No new Playbar? Really Sonos?
All this R&D on the Move which I expect to be a niche product given it's price. Meanwhile the Playbar sits at $699 with no HDMI, dated looks, no voice control, no new audio codecs. Listen to the Verge podcast where they interview the Sonos CEO. They ask him why no new Playbar and he blows it off. At the end they make fun of it only having an optical port. It's just an insult to Sonos' customers. At least lower the price. Plenty of soundbars out there that do twice as much for half as much. Get rid of the Playbase and upsize the Beam. How hard can that be instead of designing a portable bluetooth speaker?
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Yeah, I'm a big fan of Tidal/MQA
As owner of a Playbase (multiple speakers, better sound than Beam IMHO) I would counter that with: get rid of the over-sized Playbar and the under-powered Beam.
To each his own, I guess 😉
Perhaps it will be better to keep all three.
But you are right: an upgrade to them all is due/overdue.
Agreed. Surely a replacement is on the way. The Beam is so far advanced from the Playbar now, but the sound on the Playbar is still the best. Seems like a no-brainer that this should be a priority. The Playbase is really a redundant product too with not many TVs with the middle stand anymore.
Or maybe its time to go back to Bose... 😞 If only their app wasn't so horrible.
What percentage of the marketplace has eARC output at this moment? Say, just in the US. And the EU, as a separate number.
I'd hope that there's someone at Sonos tracking that information. I too would like the replacement device to have this, but I also would prefer not to have to pay through the nose for something I won't be able to use until my next TV purchase.
I dont know a ton about how much the cost would be but I dont see it being two or three times the current price as the bose sound bar 700 offers it at a cost of 799.99 So I wouldn't see how Sonos could justify a ton more? Also it's backwards compatible so while it may be a bit before every is utilizing it your not losing anything by adding it but definitely future proofing your product quite a bit especially since if Sonos releases a new playbar without it were not likely to see a playbar refresh for another 5 to 7 years after the next one lol. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
Sure. But we also don't know the manufacturing process, and how much effort there is in the design process.
As near as I can tell, over the last year, Sonos has brought out a ton of product. The One, gen 2 (albeit only a slight change there), the SL, the Move, the Port. How large do you think the various departments are that have input into the process of releasing a new product are? Sonos isn't a Microsoft or Apple sized company, there has to be a limit on how many resources, in time, people, and dollars required to spin up a new manufacturing line.
Yes, I want a new PLAYBAR. Sure, I'd take it yesterday, if it was avaialble. However, I recognize that there are restraints involved, most of which I have absolutely no insight into.
I have to either trust Sonos to do the things that will make them the maximum amount of money in order to maintain their business so that I can continue to use their system, or I need to take the decision that I think someone else does a better job, and jump ship.
There's certainly nothing wrong with letting Sonos know that you'd like a new PLAYBAR. I've certainly done so, probably more times than the community forum moderators can count. But I also recognize that there's someone or a group of someones who have the responsibility to make intelligent decisions about the hardware roadmap based on various inputs. And of course, that roadmap is not shared with us, due to the potential influence it has on the competitor's decision making process.
As near as I can tell, over the last year, Sonos has brought out a ton of product. The One, gen 2 (albeit only a slight change there), the SL, the Move, the Port. How large do you think the various departments are that have input into the process of releasing a new product are? Sonos isn't a Microsoft or Apple sized company, there has to be a limit on how many resources, in time, people, and dollars required to spin up a new manufacturing line.
Yes, I want a new PLAYBAR. Sure, I'd take it yesterday, if it was avaialble. However, I recognize that there are restraints involved, most of which I have absolutely no insight into.
I have to either trust Sonos to do the things that will make them the maximum amount of money in order to maintain their business so that I can continue to use their system, or I need to take the decision that I think someone else does a better job, and jump ship.
There's certainly nothing wrong with letting Sonos know that you'd like a new PLAYBAR. I've certainly done so, probably more times than the community forum moderators can count. But I also recognize that there's someone or a group of someones who have the responsibility to make intelligent decisions about the hardware roadmap based on various inputs. And of course, that roadmap is not shared with us, due to the potential influence it has on the competitor's decision making process.
Sonos have the sales figures and the research. If the Playbar is under featured and overpriced the market will soon let Sonos know. How can this be an insult to customers? The only reason a company should reduce a price is because it will increase profit to do so.
I have no view on whether Sonos has got its product strategy right or wrong. I simply don't have the info. But I don't take it as a personal affront.
If I had to put money on Sonos' next product it would be a Playbar gen 2. But what do I know?
Well over here the Playbar does not sell well. I’ve spoken to several electronic stores - they sell far more soundbars from LG/Sony/Samsung/Panasonic etc than Sonos - even Bose soundbars move far more units and get more space for their in store displays. The Sonos 1/3/5 do move, people like voice automated music speakers but as far as home theater goes, the Playbar sales numbers are very low so the stores here don’t stock many Playbar units.
If I’m being honest - The only reason I own a sonos playbar is because I was deperate for a sound upgrade - and at that time, none of the electronic stores around me had stock of the top of the range Sony/Samsung Atmos soundbars - if they did I’d not own any Sonos products right now.
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