SONOS PLAY:1 Smart Wireless Speaker, Black

Product Information

One major missing feature in the Play:1, becoming more glaring by the month, is a full-array microphone. That is because there's no mic at all, which seems a little bizarre given Sonos' recent focus on its proprietary Sonos Voice rollout, but there we are. But that's no good if you want waterproofing (there is none here) interesting colorways or Bluetooth streaming. While it’s the same old rounded speaker, software tweaks have brought improved sound, as well as Trueplay technology and even more streaming services, features that are crucial to Sonos staying at the top of the streaming game. Much of that is a result of the driver set-up, with six matching Class D amplifiers and almost three times the acoustic horsepower of its predecessor.

You could spend less and gain Bluetooth, you could spend more and get Google Cast… but remember, this is a talented Sonos multi-room enabled speaker. The first is for power (in case it needs to be mentioned, the Sonos Five must be plugged in to function at all times, so it isn't a great candidate for outdoor listening despite its 'humidity resistant' rating), then Ethernet, and lastly a 3.

Be sure to move around as much of the room as possible during the tuning process to cover the whole space. It’s just too sharp and sibilant, which means big special effects are often ruined by a harsh and domineering top-end that annoys the ear, and that the sibilants in vocals are overdone and incessant. the only surround format that the Playbase supports) to your TV and that your TV is then passing that sound signal to the Sonos without doing anything nasty to it. But, viewed as a wireless speaker in its own right, it’s impossible to deny that the Play:5 can now be beaten for sound quality, not just by the more affordable Audio Pro Addon C10, but also by the more expensive Bluesound Pulse 2. Sonos also has a range of in-wall, in-ceiling and waterproof outdoor speakers with architectural speaker specialist Sonance.

In fact, rival soundbars and soundbases that accept almost any signal via HDMI and then send the video to your TV are arguably more simple, as they don’t require you to particularly think about the sound formats being used at every link in the chain. You can also swipe across these for track skips, which is quite fun, although in low-light situations there's only a solo light above the play/pause icon which can make things hard to locate.

If you’d rather not deal with Wi-Fi at all, you can always connect the speaker to your router using an Ethernet cable. With a powerful low-end and crisp mids and highs, new smart processing technology pushes Sonos’ drivers further than ever before, minimizing distortion even at full volume.