Tell me about sonos or equivilents

PolarityMan

Wifey wants a wireless speaker in the kitchen (even though i do all the cooking!) preferably with spotify access. I reckon sonos units look pretty good so thinking a sonos 1 might be a good xmas prezzie and be reeaonsbly future proof if i decide to expand the network in the future.

Anyone got one and can reccomend? What about alternatves, phillips for example make a much cheaper wifi streamer.

monquixote

Funnily enough I was listening to them today in John Lewis and considering a purchase.

I was not filled with whelm by the sound quality. I think for the price the 1 would be OK as a kitchen radio and Spotify streamer. The 5 however didn't sound a lot better and is a lot more expensive. 

They are also surprisingly small. 

What I find baffling is that the 1 doesn't have a headphone socket and the only Sonos that can integrate with an existing hifi is much more expensive. 

ThorpyFX

I have a sonos system, two sonos 1's and a sonos connect. It's an amazing system, connects directly to EVERYTHING including spotify, Amazon club, itunes on my wireless HD etc etc. the play 1 sounds amazing and at the price you can't go wrong. The Denon helios looks like a good system but it's a lot more money and I don't think it's as well connected or as easy to use.

PolarityMan

How loud are they, I did wonder if long term i could use a second 1 in my under construction garage drum room as well, will it cope ok with the noise from an electric kit

HAL9000

Also been thinking about this but am concerned that AFAIK there is no provision for playing my existing CDs (and I don't fancy spending the time ripping my existing collection) unless it is possible go use the CD drive in the laptop and somehow stream it from there. However, I don't know if that is possible. Also since the SONOS seems to consist of individual, rather than paired, speakers I assume that any stereo separation disappears.

PolarityMan

I recently ripped m whole collection so im good from that perspective, i think you can link 2 sonos 1's or the bigger units have 2 drivers but i already have 2 reasonable stereos so this is more for rooms that dont have a current solution in m case.

richardhomer

Bowers & Wilkens Zeppelin and Zeppelin Mini have recently come down in price. They will allow any audio (TuneIn radio, iTunes, etc) to stream via Airplay.

Sound quality is exceptionally high.

TTony

I have Sonos kit, and love it.  

It's not "hi-fi", but it's pretty good quality for casual listening and hugely convenient/easy-to-use.

I've got a Sonos 5 that I use around the house (mainly outside) and the box that plays through the hifi.  The 5 goes plenty loud enough (easily fills the room), and just pick it up, move rooms, plug it in (power) and you're good to go.

I connect mine to my NAS and then pick/playlist music from that, or use it for internet radio.  

Really easy to use iPad/Android app.

monquixote

The Heos stuff looks interesting. 

They seem to have avoided the flaw of the Sonos stuff in that the amp has a line in meaning that you can use it as the amp for your telly etc as well as a streaming box. 

It's still bizarre that as with the Sonos the lowest priced powered speaker is less expensive than the box that just has a line out.

I also listened to the B&W today and thought it sounded a cut above, but it was £799 which is quite a chunk more cash.

EDIT: Also it looks like the base Heos is targeted at the Sonos Play 3 so the price is about the same.

Also anything you plug into the line in of the heos can be streamed around the house so you can use it to stream the audio from the TV around the house which is cool.

TTony

PolarityMan said:

Wifey wants a wireless speaker in the kitchen (even though i do all the cooking!) preferably with spotify access. I reckon sonos units look pretty good so thinking a sonos 1 might be a good xmas prezzie

monquixote said:

I also listened to the B&W today and thought it sounded a cut above, but it was £799 which is quite a chunk more cash.

As you say, the B&W isn't really comparable.

monquixote

I think I'd be pretty wary of spending £800 on something like this not least for the fact that some of these products are going to end up being dropped from support and being paperweights when the software no longer runs on the latest iPhone (as is happening with the amps and fx that take this approach).

It does slightly annoy me that all of the suppliers seem to have taken the approach of excluding a line out on all, but the really expensive models for no other reason I can see than because they assume that if you want to run one with your own hi-fi you must have lots of money to spend. 

I'd actually quite like a Sonos system, but in their money grubbing they've excluded making a product that I can actually use. If you have an AV amp then Play Music and a Chromecast seems like the most compelling option to me.

richardhomer

^ B&W do both wireless speakers and docks. The dearer of the two docks is the Zeppelin at £350 - though it uses Airplay, it also has a 'Lightening Connector' so an iPhone can be physically docked AND a line in on the back, enabling any analogue signal to be connected to it.

The smaller version is about £170 - it would be ideal for a kitchen/study, etc.

chrispy108

monquixote said:

It does slightly annoy me that all of the suppliers seem to have taken the approach of excluding a line out on all, but the really expensive models for no other reason I can see than because they assume that if you want to run one with your own hi-fi you must have lots of money to spend. 

It's to create a range for themselves. No one would buy their top-end products if you could buy the little one and plug it into your own hi-fi would they?

ThorpyFX

The SONOS connect is a great bit of kit, i use it with my home surround in the lounge and it works ver very well. has a line in too. 

Rocker

A Sonos bridge, less than £50, connects to your router. This allows access to music stored on the computer hard drive, Internet radio etc from any Sonus player. Control is via a free downloadable app on your Smartphone/tablet. Works a treat. I use this technology myself in our house, it is very stable. I don't use Spotify so cannot comment about this....

Misterg

@Rocker - the latest version of Sonos doesn't need the bridge any more.

The Play 5 has a line in.

Stevepage

The Wifes uncle has a sonos system built into his house, fantastic system. It's great hearing Zepplin pumped through all the rooms at the same time

strumjoughlamps

HAL9000;437334" said:

Also been thinking about this but am concerned that AFAIK there is no provision for playing my existing CDs (and I don't fancy spending the time ripping my existing collection) unless it is possible go use the CD drive in the laptop and somehow stream it from there. However, I don't know if that is possible. Also since the SONOS seems to consist of individual, rather than paired, speakers I assume that any stereo separation disappears.

Marantz mcr610 for you then.

dindude

There are good alternatives if you don't need music piped to multiple rooms at once. Example, I have a dedicated Mac mini running my music files or CDs to traditional hifi seperates via a DAC, then controlled via my iPad. I then run one of these in the kitchen, it's my fav gadget. 

https://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-audio/bluetooth-ipod-speakers/bluetooth-speakers/soundlink-mini-bluetooth-speaker/

I can pick up my iPad via Bluetooth and play youtube videos in much better quality, or I can pick up my entire iTunes library on my Mac mini and stream to the Bose, again controlled by the ipad. 

Seriously, I think the Sonos is for people who don't understand technology, it's just simply packaged for convenience. 

PolarityMan

Whats the pairing process like for it? Im too lazy to pair with my car half the time, cant see my wife doing it unless its a really simple process.

dindude

Pair once and it's locked in for good. My iPad picks it up straight away. Picking up my iTunes library is case of selecting it in the shared section of the music library.