Sonos Playbar vs Samsung HW-N850

Playbar vs HW-N850 comparison chart

Overall
Sonos Playbar
5.5
Samsung HW-N850
8.6
5
10

Sonos Playbar vs Samsung HW-N850 review

Sonos Playbar vs Samsung HW-N850

Sonos Playbar review

When testing Sonos Playbar vs Samsung HW-N850 I noticed that Sonos Playbar features an unusually clear and precise sound, characteristic of acoustics with an aluminum case. It can not be called cheap. The convenience, class and quality typical of Sonos systems are also reflected in the price - and it is worth noting that you can find a 5.1-system with better sound than the full-fledged 5.1-channel Sonos system. In any case, this system does its job exceptionally well. However, the low and ultra-low frequencies do not succeed - they are simply reset. This means that only the Playbar will not be able to convey the whole dynamics of an action-packed explosive film. Its output power is 200W. There are 3.0 built-in channels.

Sonos Playbar

Samsung HW-N850 review

What’s concerning this part of the Samsung HW-N850 vs Sonos Playbar comparison, Samsung HW-N850 comes at a high level from the flagship HW-N950 "Cinematic" from the manufacturer, and in fact it is the same, but without wireless rear speakers. This means that you still get up front and side speakers in front, a wireless subwoofer, and support for Dolby Atmos and DTS: X. It has 5.1 built-in channels and power output of 372W.

Samsung HW-N850

Sonos pros & cons

Pros

  • The nine-speaker design (6 mid-woofer, 3 tweeters) complements cinematic HD televisions with richly textured HiFi sound
  • For after-hours viewing, Night Mode compresses the volume so you can hear all the details without waking the family
  • It automatically adjusts to the differences between shoot ‘em up action flicks

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

Samsung HW-N850 pros & cons

Pros

  • It is made with quality components and metal as opposed to cheap plastics throughout
  • It has a wide field of sound and fills my 400sqft bedroom nicely

Cons

  • The only real problem I encountered was in paring the bar with the Samsung Phone app

Votes 1 1
Rating 5 5
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Common

Product

Sonos Playbar
Samsung HW-N850

Model

Playbar
HW-N850

Brand

Sonos
Samsung

Reviews

1767
29

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, input, volume down, volume up

Audio features

Built-in channels

3.0
5.1.2

Amplification type

active
active

Output power, W

372 (overall)

Separate speaker (in package)

0
0

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
2/0

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
0/0

Headphone output

0
0

Subwoofer output

0
0

Features

Voice control

Amazon Alexa

App control

Microphone

Remote control

Multi-room

Multichannel surround

Dolby Atmos

Dolby (other)

Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital

DTS:X

DTS (other)

has not
has not

User manual

Manual

Dimensions

Size (Wx H x D), cm/in

90 x 14 x 8.5/35.4 x 5.5 x 3.3
121.9 x 7.6 x 12.7/48.2 x 3.2 x 5.4

Weight, kg/pounds

5.4/11.9
8.1/18.7

Other

Release year

2013
2018
Sonos Playbar
Samsung HW-N850
Sonos Playbar
Samsung HW-N850

Soundbars CHooseratoR comparison rating

  • better
  • worse
  • 5.5
  • 8.6
  • 5.5Sonos Playbar
  • 8.6Samsung HW-N850