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The Sonos Beam is a sound bar for the TV, which can also be used when the TV is turned off. The music can be played via the Sonos app and Amazons Alexa is ready for voice control. The test
For a soundbar, the Sonos Beam is relatively small and compact – 65.1 centimeters wide, 6.8 centimeters high and 10 centimeters deep. Ideally, it is directly in front of the television, but can also be wall mounted with a stand. Unlike the Sonos Playstation, the TV can not be directly placed on it. The beam picks up the sound from the TV via an HDMI ARC connector while turning off its built-in speaker.
A lot of technology for perfect sound
Although the Sonos Beam is not huge, there is a lot of audio technology in the Soundbar. The manufacturer includes four full-range woofers, a tweeter, three passive transmitters, separate equalizers for bass and treble and five class D digital amplifiers. An impressive list, but how does it sound in practice?
Almost perfect! The sound is crystal clear and pleasantly controlled. Not only is every spoken word heard, but every syllable is heard clearly and clearly. Different instruments are wonderfully different in music. With regard to treble and midrange, you do not have to compromise on the Sonos Beam. And that, although the bass is very powerful and percussive. Nevertheless, it does not eclipse the sound.
Although the Sonos Beam can fill an entire house with its volume, it fills entire rooms, but for proper surround sound, it's not enough. This requires more speakers. Sonos himself offers a set of a Beam and two Play: 1.
Alexa with problems and an application for everything
Music playback on the Beam is controlled via the Sonos app . More than 60 different music services can be integrated here. At first, that sounds good, because Sonos also supports many smaller and lesser known services. In practice, however, integration into the Sonos application is associated with limitations. So you can, for example do not look for songs, audiobooks or podcasts on Spotify and Amazon Music. Instead, you only have access to playlists and recorded titles. Thanks to AirPlay 2, you can still stream feeds running Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music and Co. from an iPhone or iPad on the bundle. Unlike the JBL Link 500, this does not work on Android due to the lack of Chromecast support.
Alexa is not pre-installed on the Sonos Beam. Instead, you need to set up the language assistant in the Sonos app and also install the Alexa app on his smartphone. This is done after a few minutes and worked without problems in the test. Then Alexa answered the questions as usual and served our smart home gadgets without complaining. Even with increased volume, the five built-in microphones by far made Alexa hear the commands. With a button on the beam, you can turn off the pickups, if Alexa does not listen anymore.
In the control of the music, the voice assistant had difficulty. Well understood orders and even confirmed Alexa, but then he remained silent. Announced music has not been heard despite the inclusion of Spotify and Amazon Music. If you also have a Fire TV connected to your TV next to the Beam, you can also start series and movies via voice control via Alexa on the Soundbar.
Sonos also announced during the presentation of the Beam that later. also the google assistant comes to the bar of his. However, the manufacturer should do without its own application, because for Google, device management via their own home application is a prerequisite for the use of the wizard.
About the Sonos application, you can use the beam with other speakers Sonos connect to a multiroom system. Then you can not only specify which parts the music plays in, but also select different audio sources for different parts. Here is the integration of music services in the Sonos application to an advantage. The Beam and other Sonos speakers are intended to be online via Wi-Fi and so on. To stream music If the wireless network is too bad at the ideal place in your home, you can also connect the bundle to the Internet via an Ethernet cable.
Conclusion
Compared to previous Sonos sound bars, the Sonos Beam is equipped with an Ethernet cable. recommended retail price of 449 euros very cheap. You do not really have to compromise on the sound. Whether it's TV shows or streaming music, the sound flatters in the ears. The interaction with the TV works perfectly. The necessary Sonos application has its advantages and disadvantages, but for me the limitations of Spotify outweigh the benefits of using Multiroom. As a language assistant, Alexa still has startup difficulties.
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