Hello and welcome to the show!
My name is Alex and this is TechFlow!
So, everyone and their dog has heard of the multi-room music system called "Sonos."
It's definitely up there in the top rankings of multi-room music systems.
Let's see what we think of it!
Let's get straight into the video!
So, the Sonos multi-room music system is a bit of a different system - Sonos have really
hit the nail on the head with this - let me explain.
So, the whole point of Sonos is to have, not just one speaker, but numerous speakers in
numerous different rooms.
So you may have one in the kitchen, you may have one in the bedroom, you may have one
in the lounge.
Now, let's go through what Sonos products you can have in the different rooms.
Now, I'm going to try and make this as easy to understand as possible.
So, in the Sonos line-up, you have what's called the "Play series."
You've got the "PLAY:1," the "PLAY:3" and the "PLAY:5."
Now, it's a very simple system to understand - the PLAY:1 is the smallest speaker, the
PLAY:3 is the medium sized speaker and the PLAY:5 is the biggest speaker, the
Daddy speaker.
Sonos also have the Sonos Sound Bar - more on that later - and they also have the Sonos Sub.
That pretty much completes the Sonos line-up of their actual speakers.
Sonos also do a product called the Sonos Connect which allows you to connect an audio jack
to this device and plug it into an amplifier if you have an external set of speakers and
Sonos also have the Sonos Connect amplifier which is pretty much the Sonos Connect but
with an amplifier built in so you can connect two bookshelf speakers to it.
Now, I've been a user of Sonos for about four years now but, in recent years, Sonos have
taken over the game by letting you connect your speakers to your wireless network.
Now, previously, you would have to have a bridge; the Sonos Bridge.
Now this is the Bridge - the little, small thing.
You plug this into your router via an ethernet cable and then it sends out its own wireless
mesh network which you can't pick up on your phone or anything else (only the other Sonos
products can see it) and that is how the Sonos products mesh together and go wireless.
Now, one thing that people don't understand is that if you have an actual Sonos player, so
any of the Sonos devices plugged into the network, that will then act as a bridge.
But, you only need the bridge if your Sonos speakers are nowhere near your wireless network
- that's when you need the bridge.
But now what you can do is connect one speaker to your wireless network and then that one
speaker will act as the bridge connecting with your router via WiFi, via the WiFi 2.4
GHz, and then that will act as the bridge and then it will mesh to the other Sonos units
via its own wireless protocol - a much easier solution.
So now you've understood how these Sonos units connect and interact together, let's get to
listening to some music because that's what we want to do.
So, to get everything set up, you need to download the Sonos app on your tablet, computer,
iPhone - you can get the app on pretty much anything.
And, in the app, you can add your music services - I have Tune-in radio, I have my Apple music
connected to it and I also have my Spotify connected to it.
The app can also get music from your local device from, for example, your actual iTunes
music collection on your phone and stream it to the speakers over WiFi.
I am primarily a Spotify user and I have to say that my Spotify experience, connected
with Sonos, has been nothing but absolutely excellent.
There's been no drop-outs - it's been absolutely brilliant.
Now, the app itself is well designed and it's a little bit intuitive but I'd say that you
do have to get used to it - you can't just pick it up and use it straight away.
It is a little bit clunky but if you do spend some time with it, it does become intuitive
- I'll give it that.
If you go on Spotify, you can look at different things like, for example, it knows what time it is so if it's 3 PM on a Tuesday afternoon,
it will give you a working playlist so that you can
listen to music whilst you work.
Or, say if it's Friday night, it will say "Friday Night turn up" and you can click on
that and it will play some drum and bass.
It's pretty cool stuff and you can obviously, also, have access to all of your Spotify playlists
- let's just click on a song and have a look at the player: So, this is what it looks like
to play your music on the Spotify playlist - you can turn the volume up and down here.
You can also play the exact same song in multiple rooms by clicking up here and then grouping
two rooms together and you also have the independent volume control for each room.
Now, Sonos have just introduced Spotify Connect so you can actually use the Spotify app on
your phone to push music to these devices - they will show up in the Spotify Connect
section of Spotify.
But, it doesn't stop there - Sonos actually allows you to group speakers together.
So, I have two Sonos PLAY:3s and I actually have them set up in a left and right orientation
in the kitchen.
So, I don't just have two "kitchen speakers" in the same room and group them together to
play the same song out of both of them - you can actually tell them that they're in the
same room and they will label both speakers as just the kitchen and one of them will be
the left channel and one of them will be the right channel.
They make for a really immersive sound.
Now, you can obviously change a load of settings on the Sonos speakers per room - so you can
adjust things like the bass, treble and balance.
You can also fine tune your speakers via this little protocol they have where you click
"tune" and you can actually walk around the room and the speakers will play a really nice,
little sound and the microphone in your phone will pick it up and it will tune the speakers
for the room so that they sound the best in the room that they're in.
Now, you can also get the Sonos Sound Bar which, pretty much, you plug into your TV
via an optical cable and it is, well, a Sonos player - you can play music on it through
the app as usual but it will also get the sound from your TV and give you an absolutely
awesome movie watching experience.
You can also pair this in the same room with two PLAY:1 speakers - have those at the
back and they can then act as the rear surround speakers and then you can get the Sonos Sub
and you can have that in the corner - so you can have the Sub, the Sound Bar at the front
and then two two rear speakers for a full 5.1 experience in the living room as well
as being able to push all of your favourite tunes to the living room - with all of those
speakers it will be so loud and so amazing and I really want to do that.
Unfortunately, I have never used a Sound Bar - I have heard one and it's amazing but I've
never used one.
What do they actually sound like?
These are speakers and I'm going to be listening to music, so, Alex, what do they sound like?
Well, there's no point in me showing you any audio clips from these speakers because it's
going to be going through a microphone and then going through YouTube and there's literally
just no point in that whatsoever.
But, I can tell you hands down that I have heard all of the Sonos gear; I have heard
the PLAY:5, the PLAY:3 and the Play One and I have even installed a PLAY:1 in
a rather large coffee shop in the middle of my town and it easily, just one PLAY:1,
fills the whole coffee shop, even when it's full of people.
The Sonos speakers are some of the best that I have heard out there and even the newer
ones like the Sonos Play Bar or Sound Bar, it's honestly phenomenal: It sounds incredible.
The tuning they've done - I don't know what they're doing - but it is the best; they have
nailed it.
And that Sonos Sub - my goodness does it kick.
That thing is mental!
They've also just released a snow white version of the Sonos Sub as well - it comes in full
on white instead of black; really, really hot stuff.
Now, the Sonos system isn't cheap but if you're looking for a multi-room music system that
isn't going to let you down, that's going to give you awesome sound quality and is very,
very, very versatile (in as much as you can buy Sonos' own brand speakers or you can buy
the Sonos Connect and Sonos amplifier and add your own speakers into the mix and have
them all in the Sonos app, all together; I think it's, honestly, the best multi-room
music system that money can buy).
But that's just my own humble opinion.
This has been TechFlow and I'll catch you in the next one.