thanks to 3DMakerpro for sponsoring a portion of this video
so what happens when a $2600 Sono system does battle with a $3900
fire breathing Dragon well you're about to find out
welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Denison and I guess I'm gonna have to open this video with
an apology of sorts I had this crazy intro all prepared I was really looking forward to doing
something fun but I'm going to be completely honest with you this comparison this Sonos
versus Dragon thing it has I mean I'm exhausted moving nine fairly heavy pieces all around the
new studio getting them hooked up recalibrating them each time I move them more on that in just
a moment and it's just it's been a lot of work there was a point at which I was like why am I
even doing this are there actually a lot of folks out there having a hard time deciding between an
absolute monster of a system like the Dragon and a lifestyle system like the Sonos well the answer
to that kind of rhetorical question is there are plenty of you I imagine you're out there watching
right now I've seen the requests in the comments you wanted it so you shall have it this is for
you don't say I never did anything nice for you I'm just joking what I love about this community
is how gracious y'all have been so in the end I I suppose I'm glad I did it I've learned a lot about
how systems like these actually pull off Dolby Atmos effects I've gained a new perspective on
how flexible and convenient Sonos gear actually is now that I've had to move locations change
routers and get everything all up and running in two different testing locations here so all's well
that ends well I suppose but I'm still tired and that's why the intro to this video was a little
bit vanilla I'm out of bad dragon dad jokes I guess I use those up already anyway let's get into
this comparison and guys I hope you don't mind if I keep this fairly simple and straightforward
because after using and listening to both of these systems for a few days I feel like this
is a pretty cut and dry situation the Nakamichi Dragon now costs 3 900 that's after a 500 price
hike after it was first offered whereas the Sonos system built here which is by the way comprised of
a Sonos Arc one Sono sub and two era 300 speakers comes in at twenty six hundred dollars if we were
to add another Sono sub so that we had a dual subwoofer situation similar to what Dragon offers
right out of the box the price would leap to thirty four hundred dollars which is much closer
to the Dragon's current asking price when it comes right down to it I'm a real Roi kind of guy AI
except I hate saying ROI I think that if you pay significantly more you should get significantly
more but then there's that thing about the law of diminishing returns and let's be honest the whole
pay more get more thing doesn't always play out in the audio world with that in mind the Dragon
is kind of special it's an overbuilt tank of a system it comes in a monster-sized box that is
expensive to ship it's expensive to make because so many pieces are customized and not produced at
scale a lot of its cost comes from the fact that it is unique and thus no infrastructure exists
to make them at scale and at a lower cost also there's a little bit of a collector's piece vibe
going on with the Dragon not a lot of them are made not a lot of folks will have one you get
the idea meanwhile the Sono system is the exact opposite of all those things the Dragon is right
if the Dragon is big and brawny the Sonos is smooth and sexy it's got Sleek lines the Sonos
Arc is low slung and intrusive the Sonos sub has a unique look to it and is also relatively small
for a sub these things are made at scale Sonos has been doing this a long time the Sonos system
isn't just a dedicated home entertainment system like the Dragon is it's meant to be a whole home
audio system if you want it to be, it uses Wi-Fi, an elegant app to keep things connected and organized
it's just a whole different vibe honestly outside of the fact that both of these systems are
designed to make movies and music sound awesome there really aren't that many similarities for me
they are just completely different Vibes I already used that word but it suits what I'm trying to say
so vibes folks vibes maybe it's my slanted view on the world but I don't see folks who love Sonos
being wooed by the Dragon likewise I don't see many folks who want the Dragon wondering
if they should really go for the Sonos it's like team small batch craft beer meets team top shelf
Martini I'm sure we can all get along but when it comes to having fun and we tend to like doing
it in different ways and yet I have seen folks in the comments wondering if they should ditch their
aging Sonos system for a Dragon or just upgrade their Sono system so let me talk to you folks
first go ahead and listen to what I have to say coming up but I think if you are ingrained into
Sonos system you may not realize how much you miss it until it's gone you're used to the Sono sound
you might miss that I don't know I just I wanted to get that out there now let's get down to some
brass tabs let's talk about setup and ongoing use the Nakamichi Dragon requires a little bit of work
just getting it out of the box and placing each component but from there you can be up and running
with everything sounding awesome in a matter of minutes Nakamichi has built in a number of room
configuration presets and EQ presets for movies music sports games most of this stuff is available
right on the remote so a few clicks and you're enjoying the system and it will sound great right
out of the box however if you like to get into it and tweak things then very granular controls are
also available more than when I originally tested it in fact since I put out my review of the Dragon
Nakamichi took some of my feedback and made some changes for instance there is now an LFE trim
option though I would love to see a boost option as well and the speaker distance section is now
broken down from Whole feet to decimals of a foot honestly I don't know how much of a difference
this actually makes in time alignment but I'm not gonna lie I just like being able to be exact with
my settings so I'm glad it's there now the Sono system makes setup pretty easy with its app but
there's no getting around the fact that it is more involved you have to connect each speaker to Wi-Fi
each speaker needed an update this time around so I had to wait for that before I could move on to
connecting the next speaker the whole process took a while and it was further Complicated by nature
of the fact that I had moved it from another location connected to a different router and
then once you get all that done you can run true play which is Sonos tuning system that uses your
phone to optimize the levels of each channel the end result is really good but if you're
looking to adjust individual channel levels or customize the EQ that kind of tweaking is not as
readily available now it can be argued it isn't really needed but just as some of us like to see
speaker distances broken down to the decimal some of us really want to have some level of control if
you're a control freak which I totally can't late to at all then the Sonos might not be your bag
it's more of a set it and forget it type system which has some implications on day-to-day use as
well so let's talk about flexibility in my review of the Sonos era 300 in which I reviewed one of
them on its own two of them as a stereo pair and then both of them as part of a surround system
I really talked about the flexibility of being able to use the era 300 elsewhere in the home
as part of a multi-room audio system in addition to them being able to serve as surround speakers
they also support Bluetooth so you can use them just about anywhere without needing to use Wi-Fi
all of that is true they can do that and that kind of flexibility isn't something that the Dragon can
offer however as I learned through the testing I did for this video breaking the era 300 away from
the surround system to be used on their own is not exactly a quick process plus if they've been
tuned to work as your surround speakers then you might want to retune them to serve independently
in their own rooms actually I would absolutely require that personally meaning you might want
to run the true play tuning process again which is even more time spent if you want for the air
300 to play a multi-function role in your home frankly the era 300 are sort of overqualified
as surround speakers except for the fact that their Atmos contributions as surround speakers
is well above anything else that Sonos makes so I guess what I'm saying is that the notion of
flexibility doesn't play out in real life the way it comes off conceptually I'd be inclined
to just dedicate the air 300 as surround speakers and leave them there and that takes a little bit
away from what I thought might be an advantage for the Sonos system over the Dragon additionally the
Sono system doesn't let you control how you play back two channel sources what I mean is that it
is always up mixing it to a surround presentation and I don't know about you guys but sometimes I
just want all channel stereo or make maybe even just two channel and a sub when I'm playing Back
Stereo content specifically music that's something that the Dragon system makes super easy you can
choose to go native and just play back through the left and right channels of the Soundbar or
you can choose the studio setting which repurposes the atmos channels in the Soundbar to enhance the
left and right speakers or you can go all channel stereo or you can let It Up Mix to surround sound
in terms of how you play back your media and control how it sounds the Dragon is just more
flexible I know that was a lot so just a recap of where we're at so far before we get into sound
quality differences which is what I think you're all anxiously awaiting the Dragon is big brawny
and makes no apologies for what it is you need a custom wall mount and custom speaker stands for
the surrounds it comes with two large subwoofers that you'll need space for it's just a loud and
proud system it's got a lot of playback and listening options it has granule controls
it's basically the closest to an AVR and speaker system in that regard that we've seen from a one
box home theater yet the Sonos is more of a sleek and sexy Lifestyle System it looks really good in
modern homes and modern Decor it offers a lot of flexibility even if it makes you work a bit for
that flexibility and while it may not offer a lot of granular controls it does offer a headache free
experience for those who aren't as technically inclined it's very accessible to a wide range of
folks and you don't have to be an enthusiast to appreciate it though it can scratch the itch of
the Enthusiast crowd who would like to go bigger but just can't for whatever reason I want to thank
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thanks again to 3DMakerpro and the Seals series 3D scanner for sponsoring this portion of our video
now hopefully I've done a good job explaining the difference in how these systems would work
in your everyday life and media enjoyment now let's talk about the sound quality differences
so the Sono system is extremely impressive it's got audio processing on board that combined with
its speaker complement is able to deliver an extremely immersive surround sound experience
and I would say possibly the best Dolby Atmos experience available from a soundbar based system
something about how Sonos processes the incoming Atmos signal creates Atmos effects that are wide
ranging and spacious and the blend among the speakers is just exceptionally seamless I feel
like the overall Dolby Atmos presentation is just a tad bit more convincing and enveloping than the
Dragon again by a small margin but I would put the Sonos on top in that one area it's got less
speaker drivers involved but you wouldn't know it by listening also props to the Sono sub that
subwoofer is really impressive for its size and it looks cool too it offers bass as deep
and impactful as the Dragon system though the base wasn't as even across the low frequency spectrum
as the Dragon system since there was just one subwoofer involved with two Sonos Subs I think
it would be neck and neck with the Dragon in the base department now as for audio fidelity or
general sound quality the Sono system is dazzling it really grabs a hold of you and commands your
attention and part of its dazzling effect is that it comes from relatively small and sleek speakers
it is very good sound and I've seen folks react to it with disbelief in demo rooms in the same
way some folks couldn't believe Bose systems did what they did back in the 80s and early 90s Sonos
brings the wow and I know a lot of folks who would prefer its sound in this head-to-head match though
I personally prefer the sound of the Dragon system and here's why the Dragon just sounds effortless
and easy compared to the Sonos system I think this is most obvious in the treble region where
the Sonos is very sparkling and dazzling but also so potentially fatiguing over time the Dragon is
just smoother more natural more realistic and like I said effortless the air motion tweeters
on the Dragon have a lot to do with this but there's something else at play and that is DSP
or Digital Signal processing to me it is pretty clear the Sonos uses DSP to muscle its drivers
into sounding great even though those drivers are in a less than Optical acoustic environment and
by that I'm referring to the the cabinets the whole getting a big sound from a small package
thing requires a fair amount of DSP muscling and while the Sonos sound is enjoyable I hear
it in stark contrast to the Dragon which does have a lot of DSP options to be clear but the
Dragon sounds more like a component speaker system where the cabinet drivers crossovers
they were all built to deliver great sound quality naturally and I think that's where the
effortless aspect comes from for music listening and by this I mean sit down pay attention Style
music listening I prefer the Dragon by a fairly wide margin have a listen yourself
the Dragon just offers better stereo separation and more natural Fidelity and there are more
options in how you listened as I mentioned earlier you get tons of detail and texture
but it's never too aggressive it exceeds that low level listening as well as blow you out
of the room loud listening it's just got a ton of Headroom and you can dial the bass in to be
just how you like it with control over how many of the four subwoofer drivers you use
which of the four sub drivers you use and where you place the two included subwoofer cabinets
for movies as I mentioned before the Sonos pulls ahead just a tad in overall Atmos immersion but
only just the Dragon is actually able to pull off a deeper sound field behind you and the
Fidelity of those movie tracks is to my taste is superior to that of the Sonos have a listen
foreign
Dragon is an enthusiast's rig I mean between the Fidelity the base control the more refined
top end and the open natural mid-range it just delivers more aspects of audio quality that I
think audio files are looking for like I said I just prefer the Dragon sound at the end of the
day you have to pay for it but if that next level sound quality is what you desire and you're down
to pay for it the Dragon delivers and I found it did a great job with Atmos effects even when
ceiling reflection wasn't possible oh and if I had mentioned it enough already the Dragon can
just get bonkers loud without distortion it is a notably more powerful system than the Sonos
so here's what it comes down to for me personally here in this studio which you could consider to
be similar to a purpose-built media room in your home the Dragon is my top pick if I was
going to put a system in my personal living room that's when I might lean more toward the Sonos
just because it is less of a a beast but still offers a great experience I mean I try to avoid
being reductive but the Dragon is the enthusiast darling whereas the Sonos is more of a lifestyle
system that can more seamlessly integrate into a decor and aesthetic conscious space Dragon for
my movie room Sonos for my living room that's how I would roll thanks as always for watching
everyone if you wanted this video please leave me a comment and let me know whether I got this
right for you it's really important to me and if I left a question unanswered leave it as a
reply to the comment I'll pin at the top of this video about half an hour after it was published
and I'll do my best to answer it the rest of you are welcome to comment as well like subscribe
I'll see you on the next one and until then here's two other videos I think you might like