Since starting my new job in late October of 2019, I began passing the collection of Sonos speakers each weekend, and eventually working with them and learning more about what they have to offer. Being a tech lover, I had of course heard of Sonos before and knew who they were and what they had to offer, well in terms of products, but now it’s fair to say, I clearly didn't know just what they were capable of.
It is accurate to say I have a particular 'soft spot' for Bose products and have done for the past 4 or so years. I've owned a few pairs of their headphones and one of their speakers, which certainly didn’t fail to impress, but I think my investment into the Play:5 has made me realise that I was being a little tunnel-visioned.
Sonos have many fascinating and unique features, which I will address later, but these don't become fully apparent until you really experience the greatness of them first hand. Around 6 or 7 years ago I heard their range of multiroom Wi-Fi speakers and they just didn't hit the spot for me if I’m honest, although that many years ago I was no tech driven person, nor was I very knowledgeable in a wide range of audio aspects/products. However now I am a lot more aware of what’s going on in this field now, I decided to have a proper listen to the new Gen2 Sonos speakers, and to keep it brief, they definitely put a big smile on my face!
After hearing this sound, my eyes and ears particularly moved towards the larger of the group, the Sonos Play:5. Now to some this may cue the "well it’s obvious that everyone would go for the bigger one, that’s why it's more its more expensive" comments, however for some this isn’t true as the Sonos One, which I may later review, offers a satisfying crisp, clear sound enough for any small sized room or listener who wants it for occasional listening and the newer, particularly popular Alexa/Google Assistant feature built into the One (voice model needed). Never the less, I listen to my music a lot, and this is one of the reasons I invested in my Play:5. I appreciate pure sound very much and upon hearing the Play:5, I knew it was a good place for my money to go.
The Play:5 houses 6 drivers in total, consisting of 3 tweeters at the top and 3 long throw mid-woofers along the bottom of the unit. These woofers measure in at 4" each, although Sonos does not state the wattage of these drivers, maybe because with such well-designed products wattage isn't the key to this enjoyable experience. This combination of the 6 customer drivers, each with their own Class D amplifier, makes for a thoroughly thrilling listening experience. This is one more dedicated amplifier than its older counterpart! I must admit, my order was a rather last minute, quick one, which left me continuously questioning myself if it was the right choice, as I had even considered spending more on other options, but unboxing the Play (which was both fun and shall be on YouTube soon) allowed me to put my mind to rest due by the crispness of the treble and smoothness of the bass right out of the box.
To set up the speaker, I needed to download Sonos' app which is a rather useful piece of software. You can use this speaker over a wireless connection or via the ethernet port or line in port located on the rear of the cabinet. My personal device is an iPhone 11 ProMax, in which I use mainly Apple Music and Soundcloud on. The ability to link these services directly through the app was a particularly convenient feature, as it means I don't have to switch between multiple apps to change sound settings and music. Being an iOS user allows me to make use of the integration of Airplay 2 in the Play:5, which is maybe, other than the sound, my favourite feature. I had always been a little sceptical of Wi-Fi transmission for speakers, but I really do enjoy the quality benefits of it, and the convenience of features such as Airplay, of course this is an iOS feature only, however Android users
can simply use the Sonos app to play their music, which as I mentioned is very convenient alone. I also used their app to set up Trueplay, a Sonos piece of magic which allows you to wave you device around the room, whilst the speaker emits some Star Wars-like zapping noises. These noises aren't all for the show though, they allow your Sonos speaker to tune itself for the surrounding environment. If you have a book shelf in the middle of the room for example, it can't literally bend the sound around it, but it can adapt itself for this abnormality on the room. For me, I originally didn't like Trueplay as I felt it made my speaker sound a little... empty. Since listening to more music with it enabled though, particularly music with a large amount of bass throughout the frequency range, I've taken a liking to the feature, as it allows me to keep the very low, almost physically noticeable, smooth tones of bass, whilst stopping the mid bass frequencies becoming too 'boomy' or overpowering and resonating around my room. For me this was important, as I already have the speaker set to -1 bass due to its capability, but it meant I didn't have to lower the bass and lose the lower tones just to compensate for the higher tones. So, to Sonos for that I say, excellent feature, well done!
So, the speaker itself, the sound, I know that's what you want to know so I'm going to get straight into it. I purchased the black version of the speaker, as Sonos do offer a white model too, but in my opinion the black keeps the grille and cabinet all as one colour which looks sleek and uniform, not to say the white one doesn't have the sleek aesthetics anyway, but for me, the black Play:5 was the cleaner choice for my desk. As for positioning, it currently sits next to my PC monitor on the middle shelf of my desk, and it’s in the corner of the room. With positioning noted, one thing that particularly pleased me was the Play:5's ability to product deep, rich sound no matter where placed. My previous speakers were the great value for money Logitech Z623 THX, however to get the thundering bass they were capable of, the sub had to be placed right, which wasn't always easy, and although they've reduced cables, there still was plenty of cables all over the back of my desk. The Play:5, much to my surprise can actually produce that quite amazing amount of low end, but with placement not being so much of an issue. I understand comparing some £150 PC speakers to this premium multi-room speaker may be a little unfair, however the Logitech's were no slouch when it came to power in the sound department. My general sound settings are treble +2 and bass -1, with Trueplay enabled. I have the speaker in its standard stereo orientation, which offers a nice, wide soundstage no matter what song you play through the speaker. I played Axel Theslesff's Bad Karma to challenge the Play:5 with the low end, and it performed amazingly, managing to play the very low note of the song audibly without any distortion, something I have found quite a few even high-end speaker struggle to do. Upon playing a range of Drum'n'Bass mixes, I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the bass lines on the Play:5, and also how crisp some tiny details are. The Generation 2 speaker features one more bass drivers than the Generation 1 version, and this is complemented with the change to a sealed box, which allows for lower bass production, and more of it, along with eliminating the previous low frequency 'port chuffing' noises. The 1975's albums all were made even more enjoyable especially when turned up! Even with my 70% volume limit on, the speaker was still incredibly loud but still crisp, making the vocals sound astonishing and the actual beat very punchy and clear. Of course, my YouTube review is a good one to watch if you'd like to put some headphones on and listen to an example of the Play:5 expressing its quality sound.
In terms of usability, the Sonos Play:5 gets top marks from me. The software is both easy to use, but also very bug free and offers an excellent guidance to those not so experienced and newer users. The speaker physically in terms of design is also especially easy to use. Sonos have ditched their buttons from Generation 1 speakers, and moved to a much sleeker looking and easy to use touch control system. You no longer have to use force to activate buttons on the speaker, and now can simply play/pause mu by tapping the top of the logo, and also adjust volume using the left and right areas next to the play/pause button. One feature I actually do use myself use quite a lot was the ability to swipe across the 3 top buttons to change track forward and backwards, something so simple yet so handy. You may have also noticed the rubber feet on the end of the Play:5's body, this is due to one of their other slightly hidden yet easy to use features. The speaker has inbuilt gyros, which know when the speaker is turned on its side. When you do this, the Play:5 automatically changes into a mono sound output, which is more for if you want pair two together into a left and right channel stereo configuration, although this is both costly and in a sense 'overkill' as the one unit is more than enough to fill a large room.
So overall I’d go as far as saying my Sonos Generation 2 Play:5 is the best speaker I’ve owned, and one of the best I’ve actually experienced in my lifetime so far. Sonos have quite evidently come on leaps and bounds since the Gen1 Play:5, with the newer one offering a much better experience than its predecessor. Its ability to fill even the largest rooms of sound is quite frankly brilliant and this goes hand in hand with the ability of really brining your music alive! It offers a crisp, hi-fi quality sound which even challenges some speakers close to £2000, making the hefty £499 price tag far more worth it, whilst accompanying that high-fidelity sound with satisfying, smooth and deep bass on even the most demanding tracks. I truly believe this speaker can put a smile on most people’s faces, as it far exceeded my expectations, and has indeed kept a smile on my face for sure. I would certainly advise any existing Sonos users to consider the Play:5 for their larger rooms (although shaking a small room with it is good fun), and even those who are thinking of starting a Sonos system, there are cheaper start points like the Sonos One, but if you really want the deep, rich audio experience, the Play:5 is the way to go.
