Sonos vs Nuvo – Which Brand Is Better?

Sonos and Nuvo are two renowned and well-respected brands in the audio industry and produce high-quality speakers, soundbars, headphones, and subwoofers. 

In this article, we will cover a general overview of both brands, looking specifically at the sound quality, durability, price, and so on. Of course, each brand has different devices at different price points. However, we will compare them as closely as we can.

Sonos is known for its high-quality wireless home audio systems, while Nuvo is a well-known brand in the home theater and audio industry known for its high-quality home theater systems and audio equipment.

Pros and Cons of Sonos:

• Pros: Sonos is known for producing high-quality, easy-to-use wireless audio systems that can be easily integrated into a home network. Many of their products have good sound quality and are easy to set up.
• Cons: Over the years, many users have complained about Sonos as it relates to connectivity and in some cases, even reliability. In addition, their products can be relatively expensive.

Pros and Cons of Nuvo:

• Pros: Known for producing high-quality home audio and home theater products, including in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, amplifiers, and receivers.
• Cons: Does not have as strong of a reputation as some other brands in the audio industry.

Quick History

Sonos Quick History

Sonos, Inc. is an American company that specializes in the development and manufacture of audio devices. They are best known for their quality multi-room audio products. The company was co-founded in 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai.

The company displayed its first prototype at an industry event in 2004 and started shipping in early 2005. The company is always expanding its services internationally, for example to the UK in 2005 and Japan in 2018.

In January 2015, Sonos was rebranded by Bruce Mau Design, with a new visual identity and improved logotype.

Nuvo Quick History

NuVo is a Legrand product line that manufactures whole home audio systems and connection solutions.

The brand history goes back to 1924 when it was formed from the Kustom Home Sound brand.

 

Today, they continue to produce high-performance and modern home audio systems.

Sound Quality

Sonos Sound Quality

One of the most distinctive features of all Sonos speakers is their superb audio quality. The sound output is rich and clean, with deep bass and clear mid-tones.

Sonos has a team of seasoned musicians, such as Grammy-winning music producer Giles Martin that assist in fine-tuning their speakers to ensure a natural and superior sound. Each Sonos speaker sounds really great on its own, but you can connect two or more speakers together for a really immersive experience.

Nuvo Sound Quality

NuVo devices are painstakingly produced to be as accurate as possible, using over 1000 instruments as standards. They reproduce a wide variety of sounds precisely and with great accuracy.

They have a balanced frequency output, with deep, unmuffled bass, accurate midtones and sharp, colorful highs.

Features

Sonos Features

Sonos is very popular for the suite of features that are incorporated into their products to ensure that you get the best out of your gadget. Most of the features ensure versatility in the speakers, which allows you to use them throughout the house, or outside.

Here are some features you can expect from your Sonos device:

Sonos App: The Sonos app is available for both iOS and Android to bring additional functionality to all your Sonos devices. Apart from functioning as a remote control for your speakers, it has a lot of other features such as the Calm app that plays relaxing music if you’re going to sleep, or you can set your alarm so that you wake up to your favorite music. It also has a sound equalizer feature to tweak the sound of your speaker to your taste.

Sonos Trueplay: To produce the best sound effect wherever you are, Sonos has a tuning feature known as Trueplay. Trueplay optimizes the sound of the speaker based on the acoustics of the room they are placed in.

Support For Multiple Music Platforms: Sonos has partnered with over 100 music service companies around the world such as Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, and Amazon Music to ensure that you can listen to your favorite music, podcasts, or TV shows regardless of the platform you use.

Surround Sound: Sonos speakers can be connected to each other for a truly immersive stereo or surround sound experience.

• Support for Bluetooth, WiFi, Airplay 2 streaming
• Voice control support for Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and in-house Snips SAS
• Multiple input and output ports such as HDMI and optical audio input for TVs and type C to charge the battery-powered

Nuvo Features

NuVo devices have a lot of features that aid seamless integration and enjoyable use. These features include:

• Built-in access to streaming services such as iHeartRadio, Spotify, Napster, TuneIn, Deezer, Amazon Music and SiriusXM
• Apple AirPlay 2 support
• Plays MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC music file formats via USB or network connection
• Seamless Integration Into control systems like Control4, KNX and Vantage
• Up to 16 simultaneous connections to a single player

Build Quality

Sonos Build Quality

Sonos uses sturdy materials like polycarbonate for the grille and a mixture of ABS and 10% glass fiber for the chassis to ensure a solid build, though this makes their speakers bulky. But if you prefer durability to portability, Sonos is the way to go.

Some of their speakers have IP ratings, which means they are water-resistant and dust-resistant, therefore allowing for outdoor use.

Nuvo Build Quality

NuVo devices are constructed of sturdy and durable materials, since they are made to be used around the house, especially the outdoor models.

The cones are constructed from acoustically efficient materials like Kevlar, carbon fiber, silk and glass fiber. The chassis is made of solid aluminum, titanium and plastic.

Ease Of Use

Sonos Ease Of Use

Sonos products have a minimalistic design and a clean look without a clutter of buttons, which makes the products easy to operate.

Older Sonos speakers have a pause/play button that can mute if you press and hold or skip a track if you double click. Newer speakers have a touch-sensitive button that skips to the next or previous track if you slide from left-to-right or right-to-left, respectively.

Multiple speaker connectivity is easy to set up across different rooms using WiFi, Bluetooth, or connection to a single router.

Nuvo Ease Of Use

NuVo devices are a breeze to set up. They only connect to a music player or connection port, such as the NuVo P3100, though this requires driver installation to set up. The controls are awesome too.

They are clearly labeled and easy to locate. The separate touchscreen LCD controls show information such as working conditions, connected devices and other simple info.

Cost

Sonos Cost

Sonos products are quite expensive, but they are known to always deliver quality regardless of their price tag.

Sonos products are known for always delivering excellent performance, build quality, and strong connections compared to other brands in the same price range. In short, Sonos makes products that give great value for money.

Here is a price range for some Sonos products:

Soundbars: $150 – $850

Smart speakers: $150 – $500

Premium speakers: $200 – $900

Amplifier: From $600

Subwoofer: From $700

Nuvo Cost

The price range for NuVo devices is listed below:

• Speakers: $300 – $1000
• Players: $400 – $6500
• Amplifiers: $400 – $1000
• Controls: $400 – $1800

Space Requirements

Sonos Space Requirements

Sonos speakers tend to be bulky, so they require ample space to use. Though this doesn’t mean that it cannot be used on your desk or placed on a bookshelf.

Some Sonos speakers, like the Sonos Roam and Sonos Move, focus on portability. Therefore, they produce the excellent audio output that Sonos is well-known for at a reduced weight and size.

Nuvo Space Requirements

NuVo devices require an ample amount of ground space since most of their devices are wide.

For example, the NuVo P3100 player is only 54mm high but measures 430mm in width and 258mm in height, and it weighs just 2.9Kg. The NuVo 6IW6-LCR wall speaker measures 220x450x90mm (WHD).

Remote Controls

Sonos Remote Control

There are several universal remote controls supported by Sonos products. There are some custom-made Sonos remote controls for easy operation of your devices. Sonos devices can also be remotely controlled with the Sonos app which allows you to control each device connected to the network individually.

Sonos gadgets also have Snips SAS, Sono’s custom AI technology for connected devices with the purpose of bringing a music-specific voice assistant to all its devices.

Nuvo Remote Controls

The NuVo Music app allows users to control their devices, stream music from music services, and tune the audio output, all from their Android and iOS devices.

NuVo devices also support wireless remote controls. There is support for smart home systems, which allows you to control NuVo devices using your existing automated home system.

Connectivity Options

Sonos Connectivity Options

Multiple Sonos gadgets in a single household can be connected to each other wirelessly, through a wired Ethernet network, or a mixture of both. Wireless connectivity includes Bluetooth, WiFi, and LAN network for Internet connectivity.

Wired connections include HDMI for connecting to TVs and Ethernet connection to connect to multiple devices. Sonos devices can also be connected using Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, or Snips SAS.

Sonos gadgets can be connected to any device with Bluetooth or WiFi connection such as your smartphones, digital TVs, and other Sonos devices over the same network.

Nuvo Connectivity Options

NuVo devices can be connected wirelessly through Bluetooth and WiFi for high-resolution streaming. There are digital options like Ethernet, HDMI, and USB as well as analog options such as audio line input and output.

Power Range

Sonos Power Range

Sonos devices have different power ranges depending on the device’s performance. An average Sonos speaker consumes from 55 Watts to 125 Watts per channel.

Most Sonos devices do not have power buttons but have an idle/standby mode, consuming from 4-8 Watts in this standby mode.

All the information on the power range of a device is included in the product manual, so you can get information on the power range for your particular device.

Nuvo Power Range

NuVo devices are not overpowered like some other audio brands, but they are not lacking in power either.

The power range usually stays within 40W to 400W, therefore they don’t require a lot of power to be operated. For comparison, the NuVo Series Six speakers peak at 100W while the NuVo P5100 music player maxes out at 200W.

Frequency Response

Sonos Frequency Response

Sonos speakers have pleasing frequency ranges to suit the various types of usage scenarios. The Sonos five, for example, has a -3 dB bass response frequency of 88 hertz, which is excellent for a speaker of its size.

Nuvo Frequency Response

NuVo devices cover a wide frequency spectrum from 35Hz to 20KHz. The NV-2IC8 speaker ranges from 45Hz to 20KHz, while the NV-2IW6 covers the spectrum from 60Hz to 20KHz.

Conclusion

Sonos is a company that’s dedicated to manufacturing products with premium quality for a decent price. Their products have a wide range of features to suit each person’s needs. As said above, Sonos is a company that produces devices that give good value for money. NuVo is a brand that manufactures good-performance devices that integrate well into various home setups. Most have affordable price tags too.

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