- A firmware update changed the way Sonos speakers sound
- Oh no it didn’t
- Oh yes it did
Two days ago, something very strange happened to Sonos speakers: they started to sound different, but only if you didn’t work for Sonos.
It all began with a post by ClearWinter2840 on the r/sonos subreddit after installing the latest firmware update. “This new firmware update today has increased the boominess of the bass on all my speakers significantly!” they wrote. “Others notice this? Had to actually adjust all my bass settings down a bit, even as a bass lover!”
Other Sonos owners joined in. “Beam 2 also more bass after update even after trueplay,” Flamiatos wrote. “It’s better.” Rampy RS noticed it too. “bass is definitely up.” Many more posters agreed.
Not so fast, said Keith from Sonos: “FWIW this last firmware update had literally no changes to the sound profile,” he posted. “Glad you’re enjoying the sound tho! 🤘”
But was he right?
Do Placebo’s songs sound better on Sonos speakers now, or is it the placebo effect?
With the r/sonos subreddit divided between the many users who swore their speakers sounded better and the ones telling them it was the placebo effect – that is, people only perceived their speakers as sounding better because they’d been encouraged to think there had been an improvement – it looked like the redditors were going to end up in a Reservoir Dogs-style standoff.
But unlike that movie, this story has a happy ending. Because Keith from Sonos came back! Back! BACK!
“Your ears are not playing tricks on you” Keith posted yesterday. After two days of “vehemently” standing his ground and telling people that there had been no changes to the sound profile in the firmware update, Keith had a confession: “Welp, I was wrong.“
The speakers did sound better because they had been improved, Keith admitted. It “turns out there were a few small DSP fixes included that seemed to have an impact on how lower frequencies were being represented.”
That doesn’t mean the placebo effect isn’t real, however. It’s “something we see regularly,” Keith posted. It just doesn’t apply here, even though Sonos thought it did.
And that’s got me thinking. Are there really a few small DSP improvements? Or has Sonos perhaps realised the marketing benefit of letting people believe there are – especially since the company had to announce impending price hikes, arriving at some point this year? Are Sonos’s speakers placebo-powered now? Perhaps we’ll never know. And perhaps we’re best not knowing.
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