The Beam Gen 2 has good audible bass and I have no need for an additional subwoofer, unless there is a great offer at some point. I can't make a direct comparison with the Playbase because I don't have it. But the Beam Gen 2 has special passive radiators that improve the bass and reproduce it well despite the very compact format of the soundbar. I was surprised myself at what comes out of the little thing. An additional subwoofer would only be useful for the very low frequencies, because the lowest frequencies are cut off above a certain level. You can see this well and compare it with frequency curves you can find on the internet.