Sonos Wireless HiFi Speakers Part 1

[LinusTech]

NCIX: N/A

Amazon: http://georiot.co/4AgK

 

Sonos' software and hardware ecosystem is simple enough that you can be up and running within 5 minutes, and yet so deep that I needed two nearly 10-minute videos to cover it properly!

Part 1 focuses on the app and wired operation, while part two throws wireless and speaker grouping into the mix with their Playbar.

 

[iNothing]

Love the audio reviews

[lcater95]

Seems like a great ecosystem.

 

I wish they would have made it as neutral as possible then change the sound with a software EQ.

They also should have included a 3.5mm jack. Lets say you have a some friends over for a party and they agree your music sucks and would like to play theirs. I doubt they would go through the trouble of setting up the wireless streaming even though that seemed super easy. If the music could be streamed to your other Sonos gear from the 3.5mm jack that would be awesome too.

[Jodomcfrodo]

I laughed so hard at the "but I guess I'm too much if a scrub for them to send me one of those".

You got #rekt

But then again they didn't send me anything so I guess I got double #rekt

[Rorgash]

yea.. Hi.FI has no meaning anymore, seems everyone can use it on anything..

[Jvagle875]

When can we expect part 2? Tomorrow? I'm curious about the wireless functionality because I don't personally have Ethernet throughout my house.

[Redheadsrule13]

Neat. Now is it possible to use these as PC speakers for an easier surround setup?

[Syntaxvgm]

way to expensive, especially for wired speakers that are so-so in sound. Not many alternatives though.

[saddadbadhad]

I use Pandora every day for backgound music. Do these speakers mean you can get Pandora anywhere the wifi reaches?

[skywake]

I've had a couple of Play 1s and a bridge for about six months, I agree with the praise being heaped on this thing but I figure I should add a few of my own thoughts.

 

Even if you have Ethernet everywhere (as I do) you'll still probably want to run most of these things wirelessly. I have one on a bookshelf and another in the kitchen, the places I wanted to place the speakers were inconveniently the places I didn't think of or want to run Ethernet. The good thing is that for me the wireless is pretty decent, creates a little mesh network and maybe it's just the lack of interference where I am but it works really well. Also, you can actually use the Ethernet port on the back when you're in the wireless mode to attach another device. Ran iperf on the port and it was sitting at ~20Mbps, plenty for music. I'd also add that you don't need a bridge to run these things 'wirelessly', you just need one component wired. I only got the bridge because they had a deal going where it was free, as I get more (I'm hooked) I'll probably take the bridge out and hardwire one of the components.

 

Linus was also right pointing out that it's with the online services are where this thing shines. So far I have this thing setup so it scrobbles my music to last.fm and I tend to throw Pandora radio stations at it. Also the internet radio thing works well enough. Once you've found a music source you like you just add it to the favourites list and you don't have to bother searching again. I haven't tried Google Play on it yet but Spotify worked very well indeed. Most of the time though I'm either just playing internet radio or queuing up some albums stored on my NAS. Oh, and when you have people over they can use their devices to queue some of their own music. "Sonos war" is a thing. Just don't let your parents connect their devices....

 

As for the comments about hooking up other gear. Well... ehh. From what I understand the Playbar lets you hook up an optical source which does the surround thing. But if you want surround? Wow, are there some much, much cheaper ways to do it. The Play 5 and Connect devices have a line-in which was something I eyed off a bit at the start. And yes, it does apparently allow you to play that source on multiple speakers. But thinking about it, TBH, controlling the thing from your phone/tablet is half of the appeal. If I can't control the music from my phone/tablet frankly I'm not that interested anymore. Plus the Play 5 is twice the price of a Play 1, if I'm spending that much on Sonos gear I'd rather have another two Play 1s personally. Filling up more rooms with synchronised sound and controlling it with your phone/tablet with ease is pretty much the only reason why Sonos is fantastic.

 

And for me, the sound is good. Good enough for my ears with my taste in music anyways... I turned of "loudness" immediately though and in this video Linus had it turned on. Maybe that has something to do with it

 

/needlessly long zealous Sonos convert rant

[CustardZeit]

Are you able to use multiple sources at once? It would be nice to be able to play music off someone else's phone, or play different music through the speakers in another room using a different source.

[skywake]

Are you able to use multiple sources at once? It would be nice to be able to play music off someone else's phone, or play different music through the speakers in another room using a different source.

 

Yes. From their PR speak laden user guide -> http://www.sonos.com/documents/productguides/EN/MacPCGuide_EN.pdf

 

Sonos lets you enjoy music in up to 32 rooms, inside or out. You can play a different song in every room or play the same 

song in every room. Group the kitchen and patio together when you’re barbecuing; group the rooms throughout your home in 

perfect synchronization for a party; or leave all your rooms ungrouped so that everyone can make a different music choice

 

32 rooms.... they say that like it's some kind of limit when the things are $300AU+ each....

[SubTract]

I've had a little bit of experience with the sonos gear lately.
I personally was quite underwhelmed by the Play 3 after hearing what the play 1 does. The Play 5 does do a bit better especially when it comes to highs.

Where I was shocked was the Play Bar. Out of every sound bar I've heard, well it blows them ALL out of the water. If Linus hasn't used it yet I think he'll be much happier. Its still no Hi-Fi System but so much better than any other sound bar I've used (Destroy's Bose' attempt) You also find when you add the Play Sub to any of the devices it helps with the balance of the mids and highs from the speakers themselves.

I was extremely surprised by how well the wireless solution worked and you don't notice any sort of quality degradation (We tested up to 9 Different speakers playing different content)

The system seems to be quite smart with how it balances and changes the sound coming from different speakers when they're grouped together. When you pair a Play Bar as Center a play sub, 2 Play 5's as Front Left and right and 2 Play 3's as rear left and right the sound from any of the speakers differs quite a lot compared to using them individually. 

 

There are a couple of things that annoyed me. The first thing is not being able to manage the Sub Separately. The times I've got to use it, it appears to be linked directly with the playbar and can not be broken up as long as the playbar is active.

Secondly I would like to see some mountable solutions rather than just speakers. If I could Buy these and mount them in my wall or ceiling I would be a hell of a lot more likely to shell out the Absurd $$$$ that they ask for it.

Thirdly HOLY COW THE $$$$$ they are so expensive, Especially if you wanted to kit out your house. Lets say you have a 4x2 with a theatre. You'd want a play 1 for each bedroom So that's $1200, a play bar for the lounge/living area and 1 for the theatre so thats another $2000, 2 play subs (They might be called Sonos Subs) anyway another $2000, then 2 play 5's and 2 play 3's for the theatre so there's another $3100. Plus the play bridge $75. So before you even consider outdoor entertainment or anything overly exotic (Like in your bathroom's or god forbid the kitchen) you're looking at a hefty sum of  $8375

 

I'm actually looking forward to part 2.

[olan1225]

Thanks for doing this review Linus! I am a big fan of Sonos and I am glad you have discovered the benefits of it! But it is a real shame that you didn't get to try it with Spotify, because thats when it really gets to shine! I am looking forward to part 2! 

 

 

Seems like a great ecosystem.

 

I wish they would have made it as neutral as possible then change the sound with a software EQ.

They also should have included a 3.5mm jack. Lets say you have a some friends over for a party and they agree your music sucks and would like to play theirs. I doubt they would go through the trouble of setting up the wireless streaming even though that seemed super easy. If the music could be streamed to your other Sonos gear from the 3.5mm jack that would be awesome too.

 

The Play:5 has a 3,5 mm input which let you connect any device and then you select line in on your app and it will play that. You can then group all the other speakers you have and they will play the music from the line in on the Play:5. If you have a Connect or Playbar you can also do this, the Connect has dual rca input and the Playbar has optical input. For example if you have your tv sound connected via optical to the Playbar, the rest of your speakers can be grouped to it and the tv sound can be played throughout your house. 

 

When can we expect part 2? Tomorrow? I'm curious about the wireless functionality because I don't personally have Ethernet throughout my house.

 

Spoilers: The wireless functionality works just as good as wired. If you connect your Sonos Bridge to your router then none of your speakers need to be connected via ethernet and can be placed wherever you want. 

 

Neat. Now is it possible to use these as PC speakers for an easier surround setup?

 

Not really, you need one of the speakers with an audio input. Something like the Sonos Connect, and then you should get any speakers you want to connect to that. So you can't really do a complete pc speaker system from just sonos gear, but there are ways to get around. After that you can plobably add Play:1s to get surround. More about the in the next video apparently. 

 

I use Pandora every day for backgound music. Do these speakers mean you can get Pandora anywhere the wifi reaches?

 

The Sonos system needs to be connected to ethernet to work. Either you get a Sonos Bridge or you place one speaker where you can connect ethernet. The Sonos creates it's own wireless system and does not use wifi if you connect more speakers to your system. You can connect your Pandora account to Sonos and play whatever you want. 

 

Are you able to use multiple sources at once? It would be nice to be able to play music off someone else's phone, or play different music through the speakers in another room using a different source.

 

Yes, you can use different sources in different rooms. If you have a spotify account connected you can even use the same account to play different music in different rooms! But note if you want to play music of someones phone they either need to be connected to the wifi and have the sonos app and connect it to your sonos system, or you need a Sonos device which has an audio input, like Play:5 or Connect. 

[samcool55]

The EQ is crap, but what about DSP manager? Yes it's for android rooted phones only, but if you set up your EQ with it, it is active all the time. But as far as i know you can only use it with the phone's speaker, a headphone connected with a jack, bluetooth speakers and usb/dock speakers. So i'm wondering if it works when you stream with WiFi. Would be nice if it works so the people that hate "warm" sound can make t at least a bit better.

[BiFii]

Does someone know how reliable their alarm clock system is. I really want to wake up to my spotify library, but spotify didn't implement such feature yet.

It's crazy how much money I am willing to spend, just for a fucking alarm clock *sigh*

[anton_ma_99]

it is awesom got two bridges one play 5 and one conect to a real hifi system the conect has analog in so i use that to conect to my tv so i can have great sound for tv and movies ore just sitt in the couch and enjoj spotify witch is awesume

[LukeTim]

Linus are you going to get some PURE Jongos?

I am quite interested in having this sort of system myself, and I would be super interested in seeing a proper comparison of the two. They are pretty similar.

[im_lead]

I'm sure that it's possible to connect an xperia device to the speakers with the walkman app. However, you will lose the internet connection (**UK, sony), and because at that, the integration of music unlimited with walkman is useless. There is another option.

[skywake]

Linus are you going to get some PURE Jongos?

I am quite interested in having this sort of system myself, and I would be super interested in seeing a proper comparison of the two. They are pretty similar.

 

Just reading the product page there's one big deal breaking difference. The Sonos gear can all be wired and even when it's wireless it doesn't actually connect to your WiFi at all. You plug in at least one component and the system creates a mesh network on its own dedicated channel so for a speaker to work it only needs to be within range of another speaker/bridge. Those PURE equivalents you linked to are fully wireless and rely on your own wireless network.

 

Their main competitor is probably Samsung. Now a detailed comparison between Sonos and Samsung's equivalent, that'd I'd like to see.

[ErickS89]

Are we really giving up audio quality for convenience? Seriously that's all it is.

I've played with these and... it sounds so tinny I can't listen to them!  They're cheap and that's that.

[LukeTim]

Just reading the product page there's one big deal breaking difference. The Sonos gear can all be wired and even when it's wireless it doesn't actually connect to your WiFi at all. You plug in at least one component and the system creates a mesh network on its own dedicated channel so for a speaker to work it only needs to be within range of another speaker/bridge. Those PURE equivalents you linked to are fully wireless and rely on your own wireless network.

 

Their main competitor is probably Samsung. Now a detailed comparison between Sonos and Samsung's equivalent, that'd I'd like to see.

Didn't even know Samsung had an equivalent...

I am aware that the Sonos has its own dedicated mesh, but if the audio quality is any better then it might be worth the difference. Honestly, your average 802.11n network should have enough throughput to handle this music in addition to regular internet usage...

[skywake]

I am aware that the Sonos has its own dedicated mesh, but if the audio quality is any better then it might be worth the difference. Honestly, your average 802.11n network should have enough throughput to handle this music in addition to regular internet usage...

 

A mesh network is more about range than bandwidth. If they're all running off your WiFi then the range is only as good as your wireless range. On a mesh network range isn't an issue as long as the component is in range of another node in the mesh. Which for something like this is a big deal because they're all about being spread throughout your living spaces. You drop them where people are for ambience which in the summer will almost certainly include some outdoor spaces. I don't know about you but my WiFi isn't that great, seems like more trouble than it's worth for something that can be much easier and much more reliable with a mesh network.

 

And on the audio quality. Well I'm no Audiophile, my headphones are <$100 Sennheisers and for me that's good enough. I don't like music at 128kbps but I can't tell the difference between 256kbps, 320kbps and FLAC. So that's where I'm at. For my ears, which are surely going to be ridiculed by the audiophile elite, the sound from the Sonos is good for what it is. It's not as good as my 10 year old Stereo that was $400AU when I got it but for a small, mono, bookshelf speaker with basically a computer inside of it? Sounds pretty good for the price. There's no distortion AFAIK, the bass is loud, the highs are decent, some of my music I could swear sounds better and clearer than I have heard it before. Good enough for me. If you're really picky about your audio you probably have something better already. If you're not? It's really cool and sounds good enough.

[LukeTim]

A mesh network is more about range than bandwidth. If they're all running off your WiFi then the range is only as good as your wireless range. On a mesh network range isn't an issue as long as the component is in range of another node in the mesh. Which for something like this is a big deal because they're all about being spread throughout your living spaces. You drop them where people are for ambience which in the summer will almost certainly include some outdoor spaces. I don't know about you but my WiFi isn't that great, seems like more trouble than it's worth for something that can be much easier and much more reliable with a mesh network.

 

And on the audio quality. Well I'm no Audiophile, my headphones are <$100 Sennheisers and for me that's good enough. I don't like music at 128kbps but I can't tell the difference between 256kbps, 320kbps and FLAC. So that's where I'm at. For my ears, which are surely going to be ridiculed by the audiophile elite, the sound from the Sonos is good for what it is. It's not as good as my 10 year old Stereo that was $400AU when I got it but for a small, mono, bookshelf speaker with basically a computer inside of it? Sounds pretty good for the price. There's no distortion AFAIK, the bass is loud, the highs are decent, some of my music I could swear sounds better and clearer than I have heard it before. Good enough for me. If you're really picky about your audio you probably have something better already. If you're not? It's really cool and sounds good enough.

Still, it would be nice to see what Linus thinks after having used both systems.

[Eugene Yap]

Here is my Sweet and short Review

 

After testing and listening those for hours with different tracks and movies.  
In terms of sound quality are lacking of highs and also muffed.
Its almost impossible to hear any mids
Sound angles are limited so arranging the speaker's position is a must.(that is when wireless comes handy)
As for the subs it may sound tight at first, but the lower frequencies are lacking. I believe lower frequencies is cut off, to make sound tight.

This setup would work fine low tier home theater system, but as for music listening it is terrible
 

I still can recommend this setup for ppl with poor cable management, someone don't how to hide cables or never used false ceilings. 

But then again those things can be easily done with simple thinking and planning.

If your wife have a pair ears and really listen closely, she would likely disapproved as well.

(After she has been exposed to high end sound system of course)