The soundbar for people who don't have room for a soundbar, Sonos' Playbase will be the perfect fit for some lounge rooms.

Sonos has been the gold standard in multi-room audio for many years, letting you listen to music in sync throughout your house or else play different songs in different zones. You can tap into subscription services like Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play Music, or stream music from your in-home storage. Alternatively you can play tracks directly from your computer or mobile device.

While Sonos has always focused on audio, it ventured into new territory in 2014 with the launch of the Sonos Playbar soundbar – an external speaker designed to give your television an audio overhaul without going the whole hog of investing in a surround sound amplifier and placing speakers around the room.

Soundbars are becoming more popular, as super-thin televisions generally don't allow room for decent built-in speakers so you can be left with underwhelming sound. It's no coincidence that when television makers set up their latest models for testing they usually have their latest soundbar on hand.

A perfect fit?

The soundbar market is rather crowded and this year the $999 Sonos Playbar is joined by the $999 Sonos Playbase – tweaking the design to make it easier to fit into some lounge rooms.

If your television sits in a cabinet or on a benchtop then there probably isn't enough room to sit a traditional long, skinny soundbar in front of the television or hang it below the television. The Playbase solves this by acting as a stand – your television sits on top of the Playbase to ensure the soundbar is out of the way but still in the right location to act as an external speaker for your television.

The Playbase is only 5.8cm tall and 72cm wide so if your television has feet at each end, rather than a single large foot in the middle, the Playbase should slide underneath the screen and squeeze between the feet – but it's worth measuring up before you go shopping.

Sonos still offers the old Playbar, giving you a choice depending on the layout of your home entertainment system – for example unlike the Playbar, the Playbase can't be wall-mounted. The Playbase is available in black or white, helping it blend in with the rest of your home entertainment gear.

Get connected

Unlike some soundbars, the Playbase doesn't have any HDMI ports on the back to offer video switching – which will suit some people and frustrate others.

The idea of a soundbar with HDMI video switching is that you plug all your AV players into the soundbar – such as your digital video recorder, Blu-ray player, media player and games console – and then connect the soundbar to your television with a single HDMI cable. Now you can switch between the video inputs on the soundbar to watch your different players.

Sonos' Playbase doesn't work this way, instead it expects you to plug all your players directly into your television – which might be a challenge if it's an old television with only a couple of HDMI inputs. With all your set-top boxes plugged into your television, you then run an SP/DIF optical digital line-out from your television into the Playbase's optical digital line-in (there's a cable in the box).

These days most televisions should feature an SP/DIF optical digital line-out on the back, but if your television doesn't then Sonos' Playbase is a non-starter in your lounge room. You also might find that some televisions only output 2-channel sound via the optical output, even when receiving 5.1ch sound from your Blu-ray player.

The Playbase set-up process is pretty straight forward, although it can get a little complicated when it comes to configuring your television's audio.

The idea is to disable the speakers on your television and let the Playbase act in their place, which involves diving into the television's advanced settings. Thankfully the Sonos Playbase can learn the codes from your television's remote control, so you can use the same remote to adjust the volume on the Playbase.

Music maker

The Playbase needs access to power, which shouldn't be a problem if it's sitting under your television. There's also an Ethernet port on the back so you can plug it into your home network, otherwise it can connect wirelessly to other Sonos speakers around your home. Alternatively you can connect the Playbase directly to your Wi-Fi network or invest in a $149 Sonos Boost wireless base station.

Network access is essential if you want to control the Playbase from your computer, smartphone or tablet. You won't need to do this often if you're only using the Playbase as a traditional soundbar, but keep in mind that it's also a Sonos speaker – so you can stream music to it and group it with other Sonos speakers around your home.

Listening to music via a Sonos wireless speaker is less fiddly than connecting to a Bluetooth speaker, plus it offers better sound quality and isn't disrupted when you're using your smartphone or tablet for something else.

Listen up

Put to the test the Playbase sounds great, with Sonos' clever design allowing it to produce a surprisingly wide sound stage – close your eyes and you'd swear you were listening to speakers spread much further apart than the width of the soundbar. The bass is rich and strong but not overpowering, while the mid and high-end sound sweet and not harsh or thin.

The Playbase responds to the volume buttons on your television's remote control, plus you can use the volume controls in the Sonos app or the touch-sensitive volume buttons on the front on the Playbase.

While it's great for music, when watching movies the Playbase also outperforms an el cheapo $500-ish 5.1-channel surround surround system with tiny shelf speakers. Understandably the Playbase struggles to match the presence of a mid-range surround sound system with decent front floor speakers – but you'll only appreciate this if you have experience with true sound sound. If you do and you're looker for fuller sound from the Playbase you might want to use the EQ settings in the Sonos app to tweak the sound to taste.

The app also gives you access to advanced audio modes to optimise the sound. "Night mode" evens out the sound, dialling down the explosions while turning up the quiet sounds – so you don't need to constantly ride the volume controls when watching television at night if you're worried about waking people up. Meanwhile "Speech Enhancement" helps make the dialogue clearer, also handy at night if you can't crank up the sound.

Thankfully other people in your home can use the Playbase even if they don't have a smart gadget at their disposal. If music is playing through the Playbase and someone turns on the television, the sound coming from the television overrides the music – although unfortunately it doesn't disable Night and Speech modes if the last viewer was using them. If you'd rather listen to music while watching television you can use the Sonos app to switch back.

You're surrounded

The Playbase features a built-in subwoofer to boost the low end, which enhances the bass in your music and helps add punch to explosions. If that's not enough you can link it to the $999 Sonos sub, plus there's the option to use a pair of Sonos Play 1, 3 or 5 speakers as wireless rear speakers to offer surround sound.

Of course at this point you've spent at least $2600, money which probably would have been better spent on a true surround sound system – offering a playbar-style centre channel speaker accompanied by left and right speakers alongside the television, two more speakers at the back of the room and a standalone subwoofer.

If you really care about sound quality then the Playbase's Achilles' Heel is that it supports Dolby Digital surround sound (used on DVDs and most streaming services) but not the DTS surround sound standard used on Blu-rays and some Ultra HD Blu-rays. In Sonos' defence, few if any televisions will pass-through DTS sound via the SP/DIF optical digital line-out.

If you encounter video which only has DTS surround sound and not Dolby, the Playbase falls back on the two-channel stereo sound and extrapolates. If you have an ear for detail you'll appreciate the drop in sounds quality compared to spending north of $2500 on a true surround sound system.

The lack of DTS support is frustrating – Sonos insists that it's less relevant considering that streaming services like Netflix support Dolby, but if you have a library of Blu-ray discs then it's a big ask to spend this much on a lounge room audio system which can't make the most of DTS sound.

So what's the verdict?

If you're just looking for a standalone soundbar then it's worth shopping around. You'll find cheaper soundbars, they might not sound as good the Playbase but it's overkill if you're only interested in making it easier to hear the dialogue when you're watching television.

Alternatively if your home is already full of Sonos speakers, or you're ready to take the plunge into multi-room audio, then the Playbase might seem like a natural fit – designed to help both movies and music sound better than coming straight from your television.

If you're chasing a broader boost in sound quality then the Sonos' Playbase has a lot to offer, delivering better sound than a dirt cheap soundbar or 5.1-channel surround surround system. But only invest in the Playbase if you're absolutely sure that you won't want to upgrade that room to decent true surround sound down the track.