Sonos Beam vs Yamaha SR-C20A review

Votes 8 8
Rating 4 4

Sonos Beam vs Yamaha SR-C20A comparison chart

Sonos Beam vs Yamaha SR-C20A review

Sonos Beam
vs
Yamaha SR-C20A

An affordable soundbar is always a good option to consider, so Sonos Beam vs Yamaha SR-C20A comparison definitely makes sense. Based on our rating, Beam has a total rating of 6 out of 10 versus 3.8 for SR-C20A. The competitors' control buttons are different: volume down, volume up, microphone, play/pause and power, source, demo, volume down, volume up, respectively.

Audio features

Both soundbars have active amplification type. A significant difference between the units in the number of channels, the Sonos Beam has 3.0 versus 2.1 for the Yamaha SR-C20A. Only the Yamaha SR-C20A has a built-in subwoofer. The Sonos Beam got our rating of 6 out of 10, and the Yamaha SR-C20A 5 for its audio features and specs. Spotify support not implemented in both soundbars.

Connectivity

Only the Sonos Beam can connect to the Internet via WI-FI. Rivals from our review have Bluetooth support. The Sonos Beam has 1/0 HDMI inputs/outputs versus 0/1 of the Yamaha SR-C20A. Only the SR-C20A supports HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC). For connectivity, the Beam received a rating of 6/10 versus 4/10, respectively. App control is available for the Beam. A built-in microphone is present only on the Beam. Soundbars do not have Multi-room support.

Multichannel surround

None of soundbars equipped with Dolby Atmos multichannel audio decoder. The soundbars do not support the surround sound technology DTS:X. For multichannel surround Sonos Beam got a rating of 4, and Yamaha SR-C20A 6 out of 10.

Advantages Sonos Beam over Yamaha SR-C20A

  • WI-FI enabled
  • App control
  • Microphone

Advantages Yamaha SR-C20A over Sonos Beam

  • Built-in subwoofer
  • Audio return channel (HDMI ARC) support
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Common

Product

Sonos Beam
Yamaha SR-C20A

Model

Beam
SR-C20A

Brand

Sonos
Yamaha

Reviews

3280
28

General

Placement type

table-top, wall-mountable
table-top, wall-mountable

Connection to source

wired, wireless
wired, wireless

Soundbar buttons

volume down, volume up, microphone, play/pause
power, source, demo, volume down, volume up

Audio features

Built-in channels

3.0
2.1

Amplification type

active
active

Output power, W

100 (overall)

Separate speaker (in package)

0
0

Separate speaker connections

wireless
has not

Subwoofer

Built-in subwoofer

Separate subwoofer (in package)

Separate subwoofer connections

wireless

Streaming services

Apple Music (AirPlay)

AirPlay 2

Amazon Music

Spotify

Other streaming services

Pandora, Tuneln, Chromecast
has not

Connectivity

WI-FI

Bluetooth

Ethernet (RJ45)

1
0

NFC

HDMI input/output

1/0
0/1

HDMI ARC

HDMI eARC

HDMI CEC

Optical digital input/output

1/0
2/0

USB

1 (USB 2.0)

Coaxial digital input/output

0/0
0/0

Analog audio input/output (RCA)

0/0
0/0

Headphone output

0
0

Subwoofer output

0
0

Features

Voice control

Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant

App control

Microphone

Remote control

Multi-room

Multichannel surround

Dolby Atmos

Dolby (other)

Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II

DTS:X

DTS (other)

has not

User manual

Manual

Dimensions

Size (Wx H x D), cm/in

65 x 6.8x 10/25.6 x 2.7 x 3.9
60x6.4x9.4/23.5x2.5x3.7

Weight, kg/pounds

2.8/6.2
1.7/3.9

Other

Release year

2018
2020
Sonos Beam
Yamaha SR-C20A
Sonos Beam
Yamaha SR-C20A

Soundbars SoundStrokes Art comparison rating

  • better
  • worse
  • 6
  • 3.8
  • 6Sonos Beam
  • 3.8Yamaha SR-C20A

Sonos Beam competitors

Yamaha SR-C20A competitors