After releasing its affordable Ray AirPlay 2 soundbar, Apple Music voice control in May, and seeing a delay in its affordable subwoofer, we’ve taken a look at Sonos’ next high-end speaker. Codenamed “Optimo 2,” The Verge shared an exclusive look at the future flagship product.
Sonos has focused on its entry-level and portable products this year, launching the Ray soundbar and the Roam SL ultra-compact speaker.
An FCC filing for Sonos’ budget subwoofer surfaced in June that indicated we could have seen a summer launch for this product. However, the company recently told The Verge that it has “decided to push forward a planned product launch” to the first quarter of 2023.
Sonos Optimo 2 flagship speaker
Returning to its high-end offerings, Sonos is pushing ahead with its next-generation flagship speaker. The Verge got access to the first “work in progress” images of the so-called “Optimo 2.”
The Verge’s Chris Welch writes, “Encased in a funky, dual-angled enclosure, the new device will position itself as the best-sounding speaker Sonos has ever produced. It packs an arsenal of drivers, including several that fire in different directions from from below the housing between the front speaker grill and the backplate.The 3D recreation above is bronze, but the Optimo 2 is likely to stick to Sonos’ traditional black and white color options.
Optimo 2 is similar in size to the Sonos Five and, according to sources familiar with the product, has 2x the RAM and 8x “more flash memory than any previous Sonos speaker.”
If current plans go ahead, the Optimo 2 will support both WiFi and Bluetooth playback, include built-in microphones, automatic EQ, and a USB-C line-in is also being considered.
Sonos Optimo family
Optimo 2 should be a great way to experience Dolby Atmos audio, and The Verge also notes that this Sonos flagship speaker will be “the lead product of a trio of devices in the works, which will also include an Optimo 1 and an Optimo 1 SL.” SL is Sonos’ product name for speakers without built-in microphones.
It’s unclear whether the Optimo 1 and 2 products would replace the Sonos Five and One speakers or join the lineup as more premium speakers.
3D rendering by Grayson Blackmon of The Verge
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