If you’ve been feeling a lack of “something” in your home theater sound, chances are you’re at a loss for bass, which is where a subwoofer comes into play. Designed to do all the heavy lifting for the lower frequencies of your surround system, a subwoofer is capable of tapping into the kind of rumble-friendly terrain that a traditional speaker simply can’t deliver (at least in most cases).
Nowadays, many audio companies are even offering wireless subwoofers that can be paired to some of the soundbars and speakers that these same brands produce.
Two popular options for all-in-one home theater solutions are network speaker maker Sonos and streaming device stalwart Roku, and today we’ll be comparing the former’s Sub Mini with the latter’s Wireless Bass in a battle of miniature woofers for the ages.
It’s important to note that while these products are similar in name and function — they’re both smaller versions of a subwoofer — they’re also members of two disconnected ecosystems. Sonos works with
Design
Being the smaller of each company’s two available woofers, both the Sonos Sub Mini and Roku Wireless Bass have factored overall portability into the design of their speakers.
The Sub Mini ditches the squared-off look of the traditional Sonos Sub altogether, opting for a football-sized cylindrical chassis instead.
But like the middle section of the regular
In terms of connections, the Sub Mini has a DC power port, an Ethernet port (if you’d like to hardwire the Mini to your router), and a Join button to add the Mini to your
The Roku Wireless Bass actually looks a little more like a traditional sub than the rounded-off chassis of the Roku Wireless Bass Pro but features a smaller front-firing 5.25-inch driver, compared to the Bass Pro’s 10-inch woofer.
Measuring 13.7 inches tall, 6.7 inches wide, 12.4 inches from front to back, and weighing 11.3 pounds, the Wireless Bass only features a DC power port and a reset button and can only be purchased in black, as this is the only color option for
Both the Sub Mini and Wireless Bass can be connected to both 2.4GHz or 5GHz network bands.
For the force-canceling nature of the woofer’s chassis, refined Class D power, and inclusion of an Ethernet port, we’ll award a point to the
Winner:
Setup
Getting the
For iOS users, the
For the
Next, select Pair new device and choose Subwoofer. After a few moments, you should hear a sound from your Wireless Bass, indicating the woofer has paired to your host device.
Seeing as the
Winner:
Sound quality
With both the Sonos Sub Mini and Roku Wireless Bass being smaller versions of each company’s respective flagship woofer (the Sonos Sub and Roku Wireless Bass Pro), one would expect the tinier brethren to sound smaller, too. In the case of the Sub Mini, this assumption is true, but Sonos’ bite-sized boom isn’t minuscule by any means.
In our testing of the
The
Winner:
Compatibility
As part of each company’s respective lineup of wire-free speakers, the
Over on the
Let’s say you’ve got your Sub Mini connected to the Sonos Beam soundbar in your living room, but think you may want to add some extra low-end to the garage speakers you’ve got lined into your Sonos Amp. This means you’ll have to go into the Sonos app, un-pair the Sub Mini from your living room group, move the woofer to the garage, and then add the Sub Mini to the app’s garage group of speakers. It’s not a difficult process, but the ability to have the Sub Mini linked to more than one group at a time is a convenience we’re missing out on.
And in terms of the
Keep in mind that neither subwoofer features an LFE output, though, which means you won’t be able to manually connect the Sub Mini or Wireless Bass to an AV receiver — they must be wirelessly paired to each brand’s respective audio ecosystem.
With compatibility being essentially the same for both the Sub Mini and Wireless Bass, we’ll call this category a tie.
Winner: Tie
Value
Ah yes, the power of the dollar. When it comes to being a savvy shopper, both
Let’s say you’re buying all of your Sonos or Roku hardware for the first time and want to invest in a speaker/subwoofer package. Right out of the gate, one of your cheapest Sonos deals is going to be the Sonos Entertainment Set, which pairs the Sonos Ray soundbar with the Sonos Sub Mini for the low price of … almost $700.
Yeah, Sonos Sub Mini bundles are not exactly cheap. And while you can purchase the Sub Mini as part of a soundbar package, home theater completion kit, or as a standalone device (if you already own Sonos speakers), the least you’ll be spending is the $430 for the Sub Mini itself. Even if you just decide to buy a single Sonos One (Sonos’ least expensive speaker) and a Sub Mini to go with it, that’s still a hefty $650 you’ll be laying down.
As far as finances go, the grass is a little greener over in
Other
In terms of overall value, we’ve got to give this one to
Winner:
The verdict
Comparing
And while this isn’t to say that the
Congratulations,
Winner:
Editors' Recommendations
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- Sonos’ new Era 100 and Era 300 wireless speakers go all-in on spatial audio and Bluetooth
- Sonos finally has a smaller, more affordable wireless subwoofer
