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Atari_Prime
Avid Contributor I
May 3, 2018

Sonos v. Heos Comparison

I am trying to find straight comparison's between the various Sonos and Heos speakers. Ignoring the apps, lawsuits, and preference of appearance and instead focusing strictly on sound quality, does anyone know of where to find some good comparisons between the products or maybe have done comparisons of their own?

Below are a few basics as best I understand or have compared:

Sonos One v. Heos 1 - Most seem to give the Sonos One a slight edge in sound quality.

Sonos Play 3 v. Heos 3 - Neither really seems to have an edge.

Sonos Play 5 v. Heos 5 - Most seem to give the Play 5 a slight edge in sound quality.

Sonos Play 5 v. Heos 7 - A vast majority seem to give the Heos 7 the easy edge here. It seems to be highly rated all around.

Sonos PlayBar (w/ sub) v. Heos HomeCinema - Neither really seem to have an edge.

Sonos PlayBar (w/ sub) v. Heos Bar (w/ sub) - Reviews that compare these are hard to find but between the lack of HDMI on the PlayBar and the raw specs of the Heos Bar, it seems to be the better pick. A few stores will tell you the same.

Does anyone have links that support/refute the above? What are your personal experiences?

Have the specs for the new PlayBar/PlayBase leaked?

Thx.
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    78 replies

    shoturtle
    Prodigy III
    May 3, 2018
    for 1- 3 it is about right, they are dead even. Both Denon and Sonos company knows how to make a good speaker. They both do sound really well.

    I avoided the Sonos HT system most because of the HDMI issue. I thought the playbase should have added it. But the Heos does sound nice in HT. But the Heos does not support Atmos.

    June 6th 2018 you will most likely know more about sonos plans.
      chicks
      chicks
      May 3, 2018
      Sonos: Robust, highly active, public support forum (this one).
      Heos: Crickets

      Sonos: Won two major lawsuits against Heos so far for stealing their technology
      Heos: Will need to license Sonos tech, or completely redesign their products yet again

      Summary: I wouldn’t go anywhere near Heos
      shoturtle
      Prodigy III
      May 3, 2018
      Sound United acquired D+M last year, so they do have the money to acquired lic deal. They are pretty big actually, with an equity company as parent to Sound United. They have funds to afford a lic deal
      Chris
      Chris
      Lead Maestro
      May 3, 2018
      of course - try to ask the question in a HEOS discussion forum ..... oh yea there is no discussion anywhere about HEOS. Love all the 3rd party support with my Sonos (alternate controllers, sonosequencr, Smartthings, Harmony Remote...)
      Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
      shoturtle
      Prodigy III
      May 3, 2018
      Yup to get heos discussion you will have to go 3rd party. Reddit has a Heos forum. But things might change with the Sound United deal last year. Company is more American then Japanese now. So they might be better with customer support going forward.
      Chris
      Chris
      Lead Maestro
      May 3, 2018
      Reddit’s heos discussion is like one comment a month
      Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
      Chris
      Chris
      Lead Maestro
      May 3, 2018
      Reddit’s Sonos forum is way more active.
      Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
      shoturtle
      Prodigy III
      May 3, 2018
      hey it takes time. Sonos has been around for over a decade, heos is 4 years. It is slowly growing to build a customer base. But at the end it will not be a sound quality decision for the OP. It will come down to the pros and cons of each system. Each has both good and bad things going for them.
      shoturtle
      Prodigy III
      May 3, 2018
      Atari Prime,

      If the sonos play 1 and heos 1 are on your shipping list. The sonos had 2 digital amp one for the driver one for the tweeter vs 1 digital amp driving both the woofer and tweeter. This is where the slight sound quality of the play 1 comes from. It is not a overwhelming difference.
      chicks
      chicks
      May 3, 2018
      App Store
      Sonos app: 248,000 reviews, 4.4/5*
      Heos app: 203 reviews, 2.2/5*

      Play Store
      Sonos app: 5 million downloads, 64,000 reviews, 4.0/5*
      Heos app: 100 thousand downloads, 4,500 reviews, 3.4/5*
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