Sonos Play:5 review

Although we’re massive fans of Sonos’ incredible multi-room music system, the one minor problem has always been flexibility: you either had to have an existing stereo or powered speakers and buy the ZonePlayer 90 (ZP90), or buy the ZonePlayer 120 (ZP120) and a pair of ordinary speakers. With the ZonePlayer S5 that’s all changed, and you get everything you need inside one neat package.

Externally the S5 looks a little like a high-end iPod dock, which is no bad thing in our opinion. Although it’s a little plain looking we really like its simple styling. As with all other Sonos ZonePlayers the S5 only has two buttons on it (a rocker switch for volume and a mute button), so there’s nothing cluttering up the sleek lines of player.

The reason, in case you’re not familiar with Sonos, for only three buttons is that you can’t control music directly from any of the ZonePlayers. Instead, you need a Controller. It’s this requirement that’s made Sonos a daunting prospect for many people as the touchscreen Controller 200 costs around £275. However, you don’t need one any more as there’s a free iPhoneiPod Touch app that does exactly the same job, while Android users can get the free third-party Andronos app. In addition, you can install the bundled Controller software on any computer (Windows or Mac) and use these to manage your music.

That said, to use the proprietary wireless mesh network built into all Sonos products, you have to have at least one of them connected to your router via Ethernet – the S5 has a two-port switch built in. If you don’t want to or can’t place your S5 near your router, you’ll also need to buy a Sonos ZoneBridge 100 (around £75) and plug this into your router first. While proprietary systems may not sound the way to go, in this case it’s well worth it: we’ve never experienced any problems using Sonos kit wirelessly, while our WiFi devices have often cut out or refused to work.

Once you’ve decided what you need, adding the S5 to your Sonos network is dead simple. All you have to do is run the controller software on your PC, then press the Mute and Volume-up buttons simultaneously. The rest is done automatically. Then, once you’ve told the system where your music resides (UPnP servers and standard folder shares are both supported) you’re ready to go. Unlike with other streaming audio products, there’s no need for any server software to be left running permanently.

You can also use online radio stations and the Napster streaming music service. Seeing as how the latter costs just £5 a month with five MP3 downloads and access to 10m songs, it’s a good way to massively increase your music library.

Sound quality from the S5 is excellent, as there are two tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a subwoofer hidden behind the front grille. We found that at around half-volume the S5 was plenty loud enough to be heard around the house and there’s little practical reason to go any louder.

Detail in songs was excellent. Listening to a bit of Frank Sinatra we got the full detail from the big band, with clearly-defined percussion and sweeping wind instruments. Switching to Rage Against the Machine’s Bombtrack, the bass thumped out, while the rap vocals punctuated through. No matter which genre we listened to, we found that the sound quality was top notch.

With all-in-one systems like this the only thing that’s hard to overcome is stereo separation, as the speakers are so close together. However, we have to say that the S5 does well. Using the balance control on a Controller to test the full effect we were pretty impressed. Playing Enough Space from the Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape album, we found that the swirling guitar intro that sweeps from left to right and back retained its effect well. That’s not to say that the S5 is a good as a set of well-placed speakers, but it does well given its small frame.

If you want better stereo separation and money’s really no object you can use two S5’s in Stereo Pair setting, where one acts as the left channel and one as the right. To be honest, at this point you may as well buy the ZP120 and separate speakers instead.

When the speakers get too much, there’s a standard headphone output, so that you can listen to music quietly. There’s even a minijack 3.5mm line-in, so that you can listen to another device through the S5’s speakers.

Although the S5 can hardly be described as cheap, it does provide a lower-cost way for people to start out with Sonos, or a more flexible way for existing Sonos users to add to their existing network. With excellent sound quality and good looks, the S5’s an excellent addition to the brilliant streaming audio service.