Apple HomePod vs Sonos Beam :: Ein unfairer Vergleich
by Volker Weber
Max hat heute seinen Sonos Beam geliefert bekommen, und ich konnte es nicht erwarten, den auch mal zu hören. Ich hatte den Beam blind empfohlen, weil er aktuell die meisten Fähigkeiten aller Sonos Lautsprecher hat: Airplay 2, Alexa, HDMI ARC, HDMI CEC, Ethernet, WLAN und natürlich alle Musikdienste. Die Alternative waren 2x Sonos ONE, aber dort könnte man keinen Fernseher anschließen, wenn er das mal will. Da Max ein Apple-Nutzer ist, iPhone, iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Apple TV, kam natürlich auch ein HomePod in Frage.
Um es kurz zu machen: der Beam bläst den HomePod schlicht an die Wand. Das hatte ich nicht erwartet, sonst hätte ich mir den Vergleich erspart. Transparenz, Lautstärke, Soundstage, alles kann der Beam besser. Die Musik verteilt sich gleichmäßig im Raum. Wie auch bei der Playbar und der Playbase klingt der Beam viel breiter als er ist.
Nicht direkt erkennbar: die Oberfläche ist leicht konkav, ich vermute, damit man die LEDs beim Fernsehen nicht sieht.
Comments
I'm very interested in the dialogue mode of the beam for loved ones that suffer from hearing loss I'm hoping that mode might help them hear the TV better at volumes that aren't uncomfortable. I'll have to try it!
I went for the Playbar in the end. The sound reproduction is better than the beam. I'm not at all bothered about voice control.
The speech enhancement mode does make a difference. Music becomes subdued and speech a bit more trebly. Having the sound projected toward you rather than projected off the wall behind the tv helps too.
The max volume of the playbar doesn't seem all that loud. The sub seems quite expensive.
I look forward to pairing it up with some Play:1s and see how it sounds then.
The Sub is expensive und only really necessary for the deep bass often embedded in movies.
There is a second interesting setting beyond speech enhancement: Night mode. It compresses the sound. Loud parts become quieter, quiet parts become louder. This also helps people with hearing loss, since you can dial up the volume higher without disturbing explosions.
Thank you for the reminder about Night Mode feature! I'll give it a go this evening.
I'd seen an advert for nuraphone headphones which can be configured for an individual's own hearing and emailed their tech support department asking about hearing loss. Apparently they haven't done any specific work or testing in this area but might in the future.
Thanks again!
A Sonos Beam just entered or household last Saturday. Previously, my wife complained, that she had a hard time understanding dialogue in english TV series or movies because of the original sound-mix. Dubbed sound (i.e. german dialogue) tends to emphasize dialogue over sound effects or background music.
I am happy to report, the Sonos Beam fixed that problem for her. She is able to watch TV or movies on a significant lower volume level than before. On top of that, she and the kids love Alexa. ;-)
(and, of course, the Sonos Beam was bought at ueberall-musik.de)
Kids love Alexa. Watch out for them ordering candy.
