Tell me about Sonos

[nrc]

Tell me about your Sonos setup. What speakers do you have and what do you drive it with? Is it really worth the price?

Looking to start with the no microphone model. I've read that they have physical mute button for the listening device models. Do you trust it?

[WickerBill]

I have two Sonos Play:1, two Sonos Play:3, and one Sonos 5. About nine months ago, I bought a Play:5 on eBay for $90 and traded it in on the newer Sonos 5 and got $120 off.

Therefore... I have no listening device models.


I absolutely love Sonos once you get the EQ right. The self-setting EQ mode always seems to my ear to be mid-heavy, so I do the room setup, then alter the EQ manually. I like that it's effortless, you can play without connecting or logging in, and there is no phasing room to room when you have the whole house playing the same thing.

The newer app seems to be a bit glitchier than the old one, but generally works just fine. System requires rock-solid wifi.

Purchased the Sonos Roam to use by the pool this summer, and I think I may have had a defective unit because it would act like it was out of battery (beep and turn itself off) after maybe 20 minutes of run time, but I'd plug it in and it would be at full charge in 5 minutes. Ended up going with an Anker Soundcore bluetooth speaker for the pool for half the price.

Ask your questions...

[nrc]

How are you feeding it music? Sonos app on desktop? Streaming service? Wifi is solid. I'm very happy with my Netgear Orbi and three satellites.

How is the Anker sound compared to the Sonos? Isn't that supposed to be the reason for the big price tag? What is the Anker connected to? Isn't it annoying that it's driven differently than the rest of the system?

I have one room where I want to add some good sound. Later I'll consider the entertainment system. I'd really like to streamline the whole thing. Maybe a Sonos Amp, Sound bar, and satellites and an HDMI switch. Might have to mortgage the house or sell one of the cars to cover that.

[nissan gtp]

We've had Sonos for a long time, and love them. All Play:1, plus a single One:SL (the new one but without voice control). We also have a Connect (which doesn't have speakers) that's hooked up to the stereo system.
Control is via the Sonos app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The Mac version has slightly fewer features (such as you have to setup from iOS). I assume the Android apps are similar/equal.
For music we stream from our ripped CD collection on my Mac. Plus Pandora, and Amazon Music. I have to admit, we mainly use it to listen to NPR using TunedIn.
The phone app lets you select and group speakers, and play stuff to them. Different speakers can have different music streams.
The newest speaker, the One:SL, allows use of Airplay (redirect audio from Mac, iPad, or iPhone) direct to that speaker. Then, it can be grouped with any of the others, providing "full" Airplay support.
The sound is amazingly good for such little speakers. We have two of them in a stereo pair. Synchronization among grouped speakers is rock-solid, so you can walk around the house and everything sounds great.
With my 62 year old ears, the little Play:1 size are just fine. I don't need it super loud anymore. After going through the room-tuning process, they sound way, way better than their size implies.

[WickerBill]

How are you feeding it music? Sonos app on desktop? Streaming service?

Mostly Spotify.


I'm very happy with my Netgear Orbi and three satellites.

Ooh, exactly what I have. Super good mesh.


How is the Anker sound compared to the Sonos? Isn't that supposed to be the reason for the big price tag?

The Anker is better than the Sonos Roam. The Roam is a disappointment in every way compared to everything else I've ever had or heard from Sonos. My opinion, at least.


What is the Anker connected to? Isn't it annoying that it's driven differently than the rest of the system?

My phone (or whoever is out at the pool), using Spotify, MP3s, YouTube, whatever. Outside is just a different animal than a room in the house. Tuning etc kind of goes out the window - you want bass and treble but without walls or a ceiling, it's going to sound way different to people who are even just a few feet apart. The Anker Soundcore+ (I think that's what I have) is louder, better bass, and obviously a dramatically better battery than the faulty Roam I had.