Nov 19, 2019
Read MoreSonos Playbar vs JBL Bar 5.1 review
Sonos Playbar review
Taking a look at Sonos Playbar vs JBL Bar 5.1 features we can see that both soundbars have the same supported channel quantity of 5.1. At the same time, Sonos beats JBL with its 5.1 Built-in channels versus JBL’s 3.0. If you’re mounting Sonos on the wall, you’ll see a much wider swathe of gray-metal, but you’ll also see the logo prominently. As with many of their products, the Sonos logo on the Playbar can be read perfectly front to back, back to front, or even upside down. So, no matter how you have it oriented, it won’t look odd. The flat rubber strips that act as feet for the unit to sit on also look good, forgoing the usual four-point system for something a little sleeker. This actually serves to block any cables running behind the speaker, hiding them from sight. Sonos clearly paid a lot of attention to design when building the soundbar.
JBL Bar 5.1 review
In terms of comparing JBL Bar 5.1 vs Sonos Playbar the JBL Bar 5.1 is surprisingly cheap-looking for its price tag. It's mostly plastic in its design, and while it feels robust, the buttons and screen aren’t as slick as you’ll find on competitors. It has 510W of total system power.
Sonos pros & cons
Pros
- The nine-speaker design (6 mid-woofer, 3 tweeters) complements cinematic HD televisions with richly textured HiFi sound
- It automatically adjusts to the differences between shoot ‘em up action flicks
- For after-hours viewing, Night Mode compresses the volume so you can hear all the details without waking the family
Cons
- The Playbar only has optical audio in, so it gets complicated when you have more than one device that you want to use with this speaker
JBL Bar 5.1 pros & cons
Pros
- Not only does it sound great, but it's just so awesome to show off
- You'll only need the JBL remote when you want to configure the settings
Cons
- I got scared when reading about people claiming the mids were non-existent
Sonos Playbar vs JBL Bar 5.1
Sonos and JBL
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Common
Product
Sonos Playbar
JBL Bar 5.1
Model
Playbar
Bar 5.1
Brand
Sonos
JBL
Reviews
1767
3060
General
Placement type
table-top, wall-mountable
table-top, wall-mountable
Connection to source
wired, wireless
wired, wireless
Soundbar buttons
play/pause, volume up, volume down
power, volume down, volume up, input
Audio features
Built-in channels
3.0
5.1
Amplification type
active
active
Output power, W
510 (overall)
Separate speaker (in package)
0
2
Separate speaker connections
wireless
wireless
Subwoofer
Built-in subwoofer
Separate subwoofer (in package)
Separate subwoofer connections
wireless
wireless
Streaming services
Apple Music (AirPlay)
AirPlay 2
AirPlay
Amazon Music
Spotify
Other streaming services
Pandora, Tuneln, SoundCloud
Pandora, Tuneln, Deezer, Chromecast
Connectivity
WI-FI
Bluetooth
Ethernet (RJ45)
2
0
NFC
HDMI input/output
0/0
3/0
HDMI ARC
HDMI eARC
HDMI CEC
Optical digital input/output
1/0
1/0
USB
1 (USB 2.0)
Coaxial digital input/output
0/0
0/0
Analog audio input/output (RCA)
0/0
1/0
Headphone output
0
0
Subwoofer output
0
1
Features
Voice control
Amazon Alexa
App control
Microphone
Remote control
Multi-room
Multichannel surround
Dolby Atmos
Dolby (other)
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II
DTS:X
DTS (other)
has not
has not
Dimensions
Size (Wx H x D), cm/in
90 x 14 x 8.5/35.4 x 5.5 x 3.3
114.8 x 5.8 x 9.3/45 x 2.3 x 3.7
Weight, kg/pounds
5.4/11.9
3.9/8.6
Other
Release year
2013
2017
Soundbars CHooseratoR comparison rating
- 5.5Sonos Playbar
- 7.2JBL Bar 5.1
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