We wanted to write an owner’s review of SONOS, having enjoyed the product since 2009. We also install SONOS in clients’ homes as part of our house renovation service.
This blog is not an analysis of the technical specification – if you want a more detailed insight, we would refer you to the SONOS website, or to sites like What HiFi? We just want to testify how easy, versatile and satisfying SONOS is to use.
Multi-room sound system
Retailers refer to SONOS as an entry-level, multi-room sound system; on price perhaps, but to call SONOS “entry level” is to underplay how fantastic it actually is. These days, we are really dealing in margins of excellence.
There are certainly more expensive systems on the market – we’ve fitted some for clients with top-end, Naim equipment. We understand that SONOS tops out at CD quality (which is brilliant, anyway!). Critical lovers of classical music may hear a difference. But for many of us, SONOS fits the bill perfectly.
Sound quality
Like all hi-fi products, sound quality is dependent on the source of the music and the chain of components between the source and your ear. One of our own SONOS Connects is wired to an Arcam amplifier driving B&W ceiling speakers. When playing music in a high-quality, lossless .wav file, the sound is exquisite. However, if the music is supplied from a streaming service in .mp3 format, the quality is still very good; but not quite as good. And that’s a function of the source, not of SONOS.
Location
You need to decide whether supreme sound quality actually matters; it may save you some money. In a kitchen, for example, you may just want some background music, so choose a set of cost-effective ceiling speakers.
No more CDs
One of the cornerstones of our interior design process is to be efficient with storage. Traditionally, home entertainment took up a lot of space: the record player, the CD player, the amplifier, the radio, LPs, CDs, and speakers. In SONOS we saw a product to help us empty the shelves, offering our clients more space for other things.
The internet, music streaming and ripping
Everything is internet-driven, so you can listen to internet radio through SONOS (thousands of channels worldwide). We subscribe to a music streaming service at £5 per month, giving us access to millions of tracks all day long. We have also “ripped” all our CDs in .wav format to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) hard drive, sitting on our home network.
Each CD took 5 minutes or so to rip, using software provided with our laptop – you can do this with no sound while you’re working; the CD just pops out when it’s finished. We even ripped all our old vinyl, and my grandad’s shellac 78s using a turntable interface, which took a lot longer!
SONOS allows us to listen to our favourite songs, from both the NAS drive and the streaming service – all on one playlist. One of our clients recently put a few albums on a memory stick which she inserted into her router’s USB socket; this effectively acted as a NAS drive so she could listen to the tracks directly using the SONOS controller app. It’s that easy.
Our own SONOS installation
We fitted SONOS in 2009 during our home renovation, so our kit is bit dated but still works fine. We purchased three (what are now called) SONOS Connect units. Each Connect requires its own amplifier and speakers. Some SONOS units, such as the Play:5 have their own built-in amplifier and speakers with additional line-in sockets to connect other devices. These units effectively stand alone, provided they have an internet connection. For a compact unit they sound great.
We set up to play music and radio in five separate rooms (zones). In each zone, we could choose the same or different music in any combination. SONOS provides a free smartphone app adding further convenience once you remember where to tap. From here, you choose your tracks or playlists, the room and the volume independently.
Our sons each acquired a Play:5 which they simply plugged in, used the app to add to the network, and they were up and running in minutes using a wireless connection. This is another great feature of SONOS; you can add components to it as you wish.
Any problems with SONOS?
It’s important to remember what SONOS is, and what it isn’t. Occasionally, we have to remind our clients (and our family) where SONOS begins and ends. Because everything is connected and runs smoothly, it is easy to refer to the whole thing as “SONOS”. In fact, on the rare occasions when we lose sound, it is because we have lost our internet connection. This has nothing to do with SONOS.
We have had cause to call the SONOS helpline for advice perhaps 4 times in 14 years. The support staff are excellent. They have real people on the line wanting to do their best for you; and they love their products. They can download diagnostics remotely to check your system and do amazing things to resolve issues – all whilst sitting in their offices in the Netherlands; yes, they have British technicians working in The Netherlands.
The help desk is readily available at the number shown on the SONOS website.
Multi-room sound installation
We look to future-proof our clients’ homes as far as practical. With a deep renovation, we would recommend fitting all the cables while the house is being opened up. You don’t need to commit to purchasing new TVs , amplifiers, and SONOS boxes at the time; but it gives greater scope to do so over the coming years.
We plan the layout for each room so that sockets, cables, and speakers are all in the right places. See how many cables we installed during first fix in the renovation above. Most clients will ask us to install new equipment as part of the project; others have existing systems then add to it over time.
Home network
We use topological home network designs together with our floor plans to guide electricians during first fix. If the opportunity arises, we prefer to install Cat 6 cables and RJ45 sockets for SONOS (and other devices) to be wired to the network. SONOS does work perfectly well in a wireless set-up, but the wireless network does need to be reliable.
SONOS review
We hope you’ve found this SONOS review helpful. Most reputable HiFi retailers will give you the opportunity to hear a SONOS set-up before you purchase. We invite clients round to our home to play with our system, to make sure they like it.
This SONOS review included a selection of SONOS products, but there are others which the SONOS website will describe. There you can read about the SONOS soundbar, for instance, which a friend of ours raves about.
We would certainly recommend SONOS to our readers. If you are looking for a quality multi-room sound experience, visit your local HiFi retailer for a demonstration.
