It was waaaaaay back in 2023 that we first reported on rumors of a Sonos set top box, codenamed ‘Pinewood’ and now, after months of leaks and speculation, and a fair amount of turmoil at Sonos HQ, there’s some meat to add to the Pinewood bones.
Chris Welch over on The Verge claims to have seen the new Sonos device and describes it as “nondescript as streaming hardware gets… Viewed from the top, the device is a flattened black square and slightly thicker than a deck of trading cards.”
But it was never a device that was going to blow us away with its looks, it was the features that would count – and they sound pretty intriguing.
If the report is accurate, this could be one of Sonos’ most ambitious products yet given how far it strays from its regular speaker beat.
Pinewood is set to offer a seamless streaming experience for Sonos home theater setups but, with a rumored price tag of $200 to $400, Sonos may have a tough time convincing buyers that it’s worth the premium.
That’s a price that is far north of the major streaming box and stick players such as Apple, Amazon, Nvidia and Google.
The thinking, according to the report, is that instead of being just another streaming box in an already crowded market, Pinewood will connect to your TV and function as both a streaming device and an HDMI switch.
That means multiple HDMI ports with passthrough support, which is obviously ideal for those frustrated by the limited number of high-bandwidth ports on modern TVs.
Sonos will also be hoping that it solves some of the issues users report when using their soundbars with TVs and other set top boxes, such as dropouts, format problems and syncing woes, even with the Arc introducing HDMI eARC to the mix a few years back.
I’ve used Sonos soundbars, from the entry level Ray right up to the latest flagship Arc Ultra, with a variety of TV brands – and there are always issues of some sort, especially if you try and throw a sub or some rear speakers into the mix.
Sonos is purported to be not only attempting to fix this with the Pinewood box, but also address one of the most requested features from its community: the ability to create a dedicated surround sound system without relying on a soundbar.
Instead of anchoring everything to a Sonos Arc Ultra or Beam, Pinewood users will apparently be able to place standalone Sonos speakers, such as the Era 300, on the left and right of the TV for stereo separation.
Theoretically, this would allow for much more advanced Dolby Atmos configurations, offering a more immersive experience than current Sonos setups.
Sonos’ Pinewood approach could therefore offer a more flexible and modular alternative, letting users mix and match their existing speakers for a high-end, customized setup.
Of course, streaming is still a major focus of Pinewood and Sonos is said to be planning to offer a unified software experience that aggregates content from Netflix, Max, Disney+, and more into a single interface, complete with universal search.
That sounds great in theory – Apple and Google have attempted similar solutions with varying degrees of success – but getting all the major streaming players to fully cooperate is a tall order.
The software for Pinewood is reportedly being developed in partnership with an ad-tech company (The Trade Desk), raising concerns about how much advertising will be baked into the experience.
If Pinewood lands at $400 and also goes big on ads, that could be a hard sell.
And that’s really the biggest issue here: price. At $200, Pinewood would already be pushing the upper limits of what people expect to pay for a streaming device. If it creeps closer to $400, it’s going head-to-head with some of the most high-end home theater gear available.
Sonos had a calamity 2024 and will be hoping Pinewood goes some way to saving the day.
