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With Sonos shares down more than 10% this year, and just weeks after releasing new headphones, the struggling US audio company is back to revealing new products, with insiders claiming the company is set to launch another soundbar, while some owners are calling for a class action against the company over its latest app debacle.
The move comes as Sonos customers continue to complain about the performance of its poorly received mobile app redesign, with management still trying to fix bugs that should have been identified before the new app was released.
The new Sonos S45 Lasso beta is aimed at the premium soundbar market, despite retailer reports of declining sales of soundbars and TVs.
The Sonos app is a basket case for consumers.
Lasso is apparently the code name for the soundbar and is not the final marketing name.
Sales of the company’s new headphones are also slow, insiders said.
One comment heard by ChannelNews was: “Why buy new Sonos headphones that connect to an app that doesn’t work.”
The new soundbar offering is designed to succeed the current Sonos Arc, with the company expecting a significant price increase due to what it claims is “new technology”.
An announced price for the Australian market is $1,999.
Sonos says that unlike the previous model, the components and speakers have been completely revised and redesigned, necessitating a significant price increase from the $1,400 that JB Hi Fi is offering the product for locally. The new Arc soundbar will be the first Sonos product to feature technology from Mayht, the European company that Sonos acquired for A$147 million last year.
ChannelNews understands the company has faced challenges in making Mayht’s transducer system more cost-effective, as it uses “expensive” neodymium magnets.
According to some sources, the upcoming soundbar is expected to offer significantly better bass performance than its predecessor.
With the current ARC model, users really need to purchase a Sonos Sub or Sub Mini to get the best performance from the speaker and they currently cost $1,200 or a mini sub for $699.
The need for a subwoofer with the new product could force consumers to shell out $3,200 for a new sound bar kit.
One of the big advantages of the new soundbar is that it will support Bluetooth audio playback, something the Arc doesn’t do.
In recent weeks, Sonos has been frantically releasing updates to its mobile app in an attempt to address customer frustrations.
The negative sentiment that has gripped the business community since May has not gone away with
It’s clear to me that Sonos is listening and evolving quickly, but a lot of damage has already been done: The Android version of the Sonos app currently has a brutal 1.2-star average rating. The rating on Apple’s App Store isn’t nearly as bad, as older reviews still offset the wave of complaints that accompanied the redesign.
On the Pilot brand review site, the company has a rating of 1.2 with 84% of consumers giving the company a one-star rating.
The comments are scathing, with some calling for collective action against the company.
One user wrote: “How about starting a class action lawsuit? This company sold us a product and then made it unusable by modifying the app/software that controls it.
This is not an accidental change, but a deliberate one. Rolling back to previous versions of the app while fixing the issues would be a solution. But Sonos chose not to do that.
It is time to bring them to justice.
Matt, a European Sonos owner, wrote: “I do not recommend purchasing a Sonos product at this time. The updated app that was released in May 2024 is not user-friendly, very unintuitive, and unnecessarily difficult to use. The app is also slow and really (I mean REALLY) slow to respond to basic commands, like volume control and skipping between songs.”
Peter wrote last month: “The app is so bad I’m considering switching. I’ve been using Sonos since it launched in Sweden and have always loved the system and products. However, lately the app/software has been so bad I’m considering switching. It drops speakers, it’s hard to change the volume, it doesn’t always connect to my Spotify account, the UI is cluttered and full of irrelevant content and ads for their products. They need to rework the app.”
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