I've just bought a soundbar. I was looking at all the various options - Sonos, Bose, Yamaha, Denon, even DTS play-fi.
Sonos's offerings were a bit of a turn-off as , whilst their products seem solid - you're paying a lot to enter a closed ecosystem that doesn't seem to be evolving at the same pace as it's competitors (sound familiar?). $1,000 (aus) for a playbar without sub, that doesn't have HDMI, ARC, bluetooth or broad tv remote support.... is madness. Although to be fair, I think Sonos point to this slow update cycle and call it "an established product line".
DTS Play-fi was most interesting as it seems to be being supported by increasing numbers of audio equipment companies - and so allows you to choose the hardware that fits, while still remaining compatible. Still very early days though.
I looked at what the rumors were about the homepod and apple TV - with a view to waiting to see what they brought out - but I'm beginning to be reluctant to put all my eggs in Apple's basket. Over the last 10 years they have spectacularly failed to deliver in the "living-room" space - I hope the homepod represents a change of attitude, and is not just going to be a hobby for them. Whatever they do, given how slowly Apple seem to be moving these days - it's likely to be years before their home audio range can complete with a system that you can build from other companies offerings today.
Always amusing to see people fully buying into the Apple hype before knowing almost anything about the product! I used to be somewhat like that, but these days am more inclined to keep an open mind. I do think apple will sell a butt-load of homepods though - mostly to people who just want to be able to play stuff from their phone/iPad. Using it basically as an expensive bluetooth speaker.
Lol at Apple being "first to market" with the homepod. How is this anything other than an Echo with slicker marketing? Siri had a 3 year head start on Alexa...... how is that going?
As others have said, I think what's most likely here is that Sonos will be launching a range of speakers (or updates to existing models) that can integrate voice assistants via their app. It's a completely logical move given the success of the echo. I expect they will be looking to support all the main players, but if I was Sonos, I would be looking to partner heavily with Amazon - particularly now that Apple have signaled their intention to move back into Audio hardware.
Sonos's offerings were a bit of a turn-off as , whilst their products seem solid - you're paying a lot to enter a closed ecosystem that doesn't seem to be evolving at the same pace as it's competitors (sound familiar?). $1,000 (aus) for a playbar without sub, that doesn't have HDMI, ARC, bluetooth or broad tv remote support.... is madness. Although to be fair, I think Sonos point to this slow update cycle and call it "an established product line".
DTS Play-fi was most interesting as it seems to be being supported by increasing numbers of audio equipment companies - and so allows you to choose the hardware that fits, while still remaining compatible. Still very early days though.
I looked at what the rumors were about the homepod and apple TV - with a view to waiting to see what they brought out - but I'm beginning to be reluctant to put all my eggs in Apple's basket. Over the last 10 years they have spectacularly failed to deliver in the "living-room" space - I hope the homepod represents a change of attitude, and is not just going to be a hobby for them. Whatever they do, given how slowly Apple seem to be moving these days - it's likely to be years before their home audio range can complete with a system that you can build from other companies offerings today.
Always amusing to see people fully buying into the Apple hype before knowing almost anything about the product! I used to be somewhat like that, but these days am more inclined to keep an open mind. I do think apple will sell a butt-load of homepods though - mostly to people who just want to be able to play stuff from their phone/iPad. Using it basically as an expensive bluetooth speaker.
Lol at Apple being "first to market" with the homepod. How is this anything other than an Echo with slicker marketing? Siri had a 3 year head start on Alexa...... how is that going?
As others have said, I think what's most likely here is that Sonos will be launching a range of speakers (or updates to existing models) that can integrate voice assistants via their app. It's a completely logical move given the success of the echo. I expect they will be looking to support all the main players, but if I was Sonos, I would be looking to partner heavily with Amazon - particularly now that Apple have signaled their intention to move back into Audio hardware.
