When comparing Sonos Playbar vs Yamaha YAS-203, the Slant community recommends Sonos Playbar for most people. In the question“What are the best soundbars?” Sonos Playbar is ranked 1st while Yamaha YAS-203 is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Sonos Playbar is:
This system's combination of nine individually amplified speakers creates a very detailed and clear sound. It has great soundstage and instrument separation, which is quite beneficial for music listeners (and also film watchers too).
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great for playing music
This system's combination of nine individually amplified speakers creates a very detailed and clear sound. It has great soundstage and instrument separation, which is quite beneficial for music listeners (and also film watchers too).
Pro Wall mountable, with automatic calibration
This soundbar is wall mountable and has a position sensor to recalibrate the soundbar if the position is changed from horizontal to vertical.
Pro Supports digital surround signal
The Sonos supports digital surround signal, like Dolby Digital.
Pro Very upgrade friendly
Most people will find this soundbar’s audio output to be sufficient, but if you want to add extra bass or surround sound, it’s possible to do so by adding Sonos speakers. Furthermore, setting them up is easy to do, as the Sonos mobile and PC applications will recognize the new speakers and will automatically recalibrate everything for optimum sound quality.
Pro Easy to set-up and use
This soundbar is made for simple use, with a very straightforward setup. It has just one optical input port for sound and two Ethernet ports for network use. All you need to do is connect the optical cable to your TV, an Ethernet cable to your router and install the Sonos Controller app on your smartphone or a PC. The app will help you go through all the necessary steps to pair your TV remote with the system, add additional speakers, sort your music library in the network or connect the soundbar to an existing Sonos multi-room setup.
Pro Wi-Fi support
The Sonos supports Wi-Fi, for music streaming.
Pro Good audio quality
Clear high-end and impactful low-end that's still capable of staying balanced. Dialogue is crisp and easy to pick out in movies and music offers a good dynamic range.
Pro Shape helps sound bounce around the room
It's curved outwards, to help bounce the sound around the room.
Pro Good bang for the buck
The YAS-203 delivers sound quality that is well above what's usual for its price range.
Pro Bluetooth support
You can connect to this soundbar via Bluetooth, for media streaming.
Pro Includes an IR repeater
This soundbar comes with an IR repeater.
Cons
Con Expensive
The Sonos is a quite expensive soundbar, definitely not aimed for those on a budget.
Con Limited connectivity
The soundbar only has one dedicated optical input to connect external devices.
Con Aluminum parts can get warm
The aluminum used in the unit’s body works as a radiator for the speakers, so the aluminium pieces can get warm.
Con No support for high resolution audio formats
This soundbar does not support high resolution audio formats, like Dolby TrueHD. You can work around this limitation by streaming the signal in a different format to the soundbar, but this degrades quality.
Con Lacks bass power
The Sonos lacks the room-shaking bass effect that's essential for action packed movies. For that, you’ll need to buy an external subwoofer.
Con No Wi-Fi support
It's not possible to connect to this soundbar via Wi-Fi.
Con No HDMI support
The YAS-203 lacks HDMI ports.