Best Sonos Speakers for Home Audio

Sonos speakers are some of the best around if you’re into home audio. You can get a single speaker just for your room, or multiple speakers to arrange an entire 5.1 surround sound system in your living room. Even though the Sonos lineup isn’t all too vast, it’s still hard to parse apart one model from the next. In this article, we break down the differences between the best Sonos speakers in order to help you find the best one for your home.

Why is the Sonos One (Gen 2) the best Sonos speaker?

The Sonos One (Gen 2) is the best Sonos speaker for most people because it’s a good size and offers powerful smart features for an affordable price (relative to Sonos’ other offerings that is). Right out of the box, you get support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant along with Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube Music integration. Aside from the initial setup process, you don’t need your smartphone to enable these streaming services, and can use your voice to enable playback through them.

While you don’t get an official IP rating, the mainly metal speaker is humidity resistant. With a design like this, you can keep the Sonos One (Gen 2) in the bathroom and don’t have to worry about shower steam damaging its internals. You may need to dry your hands off before interacting with the touch panel, but again, you can bypass this all together with a simple, “Hey Google,” or “Hey Alexa.”

The Sonos One (Gen 2) has a very pleasant frequency response akin to the Google Next Audio and Amazon Echo (4th Gen). Bass notes are loud enough, though there’s very little sub-bass present and this is common with all standalone speakers. To compensate a bit you get Sonos Trueplay here which measures the acoustics of the room and adjusts the speaker’s frequency response accordingly. For around $200 USD, you’re getting a feature-packed speaker with the Sonos One (Gen 2).

The Sonos Playbase is the best TV stand soundbase

If you want to build a new entertainment system or add to a pre-existing one, the Playbase might be for you. This multifunctional soundbase is perfect for anyone with limited space: it works perfectly as a stand-alone solution to your TV audio or as a part of a large surround sound setup. Sure, there are several cheaper soundbars that will get the job done but only the Playbase pairs up with other Sonos products.

The Playbase differs from some of the other Sonos speakers because it’s more than just a speaker: it’s also a TV stand. Its max load capacity is 35kg, so you can upgrade your audio output without rearranging your entire living room. It can wirelessly connect to a subwoofer and a pair of surround speakers for a more immersive experience too.

The Sonos Beam is a great all-in-one solution

The Sonos Beam is a smart soundbar designed for your TV. Unlike the Playbase, you can’t place your TV on it. But the Sonos Beam is compact enough that you should be able to fit it in front of your TV without issue. Alternatively, you can also mount the Sonos Beam to the wall.

The Beam fully supports Amazon Alexa, so you can control music and ask it questions the same you would any Alexa device. It also has some great features tailored for different use cases like Dolby Atmos. You can enable “night mode,” so you don’t wake up everyone in the house. You can also turn on the TV when you ask Alexa—though this requires a compatible TV with an HDMI Arc input. The Sonos Beam has a few drawbacks: it has fewer speakers than something like the Playbase or the Playbar, so its usability is limited for small- to medium-sized rooms.

The Sonos Arc is a powerful speaker with Dolby Atmos

If you want the most immersive home theater experience that money can buy (from Sonos), you need the Sonos Arc. The Arc shares features with the Sonos speaker lineup like smart assistant voice access, AirPlay 2 support, and more. This large soundbar houses 11 drivers for loud, engaging audio reproduction and its low-profile design allows it to blend in with the rest of your furniture. Avid movie watchers will enjoy the Speech Enhancement feature which is a separate sound profile that’s specifically tuned to prioritize dialogue clarity during scenes when actors speak quietly or when loud action occurs in the background.

As with all other Sonos speakers, you can easily connect the Sonos Arc to other first-party peripherals like the Sonos Sub and Sonos One speakers. The Arc is made for TVs larger than 49 inches, while the Beam is for TVs smaller than 49 inches. They’re very similar soundbars, though the Beam lacks Dolby Atmos support.