Contributor I

Convince me to buy Sonos Playbar over Bose 300

67 replies
112906 views

Hi All,

My wife likes the Sonos Playbar, while I like the Bose 300.

I have owned Bose products in the past.
Listening to the demo at Best Buy, the Bose sounds better. The sales people say the Sonos demo is not very good.

Being a professional nerd, I research everything.

I have been monitoring both user support sites and I am having second thoughts about the Bose.

There sure SEEMS to be a lot of basic issues with software updates on the Bose side. Slow or no responses.

Both are the same price so nothing to go on there.
As we get "older" it is more important to have clear dialog and not knock pictures off the wall when a car explodes.

We mostly watch movies, sports and TV. Some music but not the priority. Harmony remote and Alexa.

My main question is, from the communities perspective, would you buy it again and any comments of why Sonos is better than Bose? How has the support been? Are they listening to you? Do updates break more than they fix?

Another Note: My wife will ONLY be accessing through Harmony remote and maybe Alexa.
She is not a smart phone kind of gal.

Thank you for any guidance!

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B

Blingman

Lyricist III

Buy Bose.
Sonos just appears to stop working randomly.
Surf the net. Check other peoples forums.
But Sonos has epic software issues despite a great sound if (and it is a big IF) you can ever get it to work AND to stay working consistently.

I agree I sold my Playbar Sub due to frustration, sub not found play 1 not found, etc etc but when all was going Awesome

K

Kadira

Contributor I

You all have helped me, thank you!

Here is where I am at....

I like the Bose. I think it just sounds better. My wife likes the Sonos. But......

What is holding me back honestly is the Bose software.
Just basic things that get reported not working.
The software was rolled out just to immature and they are scrambling to get it working besides adding meaningful new features.
I realize the moderators are doing their best to communicate between the user community and the developers but the feedback to the users is poor. The lack of real progress on the issues is disappointing.

I am a software developer and this would NOT be acceptable to me or any company I have worked for.

The Sonos is a more mature product that is mostly stable and has many more features. Sonos sounds great with True multi room sound.
My issue with them is the lack of bluetooth and HDMI. Seems limited for the future.

For now I am going to see who wants the premium sound bar market the most.
If Bose can dedicate the resources into fixing the software I am all in. Bose it is.
If Sonos comes out with a new model that has HDMI than I will be a Sonos man.

Honestly, I do think I can go wrong with either choice. Both sound fantastic.

Hii .. could u please let us know what u purchased at the end. Playbar or Bose .. and how are you finding it? Any recomendations or feedback. Great if u could update us..

F

flanagan

Lyricist I

Sonos are a clear leader in the innovation of multi room and have shaken up those such as Bose. Looks like Bose have been struggling to understand and adapt to that (and there'll undoubtedly be more from Sonos and others.)

What Sonos seem to have done well is capture the multi-room idea and have created a very cool and flexible system.
They have done a good job of the apps and software and clearly have created quality soundgear.

Bose have not adapted well, have not done well with their software (usability nor quality, from what I can make out). They are a solid performer over many years but are seen as dated and standing on their laurels from the past. Will they survive?

K

Keithmac

Virtuoso

I can't fault our Sonos multiroom setup for music (apart from the Deezer outage) but I wish they would bring out a "breakout box" for the Playbar/ Playbase.

A box that can be updated to decode DTS/ Atmos etc and pass through 5.1 info to the Playbar. Could use the LAN connection, would have HDMI port etc.

I have a lot of money in our 5.1 Setup alone, holding out on buying a new TV just because if I get it wrong it will cripple our Playbar Home Theatre setup.

Samsung are stopping production of their Blu-ray players, I use one of these as it decodes DTS to DD5.1 on the fly and it does the same for Netflix as well via its app. With the convenience gone I'd have a ton of money in a Stereo setup.

As said above, it's ironic what people have come up with to get around the "simplicity" of the optical input on Playbar, HDMI switches with optical pass though etc..

I spent hours with EDID emulators to get our setup to pass through 5.1 seamlessly, my family don't want to be messing around with multiple controllers and menus, just turn the TV on and go..

No doubt this will fall on deaf ears but a breakout box with DTS Atmos decoding/ transcoding would be godsend for many Playbar / Playbase users.

Would be a shame to see a new TV causing the death of our Sonos HT but I don't think I've the time or patience to wrestle with it all again, shame as the hardware really is top notch.

N

Niraj.Shr

Avid Contributor I

I can't fault our Sonos multiroom setup for music (apart from the Deezer outage) but I wish they would bring out a "breakout box" for the Playbar/ Playbase.

A box that can be updated to decode DTS/ Atmos etc and pass through 5.1 info to the Playbar. Could use the LAN connection, would have HDMI port etc.

I have a lot of money in our 5.1 Setup alone, holding out on buying a new TV just because if I get it wrong it will cripple our Playbar Home Theatre setup.

Samsung are stopping production of their Blu-ray players, I use one of these as it decodes DTS to DD5.1 on the fly and it does the same for Netflix as well via its app. With the convenience gone I'd have a ton of money in a Stereo setup.

Which Samsung Bluray player are you using, could you share pls?

Living room: Playbar | Dining: Play 5 | Bedroom: Sonos One

K

Keithmac

Virtuoso

I use a Samsung bd-h6500 at the moment but that is not native 4k, will be buying a newer version while there are some still available.

N

Niraj.Shr

Avid Contributor I

I use a Samsung bd-h6500 at the moment but that is not native 4k, will be buying a newer version while there are some still available.

Thanks Keith, will have a look

Living room: Playbar | Dining: Play 5 | Bedroom: Sonos One

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