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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Highly subjective, of course, but I find the Heos speakers hideous to look at. The only place I’ve seen them in person is at the Magnolia inside the local Best Buy, tucked in a dark corner. I’ve never seen anyone actually demo them, and the few times I’ve asked the sales people there about them, they’ve always guided me to the Sonos aisle, in the brightly lit BB store. I just don’t see any valid reason to choose Heos over Sonos at this point.
Yep...it is quite entertaining how so many ignore the original subject matter. Fully aware of the lawsuit. I think the chances of the line forcibly or voluntarily getting taken off the market are next to nothing. But they may be forced to remove features permanently or pay a fee to license existing features. Features from the App have already been removed under the guise of 'market research says our customers do not want those features'. The App itself has always been servicable but now it is just crap. Denon has been less than helpful in dealing with all this so there idea of Sonos crept back up. I originally chose Heos because I thought it sounded better and did not like the minimalist design of the Sonos products. I think the Denon's are some of the best looking products on the market, but it all kinda comes down to whether you want your speakers to blend in or stand out as a piece of art. Sonos clearly wants them to blend in. And this whole situation has forced me to ask what I liked about the Heos sound quality in the first place. Most of my experience, much like many others, has been on a showroom floor or online reviews. Many of those go into the review with bias (possibly even paid) or maybe just don't know a lot about speakers so it is hard to judge how much weight to give reviews. What is clear is that most prefer the Sonos App (I wish they had a black screen option though), and Sonos is much more widely accepted and supported. Sound quality is the most important factor for me though. If they don't sound great, Sonos could come to my house and give me a massage and it wouldn't matter. Thankfully the differences seem to be minute. I am installing a couple of Sonos speakers now and will run them along side their Heos counterparts. Still debating, but a large group of Heos speakers may show up on Craigslist soon.
I think the OP knows that. It was clearly stated in the op orginally mesaage about the lawsuit and other post he has visited. While i agree with your stance. And that sonos is better at delivering then others. Things are forever changing. Nokia was the gold standard 15 years ago on cell phone. Now it is apple. With samsung as the gold standard in android. Which google is chipping away at with pixel. If you want to talk lawsuits. Their are a whole mess with smartphones. But samsung is the biggest now apple second. And they competing with each other drives Innovation. Also samsung decided not to listen to the market. That is why they have been left behind in the OLED UHD market. When you talk high end uhd it is LG Sony Panasonic. Samsung is upper middle grade with their qled. I something sonos sit back on its lurals sometime. Mostly because of captial issue i think.
Case in point the playbase kinda miss it mark. It should have included atleast one hdmi port. Now there might be another ht speaker. And playbase buyers might feel left out. Just food for thought.
So if heos and the others were not out pushing more features. We might have to wait longer for hdmi. But if all the competition supports hdmi. And atmos is going to be the standard. It forces sonos to listen to the market. And it is one of the fastet growing markets now.
Case in point the playbase kinda miss it mark. It should have included atleast one hdmi port. Now there might be another ht speaker. And playbase buyers might feel left out. Just food for thought.
So if heos and the others were not out pushing more features. We might have to wait longer for hdmi. But if all the competition supports hdmi. And atmos is going to be the standard. It forces sonos to listen to the market. And it is one of the fastet growing markets now.
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I have apple music in Sonos app and enjoy it. Point being HEOS doesn't really do the in app thing very well.
I'm just saying I think any system should be purchased for the options and abilities it has today ... not what is expected from it in the future. With many of these wifi speaker companies they are long in list of things THEY WANT TO DO that never come to fruition.
Sonos on the other hand has reputation for doing what it says (and sticking around for that matter where others come and go and leave owners hanging). Sonos is bad about not telling its long term plans. Bad in sense people want to hear all these great things coming ..... but then as I mentioned - if you promise the world your going to let down customers. Sonos bends highly to the side of ....promise little - make good on those promises. Which I prefer to a company like HEOS that tries to promise everything in order to try and pull away market share - but fail on delivery of a lot of those promises.
Sonos is the gold standard for wireless multihome. Sure it has its quirks as a company in not providing a lot of customization. But I wouldn't want to invest my money in another protocol who's sole purpose is to try to chip away market share from the know standard bearer (through illegal means actually). I'll stick with the standard bearer.
I'm just saying I think any system should be purchased for the options and abilities it has today ... not what is expected from it in the future. With many of these wifi speaker companies they are long in list of things THEY WANT TO DO that never come to fruition.
Sonos on the other hand has reputation for doing what it says (and sticking around for that matter where others come and go and leave owners hanging). Sonos is bad about not telling its long term plans. Bad in sense people want to hear all these great things coming ..... but then as I mentioned - if you promise the world your going to let down customers. Sonos bends highly to the side of ....promise little - make good on those promises. Which I prefer to a company like HEOS that tries to promise everything in order to try and pull away market share - but fail on delivery of a lot of those promises.
Sonos is the gold standard for wireless multihome. Sure it has its quirks as a company in not providing a lot of customization. But I wouldn't want to invest my money in another protocol who's sole purpose is to try to chip away market share from the know standard bearer (through illegal means actually). I'll stick with the standard bearer.
To each their own. Options are a good things🆒
But I think everyone has items that are more can not live without in a system. While I am a big fan of sonos, they do lack in some area and strong in others. But i tend to give the buy the raw data. At the end it is their money. So they need to decide for themselves.
That is why going with the ops question. I said sound quality was moot. It is patotoes vs patatoes in that aspect of the system. And point to the other features and removed the app and lawsuit as the op requested.
As for the bluetooth with apple music. You would actually get all the features from the apple music vs miss apple muisc with the sonos app. Just an observation.
But I think everyone has items that are more can not live without in a system. While I am a big fan of sonos, they do lack in some area and strong in others. But i tend to give the buy the raw data. At the end it is their money. So they need to decide for themselves.
That is why going with the ops question. I said sound quality was moot. It is patotoes vs patatoes in that aspect of the system. And point to the other features and removed the app and lawsuit as the op requested.
As for the bluetooth with apple music. You would actually get all the features from the apple music vs miss apple muisc with the sonos app. Just an observation.
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I’ll go for relaible Sonos now vs time will tell. I buy for what it does today.
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I have no interest in any Bluetooth for my home audio.
sony is on their second as well. all because of the smart speaker. All the big audio are jumping back in as the market has gotten huge. And there is really money and big sales number at play vs a niche market that wireless speaker once were. Times change and company revisit past ideas.
Samsung and facebook will launch smart speakers soon as well. I just can see the big audio company not really staying the path with a really large market.
Samsung and facebook will launch smart speakers soon as well. I just can see the big audio company not really staying the path with a really large market.
2nd, but the tech is getting better every year. And the wx 010 does sound better then the sonos one. WX 030 is slight behind the play 3. But it will grow, especially with the advent of the smart speaker. They committed to three big boys, apple, amazon and google. They do not want to be left behind. It is no longer a niche market when sonos first started.
Remind me, is this Yamaha’s 2nd or 3rd attempt at wireless audio? They abandoned the first, possibly the second.
Remember Sony’s wireless system? S-Air? Abandoned now.
maybe, but the chip set in the Heos are newer, they might be able to support both. Only time will tell.
How do I use HEOS with my Smartthings controller and home automation?
How do I play my Apple Music to HEOS?
How is that chromecast support going with HEOS they promised?
chromcast can be plug in via chromecast audio 3.5mm
Apple musc via Bluetooth
alexa will work with heos, and like sonos google home is planned. maybe smartthings will be added one day as well. But I am still waiting for google assistant with sonos.
I believe a couple of brands under their new parent company use DTS PlayFi, so they may be forced to go into that swamp.
patience is my strong suit. It took sonos how long to finally come out with HDMI, if the rumors are true. Still waiting on native Bluetooth support. ;)
I do think with the change in ownership to a US company. They will get better. I have dealt with Polk Audio Customer service, and it was a nice experience.
For the same reason as change in cultural ownership, I think that denon will get better. Northern Asian companies are not big in the long game. They tend to panic and change direction with the pervailing winds.
Sonos will be facing more competition, think that is why they are looking to raise captial by going public. Samsung and LG system are not that good. But the yamaha, denon and onkyo wireless systems sound is just as good as sonos. But not as big a product line. But they will grow. I dont see yamaha bailing out of their musicast system. And this is actually a good thing, it will drive innovation.
I do think with the change in ownership to a US company. They will get better. I have dealt with Polk Audio Customer service, and it was a nice experience.
For the same reason as change in cultural ownership, I think that denon will get better. Northern Asian companies are not big in the long game. They tend to panic and change direction with the pervailing winds.
Sonos will be facing more competition, think that is why they are looking to raise captial by going public. Samsung and LG system are not that good. But the yamaha, denon and onkyo wireless systems sound is just as good as sonos. But not as big a product line. But they will grow. I dont see yamaha bailing out of their musicast system. And this is actually a good thing, it will drive innovation.
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They would drop the line before having to continue to pay license fees to Sonos.
How do I use HEOS with my Smartthings controller and home automation?
How do I play my Apple Music to HEOS?
How is that chromecast support going with HEOS they promised?
How do I use HEOS with my Smartthings controller and home automation?
How do I play my Apple Music to HEOS?
How is that chromecast support going with HEOS they promised?
that is the app, once the law suit gets settle, which it will. They will end up paying a big lic fee to sonos. And that will resolve the block features on the app.
But other features to also consider, heos 1 and heos 3 are portable and you can travel with them as Bluetooth speakers. As they have the option of a battery pack. 2 function the sonos can not do.
They have usb ports to pop in a flash drive with party music.
Sonosnet works better then wifi, and does not bog down your wifi network. And if you have issues, you can add a boost. Something Heos do not do. You are completely on Wifi. In very high residential area, and tons of wifi, sonos net can make a huge difference. Very important if you live in an area with wifi issue. That it is big enough to negate some of the oh gosh nice to have features of the Heos.
You can add speakers with the connect family if you have some good ones. If I were to go big for a heos 7, i would go connect amp and get some really good sounding dump speakers. I did once upon a time.
Hopefully hdmi will be resolve so that will be a moot point after June 6. Right now heos has the edge.
The Sonos in white looks way better then the heos except for the black grill of the play5. Which I think throws that look off for a white motif home.
Sonos will have both google and alexa intergation, vs just alexa on Heos.
Heos have native HD Audio support, not to big of an advantage. Unless you have heading acute as a dog.
Sonos right now have way better customer service.
These are some of the pros of both system. And the decision will really come down to some of these factors.
But other features to also consider, heos 1 and heos 3 are portable and you can travel with them as Bluetooth speakers. As they have the option of a battery pack. 2 function the sonos can not do.
They have usb ports to pop in a flash drive with party music.
Sonosnet works better then wifi, and does not bog down your wifi network. And if you have issues, you can add a boost. Something Heos do not do. You are completely on Wifi. In very high residential area, and tons of wifi, sonos net can make a huge difference. Very important if you live in an area with wifi issue. That it is big enough to negate some of the oh gosh nice to have features of the Heos.
You can add speakers with the connect family if you have some good ones. If I were to go big for a heos 7, i would go connect amp and get some really good sounding dump speakers. I did once upon a time.
Hopefully hdmi will be resolve so that will be a moot point after June 6. Right now heos has the edge.
The Sonos in white looks way better then the heos except for the black grill of the play5. Which I think throws that look off for a white motif home.
Sonos will have both google and alexa intergation, vs just alexa on Heos.
Heos have native HD Audio support, not to big of an advantage. Unless you have heading acute as a dog.
Sonos right now have way better customer service.
These are some of the pros of both system. And the decision will really come down to some of these factors.
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Yes - HEOS building a customer base isn't happening.
They’re already in their 2nd hardware generation in just 4 years!? Has to be longer. They’ll likely need to go to gen 3 after Sonos finishes them off in the courts.
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*
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*
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.
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.
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.
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Reddit’s Sonos forum is way more active.
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Reddit’s heos discussion is like one comment a month
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.
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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...)
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