However you look at it, Sonos isn’t your average wireless home audio kit manufacturer. Aside from launching its own, in-house Sonos Black Friday deals from 17 – 27 November to stick it to the big online retailers (Apple, maybe you could look at that?) we recently reported the strongest indication yet that the company is finally planning to launch its hotly-anticipated headphones.
But this is Sonos, so that’s not all. In fact, if you can think of it, according to a fresh Bloomberg report Sonos probably plans on doing it in 2024 or 2025.
Plans cited in the bulletin include a Roku or Apple TV-rivaling set-top box, an update to the Sonos Era 100, a fresh Sonos Roam iteration, a new Sub to sit alongside the Sub Mini, in-ceiling speakers and a high-end soundbar, according to “sources familiar with the matter”.
Bloomberg’s report reads: “A sound bar code-named ‘Lasso’ is coming later in 2024, with better bass and improved audio quality over the existing Arc model.”
And apparently, the company plans to price it at “about $1,200”, which is a pretty steep hike up from the $899 asking fee for the current (and only) Sonos Arc – Sonos’ flagship standalone soundbar option.
Where is all this improved bass and audio quality coming from? That’ll be the long-awaited harvest on Sonos’ April 2022 acquisition of speaker manufacturer Mayht Holding BV, which TechRadar’s Managing Editor of Entertainment, Matt Bolton, explains in an interview Brandon Holley, Product Creation Lead at Sonos last year.
Oh and finally, Sonos is planning a new high-end amplifier – code-named ‘Premier’ – aimed at professional home-theater installations (around $3,000 and $4,000 per unit) in the second half of 2024, new 8-inch in-ceiling speakers and a subwoofer code-name ‘Lotus’ (which will most-likely be known as the Sonos Sub Gen 4) to include “updated capabilities like support Wi-Fi 6”, according to the missive.
Yes, it’s a lot.
Opinion: Sonos went affordable, now it’s going uber premium – and it’s risky
Let’s look at the Sonos Ray. It’s Sonos most affordable soundbar, released June 7, 2022, priced $279 / £279 / AU$399 and is the proud owner of a very positive TechRadar review in which we called it “The little soundbar that could”.
Now, the purported $1,200 Arc update. If the information divulged in Bloomberg’s report plays out, you could buy four Rays and still have $84 left over for the same price as the new ‘Lasso’ Sonos Arc update.
Of course, a great product boasting Dolby Atmos and HDMI eARC support (which the Ray does not have) must be priced accordingly, but in this challenging market – and Sonos has recently cut jobs, acknowledging that 2023 was a “challenging year” – pushing hard into high-end territory is a gamble.
That’s not to say a high-end Sonos product isn’t viable – just take a look at the Devialet Dione, a $2,400 / £1,990 / AU$3,990 behemoth of a soundbar for the home cinema elite.
It’s just that, at a time when many audio outfits are heading to more budget-friendly waters (see the September 2023-issue Sennheiser Ambeo Mini, yours for $799 / £699 / AU$1,299) Sonos is once again showing why it’s… different.
Can such a proposition cruise straight into our best soundbars guide? Watch this space.
