Find out whether Sonos is worth it by comparing Sonos models. Find the best Sonos speakers for bedrooms and other rooms. These are the best Sonos wireless speakers.
Sonos is famous for its wireless multi-room speakers but it can be hard to know which one is best for you. We explain everything you need to know about Sonos including the app, controller, music services, features, reviews and more.
Founded back in 2002 in California, Sonos has been setting the bar and leading the way in the multi-room speaker market for a long time. Designed to be easy to use, stylish and sound great, there’s little not to like about the Sonos range of speakers.
Also see: Best Speaker Deals
Sonos has been in the news lately for reportedly forcing users to opt-in to a new privacy policy, and threatening that their devices «may cease to function» if they don’t. However, the company has since stated that «Without accepting the new policy, some services may cease to function over time. The device will not be bricked.»
In the company’s own words: “Sonos is the smart speaker system that streams all your favourite music to any room, or every room. Control your music with one simple app, and fill your home with pure, immersive sound.”
That’s a pretty accurate summary and Sonos is easily one of the easiest wireless speaker systems for consumers to get to grips with and set up. Watch the video at the top of the page for a nice visual overview.
Sonos speakers simply connect to the internet and each other via your home Wi-Fi network and you control them with the Sonos app which is available for iOS, Android, Mac and Windows ( download it via here). The speakers also have buttons for basic functions. The Sonos Controller app has replaced the physical controller which used to be the traditional method.
There was a time when you needed the Sonos Bridge to connect the speakers together but those days are gone — although the Sonos Boost is available if you have poor Wi-Fi in your home. You just need to connect one to your router instead to create a Sonos Mesh Network. A handy feature is that the Ethernet ports on the back of Sonos speakers can be used to provided connectivity to other devices, like laptops, via the Sonos Mesh Network.
Sonos has previously been out of many consumers’ budgets but the Play:1 means the system is affordable at £169. Prices then go up to £599 for the home theatre speakers.
However, Sonos has announced price increases across its range of speakers and devices that will come into effect on 23 February. The prices are going up between 15- and 25 percent and you can see the prices before and after below followed by a comment from Sonos explaining the decision.
Find out what other companies have put up prices because of Brexit and the weak pound .
«Our prices are defined regionally; in the UK, this includes local taxation and import duties, but we pay for everything we make in US dollars. Over recent months, there has been a significant change on the US Dollar to GBP exchange rate. As a result, our existing pricing has become unsustainable and, like many other companies, we will have to increase prices for all products priced in GBP,» said Sonos.
There are many places to buy Sonos speakers including the firm’s own shop but you can also buy Sonos speakers from Amazon, John Lewis, Richer Sounds and Currys .
One of the great things about Sonos is you can simply start with one speaker and add more as and when you like (or can afford more). You can have as few or as many as you like. Adding a new speaker into the system takes a matter of seconds via the app.
Each speaker is assigned a zone, or room, and you can play different music in each zone from a number of different sources (see below) or you can group them up so the same tunes are playing throughout the house — this is great for parties.
It’s easy to move speakers around and there are many different sizes and prices to suit different needs (see below).
Features include the ability to create a stereo pair if you get two identical speakers, using any Sonos speakers as an alarm (with your choice of music or radio station to wake up to) and plugging in devices directly with the line-in port on the back.
One of the latest features is True Play which uses the microphone on your iPhone or iPad to tune the Sonos speaker based on various factors like the size and shape or your room and even where the speaker is placed within it.
Once you’ve got a speaker (or many speakers) set up, it’s time to play some music and the choice is vast.
Via the app, it’s easy to choose where to play music from which starts simply with any stored locally on the device where the app is installed. Sonos supports AirPlay but doesn’t have Bluetooth. You can also stream music which is on any computers that are on the same network as the Sonos system. There’s also support for NAS (network attached storage).
See also: Best Bluetooth speakers 2017 .
Most users will want to use online music streaming services, though and there are plenty to choose from. There are too many to list here but the big names include: Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud, Google Play Music, Napster and Tidal. See also: What is the best music streaming service?
There’s also TuneIn Radio so you can access more than 1,000 internet radio stations for free.
Sonos splits its wireless multi-room system up into three categories: speakers, home theatre and components. We’re not really looking at components (the Connect and Connect:Amp) here as they’re not speakers but they are handy for adding an existing Hi-Fi, vinyl turntable or pair of speakers into the Sonos system. See also: How to turn any speakers into a wireless streaming system with Sonos.
So, to start with the speakers, there are three sizes to choose from which gradually increase in price.
The range starts with the Play:1 (above) which is very compact and affordable making it suitable for anywhere in the house. It can even be used in the bathroom or as a rear surround in conjunction with the home theatre speakers — the other ones can but they are far less suitable due to the size and price. We’d say the Play:1 is the best Sonos speakers for bedrooms and other small rooms.
In the middle is the Play:3 which will fill larger rooms but still isn’t too big so can be tucked away on a shelf etc. Like the Play:1 you can wall mount the speaker if you want and you can also stand it on end. The Play:3 is the best Sonos speaker for the lounge unless you want to use it with the TV (see the Playbar below)
If you want to go big, the Play:5 has just been updated with a new design, touch sensitive controls and better sound quality.
