Sonos Playbar vs JBL Bar 5.1

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

JBL Bar 5.1 pros & cons