Sonos Playbase vs ZVOX SoundBase 670

But not everyone will care. Nilay pretty much already nailed who the Playbase is for: "Someone who already has a Sonos system and doesn’t mind paying a huge premium to add another Sonos-integrated speaker under their TV." This is for the existing Sonos customer who is willing to pay a lot of money to improve their TV’s bad speakers with something that sounds excellent and fits into the Sonos ecosystem. The pitch is a lot harder to make if you haven't already bought into the Sonos world

1 system, on several channels of my U-Verse service, the voices would be muffled and needed a higher volume level to understand the voices. WGN is the worst for this. It was also the same on my previous Time Warner subscription. I researched sound bars for several months and actually had never heard of ZVOX until quite recently

Optical is the only direct wired audio option, designed for a direct connection with your TV. Otherwise all audio is streamed via Wi-Fi—there's no Bluetooth.

The one I received maybe defective and I am returning it as such. Another reviewer mentioned connecting is good WITHIN 5 feet, which leads me to believe the range maybe limited due to design or poor quality control.

This is really exciting! How about that bass? How could anything this thin have so much bass? I mean really – it sounds like you have a subwoofer playing, but all there is, is a Playbase that is about 2” thick! When you look at this elegant, sleek, thin work-of-art, and then you hear the sound output, it is a truly incredible experience. Besides, it is so proportioned, it really just looks like it is some kind of nicely designed TV stand – my family can’t believe that all the sound they hear is coming from the Playbase. Constructive criticism $699 is a fair amount of money, but I feel it is worth it since the benefit is so substantial. I really am impressed with the simple, elegant design that almost disappears in my living room, but provides such a powerful sound experience with music or Home Theater

Zvox fancied up the instruction pages (compared to early comments by other purchasers), but they should have redesigned the electronics that control this thing! If their intent was ease of pairing, then refine that process to zero issues. If they cannot reach that level, then don't try to pair at all. As it is, part of the purchase price goes towards pairing that does not work. I will begin looking at other devices