Sonos and Bose are both reputable speaker brands that deliver quality products. Bose has a better lineup of speaker products and has been around longer. Sonos has a better wireless setup to meet modern audio needs.
My name is Donovan, and I’m a lifelong musician and producer who loves all things audio-related. I’ve used many different types of speakers, including Sonos and Bose. I know how the two brands stack up through first-hand experience.
This post will compare and contrast Sonos versus Bose to help you determine which brand is better. The decision comes down to your personal preferences and needs, and I’ll help you better understand what those are.
Let’s dive in.
Key Takeaways
- Sonos and Bose are both good speaker brands and which one is better depends on your needs and preferences as a consumer.
- Bose has been around longer and has a wider selection of overall speaker products, focusing on high-quality audio and innovation.
- Sonos is a newer speaker brand that delivers more modern audio needs, such as wireless speaker options and entertainment systems.
- Bose is a good option for anyone looking for high-quality audio to meet various needs with a stereo or home theater.
- Sonos is a good option for anyone who wants the convenience of a wireless speaker setup with room to expand.
Is Sonos Better Than Bose?
Before we explore Sonos and Bose to help you determine which brand is better, it’s essential to know that the answer can vary depending on your specific audio needs. Both of them are pretty solid speaker brands and stand out well in different ways.
Like with many other consumer decisions, the ultimate best option comes down to what you are looking for and which brand offers the most to match that. Sonos could be a better option for one person, and Bose the better choice for another.
I have enough experience using both of these brands to give you an accurate comparison of the two. I’ll highlight some key factors to help you sift through each and understand which brand or products might be best.
Generally speaking, both of these brands are good. They have solid audio-related products and sell speakers that will give you good audio quality and be reliable. But they offer somewhat different products, which can dictate which is best.
Let’s start with a side-by-side look and Sonos and Bose to help you get an initial feel for which brand is best for you.
| Sonos | Bose | |
| Best For | Anyone looking for a wireless speaker set up, easy install, modern speaker design and application | Good quality audio, anyone looking for a wide range of speaker options, trusted brand name |
| Speaker/Audio Products | Stereo speakers, soundbars, wireless speakers, surround sound, and a few portable options. | Stereo speakers, home theater, surround sound, soundbars, portable speakers, headphones, and many more. |
| Cost | Not cheap, but also not extremely high-end. Similar cost to other wireless home audio brands. | Wide range of costs with so many products, but generally on the higher side of costs. |
| Audio Quality | Good audio quality, but wireless systems won’t be cable of audiophile-level sound. | Known for high-quality audio, especially with wired setups. |
| Reliability | Wireless systems can have more issues than wired ones, but Sonos is still reliable in many ways. | Very reliable with good customer service. Trusted brand name with a reputation for quality. |
Sonos is better for anyone looking for a wireless home stereo or theater setup who wants an easy installation process with modern speaker designs and applications.
Sonos has a specialty in dealing with wireless speakers. This is a modern approach that many people like for its convenience and easy setup. Sonos systems use an app to help you set everything up quickly.
If you want a very modern approach to home audio application and speaker setup, Sonos is a better option. The brand delivers high-quality wireless setups that will bring sound to every corner of your room or home.
Bose is better for anyone who wants excellent audio quality from a wide range of speaker and audio products by a trusted brand name.
Bose has been around a long time and has a strong reputation for delivering high-quality audio products. This brand recognition alone is a good reason to go with it over Sonos, but you also get a much wider variety of speaker options to choose from.
If you want more products to choose from and want to avoid going with a wireless setup, Bose is better than Sonos. It’s also a better brand to choose if you want an option with a longer history and reputation.
Sonos versus Bose
Now that you have a quick understanding of which of these brands is better, let’s break things down a bit more in this section. Knowing how Sonos and Bose stack up side-by-side with help you make an informed decision.
Available Speakers and Audio Products
Sonos doesn’t have an extensive selection of models, but it has everything you need for most home audio applications. The brand offers stereo speakers, soundbars, surround sound speakers, and a few portable speakers.
The main thing with Sonos is that all its products can be set up wirelessly, which is an advantage if you are looking for convenience. This is the brand’s focus, and it shows how easy it is to use its speakers.
Bose has a much wider variety of speakers and audio-related products. You can get speakers, home theater setups, surround sound, portable speakers, headphones, and many other audio-related products that Sonos doesn’t offer.
Even though Bose doesn’t have the same wireless focus, it still has wireless options available. And I also think that Bose does a good job of creating innovative products that have pushed the audio industry forward.
Winner: Bose
Cost
Both Sonos and Bose are in the middle to high-end cost range for home speaker setups. Neither of them are budget brands, but they both still have affordable options that can work for various budgets.
With a large number of products available, Bose has a wider price range. But Sonos also has a relatively wide range of prices, depending on which products you choose and how many speakers you choose to have in your setup.
Higher speaker costs generally relate to higher audio quality, which is the case for both Bose and Sonos. You get what you pay for, and even though these aren’t cheap brands, the speakers will do well and sound great.
Winner: Tie
Audio Quality
If you are like me, audio quality is a very critical deciding factor when I’m choosing new speakers. I’m an audiophile, so I like trying to achieve the best sound possible. I’ll do everything I can to improve overall sound quality.
Since Sonos is mostly a wireless speaker brand, it doesn’t deliver as high of audio quality as a wired Bose connection. You can use a cable with Sonos to get a wired connection, but most of you won’t.
Wireless audio is still incapable of delivering as high of audio quality as wired connections. This is true across the board for any speaker brand you choose. If you want the best audio quality possible, hard-wired stereos are the way to go.
Bose has more wired speaker options than Sonos, which gives you more options for a higher-quality setup. Each brand’s wireless speakers are similar in audio quality, but Bose has a leg up again for the variety of options it offers.
If you are looking for a Bluetooth speaker set up or use your phone as the streaming source for your audio, that will also keep audio quality down. Most people do this and don’t notice a big difference in quality, but anyone who works with audio often will notice.
I’m not saying here that Sonos has poor audio quality, but rather that you can get better audio quality if you go with a wired system compared to a wireless one. This is due to the current limitations of wireless and digital audio formats.
Winner: Bose
Reliability
No matter what brand you go with, reliability is another critical factor. You don’t want to invest a lot of money into a system that doesn’t work well in the long run.
Luckily, both Sonos and Bose are very reliable options. I’ve had excellent experiences with speaker setups from both brands and don’t have any substantial negative remarks regarding reliability.
Whenever I had a setup or troubleshooting issue with Sonos or Bose, I could quickly figure it out or contact the respective customer service reps for further assistance. They both get high marks from me with that in mind.
The wireless setup with Sonos does inherently pose some reliability issues. If your home WiFi goes down, your Sonos system won’t work. If you use a wired setup from Bose, you won’t need to worry about anything going wrong if the internet goes down.
This isn’t a knock on Sonos directly but more on the type of system the brand uses for its overall approach to audio systems. Wireless systems will be less reliable because more things can potentially go wrong.
But I still think that Sonos and Bose are even regarding reliability, looking at the big picture of how well they hold up over time. I rank each brand as a good value and a solid investment into your audio-related needs.
Winner: Tie
FAQs
Here are a few quick answers to some of the most commonly asked questions related to if Sonos is better than Bose.
Does Bose sound better than Sonos?
If you use a wired Bose system, you have the potential to get better audio quality than a wireless Sonos system. But this is because wired connections have better audio quality than wired ones and is not directly related to the brand.
Which speaker is better than Bose?
There are numerous options for high-quality speakers that compare with or are better than Bose. For home audio purposes, check out Sonos, JBL, or Sony. If you are looking for home-studio caliber speakers, check out KRK or Yamaha.
Is Bose still the best sound system?
Bose still has a good reputation for being one of the best speaker brands out there, but whether it is the best or not comes down to what you are looking for with your audio needs. There are better studio monitor speakers and wireless options out there.
Is Sonos more expensive than Bose?
Sonos and Bose offer many similarly priced speakers and other audio equipment, but Bose has a wider selection with more top-end options. This doesn’t mean that one or the other is more expensive, but rather that Bose has a higher number of expensive products.
Who is Bose biggest competitor?
Many speaker companies around today compete with Bose. Some of these include Sonos, JBL, Sennheiser, and Sony. It’s difficult to say which of these is the biggest direct competitor, as those numbers can change and evolve yearly.
Final Thoughts
Sonos and Bose are both good speaker brands. Sonos is better if you want a wireless speaker setup for your home stereo or theater. Bose is better if you want a wider variety of options and a brand with a longer history and reputation.
Hopefully, you have figured out which of these popular speaker brands are best for your particular needs. You can’t go wrong with either, but knowing how each of them shines respectively should help you find the products that work best.
Which speaker brand do you think is best and why? Let me know in the comments below.
