The amount of Sonos queries here woke an old itch up, that I had tried to bury.
I do have a few questions though...
1) I have a Nas, on which I started to put some of the music. Could a Sonos access it, or does it need to go through the computer?
2) I understand "owning" music is a bit last century... Spotify or Apple Music? Is there a location constraint for "family premium", or can I share with the neighbours to lower cost?
3) Soundbar, is it only for TV, i.e. does the same room requires a Sonos 3 or 5?
4) Modern house so fairly small rooms. Can a Sonos 1 exist on its own or do we need 2 for stereo?
Sorry for being so thick, but I genuinely tried to find the answers and nothing I found answered unequivocally to those questions so I thought best to ask actual users.
1 yes works fine.Originally Posted by Saint-Just
2 not 100% sure but I believe it's fine.
3 sound bar on own works but for a more "immersive" experience you can add a pair of play 1's as rears and the wireless sub.
4 I have single 1's in our bed room and a spare for use in garage or kitchen etc and have never felt I'm missing out by not having stereo, I guess its location / use dependent.
I'm following this with interest as am in the same situation as S-J.
Once the hullabaloo of the holiday shopping dies down I'll be finding somewhere to have a demo, but any advice before is welcome.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
I have a single Sonos One in the lounge, coupled to Spotify at £9.99 per month. Bought it after seeing and hearing one that a friend has. Best thing I've bought in a long while. Had it on all morning. Will be investing in another for the bedroom and dining room too.
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Also if you already have a stereo in say your lounge and want to add sonos then the sonos connect allows you to use this and integrate with other sonos modules in the house.
Sonos are a great music solution for the house, more so since they removed the need for a bridge to connect to your home network.
My only grumble is the lack of support for iPlayer radio, so any listen again content I play through by Bose sound dock.
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1- yes no problem at all easy to set up using the app
2- technically it's meant to be in the same household family however I know loads of people who do this, my mum is on my account for example not that she uses it loads.
3- the soundbar is pretty good at music and tv but if it's your main music listening room I'd recommend a 3 or 5
4- the 1 is superb for the size of it, we have them in the kitchen, conservatory and dressing room, they are nice as a stereo pair but in a smallish room not needed.
The best advice I had was go into richer sounds (if there's one near you) and ask for a demo of the things you're interested in and know the dimensions of the rooms you intend to use it in. I found them extremely helpful and the advice we got at the time was spot on.
Re the Spotify question - get the family account with 6 'logins' for £15pm, you can then sell off the ones you don't need to fund the £180 annual cost. I was paying £10pm and sharing with my 2 sons but when they logged-on I got logged off if using the same account. So I did as above - sold 2 for £30 each to mates and my annual costs were the same and no conflicts.
Been a Sonos user for 6 years, it works great, app is slick, integration with NAS is straight forward, we have 4 around the house, set up is a doddle. Go for it.
Ian
You do know that listen again is avalable for some shows via the tunein service, it was broken for a while when the BBC made changes to there streaming services, and it seems only seven days follow up is avalable rather than the thirty on iplayer
Very useful, thank you all for the insight. And please anyone feel free to add your own Sonos questions.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Play 1 is enough for most - Have one in a room that is 15x12 and its plenty for normal listening.
NAS - way to go with either deezer or spotify as subscription, both work very well. Tried apple, didn't like the UI
Yes, Sonos will play music from a NAS. It supports AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV.
There is not a location constraint, but your subscription may be restricted to a single stream at a time.
Soundbar (Playbar) can be used for music as well, and can be paired with a Sonos Connect Amp for rear speakers and a Sonos Sub.
Sonos Play:1 works fine as a single speaker. Room size is the limiting factor, its not a very big speaker.
Not with a family account which is what he asked about - the six accounts act independently.
Just to add to the other replies. It works really well on a NAS - we have ours set up that for years now.
The Play 1's are superb. Stereo or single depends on your application.
Overall, one of the best things we have ever bought and gets used daily by everyone. The kids wouldn't be without it, or my wife for that matter. As has been said, you can integrate it with existing hi-fi or home cinema kit really easily too which just adds to the appeal and flexibility.
Great kit, you won't regret it.
The Play 1's are still plentiful at £149 (John Lewis) and I've just unboxed a second one for the bedroom for stereo use. When we have friends round we can just transfer one to the second bedroom so they can use it either via the wifi or their own phones. The sound quality and bass response from such a small unit is remarkable.
If you want sound in an existing HiFi system you need Sonos Connect. My NAS drive music library with all my music Cd's on is all availabe to listen to too.
Got 2 Play-1 yesterday
Taking advantage of the introduction offer from Spotify @ £0.99/month to see the use it gets before taking family package. By then I'll have one more play-1 and a play 3 for our bedroom (at the moment one of the play-1, that will move to daughter's bedroom when the other play-1 will serve in the living room for left/right stereo effect. Then a sound bar, and the 2 play-1 will make 5.1 surround.
Talk about materialistic first world problems... Sometimes I do not like my own company. At least it keeps Mrs SJ happy. of sort.
TBH I never really saw the benefit of play3's or play5's over play1's in singles or pairs and I have a pair of play5's in our flat in the bedroom and kitchen and I've never had them loud enough to warrant them over the 1's.
It's simply that the 5's were the only thing available at the time.
It's in the vague hope that one extra driver will make the difference as fitting 2 play-1 in the bedroom would be challenging. At the moment the single play 1 is perfect
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
You must be a little deaf
I can tell the difference between play 1 & 3, but not 5 & 3, unless the volume is at a level to annoy my neighbours.
Heard the new play 5 today and it so much better than the old one ( which i have), i would say it's not in the same league as the 3 for either quality or power....think champions league vs EFL
Got a Play1 for xmas and loving it so far
Sorry.You must be a little deaf
I can tell the difference between play 1 & 3, but not 5 & 3, unless the volume is at a level to annoy my neighbours.
Never had Sonos until a few days ago snd bought a couple of play 3's for the kitchen and sitting room. Set up was simple and guided via the app and only took 10 minutes. As mentioned by others the app is really simple and gives easy access to the radio and music libraries. I have Amazon prime for deliveries and a mate told me you get free music streaming via there...... Indeed you do so no need for additional spotify costs. Not sure if any downsides to Amazon music but it all works well to me. Most of all though, I love the rich deep sound of these 3's, nice quality and got enough power for a party.
Thanks for that I have just added it and will think about cancelling Spotify.
They are built for parties - can dot them around the house and the music is synched perfectly.
Just for clarification, Prime members get 2m songs. To get access to the full Prime music of 40m songs, on par with Spotify, you need to pay an extra £7.99 month.
That's good to know, I didn't know that. I've not encountered any limitations yet but then I'm far from musically fussy. Cheers
As a precursor to diving into the Sonos world (thanks to this thread
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Did that as well R. Quite impressive I must admit, even in classical music or (God forbid!) French singers.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I almost always listen to whole albums rather than specific tracks. What i loved about my old creative mp3 player from a decade ago, was the play random album button, playing a random album from start to finish then moving on to another, allowing you to skip an album if you want. This seems to be a feature that is missing from all the phone media players i've tried since. Does sonos do this? If not i won't bother.
Brighty
Last edited by Brighty; 2nd January 2017 at 12:21.
It's not Sonos that will allow that but your source of music. iTunes does it, as does Spotify
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Sorry, should have mentioned i'm talking about local content, i have all my music, 300 or so albums on my android phone, i would want random album play for it. Don't intend, yet, to use a streaming service, though i have amazon music as part of prime. I'm sure i'd eventually sign up to something, but i'd still want the option to play my local content.
What I was saying is that Sonos is not the system choosing what you play and when. They are a speaker/amp system if you want to relate to classic Hi Fi, and the app on your phone/computer is the knob that selects the source of the music, the volume and the speakers you're going to use. So if your music app (itunes or whatever else you use) doesn't allow the shuffling you need you will not be able to do it.
As a matter of fact, no other sound system will, either: you need to find the music playing app that will work for you first.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
The Sonos app allows you to play local content, be that from a NAS drive or your mobile, even your desktop (switched on). You just need all devices to be connected to wifi to do so.
Just a little heads up wrt Spotify. If you're eligible for an NUS card or a member of your family is, then you can get premium Spotify for £4.99 per month.
Many professional bodies/institutes etc allow you to be classed as a student. For example I'm a member of the CII and get a student card!!!
Thats not strictly true.
you use the app to load a queue on the sonos system, once the queue is selected, be that a album, number of albums or playlist etc if you hit the random button the system randomises it not the control app.
Also I didn't know that itunes can natively control sonos now, are you sure or confusing the recently introduced control from spotify?
So the sonos app is not a media player then? It will still use the music player app, like google 'play music' on my phone to play local content? How does it play content on a nas drive then?
One of my New Year resolutions is to get more 'up to date' with modern technology. Methinks a visit to the Sonos website is in order, followed by a visit to a Sonos seller to have a listen. Regardless of the technology, rule no.1 still applies with music: let your ears do the choosing....... provided Mr Wallet can stand the pain
Rule no2 is obvious: Mr Wallet has the final say, regardless of what your ears try to tell him!
Paul
The best way I can explain it is that the sonos devices are like radio tuners, and the sonos app on your phone / computer are the remote control.
This is for nas / internet based content.
For content local on the phone I'm unsure if the app acts as a media player or creates a link between the sonos device and phone media.
Sonos is the business.
Easy set-up and ongoing interactions to setup music and/or group rooms is easy.
I use Deezer for the hi-def music as Deezer also works in my car.
Once you start you will be finding ways to buy more and more units.
However just be careful updating firmware. I managed to brick brand new Sonos Connect amp on initial installation. Think it lost comms with either the router or the bridge. Sonos replaced the unit hasslefree.
Last edited by Kiloman; 2nd January 2017 at 22:43.
Once you start you will be finding ways to buys more and more units.
This! Really this!
I started with a 5, then got a 3 and a connect amp, then a 1, then another 2 x 1, then a soundbar!
Fine.....but how does it compare to decent quality conventional hi-fi? That's where my concern lies.
Paul
I downgraded from Linn CD player and amp. It's not as good for those rare moments where you can spend time actively listening solely to the music but for the other 95% of the time its good enough.
The best sound of my bits is the connect;amp running into some Monitor Audio floorstanders. Still not as good as the Linn but so much easier to use.
No use of seeking reassurance here: the only judge of peace will be your ears. Go to a proper audio seller and get them to show you the full system (depending on demands and budget). Alternatively, order from Amazon and configure it to your room/s and decide: no one else can do that.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I have a play 5, love it, sounds fantastic to me, I think I have pretty good ears as have been a pro musician in the past and been playing, recording and mixing music for years.
John Lewis have them on demo and you can crank them up if you don't mind being the wally who cranked up the sonos in John Lewis for a moment to hear the quality.
Paul you haven't clarified what you are looking to use so how can anyone give their subjective views?
Sonos make four units with built in speakers and amps, three of which can be used singly or in stereo pairs, plus a dedicated subwoofer that can be added to give more depth if desired.
They also do the connect that can be added to an existing system as already mentioned or if you are happy with only keeping your speakers then they do the connect:amp.
As you can see there are a load of options so for starters are you looking to add to your existing systems or replace them?
Paul
having had the pleasure of hearing your separates system you can't compare the Sonos to that. They sound great for what they are, but what they aren't is a replacement for a 2 channel stereo set-up costing over a grand and into the £1000s.
If you're ever passing happy to give you a demo of both ;)
Ian
Add a connect to your current set up, play FLAC files from a NAS and you'll hardly notice the difference. Can even add a separate DAC if you want.
Although most use sonos as a full system, it works just as well (arguably better) as a network player feeding your own components.
I am thinking of getting a Sonos 1.
I would like to move my obscure jazz collection to NAS. Looks like about 300 notes for a synology plus disks.
Any better or cheaper NAS options for Sonos?
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I just picked one up on ebay for the father in law's sonos for £15...
That's more like it. Do you have a link please?
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