Sonos Playbar Review: A Premium, Feature-Rich Soundbar

Last updated on 2022-09-19
By Yvonne

Sonos Playbar Review: Premium Soundbar with Feature-Rich SoundbarThe Sonos Playbar fits seamlessly into any living space and boasts great sound quality as well as a companion app. This is a testimony to how Sonos excels at providing a pleasant user experience.

Sonos Playbar

We like this

Gorgeous, rich sound
Great, modern design
Incredible smart features

The Things We Hate

High-end
Weight gain
A slight shortage of input/output choices

The Playbar by Sonos is a great option for those looking for soundbars. It has excellent connectivity and a fantastic sound quality.

This article explains.

Expand

Design
Quality is key
Configuration & Connectivity
Sound Quality
Some interesting features
Prices
Concurrence
Final Verdict
Specifications

Sonos Playbar was purchased by us so that our expert reviewer could fully test it and evaluate it. Continue reading to see our complete product review.

Sonos Playbar, a premium home-audio brand, is one of the best products available. The Playbar, aside from the smart speaker standalones, is the best Sonos product that audiophiles can afford. The Playbar is a premium, high-end home entertainment system that costs a lot.

Design: High quality, substantial and truly beautiful

The Playbar measures in at 35.5 inches across, which is quite possible due to its size. We'll talk more about the speaker array in the sound quality section. The large cabinet gives the Playbar a bit of extra power.

The soundbar measures approximately 5.5 inches in depth and 3.4 inches high when it is flattened on the entertainment center. This height allows for an extremely low profile under your TV. This orientation allows you to see the flat black speaker cover and thin gray-metal strip at the bottom. It gives it an extremely sleek appearance.

We have never seen a better soundbar built than the Sonos Playbar.

Mounting it to the wall will reveal a wider area of gray-metal. However, the Sonos logo will still be prominently visible. The Playbar's logo can be read from all angles. It doesn't matter what orientation you choose, the logo will look great no matter where it is placed. Flat rubber strips act as feet to support the unit and are a nice alternative to the traditional four-point system. The flat rubber strips act as feet and hide any cables behind the speaker. Sonos paid great attention to the design of this soundbar.

Quality: Reliable and heavy

The Playbar weighs in at nearly 12 pounds. Quality is important. This is great for those who want something durable and can withstand some wear. However, it's not ideal if your walls are too heavy. The Playbar can hold six speakers which improves sound quality.

Connectivity & Setup: Very simple with one or two

You don't need to knowanything to setup this Sonos speaker. There are just a handful of ports at the back. A digital optical port is the only way to send audio from your TV to it, and there are a few Ethernet ports. This is all you need for input/output, except the AC input.

It's okay because after you connect it to your TV, the Sonos app will be downloaded onto your phone and you can follow the prompts through setting up the Sonos app. The app will show you where your cables should be plugged using useful pictures. It'll also check that your TV is receiving sound before moving forward.

True Play, a room-tuning function that uses the microphone on your phone to determine different reverberating or resonating properties in your space. To get the best results, you will need to move around in your living room looking silly, waving your smartphone in circles. However, we thought it was well worth it.

It was a pleasure to use in our own home.

However, this is not the end of connectivity. The speaker can be connected to Wi-Fi, which is both helpful and restrictive. The Sonos app is very easy to use and it was pleasant. It can be a bit more difficult to connect if you use an alternative like AirPlay. There is no Bluetooth option. So while the app offers instant control once it's set up, guests won't be able to stream to your Playbar via Bluetooth—they'll need to get the app.

Regardless, you will love the ease of setting up streaming services via Sonos' app. This is because the only physical buttons are Play/Pause and Volume. You can control multiple Sonos speakers with the app. The app will even allow you to send different music to them all independently.

Sound Quality : Strong and rich with lots of low-end

It is odd that soundbars are marketed as functional and stylish rather than high quality. It's difficult to create a soundbar that sounds as great as a pair of bookshelf or tower speakers. The Playbar, along with many other Sonos speakers, is an excellent example of how rich and full-bodied a soundbar can be.

We'll break it down: There are nine independent Class-D amps, which drive three tweeters and six mid-range speakers. The tweeters are responsible for the highest end, and the woofers provide the bulk of your sound. The woofers have been strung together in a phased arrangement so they can act as pseudo-surround array. This means that sound will be heard on the left screen if there is any action.

The enclosure's heavy and substantial construction provides a powerful bass that can shake a room. The bass can get a bit too loud if the speaker volume is increased to a high level, however the volume will still be sufficient for large rooms at 50 percent.

The Playbar, like many other Sonos speakers, is an excellent example of how rich and full-bodied a soundbar could sound.

We don't know the frequencies, dB levels or impedance in the true Sonos style. We use marketing language like "room-filling sound" and "Speech Enhancement". It sounds amazing, we tried it out in our own home.

Some flashy bells and whistles

The Playbar has a few other tricks up its sleeve, beyond the basic app configuration and connectivity. The Speech Enhancement, we already mentioned, actually provided a better representation of spoken words. It was much more useful when you were watching movies rather than television, because TV's vocal compression makes it less important than cinematic epics that have a wide dynamic range.

This mode can be used in conjunction with Night mode. This mode, which can be activated via the app, lowers the overall volume for explosions and gunfire, and raises it intelligently during quieter times on the screen. You'll still be able hear the important conversations, but not enough to wake everyone in your neighborhood by loud explosions. The phased speakers setup actually provided a somewhat convincing'surrounding' effect. Although it isn't as robust as the Yamaha or Samsung-emulated surround, this was still a nice addition to a stand-alone unit.

Prices: High-end, premium, but not outrageous

Sonos may be a high-end brand, but it's not in the top tier of speakers for audiophiles. This is because Sonos aims to provide a superior audio experience for all users.

You won't get many discount codes because it is Sonos. It costs $699 MSRP and is rarely in a lower price, although it can sometimes be found cheaper on Amazon. It's expensive to invest in a soundbar when you can have most of its sound quality at half the cost. We were impressed by the soundbar's bass and did not need a subwoofer. The brand is backed up with quality.

Competiton: There are not many options for this feature set.

Sonos Beam The Playbar's cost is roughly half that of the Sonos Beam and it offers all the necessary connectivity. The Playbar is the best choice if you need more volume or better bass response.

Sony Z9F For about the same amount, you can also get a 3.1 set from Sony. The subwoofer is included for greater response but the Sonos convenience will not be available.

Bose Soundbar700:Bose is a lower-cost entry with fewer enclosures but more flashy tech and Digital Signal Processing. The Sonos app interface offers more convenience, but there's still a lot of smart functionality.

The sound quality is great, the convenience and reliability are excellent, and the style is really beautiful. The Playbar is worth the money if you are able to stomach it.