SONOS - PLAY:3 Wireless Speaker for Streaming Music (Small) - White..
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857 of 879 people found the following review helpful.
Sonos 101 and the Play:3
By Captain Latte
Here's the problem with Sonos. Most of these reviews are worthless for a new customer as they have no concept what the various components do, how they fit together and what they should get! In fact, I will say that Sonos could significantly improve the messaging of their products. Think about it -- is a new customer going to have any idea what ZonePlayer or Bridge means. Even their website is quite confusing for someone new to all of this stuff. For example, they sell a ZonePlayer120 and ZonePlayer90, which have vastly different functionality. Sonos should just get rid of their marketing folks and hire some people from Apple to fix the messaging confusion. My advice for folks who want to learn more about Sonos is to find a friend with one or go to local stereo shop. Fortunately, the folks on the tech-side of Sonos know what the heck they are doing and why I give this 5 stars!
OK, I just bought a new Black Play:3 along with the Bridge. In a nutshell, here is probably all you need to know:
- Why... The Play:3 is essentially for folks who want to listen to their digital music through a high-quality speaker system that is wirelessly connected to sources of music. Typically, the music is coming from your computer's library (e.g., iTunes) or some internet service such as Pandora or TuneIn (internet radio). How do you control all of this -- by using one of their nifty free apps which run on iPhones, iPod Touch, Androids, iPads (with more to come).
- The Play:3 is your speaker component where sound comes out of. The only connection to worry about is AC power. The beauty of this is that you can move your speaker anywhere in your house at will just as you would with a clock radio.
- The Bridge is a little white box that connects to your WiFi router. It functions to stream music from the source to your Play:3 speaker, wherever that may be. Sure, you don't really need this $50 box as you could plug your Play:3 into your router, but then you defeat much of the purpose for getting a Sonos (wireless portability).
- Sonos makes setup of everything about as easy as possible. If you have a firewall (e.g., at workplace), then things become a little more complicated (you're best off just calling tech support instead of wasting hours figuring it out, which I know many have done).
- I decided to copy my entire iTunes library to a network (NAS) drive and just have Sonos access this. Essentially, I have a portable 500GB Western Digital USB drive connected to my Apple Airport Extreme base station. It is ridiculously easy to setup. The advantage of this is that my music is always available instead of needing my computer to be turned on. Also, much of disk space on my Macbook Pro is used for photos and videos. I should say that another reason I did this was because I am running Mac OS Lion, which is not yet supported by Sonos (but this will be addressed very soon).
- The nice thing about Sonos is that I can easily expand my system later on. For example, I can buy another Play:3 so that I can setup the two in stereo. Or I can create multiple zones in my house (e.g., bedroom, living room) with each Play:3 playing different music at the same time.
- The main limitation of the Play:3 is that there is no line-in jack. This means you cannot connect an outside audio source such as a CD player. And because of this limitation, you cannot configure it using an Apple Airport Express to stream from your iOS device using Apple's Airplay technology. The Play:5 system has a line-in if you really some of these features. Personally, I would love to see Sonos come out with a cheap little white box that just has some line-in audio jacks (including optical). This box could address some of the Play:3 limitations as well as offering an easy way to connect the Sonos system to an Apple TV.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with my purchase and will likely buy another Play:3 shortly to further enhance my system. It just works...and sounds great!
321 of 340 people found the following review helpful.Sonos is a dream come true. The Play:5 is Great
By PeteTechGuy
<> WHAT IS SONOS?
Sonos is a wireless speaker system that streams music from your COMPUTER HARD DISK (such as your iTunes library or other downloaded music) or streams music from the INTERNET (such as 100 thousand internet radio stations, Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody or most anything else) directly to Sonos Speakers. You CHOOSE that music on the fly using the Sonos iPhone or Android apps (or others). With Sonos, such music does not need to stream THROUGH your phone. You use the phone just for the purpose of making your choices. (The phone is the controller not the streamer, unless you want it to be)
Sonos is special because of the extraordinary range of music available, the intuitive phone app interface which so simply controls every aspect of the experience, the sound quality, the whole home flexibility, the ease of setup and installation, and the benefits of doing all this without needing to stream from the phone.
All you need to get started is one Sonos speaker (like the Play1, Play3, Play5 or Playbar) and possibly one Sonos Bridge (which connects the Sonos wireless network to your home network. See "Do you need a bridge?", below). Note that each of these speakers is fully self contained, including its own amp, pre-amp, sonos-wireless network, wireless access to the full range of music from your computer or the internet, and the ability to respond to sonos controller apps on your phones and tablets.
If you want, you can later add Sonos speakers for every room in your home, all perfectly integrated with your same phone/tablet controllers, music and grouping options. You can also include your 3rd party stereo system with a Sonos-Connect (which would be a sonos input source for that stereo system); or add 3rd party speakers with a Sonos-Connect-Amp, (a small box which itself would be both the SOURCE and AMP for any pair of 3rd party speakers. Perfect for outdoor speakers for example). These Sonos Connect devices also respond to the sonos apps on your phones and tablets, and provide the same options for music and for syncing/grouping with other rooms and speakers.
<> HOW GOOD IS THE SONOS SYSTEM?
I've been using Sonos since 2009, and it's been FLAWLESS, and an ABSOLUTE JOY.
I've got instant, automatically-updated access to all of my iTunes TRACKS, ARTISTS, PLAYLISTS AND ALBUMS. Sonos also has an excellent implementation of PANDORA, RHAPSODY, other music services, and internet radio. It's such a pleasure to hear them throughout the house and patio, controlled by my iPhone in every way, and with full broadband quality sound.
The FLEXIBILITY and EASE OF USE are equally impressive. Each room can play any independent track or other music choice, or be instantly grouped (synchronized) with any number of other rooms. When multiple rooms are grouped, it's so easy and natural to
- choose and navigate music for the group just as you would for a single room.
- control the volume of any individual room within the group.
- control the volume of the entire group while maintaining their relative levels.
I've had multi-zone home systems, costing ten times as much, that couldn't do these things. Nor can you do any of these things with standard airplay speakers or bluetooth speakers.
The ability to SIMULTANEOUSLY PLAY DIFFERENT TRACKS IN DIFFERENT ROOMS from a single iTunes library, located on a single computer, is a technological feat that also can not be achieved with standard AirPlay speakers alone. (You can also play music from multiple libraries from one or more computers or from networked attached storage, NAS). ALL OF YOUR CHOICES for any or all of your rooms can be beautifully controlled by a SINGLE IPHONE, iPod touch, iPad, Android, PC, Mac or by any number of such controllers.
I also have an Apple AIRPORT EXPRESS linked to a sonos line-in, so that my friends can stream any ITUNES OR APP music to my sonos system using Apple AIRPLAY from their iPhone. That works well, but sometimes a streaming iPhone will loose its WiFi connection as you move about the house. (Of course, iPhone/Airplay WiFi streaming glitches are not sonos related problems. This is more of an illustration of how a Phone/WiFi streaming system is likely to work.) Nonetheless, it's great to have Airplay available for friends. Some of this can now be accomplished without an Airport Express, since newer versions of the iPhone/iPad/iPod SONOS APPs can stream the iDevice's ITUNES tracks (but not other app music) to your Sonos system directly from the phone or tablet over wifi. (In this case the audio would be going from phone to router, via wifi, and from router to speaker, via SonosNet)
My Sonos system has been absolutely flawless, with a CONSISTENT, INTUITIVE INTERFACE, and my iPhone, with its Sonos controller app, is always right there in my pocket, ready to go.
Setup for all of the Sonos zones has been a snap, and the system has been a total joy from day one.
<> DO YOU NEED A BRIDGE ?
One requirement to be aware of is that you'll either need to get a Sonos Bridge OR connect this Play5, OR any other Sonos Player (ie, a Play1, Play3, Play5, PlayBar, SUB, Sonos-Connect, or Sonos-Connect-Amp) anywhere in your home, directly to your router or LAN with the included ethernet cable. Only one sonos device or bridge needs to be hardwired to the router or LAN.
So if one Sonos device will be close enough to your router (or to any Ethernet port on your LAN) to plug it in, then you won't need a bridge. Otherwise you will. A bridge costs $50 by itself, but lately sonos has been offering a special bundle (available on sonos.com and amazon), which includes the bridge for free when you buy a sonos speaker. (But you must see that special offer AND add the bridge to your shopping cart!)
<> THE SONOS WIRELESS NETWORK
Every Sonos device uses the Sonos Wireless Network, which itself offers some key advantages over most competing speakers.
With the sonos network, each sonos device wirelessly communicates directly with other sonos devices (using what's called a "wireless mesh network"). Thus when you have multiple sonos devices, each one automatically becomes a wireless relay to the next closest sonos device and on and on, successively back to the router. This means that multiple sonos devices are likely to give you far better wireless streaming connections than you'd have with standard wireless speakers. With standard wifi speakers, each one needs to communicate wirelessly back to your router itself, which can be much farther away than the nearest speaker. This is one of the reasons that so many are so happy with the reliability of sonos audio.
Here's another benefit of the sonos wireless network: The extra ethernet port on a sonos device provides a solid connection to the Internet and to your home network for any device that can use an ethernet port. Thus, you can extend your wifi network to distant locations in your home (for better laptop internet connections, eg), by plugging a standard inexpensive WiFi access point into the ethernet port on any play5. Also, because of the Mesh network relay system, these sonos ethernet ports can often provide a stronger internet connection for VIDEO streaming devices (like ROKU or AppleTV) than the built-in wi-fi on those devices. My friend and I eliminated all of his video stutter by use of sonos ethernet ports.
The Sonos Network DOES require, however, that at least one sonos device or bridge be connected directly to your Router or LAN.
<> PROTECTED ITUNES TRACKS on sonos
iTunes tracks bought after 2008 are not protected, and WILL work on sonos and other devices. If you have a lot of earlier, protected, iTunes tracks, they can ALL be converted for a one time total fee of $25: Just subscribe to iTunes Match ($25/yr) and apple will upgrade your tracks to unprotected. Apple allows you to keep your upgraded tacks if you later cancel iTunes Match, but the $25 will not be refunded. IMO, that $25 is a nice price for converting a large library to "play anywhere", and independently, you might decide to keep iTunes Match as I have.
<> The SONOS Play:5
Sounds better than my Bose Sound Dock. Looks great. Sets up in seconds, and moves easily between rooms when needed. It can really be cranked up in VOLUME WITHOUT DISTORTION. Perfect.
ADVANTAGES in BUYING A SINGLE Play5 (or Play3) rather than a Bose SoundDock or other docking speaker:
1) CONTROL FROM YOUR SEAT: It's an absolute pleasure to have complete control over what you're listening to, right where you are, keeping your iphone or android in your hand or pocket. You don't have to stand up to choose any specific track, playlist, artist, radio station, internet music service, or to see what's playing. And because your iphone is only the controller (you're streaming from your desktop computer hard disk or from the internet, rather than from your iPhone - unless you choose to, as noted above) you're not using up valuable phone battery life or suffering mediocre sound quality, as you might be otherwise. Further, your phone is still with you for answering phone calls or using other phone apps, with no disruption to the music system.
2) INTERNET RADIO: Sonos probably has the worlds best remote control user interface for internet radio. Listen to Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius, last.fm, Spotify, all of your local radio stations (local radio is quick to find, given it's independent menu item. A very nice touch.), or about 100 thousand other internet radio stations, organized by location (country, state, city), or searchable by genre, sub-genre, station name, station number, or radio show name.
3) UPGRADABILITY: Add another zone (or multiple additional zones) at any time in the future and you're set with a multizone system. Also, the system will continue to be just as valuable if you change your phone from an iPhone to an Android or vice versa, which would not be the case with a phone docking speaker or an airplay system.
I should point out that there are some benefits in going with a single Docking Speaker instead:
1) Cost Savings.
2) Some might prefer a docking speaker away from home, but the Play5 DOES includes a line-in port and cable that can be used with your phone when away. OR You can use an inexpensive bluetooth adapter with the Play5's line-in. The Sonos phone app won't typically work away from home, but you won't need it. Just make sure to turn on autoplay in the play5's line-in settings before leaving home.
Final Verdict: I really do love my Play:5 and my entire Sonos system.
68 of 68 people found the following review helpful.
Now That Is A Lot Of Sound Coming From Such A Small Package - Easy Music Is Back In My Life
By Carter H
I have been a Sonos user for over four years now but this is the first time I purchased some of their speakers. I had the connect unit going into either stand alone Bose unit in living room that then ran into a whole house hard wired Russound system that cost way too much, or yamaha and polk audio towers. The speakers in that system for each room with a controller ran more for each room than getting a play 1 or 2. It was a major butt pain running all the ethernet in walls and I vowed if I ever moved that was never happening again,
Well the move has happened and now it was time to do a new system, an easy system, and a cheaper system without compromising on sound quality.
There are ways of running your system with varous components that will get you audiophile quality with the sonos as your backbone, but that is way too much money and more effort and suffering than I care to go through.
Ok now to the meat of the Play 1. I am sitting right now in a 25 x 30 room with one Play 1 going and it sounds great, I dont care who you are you will be surprised at the sound pumping out of this little yet heavy box. For the best results in rooms this size and larger you might want to get two and pair them for stereo with the sonos app. I tried this and its easy. Ended up moving the other Play 1 into another room as I am not going to crank music to move the earth much anymore. My purpose was for constant background quality sound and if a good song came on to pump it up without issue, and not to scare wildlife.
If you are a sound snob, and you know who you are, you can find some lacking highs at high volume and a tad of missing clarity in the midrange. I dont say this to warn anyone off this speaker its just not $800. This system is easy and the sound is very good and very impressive, not awe inspiring. Music for me has changed and for many it has as well.
I had found myself just not wanting to go throught the effort anymore of turning on amplifiers, receivers, hititng remotes to find the content and switch on rooms, adjusting settings,,,,,
By the time I got done with all that I didnt want to listen to anything anymore, and had forgotten the song I wanted to hear anyway. It was a pain that was causing a lack of music in my life. I did not like the lack, but what the heck was I going to do about it as options were limited to non existent.
So now i have a herd of Play 1's all over the place. I am thinking of breeding them to get more. A Sonos Rancher. Riding a horse in the pastures with little Soni following me and playing music everywhere. The music is now back. Its easy, convenient and comprehensive in content. I just run the Sonos system from my ipad or iPhone and move about. You can play fiferent music source in each room at any volume level or hit whole house and roam at will with your tunes. Sonos integrates well with streaming servies and I have found myself using Pandora the most. Slacker works well and I have used Spotify which was my go to for on specific on demand artists, but Spotify wont cooperate with Sonos to make finding your Spotify radio just playlists so that kind of sucks.
The Play 1's are sealed against dust, dirt and moisture / humidity so the outdoors and bath are now no problem. The range of the units are phenomenal. Sonos uses a special wifi thing. Yeah thats as tech as I am going to get on this review. It works and I am happy. I have some Play 1's 40 feet from main connect unit, and some well over 50 feet with concrete block walls.
Is it perfect? No. But good music all the time anywhere you are at a button touch is better than what I had, which was no music because it was too much damn trouble. Those days are gone. It is so good I wonder why Apple has not bought them up.
I have listened to all the Play speakers. The Play 3 has a tad better sound, and the 5 is a tad better sound than the 3. I dont think I am ever going to get the others though. The 1's are so cute and non obtrusive and the look on everyones face as they try to find where the big sound in a room is coming from is entertaining. "That little thing is the speaker? Yes it is. Where are the others? There arent any. You gotta be ****** me? No, thats it"
If you need bigger sound you have the option of the other bigger speakers, or just double up in a room with the Play 1's and move on musically content with your life. All is well
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