Speaker for the privacy conscious?

Statik · October 30, 2020

Hello everyone,

I'm in the market for something such as a Sonos Wifi speaker. However, I'm somewhat privacy conscious, and don't know how much data these devices can *potentially* leak. I still obviously own SmartTVs, and Smartphones, but I'm really against things like Google Homes, etc. And I really don't know if at the end of the day, having a Sonos speaker will change things, when I have a phone in my pocket most of the time (however if they still pose risks I'm not really interested)?

Does anyone have some insight on this? Or some recommendations of good quality speakers that are more relatable for someone that's concerned with their privacy.

Radioactive Snowman · October 30, 2020

You carry a smartphone every day, I wouldnt worry about it.

LloydLynx · October 31, 2020

You should always be looking to minimize your attack vectors, even if you still have some. Maybe one day a cellphone won't be such a big privacy concern, but then you still have to worry about your speaker system. Or, your Smart sound system would have vulnerabilities that other devices don't.

I'd recommend you go for a non-Smart sound setup. An Onkyo TX-8220 is a great value/sound-quality receiver, and it has some modern features like bluetooth. You can get one of those $20 DACs on Amazon if you need USB capability for it. For speakers, look into the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR bookself speakers, they supposedly have a nice flat response curve and decent audio quality(they're what I'm looking at getting). If you need a bit more kick, you can get an active subwoofer on ebay for relatively cheap, as that Onkyo receiver has both stereo and mono sub pre-out.