Thanks to the high-end quality assessment, you're sure to have high sound quality.
Add the soundbar to the Sonos multi-room system and stream music throughout your home.
Trueplay adjusts the sound of your speaker to the acoustics of your room.
The soundbar doesn't have Bluetooth to connect your smartphone to the bar.
The soundbar doesn't have a subwoofer to produce a deep bass for a sound that fills the room.
Description
The Sonos Playbar will make your TV audio sound rich and clear. This soundbar features 9 integrated speakers. Position it in front of your TV, connect it to your TV with an optical cable, and enjoy the detailed sound reproduction of your favorite movies, series, and games. You can use WiFi to link the Playbar to other Sonos speakers. You can control every speaker with the Sonos app for your smartphone or tablet. If you put several speakers in different spots throughout your home, you can play the same song in every room. If you add 2 One speakers as surround speakers, you can create a 5.1 home cinema setup. Since you'll hear sound effects coming at you from all angles, it'll seem as if you're actually in the movie you're watching.
Note: Sonos products don't use the 5GHz network, so always make sure your WiFi is installed on the 2.4GHz network before buying a Sonos product.
Connect the Sonos Playbar to your TV
Use the included optical cable to connect the soundbar to your television. Keep in mind that your TV needs an optical connector to use the soundbar.
Let me start by saying that I think €700 is indeed a lot of money, even for this very good soundbar. I myself was able to purchase the Playbar with a nice discount and the minus point 'too expensive' does not apply to me.
As for the 'Sonos experience', connectivity, DTS support etc. I don't need to add to the above reviews. I bought a separate 4-port Toslink switch myself and this basically solves all my problems.
I miss that you can't stream YouTube videos to your Sonos. Spotify and Soundcloud (free unofficial Sonos plugin, works brilliantly with the Sonos app) provide me with all the music I need and more. However, when friends come over and want to play a picture on YouTube, I have to inform you every time that this is not possible. When they ask slightly jokingly if they can still use the jack plug, I have to disappoint them for the 2nd (and last) time.
The sound quality in a few simple words: I think this is what you are most interested in.
Television: The TV sound with normal programs does not really stand out unless you watch an HD episode via your decoder or Netflix. It gets a little nicer and the tones are brighter. You should not buy it for your daily news, GTST and other boring programs. The speech enhancement function is a godsend for clear speech and works beyond expectations!
Movies: The sound with a recent movie is really much better than with the television. It sounds 'bombastic' and is a very nice listening experience. At the beginning I was a bit skeptical whether it was a real improvement. The Playbar is to replace my 5.1 LG home cinema set that is 2 years old and about €170. After the first movie ended, I was actually quite impressed and found out that Sonos offers a really nice experience. I miss the subwoofer, but actually not because the Playbar really has a decent bass. Much more than expected, but not quite the replacement for your subwoofer. With action films and electronic music, it falls just short, but take it from me that it can also be done without a separate sub.
Music: This is where the true nature of the beast emerges. The music really comes alive from this Playbar. You'll hear instruments you didn't know were in your favorite song. "You see a lot more" as someone commented after hearing a few tracks. The LG 5.1 is now out of the door and no way that the Playbar even changes place. I've actually never listened to music on an expensive system (€1k+), but I've also never heard a system that gives such nice sound as this Playbar and certainly not from one speaker.
The comment that it sometimes sounds a little processed is true, but I'm not an audiophile and it doesn't bother me at all. It can be heard with certain movies/tracks when you pay attention.
Another advantage that I actually didn't even think about is that all the cables around my TV have disappeared. I didn't know that my TV cabinet could look so sleek and neat without the center, L/R speakers and millions of cables from, to and around the receiver. I bought it for the sound quality and I am not dissatisfied. I've accepted the restrictions, and I'm glad I've adapted to Sonos.
In short, it's my new best friend in the living room and I'm listening to a lot more music than before because of the convenience of the Sonos app. I can't afford €700 as a student and that's why I'm not willing to pay for it. Instinctively I give it a value of €500 and that means you pay about €200 for the Sonos software. Those few euros that you instinctively pay too much, you have already forgiven and forgotten after a month. I will probably ritually burn the Logitech music adapter, which seems to me to be another reason to invite my friends to a nice party (we also celebrate 'the last Monday of the week', so a reason for a party is this way easily made up).
My next purchase will be a Sonos Sub. My roommates and I like to listen to techno/house and this is the only reason. A nice side effect is that the film and TV sound also gets better with the sub. For 'normal' music the Sub seems completely unnecessary to me.
Review by:
Ype Poortinga
Date:
9 January 2014
Translation:
Automatically translated from Dutch
Review is 8,4 out of 10.
8,4/10 ()
Do this first before purchasing a playbar.
Good sound
Easy to connect
nice design
Third-party apps can only be used via the Sonos app.
Connecting is very easy, the sound is quite surprising for the first time because for a relatively small soundbar compared to speaker columns, the sound is really good.
My big disadvantage is only connecting to a somewhat older TV (6 years old). It is said everywhere on the internet and also at Sonos if your TV has an optical out connection, the Sonosbar will work. This is not the case, and once you encounter this problem and start looking for it, you will find quite a lot of complaints about it.
With my Samsung LED 3d TV one of the first and also very expensive in that period, there is an optical output, but it must receive a 5.1 signal if it wants to work and that does not give the Sonos bar, so the output does not work.
Now you can connect the Sonos to your KPN or Ziggo box, but as soon as you want to watch Netflix or something else via your TV, you will not get any sound from your Sonos boxes because they run through the KPN box and not through your TV. Then you have to manually turn on your TV's speakers and when you're done with Netflix and want to turn on the TV again, turn off the speakers in your TV menu to let your sound go through the Sonos boxes.
So I am now stuck to buy a new TV or an expensive amplifier or other intermediate solution while I just wanted to get rid of that (as few cabinets and fuss under and next to the TV as possible.
In short, first inquire very carefully whether your TV can be connected directly to the Sonos playbar. First check whether you can choose the optical output of your TV, even if no Dolby 5.1 signal is connected to it. And look at the Sonos website and forums which TVs work best with Sonos equipment because a lot of TVs do not work flawlessly with this, lists are also known.
Review by:
Domenico Piccirillo
Date:
13 February 2017
Translation:
Automatically translated from Dutch
Review is 7,6 out of 10.
7,6/10 ()
So connected but expensive.
Easy to connect
Easy to expand to a surround set
Expensive
Was connected in 5 minutes and the sound is many times better than with my TV. The surround sound was less than with my surround set but after adding 2 play 1's I couldn't hear the difference anymore.
