Sonos Beam (Gen 2) vs Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 7

The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and the Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 7 are both compact, standalone soundbars at competitive price points. Choosing between them might come down to your choice of TV and whether you want to hook up your bar to a gaming console. While neither bar takes up much space in your living room, the Sonos is particularly diminutive in size. Still, its stereo soundstage is a lot wider than the Sony's, and its default frequency response is more balanced. While both bars can play back 5.1 and Atmos content, neither does so particularly convincingly, as the lack of a dedicated sub and surrounds limits immersiveness. The Sony can be expanded with extra components within the BRAVIA Theater bar line, plus it features video passthrough capabilities via its HDMI In port. That said, if you own other Sonos products or an older TV with an optical port, the Sonos will be a better choice when it comes to compatibility and ecosystem integration.