Sonos has finally unveiled its first new product line since 2013, with its latest offering squarely aimed at solutions like the LG Soundstage and the Sony HT-XT1. That’s because it is the company’s first sound base, aptly named the Sonos Playbase, and offers an alternative for those who would like a little more oomph than a sound bar.
Sound bases have thus far not been as successful as sound bars, but Sonos is hoping to change that. While its Playbar has found its way into countless homes, the company wasn’t too pleased with how many users set it up. That’s because the Sonos Playbar was designed to be placed on a media unit under a wall mounted TV, or mounted below a TV that was attached to the wall. Despite that, users have set their Playbar up in numerous ways – including in front of TVs placed on the media unit, something Sonos hated.
That’s why Sonos came up with the Playbase. Its research suggested that over 70% of consumers don’t wall mount their TVs, meaning a sound base was a better solution for those users than a soundbar. Instead of placing a soundbar in front of a standing TV, users can simply place the stand directly on top of the Playbase and enjoy better quality audio than the standard tinny speakers that ship with the TV.
Just about any TV can be placed on top of the Playbase, as long as it weighs no more than 34kg. That means those with an old plasma may want to upgrade their TV before investing in one. Sonos has also paid attention to the height of its sound base (2.28in), that’s because some TVs sport legs either side of the display, rather than in one central location.
The Sonos Playbase is a little different from the Playbar. That’s because the company spent many, many hours to ensure that it was one of the best sounding speakers it had in its line-up. That meant the company had to be clever with its engineering. For instance, Sonos managed to pack a subwoofer directly into the Playbase, although it’s a horizontally placed one, rather than the more standard vertical positioning. That’s something the Playbar is lacking.
While the integrated subwoofer will be good news for audio fanatics, the Playbase actually incorporates 10 drivers inside its body. That includes six mid-range, three tweeters and that single woofer. The entire device has been designed to get the most out of those 10 drivers too, with the glass-filled polycarbonate exterior keeping vibration to a minimum, while the 43,000 individually-drilled holes that increase in size as they wrap around the exterior were chosen to optimise acoustic performance. That’s not the biggest engineering feat either, with Sonos’ engineering team especially excited about its unique ‘S’ port design, this allows airflow from the woofer to be carried over the circuit board for cooling purposes, while simultaneously improving bass response.
As this is still a Sonos product, the Playbase can still be fully integrated into a multi-room audio system. In fact, users could link it up with two Play:1 devices and the Sonos Sub subwoofer to create a true 5.1 audio system – although that will evidently add quite a bit of cost to the system. Sonos doesn’t expect many users to be kitting out their entire home with all of its products, which is why the company worked tirelessly to ensure that the Playbase was a versatile speaker.
In terms of versatility, Sonos says that it designed the Playbase to cope with all different types of audio sources. That means that while the device may sit under the TV, giving a boost to audio from TV shows and movies, Sonos also ensured that the speaker performed well when music is being streamed to it from the likes of Spotify or Tidal. To further optimise the acoustic performance, the company has included its Trueplay feature. That gives installers the option of analysing a room’s acoustic abilities using a smartphone microphone, and then have the speaker automatically optimise its settings based on that data.
Despite the versatility and optimisation, Sonos may not find its way into every home theatre due to one glaring oversight – the lack of support for DTS multi-channel audio. While Dolby Digital audio is supported, Sonos said that it left out DTS due to its lack of support on online streaming services, such as Netflix and Hulu. It found that DTS was most commonly supported by physical audio formats, like DVD, Blu-ray and Laserdisc, which Sonos doesn’t particularly care about. Why? Well, the company says that it is ‘focused on modern listeners who predominantly stream’.
It may not be an installer’s ideal solution either. The Playbase is designed for consumers who simply want to use the stand included in the TV box and don’t want to deal with the hassle of wall mounting. That means an installer isn’t needed to set it up. Sonos has also only included a single cable for attaching the Playbase to the TV – an optical audio cable. That leaves little for an installer to do, and the lack of HDMI ARC and CEC functionality means that there is little in the way of control functionality with the Playbase either. Sonos does leave the door open to bring those features to later iterations of the product, however.
Need another odd decision? Well, the Sonos Playbase is lacking any microphones, despite the company’s big commitment to voice control. The company had promised that Sonos products would include far-field microphones in its products as standard, although it seems that promise doesn’t quite include the Playbase. What that means is that when the company finally goes all out with Amazon Alexa, users who acquire a first-generation Playbase will find themselves having to hook it up to an Echo Dot in order to get that functionality.
The Sonos Playbase will be available in the UK from April 4, with pricing set at £699. That’s likely to irk some, given the US pricing has been set at $699, but given the recent price increases and the continuously plummeting pound, it’s not surprising to see Sonos simply swapping the currency symbol. Those in the UK do get a better returns policy however, with a 100-day return policy compared to the US’ 45-day.