Sonos reportedly cancels its streaming video player, but I hope it resurrects one part of it, because it could be huge

Drop the bad part, keep the game-changing part

News By Matt Bolton published 13 March 2025

(Image credit: Future)

It's been known for some time that Sonos has been working on a streaming video device that was aimed to launch in 2025, with major leaks revealing what it would entail.

Now, after Sonos' previous CEO left as a result of the company's horrible 2024, Sonos has a new CEO that's changing a lot of things within the company – and according to The Verge, this has led to the cancellation of the streaming video box launch. The Verge has proven to have very accurate Sonos information over the years, so this is almost certainly correct.

Now, given that I called this box "doomed" based on the details we initially heard – specifically, that it would have ads-based software, yet would cost up to $400 – I can't say that I reacted with much surprise to seeing this news… but actually, I really hope this project isn't fully dead, because one half of it sounded amazing.

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The Sonos streaming box promised to provide a whole new kind of wireless home theater experience with Sonos speakers, acting as an HDMI switch with 4K 120Hz passthrough. This is a great feature on its own because even in 2025, most of the best TVs will only have two HDMI 2.1 ports, and one will probably be the HDMI eARC port for your sound system.

But also, HDMI switches with auto-switching between sources are really rare, so a smarter version that does this is very desirable.

In addition, the box was set to offer new home theater configuration options with Sonos speakers. At the moment, the Sonos surround system consists of a soundbar wired to the TV, two rear speakers, and an optional subwoofer, but the streaming box was said to offer the ability to use individual Sonos speakers as front left and right channels, with a soundbar potentially acting as a center speaker.

Sonos fans have been crying out for this for years, to provide a more 'real' surround system as an alternative to the best Dolby Atmos soundbars. It seemed to finally be on the way – and I hope this baby isn't being thrown out with the bathwater.

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