Denon Heos Bar

They lost two lawsuits to Sonos for patent infringement, so far. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Heos.

They lost two lawsuits to Sonos for patent infringement, so far. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Heos.

So they have Sonos technology and HDMI?!

Sounds like a winner to me.

except they have had to start removing features because of patents held by Sonos.

They have also backed out on promises for such things as Google Casting. They don't support but a fraction of services Sonos supports. List goes on. No third party supported apps / abilities. No open community.

It's worth looking at if deciding on system - but a little scary in that will it last.

But at least you get to choose your firmware, unlike Sonos.

The company may have to remove features in future firmware revisions, but there is nothing that forces a user unto a endless update cycle with no return like Sonos. Denon allows you to download a firmware to a USB stick and re-upload it anytime you want to. With Sonos, you better like whatever the latest firmware is should you ever need to do a factory reset, add a component, whatever. Otherwise, your system will go on partial or complete strike.

Guys,

Right when I made a choice buy a Playbar or Playbase, i stumble upon Denon Heos Bar review. It got high praises. Can it steal (no pun intended) Sonos place at a market?
Neven
I just wanted to add my 2 cents on favour of Sonos.
1. denon is ugly as hell
2. Denon’s other speakers to create 5.1 are bad in comparison with sonos.

I don’t mind sonos constant updates, as log as the music sings. And lack of hdmi also is not that much if a problem. Sonos in my opinion makes life easier.
And in the and Denon is a copycat!
Neven

But at least you get to choose your firmware, unlike Sonos.

The company may have to remove features in future firmware revisions, but there is nothing that forces a user unto a endless update cycle with no return like Sonos. Denon allows you to download a firmware to a USB stick and re-upload it anytime you want to. With Sonos, you better like whatever the latest firmware is should you ever need to do a factory reset, add a component, whatever. Otherwise, your system will go on partial or complete strike.

No return? So lets ignore additional music services, voice control, audible support, trueplay, .etc etc.. As for updating via USB? Why is that ever more convenient.

Yes software/firmware update can be a pain but they are now the norm with almost every connected app and service i use. Sonos seems to have the fewest of that bunch.

No return? So lets ignore additional music services, voice control, audible support, trueplay, .etc etc.. As for updating via USB? Why is that ever more convenient.

Yes software/firmware update can be a pain but they are now the norm with almost every connected app and service i use. Sonos seems to have the fewest of that bunch.

Don't bother. That poster is one of the very few CR100 complainers trying to inject their displeasure into any thread they can now that the "Save the CR100" thread lost its goal, and deteriorated into tin-foil hat conspiracy land.

No return? So lets ignore additional music services, voice control, audible support, trueplay, .etc etc.. As for updating via USB? Why is that ever more convenient.
Sonos' competitors give the consumer a choice: They can opt-out of auto-update, if they want to. More importantly, Heos, Paradigm, and Bluesound owners can download a firmware to a USB stick for future safekeeping in case their controller has a bad hair day, needs a factory reset and they can't download the latest firmware from the update server (let's say the vendor has gone out of that line of business).

Plenty of companies in the tech space have ceased to exist and everywhere else in tech-land, people embrace backups. What's wrong with having a backup and not relying on the availability of a company server that may or may not be maintained in the future? Never mind other use cases like folk in remote locations that don't have access to inexpensive, fast broadband at home.

With Sonos, your only choice is to embrace the latest firmware, if a new firmware is needed. While that approach may serve you well presently, don't ignore the potentially bad consequences that come with not being able to fully control your equipment.

[...] Sonos' competitors give the consumer a choice: They can opt-out of auto-update, if they want to. More importantly, Heos, Paradigm, and Bluesound owners can download a firmware to a USB stick for future safekeeping in case their controller has a bad hair day, needs a factory reset and they can't download the latest firmware from the update server (let's say the vendor has gone out of that line of business). [...]
So why don't you opt for one of these companies? Those don't seem also to bother much with customer support. 🙂

The heos does not sound as good as the sonos playbar, but the bose soundtouch sounds better than the sonos playbar