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- First reviewDecember 29, 2014
- Last reviewDecember 29, 2014
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RMiller's Reviews
Make immersive, high-resolution audio an integral part of your entertainment with this Sonos Playbar soundbar. Bluetooth connectivity streams your favorite playlist wirelessly from your smart device, while automatic tuning ensures rich, detailed sound anywhere in the room. This Sonos Playbar soundbar lets you connect speakers in different rooms over Wi-Fi.
Customer Rating
3
Sonos fan Disappointed with Playbar
on December 29, 2014
Posted by: RMiller
I'm a huge Sonos fan and have 3 Play 1s and a Play 3 scattered around the house. We absolutely love them. It made sense then to buy the Playbar to integrate with our current system. However, after buying it and trying it out I had to return it for several reasons.
1. The main problem with the playbar is that Sonos wants you to plug it into the back of the TV but unfortunately most TVs (mine included) do not pass Dolby 5.1 audio so you really are not getting true surround sound. This may not seem like much of an issue but once you hear 5.1 surround sound, you can tell there's a huge difference. When you're spending this much money for a great set of speakers you want it to work correctly and unfortunately the way that Sonos is set up it just won't work that way. It is possible to hook up the Playbar directly to the source (blu-Ray player, Apple tv, etc) and get 5.1 sound, however, this requires multiple wires and a switch since the Playbar only has one input. With Sonos you are paying for ease of use and simplicity and so if you have to "rig up" a system to combat its shortcomings, then it's just not worth it. I did connect the play 1s as surrounds and it sounds great when connected directly to the source, however, this leads me to my next issue:
2. Lack of DTS support. If you want to get 5.1 surround sound you have to connect the sound bar directly to the source. However Sonos doesn't support DTS which is the audio on pretty much every Blu-Ray. Meaning you cannot get 5.1 surround sound from your Blu-ray player. Also even if it did support DTS my Blu-ray player does not have an optical out output and so it wouldn't work for that reason as well.
In summary, if you're paying this much money for a great set of speakers and 5.1 surround sound, then it better darn well output 5.1 surround sound. My guess is that people just don't know the difference and don't know what they are missing out on. I absolutely love Sonos for multiple room audio and have always raved about it to friends but I have to say I am really disappointed in the Playbar.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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