Sonos Play:5 (2009) - Black

I guess I SHOULD have given Sonos Play:5s only four stars because of the ridiculous price they charge for this thing! That aside, I'm extremely pleased with these speaker's sound quality, control software and overall functionality. The Sonos products do what no other product does(AFAIK). They allow you to play music thru-out your living space wirelessly. Further, you can select speakers(other Sonos products) to play different tracks simultaneously. You can choose songs from your music library to form a cue. Re:cue; you can change the song order, add/delete, SAVE etc. Like an ITunes playlist, only better. You can adjust EQ via Bass/Treble control. You can adjust volume or mute, pause/continue, cue fwd/rev, etc. I'm able to play music stored on my PC, controlled by my phone/tablet. (you don't need music on each device) TuneIn radio (comes with the software) has 100,000 stations to choose from. They play flawlessly. You can do all this from your PC, tablet or smart phone. How do you top this? SEVERAL people can perform all these functions SIMULTANEOUSLY. (which gets interesting when your child is home from college LOL) If you ask me, it's a miracle! "Ah but, setup must be difficult!", you say. Nope, setup was a snap. Once unpackaged and plugged in, I downloaded the software and configured the speakers in less than 30 minutes. REALLY! The software is simple and intuitive. Cons: Price I wish they had a better equalizer program. The current one has a basic treble/bass slide bar. I wish they had outdoor speakers. I wish they had wireless headphones. Note: Sonos product all require AC electric supply i.e. plug them in. They're wireless, not battery operated; which I think is a good thing. My experience: My highest priority was to be able to play music off my PC located in the 26'x26' kitchen/LR/DR open floor plan, over a set of decent quality speakers. The thought of integrating the whole house seemed wonderful, albeit unattainable. We listen to a variety of music, but mostly rock, jazz and jazz fusion. Occasionally, we like to blast it. How loud? "loud enough to NOT hear myself sing" LOL. I wanted to "hit it out of the park", so I wound up buying 2 Play:5s and Sonos Sub. First, I set up the Play:5s to see if/how they would work. They immediately reminded me of Apple products with they're ridiculous gratuitous packaging. I mean the boxes alone must cost $25! LOL As I said, the setup was a snap. I downloaded the app from the Sonos site*. It loaded quickly and I was on my way. Setup** was a couple of screens similar to pairing blue tooth stuff. What did take a while, was importing my 10K track music library(There's a serious issue here too! see below.) As for sound quality, I'd rate the speakers as "very good", to "excellent". If one considers the size of the format, ease of setup and they are wireless, I'd say "excellent"! I paired the speakers as stereo and listened to flawless music stream for about an hour. The bass response was so good, I almost didn't open the sub. I'm glad I did! While a huge expense for a seemingly frivolous component, the Sonos Sub is amazing! It definitely adds another dimension to the system. Several days later, I bought the Sonos starter set (2 Play:1s). I put one in the 12'x18' bedroom and one in the 24'x30' garage. Admittedly, these speakers do not deliver the sound quality of the 5's, but when you consider the size of the format, they absolutely rock! I'm saving my $ for more Sonos products! ------------NOTES---------------------------------------------- *I downloaded the app from Sonos. There's another app on the google app site which is rated rather low. I don't know if they are the same. **You need ethernet (hard wire) connection for the first Sonos product you install. Later, you can move remove the wire or move the speaker wherever you like. ***my ITunes PLAY LISTS did NOT import. The library is all there and the playlists titles are there, but the data within the playlists is erroneous and does not play. I'm on Sono's site attempting to fix this. WARNING, there appears to be NO real FIX at this time. UPDATE: I found an esoteric file "fix". It will work short term. If you're good with your PC file system, you can do it too. FLASH! I was contacted by Sonos support regarding this post. I'll update. UPDATE- I'm about 30 days into these products. I listen to them almost daily. ( just ordered 2 more P5s) The Music stream(over my network) has been flawless. I experienced 2 or 3 device "lockups" on my S5 phone, which were quickly averted with an app restart. My ITunes playlist problem persists. Sonos has been very attentive, emailing me several times about it. They say the issue is in ITunes(I don't doubt them), but I can't find the playlist files in order to examine and repair them. I WISH the P5s had more treble (brighter). I play them with the treble setting maxed out 100% of the time. I WISH the software had a real equalizer, rather than the vanilla bass/treble adjustments. UPDATE- I purchased 2 additional P5s. Now I have 2P5s + Sub in one room(24'x24') and 2P5s standalone in another(20'x20' with lower ceiling). I'll say the standalones are still pretty impressive. In fact, the sub tends to be a bit over-the-top and requires adjustment on some songs. Generally for classical music I'll turn it up a notch, then have to back it off for rock music. It's interesting to hear the extra bass when listening to talk radio. The standalones are by NO MEANS lacking. Don't hesitate to get two P5s if you can't afford the sub.

What is it? Sonos is a wireless speaker system that streams music from your computer (downloaded, ripped from CD, iTunes etc) or internet streaming services such as Spotify, Tidal and streaming radio stations directly into your room. It's all controlled via an Android or iPhone/IPad app. There is also a PC/MAC program but it's easier to use the phone. There is no screen and very limited controls on the speaker itself. With the app (or program) you can choose local or steaming music, create playlists, etc. Unlike a Bluetooth speaker, the app is just controlling what the speaker is playing. It's not the source of the music. The speaker is connected to you router via Wi-Fi (Or wired) so it get the music it's playing directly over the network. The idea of Sonos is you have a speaker in every room. But you just need one to start. Eventually you can have many speakers and they can be playing different music or all linked together playing the same thing. Why I bought it I had a CD changer, surround sound receiver and some speakers which worked for many years. I found I wanted to modernize to something easier after my friend let me try his Sonos system. Once I saw what this could do, I knew I could: - Listen to my almost 350 CD collection - Be able to create playlists from my existing collection - Access my purchased music collection (Amazon music and some iTunes tracks) (Was hoping this was possible) - Stream radio and use services like Spotify/Pandora - Start playing and change music easily My CD collection One thing Sonos does not tell you how to do is get your CD collection into the Sonos system. You can rip your CDs using some program and store them on you computer. But if you have a laptop like me sometimes it's not always available. I ended up using a microJukebox which ripped the CDs automatically. It acts as a computer server and allows me to play my music at any time. I also was able to load my existing tracks from iTunes and Amazon on it. Sonos has a nice interface like iTunes but again if your laptop is not powered on, it won't work. Now all my CDs and music are in stored on the microJukebox. How does it sound? I was going to purchase the old version of the PLAY:5 but waited after I read that the new version was almost out. I'm glad I waited. The sound is pretty amazing. My original system has good size speakers and a small sub woofer; and the PLAY:5 fills the room with rich sound just as well is not better then the larger system. Audio quality I have been doing some listening tests between my ripped CDs and the same tracks on Spotify. The tracks ripped from CD are defiantly much better, but Spotify has a lot more music available. The only thing I had to compare before was playing my Android phone through a blue-tooth speaker and playing CDs on my CD player was good. Now the PLAY:5 sounds even better than my CD player did with the same tracks (ripped from my CDs). I heard that Tidal streams most of their content in CD quality. I may get a trial account and try that out with this system. What's next? I need to start learning the advanced functionality that Sonos has to offer. I also want to start exploring some of the other free streaming services. I was very surprised at how many stream services are included. I may purchase another smaller Sonos unit for the bedroom. I see you can set alarms and it would be cool to wake up to music. I'm very happy so far! Conclusion The PLAY:5 is a great system. - Easy to use - Great app - Supports lots of different streaming services - Access to local music - Sounds amazing - Solidly built

I purchased my first Sonos speaker (Play 5) and I've had it for almost a week now. I say this is my "first" Sonos speaker because I expect to be buying more over the coming months. Before buying the Play 5, I had purchased a W9 speaker from Definitive Technology. The W9 has incredible sound. But the one I got was broken and would only connect by the audio jack. So it went back. I was also not impressed with the Definitive app and so I decided to try a different company. The Sonos app had great reviews and the more I read the more I decided that functionality is also very important. So I ordered the Play 5. The Play 5 easily connected to my home network and to my iPhone 6. The Sonos app works great and it plays very nice with the Spotify app. The Play 5 also connected very easily with my wife's iPhone and iPad. But it would not connect to my older iPad. So I sent emails to Sonos discussing the issue I was having. After the first idea didn't fix the problem, they suggested I contact them and work in real time. I did that and I was EXTREMELY impressed with the problem solving capabilities of the tech I talked with. He connected to my network and quickly diagnosed the source of the communication problem in my home network. A firmware update to my router and everything was fixed and working great on my iPad! That's right ... the problem had nothing to do with their product, but they helped me identify the problem and resolve the issue with one 20 minute phone call. Now that's what I call super service! So what can I say about the Play 5 sound quality? It's very very good. I must say, however, it is not quite as good as the sound I got from the W9. But I am still very happy with the quality. And the functionality and service more than make up for the tiny difference in sound quality. I also have a Simply Smart hub in my house that provides lots of convenient automation. The Play 5 also works with this system and will play text to speech announcements to warn me of potential issues. Just icing on the cake that the W9 couldn't touch ... So my recommendation is the following... if you want great sound, excellent functionality and support then get a Sonos Play 5. If you want the very best sound you can get at this sized speaker and price range and you don't mind the hassles of poor functionality then maybe the W9 is a better option for you. For me, I'm very happy with my first Play 5 and I expect continued satisfaction as I expand.

Plunk. The Play:5 box arrives at your door. You slide the two plastic latches on the side to open the box. Premium, thoughtful, apple-esque packaging. But then again, would you expect anything less from the newest flagship speaker from Sonos? Setup is simple. Plug in the power cable. Click add a new device on the mobile app. Press a button on the back of the Play:5. Chose a Music Source and boom. Music is filling your home. Looks+Feel: Understated and Stunning. I got the White with the grey screen. Heavier than I expected. New form factor is more in line with their recent design language. Also notable is the font grill which shows a serious attention to detail. The Capacitive touch panel at the top works great for volume control and track navigation. (Though most users will be controlling the Play:5 from their mobile app, nice touch none the less.) Trueplay Tuning: The Play5 has a neat little trick. It can use your mobile device as a way to automatically "tune" itself for the room. You enable the Trueplay setup procedure on your mobile application. The Play:5 will then begin playing a series of sounds. Follow the instructions from the mobile application and walk around the room slowly waving your mobile device. The app will tell you when it is finished and the automatic "tuning" will happen. Your mileage may vary here depending on the shape/size of your room and where you've placed the Play:5. Sound: As one of the pioneers for streaming music, Sonos has often been (somewhat unfairly) viewed as a tech upstart. Emphasizing wireless multi-room integration/clean user experience/streaming capability over Sound quality and frequency range. And while sound quality is highly subjective, I think you'll be hard pressed to find someone not impressed with the quality from this new speaker. The new speaker has 3 tweeters and 3 mid-woofers with a tuned class-D amplifier for each. In english, this basically means more awesome. The Play:5 has a noticeably larger and more articulate soundstage. Bass definitely improved. Sonos got rid of the Bass Port from the last generation for a fully enclosed architecture. This allowed them to get deeper and richer bass. Mids and Highs also improved and have better clarity. And don't worry...the Play:5 can get plenty loud without any distortion. You won't have any problems filling large spaces with sweet sweet music. Overall, extremely impressed. Just get the Play:5 already. Your ears will thank you. Your neighbors may not :)

Up until a few months ago I was a big fan of Sonos, loving the sound quality and ability to control the music through my phone or computer. But then the Play 5 I purchased about 1 year ago just stopped working due to a known issue with a defective wifi or network card according to Sonos tech support. That was bad but what followed was far worse. After attempting to fix the unit over the phone, they promised to send a new unit but for weeks it never came. Turns out the rep I talked to on the phone failed to tell me that I had to jump through more hoops including giving them my credit card so they could charge me for a new one if I failed to return the defective one in 14 days. So I jumped through those additional hoops and a new one arrived. A few weeks later that replacement Play 5 stopped working just like the first one. Remarkably, it had a defective wifi / network card according to tech support just like the first one! This time the customer support person, who seemed a bit embarrassed, promised to send a new one with overnight delivery. He seemed nice and concerned so I waited for the new one to arrive. But it didn't come for days. When I called back they said I had to jump through additional hoops on their website never mentioned on the call. Why would they promise to send me a new one the next day but not tell me about the additional steps I need to take to make it happen? By this time I was quite upset. I must have made 10 to 12 calls to Sonos waiting 15 to 25 minutes on hold each time. To make it right they gave me a 30% discount code for a new purchase. But that code was only worth about 10% compared to Sonos prices at a big box retailer. I can't believe such a strong premium brand that charged me $500 for the original Play 5 would treat customers this way.

Hands down the best smart speaker on the market... and one of the top 5 home speakers period (smart or otherwise). I love this speaker. I have it integrated with my Alexa (by way of Smartthings), Smartthings, Harmony remote, and my Smart TV. It's my music player, alarm clock, streaming audio, status announcer (e.g. "The front door is open", "The temperature is 72 degrees", etc.), it is the voice of my Alexa (by using line in and a separate bluetooth receiver), it is a secondary Siren for my smoke and CO detector and intruder alarm, it is my TV speaker, and it is decoration (I say this last part because I think it is a very nice looking speaker). Don't let the size fool you. It has some SERIOUS bass. Obviously it's not a sub, but as close as you can get without adding a dedicated subwoofer (btw, I used to be an audio engineer, so I know a good speaker when I hear one). And that kind of leads me into the quality of the sound. I didn't test the frequency response or the 1W 1M dB SPL, etc, etc... all that's on the spec sheet, I'm sure. But just the subjective opinion of a guy whose seen and tested HUNDREDS of speakers.... this speaker sounds fantastic. I might have bought it just for the sound quality even if it didn't have all the other bells and whistles. You will NOT be disappointed. The app could be a little better designed. And my only other complaint is that I wish that it would default back to the "line-in" when a transient signal comes in from another source. But I worked around that minor flaw using my Smartthings app and CoRE (a rule engine for smartthings). But you don't have to be all tech-y to use this. It's basically plug and play. Just sign in with your favorite music service from the app... or connect with your computer or phone through the app with a couple of clicks... or just plug something into the back... and you're off. Only one other minor complaint was that I thought it was poor insight of Sonos to make a non-removeable logo. That means that if I want a stereo pair upright then they would look funny with the logo pointing the same way on both sides. But then I realized that it was me that had the poor insight. They put little rubber feet (the good ones that won't come off...ever) on all 3 sides... and I realized... what is SONOS upside down? Duh! So, it can easily be set up to look symmetrical when using as a stereo pair. Seems they thought of everything... even down to how their name would look. I loved this one product SOOOOO much that I just bought a Playbar, a sub, and 12 Play 1 speakers to make a full on 5.1 and put more speakers all over the rest of my house.

I saw a lot of negative reviews so I had to chime in with a positive review. Setting this speaker up was easy in addition to the two Sonos 1s I have. Sometimes in a rare while the system will lose the speaker which is annoying but it 95% of the time hooks right back up if I set it back up, one minus on versatility. The Sonos App on Windows could use a little improvement as I have to push the play button twice as the first time it will say it can't recognize the speakers, another minus on versatility. There used to be an issue with switching from Spotify App and Sonos App where the volume would come on full blast, so yes, the speakers are really loud, don't compromise sound quality for volume, and I am probably in need for another pair of ear drums. The Pandora and Spotify Apps work well and I can even play my own music, I don't understand how people can't connect their personal libraries up, worked just fine for me. I really like the Sonos 1 so if you are hesitant and forking the cash for the 5 definitely get a 1 to try out, most will not be disappointed. These speakers are pricey but I have not have had an issue besides the aforementioned above. If you have the money, I recommend Sonos. A negative point on Amazon for delivering this expensive product via Fedex, left in the middle of the day on my doorstep next to a sidewalk of a busy street. What happened to leaving a note saying come pick this up, or owner wasn't home?

Great wireless speaker! NOTE: you still need to plug into power, but no speaker wire to run. Sound quality is good as the Sonos speakers really fill up a room with great sound. I thought the Bass and Midrange was really good. No issues streaming music from around the house. Positives: - Great and clean design. Huge improvement from last generation. You can stand it up vertically or horizontally. - Easy to setup. - Great sound. Even better if you pair it up in stereo mode where you can hook up two speakers to separate the L & R Channels. However, even a single speaker sounds great as there are internal speakers that the software will separate. - Setup software allows you to do a "sound check" on the iPhone app and will provide EQ settings that are optimal for your room listening experience. - Streaming was great. No breakup of audio stream. I have seen issues with some blue tooth speakers, but haven't experienced anything negative with Sonos. - Overall very satisfied with these wireless speakers. No need to run wires anymore. Now if we can do something about the power cord ... Tradeoffs - Overall Software. You must use the Sonos software to play music through the speakers. If you're used to using iTunes or whatever software you normally use, then you'll have to adjust a little. For example, Pandora or Amazon run within the Sonos app. - Ability to stream anything to the speakers is a little problematic. For example, if you want to stream audio from a TV show you're watching on your computer to the speakers is not possible or at least I can't figure it out. You can however connect a physical line-in/out audio cable from your computer directly to the speaker to do that. - One thing I noticed about the power cable design in the back is that it is a bit flimsy and easy to splice the outer housing of the, so be careful as you plug/unplug and pack the device.

Actualización aproximadamente un año y medio de uso: La mejor compra que he hecho en mi vida, vale cada centavo y eso que la compre cuando costaba $12,500. Actualización: A un mes de cumplir el año de uso se descompuso la tarjeta de red inalámbrica, el equipo seguía funcionando pero debía conectarlo vía Ethernet así que contacté a garantía, me pidieron que ejecutara la opción de diagnóstico que incluye la app de Sonos y listo, me pidieron que enviara mi equipo por mensajería y a las 2 semanas me llegó un equipo nuevo. Mantengo la calificación de 5 estrellas porque el servicio post venta me pareció muy bueno y la falla del equipo pudo deberse a un problema ajeno a la fabricación. Comentario original: Excelente calidad de audio, no distorsiona en ningún momento, tengo planeado adquirir mas productos de la familia SONOS en un futuro próximo. Lo único malo es que dos meses después de comprarla SONOS decidió bajar sus precios en México, pude haberme ahorrado $2500 :(

Después de probar muchísimas bocinas inalámbricas (bluetooth o wifi) estoy convencido de que la Sonos Play 5 es la mejor opción. Compré dos para armar un para estéreo y estoy muy conforme con el sonido que emana de estas dos cajitas: un balance perfecto de las frequencias, definición absoluta de las voces, instrumentos y profundidad espacial. Nada se queda corto o se siente forzado, ni las frecuencias mas bajas que siempre son robustas y poderosas así como las altas que se escuchan cristalinas. Se que se pueden armar muy buenos sets de audio con bocinas dedicadas con calidad de monitor y un buen amplificador, pero si se desea simpleza y practicidad sin sacrificar calidad del sonido, Sonos es la respuesta.

I had a Sonos speaker on a Windows network for less than three years. Then, the speaker died. It seems the sound is good but the reliability is bad. I decided to give Sonos another try anyway. When I added the new speaker on the network, I had to update the Sonos software on my Windows station. Unfortunately, Sonos "improved" their Windows software by removing support for adding speakers from within Windows (they only support iOS and Android)! Since this device is on a controlled network where no WiFi devices are allowed, this is proving very complicated for a simple speaker. I'm very disappointed with my experience with Sonos speakers.

This speaker is very well built and sounds terrific. I played several songs that I'm familiar with and they all sounded better than ever before. The speaker is heavy and well built. I like the fact that I can control more with this speaker than I can with my Sonos:1 speakers. Swiping to the right plays the next song in the queue. Swiping left plays the previous song. Volume and stop/start functions. I bought this for my bathroom which is 11' X 12' in dimension with a 20' ceiling. It is just one speaker but the room sounds like it has 4 speakers. I am not sure how they did that. I am thrilled with the speaker and hope I'll enjoy many years of excellent sound from it. I would recommend this to a friend.

I bought this to replace an aging Apple iPod H-Fi that we had been using since 2006. It had just become impossible to update music on the older iPods and of course there was no access to any of the music streaming services. I have a Sonos advertising billboard literally across the street from me so the Play 5 has certainly been in my mind for a while and was something I had been considering as a replacement for my aging setup. And knowing that it would soon have the ability to play Apple Music was enough to have me ordering it. The plan was to use both of the streaming services Spotify and Apple Music, and as well to play FLAC music from a Synology NAS. All of this works just fine, and all of our playlists are accessible. The Sonos control software is really quite good, even if it looks a little bit dated in the interface design on the desktop computer versions. The way the control software works from any device is really quite a coup. I can start playback on my desktop computer, move to an iPad and end up using a phone to choose music. But the sound quality is a bit of a let down. It's a big boxy boomy bass heavy muffled sound which makes everything seem like my neighbors are playing music and I'm listening to it with my ear against the wall. I gather that this is sound signature that is desired nowadays, but I found it to be like listening to everything through Beats headphones. In terms of resolution and flat sound accuracy it isn't as good as my old Apple Hi Fi or the B&W MM-1 I have on my desktop. I did manage to improve the sound by setting the EQ a little bit to favor the treble and reduce bass. There is only a rough EQ provided though, and you can only do so much before the treble becomes brittle. I did try out the Trueplay feature a few times, but I did not like the effect. It added a heavily DSP affected sound that changed the character and tone of the music in some cases. I found the best sound and imaging to come from having the unit in landscape, set out from the wall to reduce the boominess, and using the EQ to further reduce the bass. Now despite all of this I have kept my Play:5 so far as it is just so incredibly convenient that it makes up for the bad sound. If you have guests over and you want to play music from a large library quietly in the background then it works. Background music is sort of this product's niche. This is my opinion and I can get that a lot of people will love the sound signature of the Play:5. But if you like accuracy, or the "British Sound", or if you even know what that is then this is probably not for you.