Sonos Announces Lower-Priced Soundbar With AirPlay 2 Support, 'Hey Sonos' Voice Control for Apple Music

[Damian83]

Now that Apple is firmly planted in the TV+ world (best picture Oscar for CODA, widespread cult-like following of Ted Lasso, etc.), they need to release a proper home theater sound system - or at least something that can rival good 3.1.2 or 5.1.2 soundbars. A pair of original HomePods came close to serving this role (it's what I'm using in my living room now, fantastic for that application), but they were discontinued and lacked a subwoofer (no surround option either, though the center virtualization, beam forming, and atmos seem to work alright). eARC functionality coming after they were discontinued was welcomed, but the lack of a true replacement is so sad.

Seriously u want a HT system from apple??? its like asking a champagne from coca cola, ahahahhahhah

 

[Return Zero]

Seriously u want a HT system from apple??? its like asking a champagne from coca cola, ahahahhahhah

Not a REAL home theater system... just a soundbar competitor at the quality of the original HomePod, WITH a subwoofer. Maybe a pair of HP minis could serve as rear surrounds.

 

[tvdiana]

Still no cheaper sub ?

This!! Sonos has a really compelling home theater setup in the somewhat-affordable range. Many people would love to add a sub, but if you are going for this bar or the Beam, no way would most drop $750 on a sub. I think they are missing a big opportunity here to sell a smaller, slightly less capable sub at the 299-399 price point.

 

[George Dawes]

Maybe they should hire the hey sonos guy ?

Anything would be an improvement over the current incumbent….

 

[slartibaf]

You can't directly control the volume without CEC, which means you'll have to teach your remotes to send IR codes to the Ray (or teach the Ray to respond to the IR codes from your remotes), and you'll need line-of-sight to the TV for the remote to work (which you have when sitting in front of it, most likely, but I've grown accustomed to carrying the remote into, say, the kitchen, when playing something that I'm mostly just listening to, to change the volume or pause as needed). This affects volume up/down and mute (and power on/off, but Sonos devices never shut all the way off, so that's less meaningful).

I have the Playbar and TV 4k. Since the Siri Remote also uses IR Signals and is placed behind my TV I never have a direct line of sight to the TV and have yet to experience any issue with controlling it or the Volume. If I leave the living room I simply point in the general direction of the Doorway and it has always worked as I intended.

 

[Damian83]

Not a REAL home theater system... just a soundbar competitor at the quality of the original HomePod, WITH a subwoofer. Maybe a pair of HP minis could serve as rear surrounds.

its the same...why asking a company specialized in computers/phones to make audio stuff, that's another world? there are tons of audio brands with more experience than apple. i'll never buy a sony drill instead of dewalt. like ill never buy a dewalt tv instead of sony... like ill never buy audio stuff from apple instead of b&w...

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Didn't Sonos [redacted] it's customers in the past? What's to stop them from doing that again?

I have a colleague that outfitted his entire home with Sonos [redacted], bragging about how awesome their [redacted] was, only to get burned! As a result, he will never buy any Sonos [redacted] ever again!

NOTE: I was tempted to add a quote from R. Lee Ermey from FMJ

Come June, Sonos is splitting its ecosystem in two. Here's what it means | CNN Underscored

If you're a long-time customer and user of Sonos smart speakers, the company announced some potentially bad news back in January: As of June 2020, Sonos will start classifying some of its older products as legacy devices and end support for them.

www.cnn.com

 

[Return Zero]

its the same...why asking a company specialized in computers/phones to make audio stuff, that's another world? there are tons of audio brands with more experience than apple. i'll never buy a sony drill instead of dewalt. like ill never buy a dewalt tv instead of sony... like ill never buy audio stuff from apple instead of b&w...

Agree to disagree. If Sony had amazing engineers and managed to build a better drill than Dewalt, I would absolutely buy it. Also, in case you hadn't heard, Apple is now the top audio company in the world by revenue, and it's not even close. Apple's AirPods alone are selling something like $10 billion per year. That's about 30X what B&W's entire company revenue is. I know they're not comparable products, but to say there are tons of brands with more experience than Apple is incredibly short sighted and tone deaf, especially when it comes to the tech industry. Nokia and Blackberry were far more experienced at phones than Apple 15 years ago, too. How did that turn out for them?

 

[Damian83]

Agree to disagree. If Sony had amazing engineers and managed to build a better drill than Dewalt, I would absolutely buy it. Also, in case you hadn't heard, Apple is now the top audio company in the world by revenue, and it's not even close. Apple's AirPods alone are selling something like $10 billion per year. That's about 30X what B&W's entire company revenue is. I know they're not comparable products, but to say there are tons of brands with more experience than Apple is incredibly short sighted and tone deaf, especially when it comes to the tech industry. Nokia and Blackberry were far more experienced at phones than Apple 15 years ago, too. How did that turn out for them?

Revenue have nothing to do with quality. Fiat have more revenue than Pagani, Sony have more revenue than McIntosh, and Heineken have more revenue than Dom Perignon... Sorry but i’m an audio (and video) enthusiast from when i was 16, and reading about stuff like airpods, soundbars, atmos on a 2.0 system etc makes me only laugh

 

[Return Zero]

Revenue have nothing to do with quality. Fiat have more revenue than Pagani, Sony have more revenue than McIntosh, and Heineken have more revenue than Dom Perignon... Sorry but i’m an audio (and video) enthusiast from when i was 16, and reading about stuff like airpods, soundbars, atmos on a 2.0 system etc makes me only laugh

Well true, but my point was that Apple isn't in separate worlds like you said. They have some of the best audio engineers in the industry, as evidenced by the surprisingly good sound quality and packaging of the original HomePod. Sure, it's still a mass-produced, non-audiophile device, but it's a heck of a lot better quality than your average $99 Black Friday special soundbars out there. Like I said, I'm not looking for a real HT system that costs several thousand dollars... just a HomePod-quality ("good enough") solution for the living room that also has a subwoofer and maybe an option for rear surround channels for more immersion.

 

[alfonsog]

Well true, but my point was that Apple isn't in separate worlds like you said. They have some of the best audio engineers in the industry, as evidenced by the surprisingly good sound quality and packaging of the original HomePod. Sure, it's still a mass-produced, non-audiophile device, but it's a heck of a lot better quality than your average $99 Black Friday special soundbars out there. Like I said, I'm not looking for a real HT system that costs several thousand dollars... just a HomePod-quality ("good enough") solution for the living room that also has a subwoofer and maybe an option for rear surround channels for more immersion.

Honestly just get the Sonos arc and sub and a couple surrounds. It's only $2046. Once it is setup on your tv you never have to use the Sonos app again unless you want to use Sonos for other features. Apple's solution would be at least $2999 for the same quality. Apple should have probably acquired Sonos years ago.

 

[Return Zero]

Honestly just get the Sonos arc and sub and a couple surrounds. It's only $2046. Once it is setup on your tv you never have to use the Sonos app again unless you want to use Sonos for other features. Apple's solution would be at least $2999 for the same quality. Apple should have probably acquired Sonos years ago.

I've been considering it... perhaps moving the HomePods to the bedroom.

This may sound silly but I really don't prefer speakers in a bar format. Eventually I will be moving to either a frame TV or G-series OLED for the living room (low profile), and I've always loved how the HomePods blend in on my side tables without looking obviously like audio gear. So the Sonos sub would be great, but the Arc doesn't really fit my aesthetic preference. I may end up caving and just getting it anyway though.

 

[bodonnell202]

Am I the only one that doesn't want every speaker in my house acting as an assistant? Seems redundant, isn't that what my iPhone is for? I also doubt Sonos has the skill or money required to implement an assistant.

It doesn't actually say it in this article, but the Ray doesn't have a microphone, so having voice assistant support is dependent on having another Sonos device with a microphone (like a One). If you want a microphone free surround system you can get a Ray with a couple One SLs and have a decent system that support Airplay 2.

 

[Damian83]

Well true, but my point was that Apple isn't in separate worlds like you said. They have some of the best audio engineers in the industry, as evidenced by the surprisingly good sound quality and packaging of the original HomePod. Sure, it's still a mass-produced, non-audiophile device, but it's a heck of a lot better quality than your average $99 Black Friday special soundbars out there. Like I said, I'm not looking for a real HT system that costs several thousand dollars... just a HomePod-quality ("good enough") solution for the living room that also has a subwoofer and maybe an option for rear surround channels for more immersion.

Well, the solutions are already between us, available from many decades, and even better than Apple can do. Of course u must first “unlock” your mind by don’t thinking the only possible solution its the one with an Apple logo on it ;-)

 

[CarlJ]

I have the Playbar and TV 4k. Since the Siri Remote also uses IR Signals and is placed behind my TV I never have a direct line of sight to the TV and have yet to experience any issue with controlling it or the Volume. If I leave the living room I simply point in the general direction of the Doorway and it has always worked as I intended.

The Sonos Playbar only has optical input which cannot pass volume control commands (well, a device could lower volume by dividing down the actual sample numbers, but this would result in increasingly bad compression at anything less than full volume - I haven't heard of any device actually doing this).

Line of sight to the Apple TV is irrelevant, since it doesn't normally receive IR signals - it can be taught to watch the IR signals from a 3rd-party remote, but this isn't used by the Siri Remote - the Siri Remote can send commands over IR, but it only does so to TVs or soundbars, if you don't have CEC available. The connection between the Apple TV and the Siri Remote is always bluetooth.

Yes, "line of sight" was an oversimplification, sorry. IR signals will bounce some - in your case, enough to work. In general, I wouldn't depend on them to bounce enough to describe it to random people as always working - depends on your specific use case. So, in general, it's largely line of sight. With the bluetooth transmission of the Siri Remote, and a CEC connection from the AppleTV to the TV, I don't have to aim at a doorway or anywhere - if I'm a room away and around the corner in the kitchen, crouched down looking at something in the fridge, with several corners and the fridge door between me and the TV, I can still control the volume (or pause) using the Siri Remote. It's not that I have to have this as a feature, it's that once I've gotten used to it, I'd be annoyed to lose it.

Fun fact: in the latest iteration of the Siri Remote, at least, it's fairly evident that if the Siri Remote senses that the Apple TV is off (it can't establish a connection), it will revert temporarily to sending volume control commands via IR directly to the TV, presumably based upon knowledge of the TV model it gleaned from previous CEC connections (I've never set up the Siri Remote for IR control of the TV). If I'm watching something but my Apple TV is off - say I'm using the PS5 or on rare occasions watching over-the-air TV broadcasts - if I suddenly need to change the volume, I'll often grab the Siri Remote to do it, since I've found it to always work, it's always nearby, and it's easy to get to the right buttons quickly since there are so few.

 

[CarlJ]

If you want a microphone free surround system you can get a Ray with a couple One SLs and have a decent system that support Airplay 2.

You can accomplish the same microphone-free environment going up the Sonos line by getting a Beam SL or Arc SL, which differ from the non SL versions only in having slightly different colorways and having no microphone (and a slightly lower MSRP). They started out as CostCo exclusives, but I think they're more generally available now.

 

[CarlJ]

Maybe could have been priced slightly lower. $249 might have been better.

I get the strong impression that someone will always make a comment following this pattern regardless of the actual price - if the price had been $249, someone would say it should be $229, but if it had been $299, someone would say it should be $279 (what is now the actual price). Not saying you specifically, but I always see this pattern from somebody on practically every announcement.

 

[slartibaf]

The Sonos Playbar only has optical input which cannot pass volume control commands (well, a device could lower volume by dividing down the actual sample numbers, but this would result in increasingly bad compression at anything less than full volume - I haven't heard of any device actually doing this).

So does the Ray.

Line of sight to the Apple TV is irrelevant, since it doesn't normally receive IR signals - it can be taught to watch the IR signals from a 3rd-party remote, but this isn't used by the Siri Remote - the Siri Remote can send commands over IR, but it only does so to TVs or soundbars, if you don't have CEC available. The connection between the Apple TV and the Siri Remote is always bluetooth.

I actually didn't know that, but that explains a lot ^^ You are right, that my anecdotal evidence shouldn't be enough to tell anyone else that it'll work all the time.

Fun fact: in the latest iteration of the Siri Remote, at least, it's fairly evident that if the Siri Remote senses that the Apple TV is off (it can't establish a connection), it will revert temporarily to sending volume control commands via IR directly to the TV, presumably based upon knowledge of the TV model it gleaned from previous CEC connections (I've never set up the Siri Remote for IR control of the TV). If I'm watching something but my Apple TV is off - say I'm using the PS5 or on rare occasions watching over-the-air TV broadcasts - if I suddenly need to change the volume, I'll often grab the Siri Remote to do it, since I've found it to always work, it's always nearby, and it's easy to get to the right buttons quickly since there are so few.

The Siri Remote is the only one I use, also. It IMO is the best Remote, since its small and does everything I need.

 

[Return Zero]

Well, the solutions are already between us, available from many decades, and even better than Apple can do. Of course u must first “unlock” your mind by don’t thinking the only possible solution its the one with an Apple logo on it ;-)

Oh, I know there are alternative solutions. I've tried quite a few of them, but not Sonos yet (didn't want a whole other ecosystem if I could avoid it, but I'm about to cave on that). Honestly after the iPod Hi-Fi I never really thought audio would be Apple's forte. Then I got a pair of HomePods on a whim, and combined with the Apple TV and it's eARC feature, I am blown away by the possibility of how smoothly audio devices can be integrated without taking up a ton of space or setup.

 

[Damian83]

Oh, I know there are alternative solutions. I've tried quite a few of them, but not Sonos yet (didn't want a whole other ecosystem if I could avoid it, but I'm about to cave on that). Honestly after the iPod Hi-Fi I never really thought audio would be Apple's forte. Then I got a pair of HomePods on a whim, and combined with the Apple TV and it's eARC feature, I am blown away by the possibility of how smoothly audio devices can be integrated without taking up a ton of space or setup.

Well, brands like denon/yamaha/onkyo/marantz etc (for av amplifiers) and b&w/jbl/focal/klipsch/kef etc (for speakers) arent "alternatives". They ARE the audio equipment to choose from. Apple, beats, sonos, etc are only overpriced stuff for lazy people. You pay more for non-audio tech stuff (BT, wifi, modules etc) than the quality of the speaker/amp itself. While adding "connectivity" to an old school speaker its a matter of few bucks (and lot of time/knowledge)... But many people prefer spend more money and have a plug&play system than tweaking or maybe cabling whole house for a multiroom system controlled by just the av amp...

 

[Return Zero]

Well, brands like denon/yamaha/onkyo/marantz etc (for av amplifiers) and b&w/jbl/focal/klipsch/kef etc (for speakers) arent "alternatives". They ARE the audio equipment to choose from. Apple, beats, sonos, etc are only overpriced stuff for lazy people. You pay more for non-audio tech stuff (BT, wifi, modules etc) than the quality of the speaker/amp itself. While adding "connectivity" to an old school speaker its a matter of few bucks (and lot of time/knowledge)... But many people prefer spend more money and have a plug&play system than tweaking or maybe cabling whole house for a multiroom system controlled by just the av amp...

Some people care more about how it looks in a room and ease of setup than the actual sound quality. And by some people, I mean most people. It has nothing to do with being lazy... it's just different priorities.

 

[CarlJ]

Well, brands like denon/yamaha/onkyo/marantz etc (for av amplifiers) and b&w/jbl/focal/klipsch/kef etc (for speakers) arent "alternatives". They ARE the audio equipment to choose from. Apple, beats, sonos, etc are only overpriced stuff for lazy people. You pay more for non-audio tech stuff (BT, wifi, modules etc) than the quality of the speaker/amp itself. While adding "connectivity" to an old school speaker its a matter of few bucks (and lot of time/knowledge)... But many people prefer spend more money and have a plug&play system than tweaking or maybe cabling whole house for a multiroom system controlled by just the av amp...

Other people have different priorities than you. That doesn't make them better or worse (but thanks for the snooty opinion). I have a quite nice B&W/NAD system in storage, but I'm currently using a Sonos Arc 5.1 system, for two reasons: (1) it fits the room I'm working with (the B&W speakers would not) and, (2) the Sonos system Just Works without all that tweaking, and I have other things to do with my time. It's not a matter of being lazy, it's a matter of having different priorities. I'd rather spend my time watching movies/TV, than tweaking or pulling cable (I've done plenty of both in the past).

It's similar to gaming. In the past, I spent years building and upgrading Windows PCs - it's not that I can't do that, it's that, at this point, I prefer not to - so I use a PS5, and I'm spending that time actually playing games I enjoy, rather than constantly upgrading parts and tweaking configurations to get things to work better (or less buggy, or at all). Since my original goal was "play games" and not "nerd out with PC hardware", the PS5 solves the problem at hand much better.

 

[Damian83]

Some people care more about how it looks in a room and ease of setup than the actual sound quality. And by some people, I mean most people. It has nothing to do with being lazy... it's just different priorities.

i agree with ease of setup, even if nowadays EVERYTHING its more complicated, in fact i preferred ios 1.0 than the actual one. 15 years ago were enough 30m to setup whole phone, now an entire day its necessary. don't agree with "how it looks in a room". usually just women prefer a plant than a big subwoofer in the living room

 

[Damian83]

Other people have different priorities than you. That doesn't make them better or worse (but thanks for the snooty opinion). I have a quite nice B&W/NAD system in storage, but I'm currently using a Sonos Arc 5.1 system, for two reasons: (1) it fits the room I'm working with (the B&W speakers would not) and, (2) the Sonos system Just Works without all that tweaking, and I have other things to do with my time. It's not a matter of being lazy, it's a matter of having different priorities. I'd rather spend my time watching movies/TV, than tweaking or pulling cable (I've done plenty of both in the past).

It's similar to gaming. In the past, I spent years building and upgrading Windows PCs - it's not that I can't do that, it's that, at this point, I prefer not to - so I use a PS5, and I'm spending that time actually playing games I enjoy, rather than constantly upgrading parts and tweaking configurations to get things to work better (or less buggy, or at all). Since my original goal was "play games" and not "nerd out with PC hardware", the PS5 solves the problem at hand much better.

if you have the knowledge to setup a true HT system then its not a big problem. once you setup it, it doesnt need any "maintenance" over the course of the years. not like a pc/phone that have continuos updates (and troubles).
100% agree with consoles over pc. switched permanently to consoles many years ago when realized that pc gaming (at least for me) was more finding CPU/GPU overclock limit and running 3d marks whole day, than actually playing

 

[Return Zero]

i agree with ease of setup, even if nowadays EVERYTHING its more complicated, in fact i preferred ios 1.0 than the actual one. 15 years ago were enough 30m to setup whole phone, now an entire day its necessary. don't agree with "how it looks in a room". usually just women prefer a plant than a big subwoofer in the living room

Haha. Fair enough, it's the "wife approval factor" at the end of the day