Sonos Playbar vs Creative SoundBlasterX Katana

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).

This soundbar is wall mountable and has a position sensor to recalibrate the soundbar if the position is changed from horizontal to vertical.

The Sonos supports digital surround signal, like Dolby Digital.

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.

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.

The Sonos supports Wi-Fi, for music streaming.

While the device seems small, it can actually get really loud, without distortion. It uses good quality speakers and external components to maintain this quality. The soundstage is quite good and the subwoofer provides a deep rumble.

As a PC-oriented soundbar, the Katana has an optical input, a USB input for external storage, a micro USB port, and a microphone and headphone port.

To take full advantage of this soundbar's capabilities, when it is connected to a PC via USB, it bypasses the computer's onboard soundcard.

This soundbar has a programmable lighting system called Aurora Reactive, which features 16.8 million colors.

If the soundbar is connected with a USB cable, you can use the downloadable SoundBlaster Connect software to tweak with some sound enhancing settings. You can choose from different presets or manually control the equalizer. The soundbar's RGB lighting is fully controllable via the app, letting you choose between various effects and more than 16 million colors.