Bose SoundTouch 300 vs Soundbar 700: The Honest 2026 Verdict
The spec-sheet fight quietly ended on May 6, 2026, when Bose switched off the SoundTouch platform for good. One of these bars kept its brains — and is still sold new. The other still has the one trick the winner never learned.
If you’re choosing between these two Bose soundbars in 2026, the comparison has been decided by something neither spec sheet mentions: Bose shut down the SoundTouch platform on May 6, 2026 (Bose’s official end-of-life notice). The SoundTouch 300 lost its presets, in-app music streaming, Alexa control, and all future software and security updates. The Soundbar 700 runs on the separate Bose Music app, which is still fully supported — and Bose still sells the 700 new at $714, or certified-refurbished at $399 (bose.com, July 2026). So the honest 2026 verdict is the Soundbar 700, and it isn’t close. The only scenario where the SoundTouch 300 still makes sense: you find one very cheap and you mainly need a TV speaker with an HDMI passthrough input — the one hardware feature the 700 never had. Most comparisons of these two bars were written in 2019 and are now quietly wrong; this one was rebuilt for what actually changed.
In 2019 this was a real fight. In 2026, only one of these bars has a future — so buy by survivability, not by spec sheet:
And buy neither if you want Dolby Atmos — neither bar plays it. Start with our best Dolby Atmos soundbars instead.
What just happened to SoundTouch (read this first if you own one)
Bose originally set SoundTouch’s end-of-support date for February 18, 2026, then — in January, after pushback from owners — announced it would keep the cloud running until May 6, 2026 (Bose’s end-of-life page carries both dates; SoundGuys and What Hi-Fi? covered the walk-back). Since May 6, per Bose’s own notice:
Gone for good: presets (both the app presets and the physical preset buttons), browsing or playing music services from inside the SoundTouch app, Alexa voice commands, stereo pairing on the SoundTouch 10, and all software and security updates — Bose now tells owners to “always use your system on a secure, private network” (Bose end-of-life page).
Still working (final app update, local-only): Bluetooth, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, AUX, app-based setup and configuration, play/pause/skip/volume controls, multi-speaker grouping — and, crucially for the SoundTouch 300, TV audio over HDMI or optical is unaffected (Bose end-of-life page).
Translation for SoundTouch 300 owners: your soundbar still works fine as a soundbar. What died is the smart half — it’s now a good “dumb” bar with Bluetooth. Bose is also running a trade-in program offering up to $300 toward current products, and the Soundbar 300 is on the eligible list — though Bose notes the offer “can be withdrawn at any time,” so confirm it’s still live on bose.com before you count on it (bose.com SoundTouch trade-up page).
Head-to-head: every spec, cited
The 2019 question, answered properly for 2026. Superscripts map to the numbered sources at the end of this page; where the two bars’ figures come from different sources, the cell says which.
| Spec | SoundTouch 300 | Soundbar 700 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status in 2026 | Discontinued — SoundTouch platform shut down May 6, 2026¹ | Still sold new by Bose² | Soundbar 700 |
| Price today | Secondhand only — and no future updates¹ | $714 new · $399 certified refurb with 1-year limited warranty (bose.com, Jul 4, 2026)² | Soundbar 700 |
| Companion app | SoundTouch — frozen final version, local functions only¹ | Bose Music — fully supported² | Soundbar 700 |
| Voice control | None — Alexa via SoundTouch is dead¹ | Alexa + Google Assistant built in² ⁴ | Soundbar 700 |
| HDMI | HDMI input + ARC output with 4K pass-through³ | One HDMI connection to the TV — ARC/eARC per Bose’s current listing² (no eARC at review⁴) or optical; no HDMI input⁴ | SoundTouch 300 — its one win |
| Dolby Atmos | No | No — Dolby Digital & DTS only⁴ | Tie — and a dated one |
| Music streaming today | Bluetooth · AirPlay · Spotify Connect · AUX still work locally¹ | Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, SiriusXM, Deezer + AirPlay 2² (Chromecast per What Hi-Fi?⁴) | Soundbar 700 |
| Room calibration | ADAPTiQ — headset routine, test tones across five positions³ | ADAPTiQ — run via the Bose Music app² ⁴ | Tie |
| Width | 98cm / ~38.5″ (5.7 × 98 × 10cm)³ | 97.8cm / ~38.5″ (5.72 × 97.8 × 10.8cm)⁴ | Tie — near-twins on the shelf |
| Launch price | ~$700 list⁵ | £800 / $800⁴ | — |
| What Hi-Fi? rating | 3/5 — “uncompetitive sound is its undoing”³ | 4/5 — “solid, engaging sound”⁴ | Soundbar 700 |
- The shutdown is the real spec sheet now: every “gone” item in the SoundTouch column comes from Bose’s own end-of-life notice¹ — not from reviews. TV audio over HDMI/optical is explicitly unaffected.
- The eARC nuance, honestly: What Hi-Fi’s original 700 review flagged “no eARC support”⁴, while Bose’s current product page lists HDMI-ARC or eARC² — a capability Bose added after launch. Either way, the 700 has no HDMI input; all sources plug into your TV first.
- Prices were pulled from bose.com on July 4, 2026 and move without notice; secondhand SoundTouch 300 pricing varies too much to print a number.
- No weights or channel counts here: our cited sources don’t publish them for both bars, so we don’t print them.
Per-cell sources: [1] Bose end-of-life notice · [2] bose.com product listings (Jul 4, 2026) · [3] What Hi-Fi? SoundTouch 300 review · [4] What Hi-Fi? Smart Soundbar 700 review · [5] TechGearLab — full citations in the Sources box at the end. “Edge” calls are use-case judgments from those cited facts.
Design & size: near-twins on the shelf
Physically, these two are closer than any other pair in Bose’s history: 98cm (~38.5″) wide for the SoundTouch 300 and 97.8cm for the Soundbar 700 per What Hi-Fi?’s spec sheets — both low-profile bars sized for 55-inch-plus TVs. The 700 is the prettier object: a tempered-glass top and wraparound metal grille, sold in black or white (What Hi-Fi?; bose.com currently lists black). The SoundTouch 300 is glass-topped too, black only, with What Hi-Fi? praising its “sleek and discreet” look. Neither ships with a subwoofer; both were designed to hand bass duties to Bose’s optional wireless bass modules and surrounds.
Connectivity: the one round the SoundTouch 300 wins
The SoundTouch 300 has an HDMI input plus an ARC output that’s compatible with 4K pass-through (What Hi-Fi?), so it can sit between a source and your TV — genuinely useful if you’re out of TV ports. The Soundbar 700 has no HDMI input at all: one HDMI connection to the TV — ARC, with eARC also supported per Bose’s current product page — or optical, and that’s it. What Hi-Fi? called the missing passthrough ports a disappointment at review, and listed “no video passthrough” among its official cons. On a modern TV, ARC or optical is all most people ever use — but if the input matters to you, it’s the one hardware argument for the older bar.
Audio formats: a tie, and a dated one
Neither bar plays Dolby Atmos. What Hi-Fi?’s Soundbar 700 verdict line says it plainly — “balanced and direct sound, but no Dolby Atmos” — and its spec sheet lists Dolby Digital and DTS only, with “No Dolby Atmos or DTS:X” called out as a con. The 2016 SoundTouch 300 predates Bose’s Atmos era entirely. In 2026 that matters: every current Bose flagship and most $500-plus competitors do Atmos. If height channels are on your list, neither bar qualifies — start with our best Dolby Atmos soundbar guide and skip to “what replaced them” below.
Smarts & control: a rout
Soundbar 700: Alexa and Google Assistant built in, the still-supported Bose Music app, streaming via Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, SiriusXM and Deezer, plus Apple AirPlay 2 — all listed on Bose’s live product page (What Hi-Fi?’s spec sheet adds Chromecast). It also ships with Bose’s genuinely excellent universal remote, which What Hi-Fi? counted among its pros. SoundTouch 300: no built-in voice assistant, and its SoundTouch app is now the frozen, local-only final version described above — Alexa, which used to work through the SoundTouch skill, is officially dead (Bose end-of-life page). This category decided the comparison even before the shutdown; now it’s a chasm.
Sound quality: what the published reviews actually said
Both bars use Bose’s waveguide approach to throw sound wider than the cabinet. What Hi-Fi? describes the SoundTouch 300’s PhaseGuide array (plus QuietPort for low-end control) and, inside the 700, “four racetrack woofers positioned close to the centre of the bar with two arrays of drive units at either end.” Both run ADAPTiQ room calibration — the headset-based routine that tunes the bar to your room; What Hi-Fi? describes the SoundTouch 300’s version playing test tones across five positions, and the 700 runs it through the Bose Music app.
The critical record, though, is lopsided. The Soundbar 700 earned four stars: “it doesn’t have the features of most similarly priced soundbars, but the Bose Smart Soundbar 700 counters with solid, engaging sound” — wide soundfield in the pros, price and formats in the cons (What Hi-Fi?). The SoundTouch 300 got three stars and a brutal verdict: “top points for style and specification, but uncompetitive sound is its undoing” — with “sound lacks subtlety and crispness,” “falls short dynamically” and “bass lacks absolute depth” as the listed cons. The shared weakness is that last one: What Hi-Fi? notes the SoundTouch 300 “doesn’t burrow deep enough” without Bose’s add-on wireless subwoofer, and the 700 keeps a socket waiting for its own optional bass module (What Hi-Fi?; bose.com). Bose sold these bars as starters for a modular system, and it shows.
Price today: the $399 refurb is the story
At launch this was a $700 bar (SoundTouch 300 list price, per TechGearLab) versus an £800 / $800 bar (Soundbar 700, per What Hi-Fi?). In July 2026 the math is simpler: the 700 sells new for $714 or certified-refurbished for $399 with a 1-year limited warranty, direct from Bose (bose.com, July 4, 2026), while the SoundTouch 300 is discontinued and secondhand-only — and whatever you’d pay, you’re buying a bar with no future updates. Frankly, the $399 refurb 700 is the smart-money buy of this entire comparison — premium-bar sound near the price of a good budget bar. (If $300-ish is the real budget, our best soundbars under $300 guide covers what that money buys new, with warranties and current apps.)
The two bars, in depth
Bose Soundbar 700 — the one with a future
The 700 wins this comparison on survivability before sound even enters it: the Bose Music app is still fully supported, and Bose still sells the bar new at $714 or certified-refurbished at $399 with a 1-year limited warranty (bose.com, July 2026). You get Alexa and Google Assistant built in, seven streaming services plus AirPlay 2 (bose.com), ADAPTiQ calibration, and What Hi-Fi?’s four-star endorsement for “solid, engaging sound” from its four racetrack woofers and end-mounted driver arrays.
The honest catches: no Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, no HDMI input, and What Hi-Fi? called it “overpriced for its feature set” at its original $800 — a criticism the $399 refurb quietly solves. Deep bass still wants the optional wireless bass module.
Price: $714 new · $399 certified refurb direct from Bose (bose.com, July 4, 2026) — moves without notice, confirm at the listing
Bose SoundTouch 300 — a good “dumb” bar now
Strip away the dead platform and what’s left is honest: a handsome 98cm glass-topped bar with the pairing’s only HDMI input, with 4K pass-through on its ARC output (What Hi-Fi?), Bose’s PhaseGuide and QuietPort acoustics, ADAPTiQ calibration, and working Bluetooth, AirPlay, Spotify Connect and AUX under the final local-only app (Bose end-of-life page). TV audio over HDMI or optical is completely unaffected by the shutdown.
The honest catches: What Hi-Fi? rated it three stars even in its prime — “uncompetitive sound is its undoing,” with bass that “lacks absolute depth” — and since May 6, 2026 there are no presets, no in-app streaming, no Alexa, and no security updates; Bose says to keep it on a secure, private network. If you own one, check the up-to-$300 trade-in before selling it used.
Price: secondhand only — discontinued; weigh any asking price against the $399 refurb 700 and the up-to-$300 Bose trade-in
What replaced them: Bose’s 2026 lineup
The Soundbar 700’s direct lineage ran Soundbar 700 → Smart Soundbar 900 (Bose’s first Dolby Atmos bar) → today’s flagship, the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar at $999 — nine speakers plus a center tweeter, including two up-firing drivers, Dolby Atmos with TrueSpace upmixing, A.I. Dialogue Mode, ADAPTiQ, Alexa and Google Assistant support, AirPlay 2 and Chromecast (bose.com, July 4, 2026). Below it sit Bose’s cheaper Smart Soundbar and TV Speaker models, and above it the new Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar at $1,099, launched in May 2026 as Bose revived its Lifestyle brand (Forbes; Bloomberg). The SoundTouch line has no successor — its exit ramp is the up-to-$300 trade-in.
If you’re shopping current-generation instead, start with our Dolby Atmos soundbar guide, our best-under-$300 picks, or the flagship shootout between the Samsung HW-Q990F and the Sonos Arc Ultra.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Bose SoundTouch 300 still supported in 2026?
- No. Bose shut the SoundTouch cloud platform on May 6, 2026 — no more presets, in-app music streaming, Alexa control, or software and security updates. Local features still work: Bluetooth, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, AUX, HDMI/optical TV audio, and app-based setup, volume and grouping controls (Bose end-of-life page).
- Does the SoundTouch app still work?
- Yes, in a reduced, local-only final version: setup, configuration, speaker grouping, and play/pause/skip/volume controls. You now start music from Spotify, AirPlay or Bluetooth on your phone rather than from inside the SoundTouch app (Bose end-of-life page).
- Can you still buy the Bose Soundbar 700?
- Yes. As of July 4, 2026, bose.com lists the Smart Soundbar 700 new at $714 and certified-refurbished at $399 with a 1-year limited warranty. Prices move without notice, so confirm at the listing.
- Does either soundbar support Dolby Atmos?
- No — What Hi-Fi?’s spec sheet lists the Soundbar 700 as Dolby Digital and DTS only, and the 2016 SoundTouch 300 predates Bose’s Atmos bars entirely. Bose’s current Atmos flagship is the $999 Smart Ultra Soundbar (bose.com) — and our Atmos soundbar guide ranks it against the field.
- Is the Bose SoundTouch trade-in worth it?
- If you own an eligible SoundTouch product — the Soundbar 300 is on Bose’s list — the trade-up program offers up to $300 toward current Bose gear. Weigh that against your unit’s real-world resale value, and check the page first: Bose says the offer can be withdrawn at any time (bose.com SoundTouch trade-up page).
The final verdict
Buy the Soundbar 700 — ideally the $399 certified refurb, which delivers a four-star premium bar with a supported app, built-in Alexa and Google Assistant, and AirPlay 2 for near-budget money (bose.com; What Hi-Fi?). Buy a used SoundTouch 300 only if it’s genuinely cheap and you need its HDMI passthrough input or a plain TV speaker — knowing the platform is gone and Bose’s own advice is to keep it off untrusted networks.
And if you want a system with a future, buy neither: no Atmos on either bar is the tell. Put the same money toward the best Dolby Atmos soundbars — or see how the true flagships trade blows in our Samsung HW-Q990F vs Sonos Arc Ultra face-off.
Keep going — find your exact setup
Settled the Bose-vs-Bose question but still building the system? These guides pick up where this face-off ends:
- 🎦 Want height channels? The best Dolby Atmos soundbars — where Bose’s Smart Ultra generation competes
- 💰 Spending refurb-700 money? The best soundbars under $300, new with warranties
- ⚔ Flagship curious? Samsung HW-Q990F vs Sonos Arc Ultra — the real 2026 heavyweight bout
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Updated July 2026: this comparison was rebuilt for the May 6, 2026 SoundTouch platform shutdown — prices re-pulled from bose.com on July 4, 2026, and every spec re-cited to the named source that published it.