Sonos - Playbar

Are you paying for the Atmos and higher end audio from streaming services? If not, the Arc would never be the right buy. I’m pretty sure based on what you’ve said you may have liked the old Playbar. I just picked one up as a Goodwill used electronic for $100 through their online auctions. I had it before the first gen Arc, but always felt for general stereo content the Playbar was far better.

Still have a Playbar in my downstairs den paired with two Play:3s. I only replaced my upstairs Playbar to an Arc a few years ago because the little flapper door for the optical cable input broke and it would no longer hold the plug in place. Perfectly working otherwise, what shame to have to junk it. Sonos said they can't fix that so they gave us a nice deal for an update to Arc. While on this subject, is there any advantage to using an HDMI from eARC/ARC to the Playbar utilizing Sonos' HDMI to Optical adapter? Or is there nothing to gain over using an Optical cable?

Still enjoying my Playbar with Sub1

I can confirm. I used to use Sonos, for non critical listening it sounds great. The reason is because it doesn’t fail at anything audio wise, nor does it do anything mind blowing. It kinda just merges into the background and lets the TV or visuals take center stage. This is how it should be for movies imo, the audio immersive but not doing too much. For music I found this quality to make the Sonos feel dry and boring

My playbar is coming up on 8 years and it’s just as good as when I got it (just a little more dust on that cloth top). Wish it supported airplay but otherwise there’s no need to upgrade.

Clearly….. the first sound bars still sell very easily for 200-250€ even though they are 12 years old…. (playbar) and they are still clearly up to date in terms of audio quality! Well above some Samsungs which are not even 2 years old…. Then as you say, no one buys Samsung systems that are already 4-5 years old

I've had the playbar for 7 years. I also have the Sonos sub and ones. It definitely is behind on almost everything the new soundbars can do. However, last year I bought a Samsung 990 with sub and surrounds and was very excited to hear how much better it is than my playbar. Well after 2 weeks I returned the Samsung and am still using the playbar. To me it sounds fuller and the vocals especially mens voices sound way richer. It may be my room dimensions and high ceiling I don't know, but my advice would be to get the Samsung and keep the playbar until your sure you like the new setup better.

You can pick up Playbars on places like FB marketplace etc.. for a decent price. That will be much better for a surround set up. I’d look for the play bar and sub/sub mini on the marketplace to shave a few bucks.

Should listen old model - Sonos Playbar. Perfect!

Buy a second hand Sonos Playbar. This bar is sh*t.

THIS RIGHT HERE. the playbar will forever be the champ. i don't think they'll ever top it

OP go on eBay and buy a used Sonos Play Bar for around 200 bucks and use optical in. I have nice speakers and a couple hifi setups and still like my play bars on 2 TVs

Laughing at this picture. Should I get 2 inch bookshelf awkward speakers or like a beefy Sonos play bar for 200 bucks that fits perfectly

I have a beam, a playbar, and an arc. The beam is plenty for a bedroom and would be my choice if I didn’t already have some older playbars for the bedrooms.

Going to upgrade to Playbar..yes..holding arc and now ultra ..ultra seems little better...but when u consider pleasant listening without tinny voice....200$ Vizio and playbar are ultimate..not sure what Ultra does excellent with respect to tinny voice. One more waste from Sonos like Arc..why ultra was shrinked in size while adding new drivers....could be due to useless small sized drivers....horrible..no mid range even in ultra.....Playbar is ultimate

The Sonos Playbar was a decent soundbar...10 years ago. If you want the best bang for the buck: Samsung Q990D. If you really want the best system available and money is no issue: Either Sony Theatre Quad or Sonos Arc Ultra with 2 Subs and 2 Era 300s as Surrounds.

I’m with you. Got one earlier this summer and am super impressed with bass and separation. No, it does not support all the newer standards but it kicks butt in my small office. And when paired with 2x Play 1s, it’s almost overkill. Finally, in my opinion by itself it’s the equal of Beam Gen 2 + Mini Sub.

Arc + sub is pretty sick for music. Better than the Beam 2 I use in the dining room, but it beats the Arc without a sub hands down. Old Playbars still crank out tunes if it’s placed right. I have one almost on floor level on the bottom of an open tv stand (Samsung Atmos soundbar above it on shelf 2 for TV) and it BOOMS, but another Playbar on the wall above a TV does not. Arc Ultra with 300s and Sub 4 is best, but I have a couple 300s alone in the kitchen and music room which are really nice and of course the Move 2 is great but not as great as everything else listed.

To be fair some are okay, if you’re space-constrained picking up a used Sonos Playbar could cost a few hundred units of currency and you’ll get a pretty nice sound. I can’t say the same about their extortionately priced new stuff.

the cheapest Sonos system is a bundle of previous gen components: Playbar ($250 used), pair of Sonos Ones($100-150 x2 used/refurb), optional Sub mini ($429). That's more like $1k total, if you're willing to skip the sub (the Playbar actually has pretty good mid-bass, *better* than the Arc non-Ultra). You lose out on Atmos and e-arc and some other modern features (Playbar is like decade old) but it's a very capable traditional home audio setup and sounds fantastic. This is what I have in living room- even Playbar + pair of Sonos Ones sounds fantastic at \~$500 total. I ended up adding a Sub Gen 3 and a pair of Fives in my office though lol, so I got got.

Playbar sounds very good with music and agree with you that the playbar sounds better than arc ime.

My Playbar continues to make me happy after all these years. In fact, I was so out of touch when it came to TV interface news, that when our 8 year old LG died and I was looking at C4s, I was afraid it wouldn’t have an optical out. Was *SO* relieved to learn new TVs still do.

That’s awesome. My old LG B4a didn’t get along well with the Playbar after the TV came out of standby. Sound would occasionally not output from the optical port and I’d have make sure the TV was powered all the way down. That problem is gone on the C4. Edit: I actually never determined whether the issue was at the optical output or the HDMI input or somewhere in between.

Yeah my dad has the play bar with two play 5’s and the gen 2 sub. That system sounds MILES better than my arc, 2 era 300’s and gen 3 sub. I’m like… wtf am I doing wrong? This dude’s set up sounds like a movie theater and the music is insane on it. My music coming from the arc sounds like dog water sometimes. Muddied vocals is the perfect phrase

Well if it’s not a huge quality I sound then I’m not spending anything on new gear as long as the playbar is working

I would agree. I have the old Sony XBR 900a with the big build it speakers in the front of the panel and even with those it was hard to hear the voices most the time. Added an old Sonos playbar and it's so much easier to hear. Nothing compared to my old house where I had my 7.2.4 setup but the landlord won't let me cut into the walls at this new rental. Still prefer my AVR and real speakers.

I have both Sonos and Bose . I have Bose 900 Bose 500 and Sonos arc and playbar. Both have their pros and cons but based on Sonos edging out Bose on sound quality and the app I used to recommend them more based on software alone. I was close to upgrading my whole home to Sonos until the app update that caused all the headaches. To this day the app is terrible and the soundbars have so many issues connecting that I don’t even want to use it anymore . Say what you want about Bose but the app is basic and it just works.

This is a very good point. Where Sonos really clicks is when you get a few speakers around the house where you start getting sound reinforcement. I have a spot by my front door that gets positively brutal levels of bass when my playbar and sub combines with the admittedly giant altec a5x voice of the theatre system in the living room.

Some people (myself included) think the playbar sounds better for music than the Arc. I have both, and prefer the playbar. I suspect the arc is optimizing for other things, like Atmos, which is why for regular TV sound or music the playbar sounds much fuller.

Kept my old playbar and just got a C4. Love it. Took me a bit to figure out how to program the remote to cooperate with the playbar IR but it all now works perfect.

I recently bought a package of early generation Sonos equipment locally for next to nothing with the thought of giving them to family. I’ve been testing each piece and I’m pretty stunned by what I’m hearing from the Playbar. I’ve owned almost every speaker that Sonos makes at one time or another and still own a pair of Era 100’s. In a small/medium room the Playbar has excellent stereo separation, vocal intelligibility and bass response. I’m using it solely for music at this point and it’s making me question some of my recent (expensive) wireless speaker purchases. Outstanding!

I don’t know about the Ultra, but the sound of the Playbar appeals to me more than the Arc.

Sonos? 🤣☠️ — bold reaction for someone still risking firmware updates that might brick their soundbar and send it on a one-way trip back to the factory.

The same issue applies to traditional fixed soundbar setups: when it’s time to upgrade, you’re often forced to ditch the entire system. And by then, no one wants your old gear — because everyone else is moving on too, and the secondhand market is flooded with outdated, unsupported equipment. Let’s be honest: who’s lining up to buy a 10-year-old soundbar from Samsung, LG, or Sony? Practically no one. But a 10-year-old Sonos Playbar? It still holds solid resale value — and more importantly, it still works well and sounds great. Buying into Sonos is more like a long-term investment. Instead of buying something that depreciates the moment you unbox it, you’re putting money into a system that grows with you, stays updated for years, and can always be expanded. In the long run, Sonos isn’t just a better product — it’s a smarter strategy.

I agree. I have had all three and would rate them 1) Playbar 2) Beam Gen 2 3) Arc The playbar isn’t the best for voices but it is the best sounding overall.

I downgraded back to the regular Playbar after getting an Arc. I gave that sucker away to a family member. I am glad I only paid $250 for the Arc off of CL.

I had a playbar then a beam gen2. Both great. Arc ultra got sent straight back. It was horrible. You need a cinema room with acoustics to make it sound good. Living rooms are better with play bar and beams

I previously left a review over a year ago of me A/B testing my playbar to the original Arc and after a few weeks decided to return the Arc in favor of the playbar surround setup. I found that I had preferred the sound signature of the playbar to hollow, tinny, harsh sound of arc. Just got my Arc Ultra and tested it back to back with my playbar with music, TV, and ready player one 4k bluray. My initial reaction is how the ultra makes the playbar sound very muddy. Ultra’s frequency response is much much more balanced than the playbar and even the original Arc and I believe it’s a big upgrade over both the previous flagship soundbars. I have a pretty big open floor plan with my tv room joined with my kitchen so I worried that the small drivers on the ultra would still feel harsh and not full but my doubts and concerns are alleviated. This is such a relief for me as I was disappointed with the Arc to where I ended up returning it. This is not the case with the ultra. My playbar served me well but it’s time to take it down. Currently have one sls and sub gen 3. Will be adding era 300s or might wait to see if we get Era ultras with sound motion tech coming soon. Will report back.

I have a Sonos Play Bar + Sub and two Play 1s for rear surround... for what it is, a clean simple wireless 5.1 (ish) setup it's great imo. Been super happy with it.. and I was a die hard 7.1 separate amps, lots of wiring etc person.. the sonos is not the same caliber as a full on atmos setup obv but I enjoy mine daily. That sub is no slouch and you can add two of them now.

Honestly i thought both my playbase and playbar sound better than the arc, arc is really dependent on surrounds and a sub

A lot of people think the play bar is the best bar they made, it just lacks atmos. I would add surrounds if I was throwing money into my system before I upgraded the bar.

I have a Playbar & Sub Gen 2, it sounds great 👍🏻

I’ve got two of them and will be screwed if they die. They’re both mounted over the TV and one is on a stone wall so changing the mount to support an arc will be problematic. Ugh! I have an ultra also and prefer the Playbar overall.

Someone with excellent taste!!! And i bought the OLED Sony A80J, and for a time even had a PS5. The house looked like Sony fanboy lived there lol I love this bastard, i would even play dolby atmos songs on apple music. I was happy with my Sonos playbar for 3 yrs, and then fell in at atmos hole thanks to some girl band that released their cd on atmos format. Ultimately didn't like that mix after all, but movies and atmos though, mama!!! Ready Player One, Batman vs Superman, Dune... fucking epic!!!

I’ve had both, including the Sonos One as surrounds and the Sonos subwoofer too. I was a huge fan of the Playbar with the full spec - back then (2017-2020) you had to manually switch between stereo and 5.1 for surround sound. The Q990 is definitely a step up, can switch automatically based on the input codec (stereo, 5.1 or Atmos), is great value for money if you can nab one on sale, and is terrific Atmos wise. Ive never tried the newer Sonos system in all its glory as the Samsung was too tempting as a full system vs the Sonos Arc only price tag wise. Atmos support is growing apps wise and will only continue to keep growing. Music wise I’m not a huge fan of Atmos but fingers crossed that continues to improve too.

It is amazing how much better the playbar is than the arc at music

I bought the original sound bar with sub and two play 1's and it's really the only bit of the setup that seems rock solid. I really like the arc features, but the current kit is still good. However, would I get into Sonos now, given other options? I'm not so sure.

I actually think the Playbar sound better than the OG Arc - just no HDMI. Optical only.

100% agree with this. I had an original Sonos Playbar, two Sonos Play 1 and Gen 1 Sonos sub and the sound was 10x better than the Q930D is. Really disappointed I sold the Sonos set.

I have two decent bookshelf speakers and a 10” subwoofer and consistently get comments from guests about how good it sounds and they want to get rid of their soundbars. I also have a Sonos Playbar and Sub in another room and I can always hear the dialog but arent doing critically viewing and its great

Playbar has a great standalone sound for music.

True. I say that Playbar as a soundbar has a great (just great, not greater than …for example Nautilus sound system or as you said Nakimichi) sound even without surrounds. Yeah, sub might be needed but for those who loves it in music.

I went from a PlayBar to an Arc Ultra. It’s pretty ballin

Forgot to mention I had a Playbar at one point. Great but eh Ultra really makes a difference

It's funny. For me it was different. I went from TV speaker to beam Gen 2 and was impressed. Then my Dad got a cheaper but not bad "Dolby Atmos" Soundbar. I realized that the true secret sauce is Trueplay. That is what's makes the Sonos Bar better Imho. Overall, if you want to have better surround while not spending to much money, get a pair of Ikea Bookshelves and use them as surrounds. Your Beam will then have more headroom as it doesn't need to simulate the rears anymore

Yep, that spot is just screaming for a Sonos bar.