Until recently, my wife and I used Bluetooth speakers when we wanted to listen to music at home. I figured Bluetooth speakers were the most flexible solution. Pretty much every phone, tablet and computer sold in the last 10 years has it. Bluetooth support is also built right into Android/iOS/Windows so you don’t need any special software to use it. There are also many, many different Bluetooth compatible speakers available at all price points.
Still, Bluetooth isn’t a perfect solution. I won’t cover all of them here, but for us the 3 biggest shortcomings are the range, support for multiple users or lack thereof, and the fact that the Bluetooth speaker will playback everything that’s playing on your phone including alerts.
In terms of range, our phones will only stream reliably while we’re in the same room. This is inconvenient if we need to leave the room temporarily with our phone.
However, the bigger problem is the lack of multiple users. When you turn a Bluetooth speaker on, it usually tries to connect to the last device that was using it. This is fine if I’m the only person trying to use the speaker. However, what happens when I’m around and my wife wants to use it? Switching users can be a hassle.
Then there’s the fact that Bluetooth speakers playback alerts from your phone. It can get quite irritating when you get a bunch of alerts during your favorite song.
With these problems in mind we figured we’d try out a Sonos. Sonos has been around for a while, so they have a fairly mature lineup of speakers. I’ve actually wanted to try one for a while but various issues with them me from trying it.
By issues I referring to the fact that a Sonos solution isn’t cheap. They start at $200ish for the entry level model and go up from there. Don’t forget, the point of buying a Sonos is for whole home audio. You gotta pick up a couple of them to really take advantage of them.
In some ways, they’re also not terribly flexible. Most don’t hook up to your computer or TV like a regular speaker would. Heck many models don’t even have a input!
They also lack Bluetooth and no devices have native Sonos support built-in. That means you’ll need to download a special Sonos Controller app to use them.
Each Sonos has its own brains; You tell it to play music and it goes out and retrieves the music from your preferred music service and plays it back. It’s actually a lot like a Chromecast in this respect. It can also playback local music files stored on your device but you’ll have to do it via the Sonos app.
This means it won’t be able to play music from any videos you’re watching on your device. At least, not using the Sonos player app. That said, there are 3rd party apps available that do bridge some gaps in functionality. There’s an app, Sonos Tube that will allow you to watch YouTube videos on your iOS or Android phone while playing back the music on your Sonos.
Airplay 2 support is also now available but you’ll need at least one compatible Sonos speaker in your network to use this. The Playbar isn’t compatible so you’d need to pick up a compatible model and then group it with the Playbar to gain this functionality. I’ll cover this more in a different article.
I’m not an expert on Music streaming services; our family uses Apple Music though we also have Prime Music (Canadian) because it’s included with our Amazon Prime subscription. The fact that we use Apple Music is one of the reasons why I chose a Sonos because I don’t think it works with Amazon Echo or Google Home. I need to mention that the Sonos isn’t compatible with Prime Music in Canada.
There’s also the Apple Homepod to consider but it’s for Apple only it’s also too expensive, there’s only one model available (did I mention it’s very pricey?). That said, it uses AirPlay 2 which will have more options.
That said I’m thinking of switching to Spotify eventually as it works with all these as well as Sonos. Spotify is just music and doesn’t have a smart speaker offering, so Google and Amazon have less of a reason to block Spotify from their services.
Since I wanted a few units to get the full benefit but wanted to save some money at the same time I purchased most of my Sonos speakers used.
Here’s the situation: We have an open concept kitchen which is connected to our family room. The family room has a TV mounted over the fireplace, which is surrounded by a built-in. The built-in has a Bluetooth speaker which is not connected to the TV because I forgot to run wires from over the fireplace to the built-ins. The kitchen has another Bluetooth speaker.
The speaker in the built-in is powerful enough for both the kitchen and family room, but the kitchen is far enough away that we’re at the limit of Bluetooth’s range. To solve this issue, we have a second speaker in the kitchen. Of course, the second speaker doesn’t help if we need to leave the room and take our phone with us.
There’s also the matter of who’s listening to music. Switching users with Bluetooth speakers isn’t usually a trivial matter.
The Answer?
While looking at the different offerings from Sonos, it occured to me that I could solve a lot of problems with a Playbar. We could improve the sound from the TV plus eliminate the need for separate speakers in the kitchen and built-in. A Sonos would also make it much easier for both myself and my wife to listen to music plus it would solve the range issues associated with Bluetooth.
Further, we can have the music we’re listening to follow us if we leave the room provided we have additional Sonos speakers.
Considering all the speakers I expect it to replace, the rear panel of the Sonos is the picture of simplicity. Power, a pair of ethernet jacks and an optical cable hookup. There’s no HDMI, USB or 3.5mm input or output jacks.
Connecting it to your TV is very simple. Run the optical cable from your TV to the Playbar and then plug it the power cable. That’s it.
In the conventional sense, a Sonos isn’t very flexible. They don’t have lots of inputs and don’t have Bluetooth. However, the fact that a Playbar connects to a TV makes it the most flexible model available. Since the TV acts as a switcher for the Sonos, you stream any source connected to it this includes; Chromecasts, Apple TV, XBox, Playstation, VCR’s, DVD players, computers, etc.
Of course, leaving your TV on just so you can stream the audio source is a bit of a waste in terms of electricity.
Another nice touch is that it’s able to learn remote codes from your TV’s remote control. This eliminates the need for a seperate remote to control the volume.
It would be nice if the Playbar had an HDMI ARC port. This would allow your TV to send the audio to the Playbar via the HDMI ARC port. It would also allow your TV to control the Playbar via this port. Anyways, the Playbar is a couple of years old now and I don’t think they had HDMI ARC back then. For now optical/infrared works quite well.
Of course, too much simplicity does have some drawbacks. It doesn’t support Dolby Atmos or DTS X. My semi-educated guess is that the Playbar probably could support them, but Sonos figures there isn’t enough demand to pay the licensing fee for them. I figure most of the stuff I watch isn’t encoded with Atmos anyways.
Still, I could see a lot of synergies between Sonos and Atmos. Think about it, each Sonos speaker is wireless and only require power to work.
While there are a pair of ethernet jacks on the back of the Playbar, I didn’t need to use either of them for my setup. In fact, I have 5 different Sonos in the house and none of them required an ethernet connection at any point.
I know they are used for Sonos’ separate Mesh WiFi network but perhaps it’s now a vestigial feature. My house has a 3 Google OnHub mesh routers so I get strong signal everywhere in the house. My guess is maybe the Sonos mesh network is only required if you run into signal issues.
Setup is very easy:
Download the Sonos controller app
Sign up for a Sonos account
Plug the Playbar in and or press the play and volume buttons
Choose which speaker you’re trying to connect
Set the room and name
Next add your preferred Music streaming service(s) and you’re good to go.
You can attach multiple streaming services to the Sonos controller. There are pros and cons to this approach. The biggest pro is just that, you can connect multiple services. You can create a playlist that contains music from different sources.
It’s also nice how you can create shortcuts to your favorite features for each service. For example, you can make a shortcut straight to your fav iTunes playlist
The downside to this is that you can’t use the same app you normally use for listening to music. Be in Apple Music, Google Music, Spotify or whatever. Further, the Sonos controller only works with Sonos speakers. You can put on a pair of headphones and use it to listen to music. This really discourages me from using it to create playlists.
Still, Sonos and Apple now have Air Play 2 support with certain Sonos models. Unfortunately it’s only for models with touch sensitive controls. That said, you can still add AirPlay 2 to the Playbar if you add a compatible model to your Sonos network. Compatible models include the Play:5, the upcoming smaller sound bar, the Beam and the Play:One which starts at around 200USD/250CDN. Apparently you have to group one of these newer speakers with your older one to get Air Play 2 support.
Anyways, since it can access your streaming service, it can also access any Playlists you have with it.
Once you’ve got everything hooked up you can use your phone’s microphone to calibrate the Playbar. You walk around the room holding your phone while swinging your arm around slowly. This helps the Playbar to learn the shape of your room.
I was impressed with the heft of the Playbar, considering its size, it’s a lot heavier than it looks.
There’s non-removable fabric speaker grill over it. According to pictures on the Sonos website the Playbar has 6 midrange/bass woofers and 3 tweeters for a total of 9 speakers. One tweeter faces forward while the other 2 are angled outwards on the sides. The idea is that the 2 outward tweeters will help to widen the soundstage.
There are 2 woofers on the sides and 4 facing forwards.
It’s worth pointing out that the Playbar is designed to either sit on a flat surface like my fireplace mantel or wall mounted. Its orientation is different for each.
The Playbar is shorter when it’s sitting while it’s taller when it’s wall mounted.
How does it sound?
Before I talk sound quality I want to point out how I perceive speakers. In my head there’s a scale when it comes to speakers; one one end you have very lifestyle oriented products which are design to blend into your house and then there are sound oriented ones that usually rectangular boxes which look like traditional speakers.
The fact that the playbar is a soundbar firmly places it on the lifestyle end of the spectrum meaning it must make certain compromises in order to look sleek.
For me, I was mostly looking to upgrade my TV’s sound rather than replace a bunch of floor standing speakers. Think family room, not home theater.
You can use the Sonos controller to adjust the balance, bass and treble. There’s also a loudness setting as well as a voice enhancer.
The midrange woofers do a decent job with bass though you’ll need a Sonos Sub if you want
really low frequencies.
Sound quality is good for a lifestyle-y product. The loudness setting does help enhance special effects and adds a bit of a kick to the mid range, though it occasionally does make the Playbar sound a little processed.
While the Playbar does a good job of creating a wide soundstage, you need to be sitting in its sweet spot if you really want to hear noticeable separation from the different channels.
Conclusion:
The Playbar is very convenient and easy to use. Further, it becomes a more powerful and flexible solution if you add more Sonos speakers.
Then there’s the price; for the price of the Playbar you could pick up a soundbar with a subwoofer, a Bluetooth speaker and then have money left over for a couple months of Netflix.
But here’s the thing; the Playbar is more than a speaker, whether you have one or many, using it is really simple and that’s the point.
While sound quality is very good for a soundbar it isn’t able to transcend the limitations imposed by its form factor.
The Sonos Playbar is a elegant solution that answers many questions I never really knew I had.
⅘ Howies
Pros:
Easy to setup
Easy to use
Good sound quality for a soundbar
Integrates with other Sonos speakers
Cons:
Expensive
Optional subwoofer is expensive
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