Stuff UK — June 2017

TEST SONOS PLAYBASE

1

2

24 hours with the

Sonos Playbase

Good

Meh

Evil

2mins 10mins 12mins 20mins 25mins 30mins 1hr 3hrs 5hrs

I can listen to the likes of Spotify and

Tidal through the Playbase too.

It’s a faff making sure devices send

the right signal for surround sound.

The Playbase looks nice. Not quite

sexy, but it’s by no means ugly.Setup is simple. I just plonk my TV on top and plug in a cable. Easy peasy.

There’s no HDMI port, though. Wish

there were a few more inputs. The Sonos app helps to guide me through other settings with ease.

Setup complete. Time to start

watching a film.

Wow. I’m surprised how big the

Playbase’s sound is. I’m blown away.

I can hear the audio with great detail

all over the room.

[ Words

Tom Morgan ]

While you hog the sofa, your television has been

left without a seat – until now. Can Sonos apply

all of its room-filling skills to a TV soundbase?

1 All your base are belong to us

It’s tricky to make a flat slab look

sexy. Sonos has had a good go

at it, though, rounding off the

Playbase’s edges to give it a

pebble-like appearance, and

carrying through the minimalist

look that’s helped its speakers

become so popular.

Sonos has always been about

bringing simplicity to your

wireless music setup, and over

the years it’s done this superbly.

Then it decided to do the same

for your TV with the Sonos

Playbar. That was four years ago.

So why are we still talking about

Sonos and TV audio?

Well, it’s because there’s a

problem with soundbars: they

can be rather awkward to find

a home for. Often too wide to fit

on a normal shelf, they tend to

sit in front of the telly, where they

look daft. Sonos knows this is

a big issue, particularly as in the

real world only a proportionally

small number of people actually

wall-mount their telly.

The solution? A soundbar that

isn’t a soundbar at all, but a base

upon which your TV can be

plonked. It’s all very obvious

when you think about it. So

obvious, in fact, that lots of other

manufacturers have already

launched ‘soundbases’. Sonos’s

own Playbase, then, is a bit late

to the party – but it’s also arriving

in serious style.

£699 / stuff.tv/Playbase

All about that base

2 Turn up the base

There’s just one traditional button

on the whole thing, on the left side,

and it’s for linking the Playbase

to your network and other Sonos

speakers. On the front there’s

also a little play/pause button

flanked by two tiny icons that can

be used to adjust volume.

3 Back to base-ics

The Playbase has just one audio

input – optical. The idea is that all

of your video sources (console,

TV box, etc) run into your TV, and

just one optical cable takes the

sound from your TV and into the

Playbase. Sonos is keen to tread

the path of simplicity.