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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Sonos and Bose’s flagship soundbars will each enhance your TV’s audio.
- Sonos’ merchandise attraction to long-term buyers searching for a whole-home audio expertise.
- Samsung’s merchandise will attraction to Samsung TV fans who need essentially the most bang for his or her buck.
Sonos and Samsung make fantastic merchandise to improve the sound of your own home theater, as each supply Dolby Atmos compatibility, speech enhancement options, entry to a number of music streaming providers, and hands-free voice controls.
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Nonetheless, you would possibly select Sonos if you wish to customise your own home theater, retaining the power to decide on between a product’s dimension, capabilities, and most significantly, value. Alternatively, you would possibly select Samsung for those who’re constructing a Samsung SmartThings-enabled sensible house, desire a one-size-fits-all house theater, or have Samsung TVs.
Regardless of the apparent, baseline commonalities of soundbars, rear audio system, and subwoofers, Sonos and Samsung attraction to totally different shoppers. Here is tips on how to know which one most closely fits you.
1. Ease of use, ecosystem, and modularity
Sonos’ soundbars are extremely straightforward to make use of; so long as your TV has an eARC port and your own home has Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to maximize their efficiency and options. All of Sonos’ house theater merchandise — soundbars, rear audio system, and subwoofers — supply distinctive efficiency with a plug-and-play setup.
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Moreover, Sonos presents an array of merchandise to suit your area. You possibly can select from totally different sizes of soundbars and subwoofers to suit your finances and sq. footage. Some Sonos sensible audio system function on their very own as modern, modern-looking audio system, and function as rear audio system to your house theater when grouped collectively. In case you begin with buying a soundbar, you’ll be able to simply construct your system with out upgrading core parts.
Lastly, Sonos presents multi-room audio, permitting customers to put a number of audio system all through their house and management all of them from a single app. Customers can management Sonos transportable Bluetooth audio system, soundbars, sensible audio system, and the Sonos Ace headphones from one app.
Moreover, you’ll be able to synchronize these audio system to all play the identical audio by way of AirPlay or Bluetooth, and the Sonos app presents direct entry to a number of music streaming platforms.
Evaluate: Sonos Arc Ultra
On the opposite finish, Samsung formally sells one standalone subwoofer suitable solely with its S-series soundbars, and one pair of rear audio system suitable with a restricted variety of Samsung soundbars. Samsung’s audio system are usually not suitable with a single multi-room platform, limiting your listening expertise to 1 room at a time. Subsequently, the winner for this spherical goes to Sonos.
Winner: Sonos
2. Energy, worth, and connectivity
Samsung’s flagship soundbars supply a number of power-user options that Sonos would not, together with a further HDMI 2.1 port that helps 4K at 120Hz pass-through for decrease latency whereas gaming. Samsung’s HW-Q990F flagship soundbar additionally helps a number of music file codecs, together with MP3, FLAC, and WAV, in addition to DTS:X and Dolby Atmos.
Evaluate: Samsung HW-Q990F
Samsung’s greatest house theater programs are available in a field, a set that features a soundbar, rear audio system, an exterior subwoofer, energy cables, a distant, and wall-mounting brackets. For $2,000, you may get one of the best of Samsung’s house theater and have all the pieces you might probably want earlier than taking the subsequent step up, which incorporates amps, ceiling, or wall audio system.
When you have a number of Samsung sensible house merchandise and wish to oversee them multi function centralized hub, Samsung’s soundbars are additionally suitable with Samsung SmartThings. Some soundbar options are unique to newer Samsung TVs, together with Q-Symphony, which synchronizes the soundbar and TV’s audio to maximise output. Nonetheless, Q-Symphony is simply obtainable in fashions from 2020 and newer, so you will miss out in case your TV is older.
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Conversely, Sonos’ soundbars function solely an eARC or Optical port for audio connectivity to your TV, are bought individually for modularity and system constructing over time, and block your TV audio system when linked to a supply.
Winner: Samsung
The underside line
If you would like an instantly full sound system to enhance your TV, particularly if it is a newer Samsung mannequin, Samsung’s flagship Q-series home-theaters-in-a-box will not disappoint. They outperform Sonos with extra HDMI ports, finances flexibility, and an intensive array of audio codecs to help all media varieties. You may splurge as soon as and never have to fret about upgrading for a number of years.
If you would like a long-term funding that provides a full suite of excellent options no matter TV producer, Sonos is the higher alternative. Its merchandise can typically stand the take a look at of time, due to over-the-air firmware and software program updates, and you’ll construct a system all through your whole house at your personal tempo.
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Each producers can cowl the fundamentals: spectacular, immersive sound; wi-fi audio streaming; entry to a number of music streaming platforms; and spatial audio compatibility. But when the fundamentals are what you are after, it’s possible you’ll be overpaying for those who contemplate shopping for these corporations’ flagship merchandise. As an alternative, contemplate extra cheap choices from both firm, or contemplate finances choices from JBL, LG, or Sony.
