I’ve a 2+ year old Sony HT-SD35 (2.1ch Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer) which I’m considering upgrading as its started to cause me some problems and its just not great and showing its limitations.
I have mid sized sitting room with a 49in Sony TV which is perfect for the size and use a nVidia Shield Pro as my plex client. Typically I either have stereo or AAC 5.1 codec from my media and am not too worried about higher quality audio formats.
It got me thinking what other folks use and what they would recommend without breaking the bank? I was considering getting Sonos Beam (Gen 2) which is approx €500 in Ireland and then in the future maybe add their Subwoofer if I found I wanted the extra bass.
Hi, I saw a review in Amazon comparing this Sonos with Bose Smart Soundbar 300. They’re very close in quality, but Bose has one thing that is the primary reason I decided to buy a soundbar: it works better with voices and noisy scenes. According to the review, with Sonos you’re gonna have to set the volume up and down more frequently.
Just sharing a review in amazon. I don’t have any of them yet.
I have a bunch of Sonos speakers. The real value in Sonos is the integration with streaming services, the ease of grouping multiple units together, and the app ecosystem. Being able to play music throughout the house, or send TV audio throughout the house, is really nice.
The other value is that I never have to mess with it. It has huge Wife Acceptance Factor.
I’m very happy with a Beam + Sub combo. Two thumbs up. I have really positive things to say about voice clarity. It has an option to boost voices, though I don’t find I need it - despite getting older.
I don’t think I’d recommend a standalone Beam. Without the Sub it would be pretty anemic. It would sound good, but it wouldn’t be very loud or rich.
If you watch carefully you can find Subs for huge discounts sometimes. Open box at Best Buy, or people sell them locally.
But if it’s a standalone room, and you want to stay under $500, I think you can find a much better value for a Soundbar+Sub.
Sonos is the Apple of the audio world. It’s expensive. It’s good, but it isn’t “audiophile” good (whatever that means). It “just works”, but doesn’t have as many settings as other systems.
Thanks for the comments. Can I ask what you are thinking about here ? Getting a good SB+Sub under 500 is a challenge which is why I was initially thinking of a good bar which I can add a sub later when I have more money
