Review: Sonos Playbase

Meet the super-wireless, super-expensive speaker at the center of your new home theater.
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Sonos

Before I get into this, I should admit something: my home audio setup is pathetic. I listen to shows and movies out of the speakers built into my TV. When I have friends over, a UE Megaboom Bluetooth speaker supplies the background music. Sometimes I catch myself listening to podcasts on my phone's speakers. The best listening devices I own are headphones---which is why I often spend time on the couch, alone, watching TV with headphones plugged into my Roku remote.

That's all changed since I received the Sonos Playbase, a soundbase that acts like a home theater in a box. The Playbase, a cousin of Sonos's Playbar soundbar, is designed to sit snugly between your flatscreen and your TV stand. It can support TVs up to 75 pounds, connects with an optical cable, and becomes the centerpiece of your living room.

Upgrading from built-in speakers to the Playbase feels like when I traded my flip phone for a smartphone, or first gazed upon a 4K TV. If you've been stuck in the sonic dark ages like I have and don't plan on dropping $700 on new speakers, I don't recommend testing these out. I almost wish I hadn't, because now that I know how good it can be, it's really hard to go back. The Playbase isn't for everyone, and it comes with some tradeoffs, but it's a seriously impressive piece of kit.

WIRED

At this point in the review, it's probably so obvious it hardly needs to be said, but the Playbase sounds fantastic. Sonos's Trueplay tuning process adapts the speaker to the particular layout of your room, and you can also manually tweak the output in the Sonos app. But even out of the box, it's a revelation. With floor-shaking bass, crisp mids, and a surprisingly wide soundstage, the Playbase is almost like having a surround-sound setup with a single speaker. I've been hearing things in movies I've never even noticed before, like background sounds and effects that make everything bigger and richer. And it sounds good at any volume: I could throw a thumping dance party or watch TV while the rest of the house sleeps, all in perfect fidelity.

As with any Sonos product, the Playbase is a breeze to set up. Plug it in, download the app, tap a few buttons, and you're good to go. If you already own Sonos products, it's even simpler. Since it's so small, it'll fit underneath almost any TV---I have one of those sets with feet on either side and the Playbase slides perfectly in the middle.

If you're going to have one killer speaker in your home, it makes sense to put it under your TV. And the Playbase works great even when your TV is off, since it's still part of the Sonos system. If you're already a Sonos user, this one's sort of a no-brainer. If not, it's a really good way to start.

TIRED

Priced at $700, there's a good chance the Playbase costs more than your television. You can get something almost as good, from Vizio and others, for a lot less money. Much of what you're paying for, of course, is the Whole Sonos Thing---the easy setup, the all-in-one app, the wireless audio throughout your home. If you have dreams of installing more Sonos stuff, that's worth paying for. But as a standalone speaker, it's a lot of cash for things you won't need.

Since the Playbase is Sonos-only, it can't work as a standard Bluetooth speaker, and doesn't support Google Cast or AirPlay. You can only use it to play services that specifically support Sonos. There are plenty of compatible services, but I use Pocket Casts to listen to podcasts, and that doesn't support Sonos. So I'm still breaking out the Megaboom every morning. There are little things, too: You lose the visual volume indicator on your TV, so you have to adjust by feel, and after setting up my Playbase, the mute button on my TV no longer works.

There's also this nagging suspicion that the Playbase is already obsolete. Sonos plans to support Alexa soon, allowing you to control your music with your voice, but the Playbase has no microphone. It doesn't use HDMI to connect to your TV, instead privileging the optical input, a port I haven't thought about in a decade. Like all Sonos products, the Playbase doesn't work on the newest Wi-Fi standards, or use the newest surround-sound tech. None of these things cause huge headaches now, but if I'm dropping seven Benjamins on a speaker, I want it to last me a decade. I'm not sure the Playbase will.

If you're all-in on that Sonos life, downsides and all, the Playbase is a great centerpiece for the whole system. I want one, but I think I really want the next one.

RATING

7/10---It sounds great, it looks good, but it's hard to justify the cost, or be comfortable with the investment.