by Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said he hopes the company’s soundbars can be even more wireless in the future, even leaving the HDMI connection to the TV. At the launch event for the Sonos Era 100 and Era 300, Spence told Digital Trends, “I’ve been pushing the team for a long time – I don’t want a cable in the soundbar at all. Let’s make it even easier.”
This is the first time we’ve had such an explicit comment from the company on the matter, and it’s no surprise that it’s being actively promoted from the top, because almost all of the best soundbars will be wireless in the future, and not in a “maybe in” way. 10 years”. The first ones are here now – many of the best Samsung TVs available today can wirelessly send Dolby Atmos audio to compatible Samsung soundbars, meaning you don’t need to use an HDMI port for better sound.
LG and Sony currently have products that can send audio wirelessly to soundbars, but they’re dongles that still plug into an HDMI port. With Sony, it’s the Sony HT-A9 Wireless Speaker System. with LG, you can get an optional Wowcast dongle that streams audio to many of its soundbars, including the LG S95QR. I’ve also heard hints that LG is likely to release a system like Samsung’s where Wowcast is built into their TVs, but that’s not officially confirmed in any way.
But you can already see the problem Sonos has with wireless – in these cases, we’re talking about having a TV and a soundbar from the same manufacturer, because the wireless technology will be tailored to each case. HDMI is an open, neutral standard that anyone can use, but it won’t be used for wireless soundbars. Companies will see wireless as the ideal way to get you to spend more money with them specifically – if you want the wireless connection, you’ll have to buy their extra product.
There is actually wireless TV audio technology out there where the manufacturer of the soundbar doesn’t have to have built the TV as well…but often they are yet all about locking. It’s about who made the TV software rather than who made the TV hardware. Roku makes wireless speakers that work with any Roku TV because the smart TV system controls the audio. Alternatively, you can use two HomePod 2 speakers as a Dolby Atmos system when connected to an Apple TV 4K (2022), running Apple’s tvOS software.
(I note here that there is a standard for wireless home theater audio, called WiSA, but it has little industry support and I don’t see that changing. Similarly, DTS’ Play:Fi technology is also available in products from Philips, but this it’s unlikely to ever support Dolby Atmos, so its wide appeal is limited.)
Sonos without OS
So where does that leave Sonos? He doesn’t do TVs and I can’t see him changing (he’s a tough industry). It could make its own smart TV operating system – and is reportedly working on just that – but I think it’s already missed its chance there. It should compete with Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV and LG’s webOS, all of which are available for use on TVs. Sonos is not going to outrun them.
But something needs to be done, because it will come off more and more over time if it doesn’t.
I think Sonos needs to do one of two things: it needs a big-name partner in the TV world. or need to go wireless early and make Sonos compatibility a selling point for TV systems.
The more extreme version of the first option is that Sonos either buys or is bought by a company with a smart TV stake, but it could just be more of a strategic partnership. Sonos would be in a large potential audience by offering compatibility with all TVs using a particular smart TV system. Google would be ideal in some ways, although the two companies have patent battles. Roku might be a more realistic option.
The second option would require Sonos to launch wireless soundbars as soon as possible, which would mean using a wireless HDMI dongle initially. Make people think that wireless soundbars means Sonos, the same way the company became synonymous with multi-room music systems.
The point would be to then offer to work with the various TV companies (and smart TV software makers) to add built-in wireless support for Sonos soundbars, because not Having this support would make a TV manufacturer look backwards, even if it supports its own wireless soundbars.
Don’t BlackBerry
Sonos isn’t going to take off overnight unless it launches a wireless soundbar. But the danger is that Sonos falls so far behind its rivals that it can’t make up ground, and a slow decline becomes inevitable.
BlackBerry is still around, let’s not forget, but it will never be what it was or what it could have been if the company had recognized the incoming iPhone as the threat it was.
It’s a great sign that Sonos is talking about a wireless future, but we won’t know if it’s made the right decisions until years from now, when lots of people are buying wireless Sonos gear to pair with the best TVs in 2029, or it’s selling wired products only to people with older sets.
