house..

            (I went through several soundbars to try and get some decent sound *and* for it to auto-switch on when the TV did[1]. Ended up with an LG soundplate which goes under the telly (separate bass speaker) which has been pretty good.)

            [1] Elderly mother couldn't get the hang of turning the sound bar on as well as the TV - I'd get met with "tried to watch TV but got no sound" despite leaving written instructions by the TV and soundbar remotes..

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Some Sony flat-screens use the glass panel itself as a speaker - they work pretty well too (though anyone buying a decent TV is probably also going to pipe the sound through a surround system).

    4. LeahroyNake

      yep

      My 48 incher has terrible sound but the old surround sound system from 1999 ish can wake up the street If I fancy watching Apocalypse Now. Just a shame it can't use the tv remote for volume but it is good enough not to have to change the volume constantly and it *defiantly* didn't cost £700 or need firmware updates :0

      Its a real shame that older kit that was not super expensive can still out perform modern crap sold at stupid prices:(

      1. imanidiot Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: yep

        *DEFINITELY*!!!!!

        Where in the world did this stupid fad of changing definitely to defiantly? They don't sound anything like each other and they mean entirely different things...

        Now get off my lawn you damn kids!

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: yep

          Type in definately and SP changes to defiantly not definitely.

          Sounds plausible to me.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: yep

            My spell checker is defiantly annoying.

          2. imanidiot Silver badge

            Re: yep

            Then spellcheck needs a few sessions with a board, a towel and some jugs of water to get its act together, because that is not the most plausible change.

            1. MJI Silver badge

              Re: yep

              My telephone spell checker was so bad I had to change keyboard.

              It kept changing genuine abbreviations to non existing words.

              Are mobile telephones supposed to greatly increase stress?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A grand?

    What's the quality of these things? Is it any good, or is it like those oxygen free, gold plated, free-range, vegan, virgin sacrificed ethernet cables?

    1. katrinab Silver badge
      Flame

      Re: A grand?

      It is BOSE aka Buy Other Sound Equipment. Slightly better than Beats and Monster, but nowhere near as good as generic unbranded stuff from China.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A grand?

      Audiophiliac grade homeopathic cables are a whole different level of stupidity-vs-price.

      1. TheVogon

        Re: A grand?

        You can still find people on AV Forums telling you that £200 HDMI cables make a difference. To a digital signal! Gullibility is a very profitable market apparently.

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: A grand?

          SCART cables quality counts.

          Audio interconnects depends on components.

          HDMI, a simple yes no.

          But I have found through personal experience that a decent pair of thick well shielded interconnect cables are fine. And not expensive.

          SCART, that however cheap are junk, I had to pay quite a bit to get a decent one. All comes down to shielding, cheapies you can see interferance, better quality are fine. This is for RGB.

          HDMI, I get middle ones, I buy on quality of manufacture not magic metals. Most were free though.

          Simply put, does it pass the following.

          Will it fall apart? WIll it be secure? Will it mess up other cables.

    3. Mark Exclamation

      Re: A grand?

      Ok, I'll bite. I actually like Bose stuff. To me, the sound is really good. Matter of personal opinion, I suppose, but obviously a lot of people agree with me, otherwise Bose would be going broke.

    4. John Geek
      Megaphone

      Re: A grand?

      Bose long ago mastered the process of taking a handful of $1.99 car speakers and using signal processing to make them sound 'ok' to a casual listener, then packaging them with $1999 worth of advertising.

    5. Steve 114

      Re: A grand?

      Our nice big TV has rotten lip-synch. Sound is processed faster than video, and no built-in adjustment available. Unwatchable. I need a soundbar with a simple knob on the front to adjust delay - yes I know the gubbins behind can't be simple, A/D:D/A and all that. Do you think I can find one online that offers just this and no other gizmos or reemotes? Cheap suggestions welcome.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A grand?

        Richer Sounds

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A grand?

        Get a cheap pair of binoculars and sit farther away from the screen.

      3. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: A grand?

        Sound is processed faster than video, and no built-in adjustment available

        Out TV (LG) has a setting to change the sound delay. Sounds like you need a better TV..

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: A grand?

          Our TV doesn't have a setting. It get it right. Sounds like you need a better TV..

          1. MJI Silver badge

            Re: A grand?

            Different kit different processing speeds, some form of control is needed.

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    I checked out Bose's site

    Found the soundbar, and checked the manual.

    For starters, the manual begins with 9 pages (!) of legal and regulatory blabber. The Table of Contents is on page 10. I went to the Recommendations page (page 14) where I read that the soundbar must be kept at least 1 to 3 feet away from any other wireless equipment. Well sorry, but my TV receiver is right under the telly and it's wireless and it is staying there. Not that I will be buying anything that phones home anyway, and especially not a soundbar.

    If you are incapable of making proper speakers without having to tweak them from a distance, you're not getting my money.

    1. BebopWeBop
      Headmaster

      Re: I checked out Bose's site

      And at about £1000 a pop, they are not getting mine either - insult following injury I think

  8. Sgt_Oddball
    Meh

    What bugs me..

    Is it's becoming increasingly difficult to nail my 70's to a modern TV since its pure analogu, so ultimately will be forced to use one of these bits of tosh.

    Thankfully my recent TV's sound isn't half bad normally and having a large void behind it also seems to help give the speakers half a chance at sounding reasonable.

    1. Captain Scarlet

      Re: What bugs me..

      Slap a Digital to Analogue converter somewhere, I'm sure you aren't alone and someone like TechMoan will likely be a good place to see what he does with his setup.

      1. MrBanana

        Re: What bugs me..

        I like Techmoan - an odd mix of retro gear and new stuff culled from eBay or Bangood - very enjoyable to watch if you like odd hi-fi or old video gear. I don't think he would have many positive words for over priced Bose soundbars.

      2. Wellyboot Silver badge

        Re: What bugs me..

        I've a neoteck DAC from the big river that does optical/coax 5.1 input to RCA out.

        Cost under £20 & it needs a separate micro usb wall wart for power

      3. kami25

        Re: What bugs me..

        hello

        yes, TechMoan is The best choice

  9. Tom 7

    The Lexus of speakers?

    The misses had a lexus. Nice car. drove on all the roads. Bose pretend to drive on the low ones.

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: The Lexus of speakers?

      Nice car. drove on all the roads

      AKA "tarted up Toyota".. (It's the 'premium' brand of Toyota - sort of like how AMG is to Mercedes)

      1. MJI Silver badge

        Re: The Lexus of speakers?

        Is plural Lexi?

        If I HAD to have one it would get rebranded ASAP.

        Why have a LS400 when you could have a Toyota Celsior?

        I love correctly rebranding cars.

        If I was in charge all GM Adams would be recalled to gain Adams surname (Opel). All Land Rover Evokes would be rebranded Freelander Coupe.

        And all Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 get the new brand Toybaru.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bose isn't alone with crap soundbars

    Toss Sony into that mix too. I have one of their high-end ATMOS soundbars and it's crap. Consistent no-sound issues requiring a power cycle, fails to auto-switch to new HDMI sources, or worse, switches, then switches back, then gives up and drops you on its "Home" screen where you get to pick the source. Not to mention the occasional "POP!" you get from it, after which it is totally TITSUP and needs the plug pulled for 30 seconds to recover. Just waiting for it to die - I know it's coming - but then I'm not sure what I'll replace it with. Lusted over the Creative Labs ATMOS soundbar ("The soundbar of the Gods" - really, that's how they market it - see for yourself https://us.creative.com/soniccarrier/), and while the reviews are amazing, I just can't see myself paying $4,000 for a soundbar. BTW, that's a price drop. When they released it the price was $6K.

    1. Jim Mitchell

      Re: Bose isn't alone with crap soundbars

      Creative Labs is still around? Way to bury the lede! I'd just assumed they had died off years ago, much like my Sound Blaster card from 1999...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bose isn't alone with crap soundbars

        I still mourn the passng of my AWE64.

    2. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Bose isn't alone with crap soundbars

      I find Sony AV stuff is good.

      Got one of their surround sound receivers, 20 years old still works well, has DD5.1 and DTS, what else do I need?

      Oh and a couple of their BluRay players, they also do games!

    3. TheVogon

      Re: Bose isn't alone with crap soundbars

      I had a Sony 5000 too. For all their advertising bs as you say it sounds crap. Now have a Samsung with rear surrounds and it sounds like Atmos should.

      1. MJI Silver badge

        Re: Bose isn't alone with crap soundbars

        Sound bars.

        Are they actually any good?

        I run a 5.0 system (never got round to adding a sub, but front stereo pair are floor standers).

        Used for films, games, music.

        Front pair are where a pair of HiFi speakers would be, actually they are.

        Rear pair on brackets on the wall.

        Centre on a microwave bracket above the TV.

        Since I would need HiFi speakers for music, to me a sound bar would be no benefit in space used.

  11. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    My neighbour...

    My neighbour popped his head over the fence on Sunday morning to ask me what the hell I'd been watching on Saturday night that made it sound as though the world was ending. It was of course Godzilla - King of the monsters amplified quite loudly through my 6 year old Panasonic soundbar and remote woofer. This thing didn't cost the earth, and doesn't need to be internet connected or updated to literally rock my living room to pieces.

    Other than some shit label-brag, I simply don't understand the need to pay so much for these things.

    1. Ragarath
      IT Angle

      Re: My neighbour...

      It's the same from kids toy's through clothing to electronics. Brands used by the cool/rich kids because "Brand".

      It's normally all you are paying for. People can pretend to be richer/cooler than they really are.

  12. FuzzyTheBear
    Alert

    HDMI and Ethernet

    To those who haven't rerad up on HDMI recently it does carry ethernet as per " HDMI Ethernet Channel technology consolidates video, audio, and data streams into a single HDMI cable, and the HEC feature enables IP-based applications over HDMI and provides a bidirectional Ethernet communication at 100 Mbit/s.[43] The physical layer of the Ethernet implementation uses a hybrid to simultaneously send and receive attenuated 100BASE-TX type signals through a single twisted pair. " so yes . if HDMI is used with a suitably manufactured tv connected to a std ethernet port the bar SHOULD see the connection and communicate on the network.

    1. imanidiot Silver badge

      Re: HDMI and Ethernet

      I have yet to encounter ANY equipment that is actually capable of using ethernet over HDMI.

  13. Steve Kerr

    BOSE, yuck

    BOSE is to audio what Trabant is to cars

    Except, BOSE is overpriced cheaply made tat.

    (Opinions are own and I have been underwhelmed with everything I've ever heard that they've made)

    Better off with the cheaper brands or buying proper hi-fi that exists around their price bracket.

    1. MalIlluminated

      Re: BOSE, yuck

      What really bothers me is that they actually have some decent technology available to them. There are technical arguments for and against waveguides, but regardless what you think of them, there's no excuse for using one to compensate for bottom of the barrel components while charging top-of-market prices. Every time I hear Bose equipment I find myself wistfully thinking of what it could have been.

      1. MrBanana

        Re: BOSE, yuck

        I volunteer for a repair cafe and have seen a few BOSE wave-thingies brought in to be fixed. One had a duff speaker after a gravity induced incident, the others were mostly tired/dirty CD transports. The components used, and the internal build quality is actually pretty good, it's the special BOSE sound processing "technology" that turns the output into nothing more than noise.

  14. Michael Jarve

    No highs, no lows, gotta be Bose

    As any audio pro/ audiophile knows, Bose is an acronym for Bring Other Sound Equipment.

  15. sanmigueelbeer

    I was once active in the Bose Community Forum helping others find fixes to some of Bose's equipment.

    I left because once I got enough "Kudos" I was also meant to "toe the party line".

    I once made a comment that contained the phrase "needs to be taken out the back and shot" and Bose sprang into action and accused me of promoting violence.

    I told them to f*ck off and I'll take my knowledge somewhere else.

  16. imanidiot Silver badge

    Only one product worth buying

    Their Quiet Comfort noise cancelling headphones are excellent. It's their only product worth buying imho. The rest is overprices rubbish.

  17. MJI Silver badge

    Bose are not a hifi brand

    They are a fashion label, like Beats.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Punters have suggested Bose does not adequately test its firmware

    What testing if any, £30 for the Indian intern who configured the firmware, which Bose scraped off a shareware site?

  19. jimbo60

    reboot the speaker?

    "...staff have also suggested rebooting the speaker..."

    Never thought I'd see those words together. And I'm a technical type...

  20. llaryllama

    Small powerful hifi setup

    Want a smallish and good looking brand new 5.1 setup without having to wire rear speakers? Get 2 pairs of Q acoustics 3000 series bookshelf speakers, optional center speaker, Polk 10" subwoofer plus a Denon AVR or Sony STR 5.1 receiver. Add a rocketfish wireless speaker kit and you have a system that will blow the arse out of your Bose soundbar with change to buy a PS4 for playing Blu rays.

  21. planetzog

    Hahahahaha. How much? Hahahahaha. I have a Goodmans soundbar. Works a treat. £60 new. Hahahahagahahahahaha.

  22. kami25

    Hello,

    No longer able to connect my speaker to the Connect + application, I connected it to my Mac to update. Everything starts correctly but crashes at 8% with an error message "Hmm ... we lost connection to your product. Try unplugging your product then plugging it back in."

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