I’m a creature of habits. Bad ones.
And if there’s one that stands out among the many awful ones, it’s that I will dabble in a new hobby—one that usually costs money—and then immediately get sucked into a whirlpool of enthusiasm.
Vinyl records? Check.
Home theater stuff? Check.
Tabletop gaming? Check.
I’ve heard it’s a thing that’s common to people with ADHD, but I’ve never been formally diagnosed and if we’re being honest, I’ve never had reason to suspect it. Until now, I guess, thanks to social media and the absolute explosion of videos and content surrounding adult ADHD diagnoses.
But that’s a whole other discussion.
A Soundbar Problem…and Solution
Anyway, a few months ago I decided that I was tired of streaming services dropping on our Google TV devices and dove further into the rabbit hole that is Apple product lock-in by buying two Apple TV 4Ks: One for the upstairs TV that sees regular use, and one for my home theater. And they work! They’re fantastic. I love them.
But our Vizio soundbar started having issues. I could not get it to reconnect to the TV. And because I’m not patient enough to deal with minor setbacks or frustrations longer than one day, I hauled ass out to Nebraska Furniture Mart in search of not just a replacement, but solid customer service.
After a decent amount of testing, I came home with a Sonos Arc and matching Sub Gen 3. And you know what? They sounded great. But they looked funny upstairs in the small alcove where our TV sits. Plus, the soundbar was comically longer than the 49” TV. It didn’t look right.
But you know where it would look great? Underneath the 70” TV in my home theater/den.
That was all well and good, but it sure as hell didn’t solve the issue of my living room TV needing a soundbar. So I’d clearly need to replace that one.
Off to the store I went.
The whole point of the Sonos ecosystem is multi-room audio, so it didn’t make sense to me to buy a different brand. I was already committed, you see. That’s why I came home from Best Buy with a Sonos Beam 2 and a Sub Mini. A smaller room required slightly smaller speakers. But they still needed surrounds, so I snagged some refurbished One SLs from the Sonos site on promo.
I hooked everything up. It sounded great. Better than the Vizio soundbar, actually. Good purchases all around.
The next step? Reworking the home theater sound system.
I took the Arc and Sub downstairs, disconnected the tangled rat’s nest of wires and speakers that was my existing home theater, and connected the new Sonos stuff, including a pair of Era 100s, which have been well-reviewed and are fantastic. After running some tests (read: watching the shuttle landing sequence in Rogue One and playing some games), I couldn’t tell a big difference between the two. What’s more, I didn’t need to juggle three remotes just to watch TV. I only needed two: The Apple TV remote and the…Vizio TV remote. And in most cases, I didn’t even need the latter. Only when it came time to switch inputs to play video games.
Two rooms down. What next?
I managed to snag a refurbished Sonos Move 2 from Best Buy with a boatload of store credit I had and put it in my dining room, which would be its home base until I needed to move it to listen to tunes in the kitchen, take it outside for yard work, or haul it into the bathroom for cleaning music.
At the same time, Sonos offered a substantial upgrade credit for those One SLs I purchased in December. Clearly I needed to add my office to the list. That’s how I ended up ordering a pair of Era 300s (the Era 100s’ big sibling) for the home theater and moving the Era 100s into my office to pair with my turntable.
And that’s where we are. There are only three primary rooms that don’t have some form of Sonos capability right now: my kiddo’s room, my wife’s office, and our bedroom. The first because he doesn’t need it. The second because she won’t use it. And the third because…I just don’t have a compelling reason to.
My Sonos Experience
Now that I’ve spent all this money, what do I actually think about the Sonos experience?
It’s a generally pleasant one. It’s great to have a unified system that allows me to play the same song all throughout the house. So if I’m in my office working on a project, I can head upstairs to the kitchen area and still listen to my music. If I want to, I can move the Move up to the second floor. I wouldn’t recommend it for podcasts, but that’s just because I’m easily distracted and don’t want to miss a second of the discussion.
As far as movies and video games go, things sound excellent in my home theater. The speakers fill the space, and I’ve already mentioned that using a single remote for volume control is fantastic. Music’s an excellent experience, too, especially in my office. The Era 100s really fill the room with sound, to the point that I won’t actually need a Sub Mini in here to maximize the experience.
In fact, the only major drawbacks I’ve noticed are shared by several users on forums like Reddit or the Sonos internal forum: pricing, which is high compared with other soundbars and speakers, and the Sonos app itself.
I don’t mind the app that much, since I’m primarily a Spotify user, but I have noticed a little bit of a delay when starting music. Usually in my office. Which is kind of weird. It’s also notable that most Sonos users with an extremely positive experience seem to gravitate toward iPhones and other Apple devices. So I can’t really speak to the experience as either an Android or PC user.
Ultimately, are there better-priced multi-room audio set-ups out there? Of course. The WiiM is super compelling, and Google Nest products (which I currently use) have a powerful smart assistant already built-in. Even Apple’s HomePods and HomePod Minis are more competitively priced than many Sonos products.
But when it’s all said and done, I’m extremely happy with my decision. I have fewer cables to worry about, my entertainment console looks significantly cleaner with fewer items to clutter it up, and the sound quality is still top notch.
If you’re someone considering making the leap to Sonos, I’d do it—with the caveat that you should commit to putting multiple speakers in places throughout your home. Otherwise, you might want to seek out more affordable options.