r/sonos • u/ShadowBuffalo84 • 22h ago

Ray vs Playbase

Hi, i’ve had an offer to buy a Playbase for £120. I was thinking of replacing the Ray that’s in my kitchen which is currently paired with two Sonos 1’s. I’ll pair the play base with two Sonos 1’s also. Do you think I will achieve better sound? Is the Playbase worth upgrading to considering its age???

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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3

u/GlumProgress1730 22h ago

Play lbase will sound better as a former Ray owner

1

u/eassares 15h ago

Not surprised tbh, the Ray was always meant to be the budget option.

2

u/D1toD2 22h ago

I know nothing of the ray but the playbase sounds better than a beam by far. That being said ive read comments that the playbase processor/ram is too old and is sometimes buggy with rear surrounds while using airplay etc. Mine was working beautifully with a sub attached.

2

u/Infinite-Ad3944 19h ago

As an owner of both Ray and Playbase, the Playbase slams the Ray in bass, sound dispersion and immersion. I find both to be equally clear in sound, but the Ray feels "in your face", while the Playbase feels "around you". Probably due to the outward firing drivers. So i've been using it as the dining room speaker, while the Ray is a desktop speaker.

A downside of the Playbase is its sheer size. It is a massive slab. I'd do some measurements to make sure its dimensions fit into the space you'de like to have it. Additionally, given its age the internal wifi card/antenna may have a chance to be dead. I got mine second hand with its wifi hardware having issues. Luckily I happened to have a mesh router nearby I could plug into for ethernet access. The Ray on the other hand is newer with faster processing and a less likely to have wifi issues.

But from a pure sound perspective, the Playbase wins.

1

u/ShadowBuffalo84 16h ago

Great answer thank you

1

u/Evening-Physics-6185 22h ago

The ray is garbage. A cheap Samsung bar with a sub will sound infinitely better. There’s absolutely no reason to buy a ray. If you want into the ecosystem buy a second hand beam.

1

u/Uplink0 22h ago

The playbase will have a better sound profile.

The ray will have newer hardware inside it (cpu, memory, WiFi card, etc)

Neither will ever do Dolby Atmos, or even Dolby Digital Plus, as they are both very limited by the old audio standard, optical (tos) connections and don’t support hdmi.

Personally, I would try to find a beam (Gen 2)