We’ve reviewed a lot of home audio solutions, and they all offer different benefits and drawbacks. The big trend is “music everywhere”, whether through powerline networking or wirelessly. Most of these products require a specific music source to feed into the system. Sonos brings something rather more complete to the goal of “music everywhere”. Read on for the complete review of the Sonos solution.
I’ve been testing the Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers combined with a Sonos ZoneBridge, and I have to say that this is an absolutely kick-ass product. The Sonos selling point is the idea of “zones” (read: rooms) each of which is capable of playing music from independent sources, all managed with a full-color handheld wireless controller. You can play the same music in every room, or give each room its own soundtrack.
Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers
The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is a complete solution for pumping music into two rooms. It includes the ZonePlayer 120 and the ZonePlayer 90, along with a Sonos Controller and a pair of bookshelf speakers. The ZonePlayer 120 provides power to the bookshelf speakers (or your own speakers), while the ZonePlayer 90 connects to your home theater or stereo equipment for output.
Both of the ZonePlayer units have RCA inputs, so you can feed it music from an existing audio source. They also both have a 2-port Ethernet switch, so you can connect one of them to a broadband router to access a variety of network-based music sources (Last.fm, Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster, or your own music collection on a Windows share). You can use the two-port switch to squeeze these devices into an already-full switch, which is a helpful addition for folks with way too many network-connected devices.
There is no interface on any of the ZonePlayers other than simple volume controls. You use the Sonos Controller to manage everything. You can also use the Desktop Controller software to manage your zones from your PC or Mac, or you can use the free iPhone application to control everything.
The Controller is a hefty handheld device. You can plug it directly into AC power to charge the battery, which takes about 2 hours, or you can use the Charging Cradle, which I strongly recommend — especially since it’s currently being included for free with any bundle purchase. It has an accelerometer inside that detects movement, so it usually comes to life as soon as you pick it up. That’s a really nice touch. If you leave it lying around it’ll eventually go into a power-saving mode, requiring you to press one of the buttons to wake it up. Wake up time take a couple of seconds, but not so long as to be really annoying. The battery life of the controller is great: I’ve left it out of the dock for about a week now, using it at least a couple times a day, and the battery has just now depleted.
Sonos ZoneBridge
The ZoneBridge provides no audio output. It has two Ethernet jacks and that’s it. You use the ZoneBridge to connect to your Ethernet network. If you don’t have an Ethernet switch, you can place the ZoneBridge between your broadband router and your PC; or you can plug it into a port on your switch. The ZoneBridge then brokers all the Internet access required by the other devices in your Sonos setup, since presumably your audio equipment isn’t likely to be located in the same room as your networking gear.
Setup
Set up is extremely easy, and the Quick Setup Guide is surprisingly helpful. You can use the supplied software to set everything up, or you can do it all directly from the Sonos Controller. I chose the latter. Plug everything in — there are no power buttons on any of the devices — and then turn on the controller. It discovers the devices nearby, and asks you to press both the mute button and the volume up button on any of them. This puts the device in “configure” mode, and then you use the Controller to give it a name. Repeat this process for each device in your Sonos network. Since the controller is wireless, you can easily walk from room to room configuring your setup in a couple of minutes.
You can register your setup with Sonos directly from the Controller after setup, which I found extremely handy. Once registered, the system can automatically download software updates. Sonos has put a lot of effort into making this thing “just work”, and I think they’ve succeeded admirably.
I was able to easily connect to a share on my home server. The music was indexed, and ready for me to play within a couple of minutes. All the ID3 tags on my mp3s were read, allowing me to navigate my music collection by artist, album, genre, composer, track title or folder. It also provides a search function.
I have a pretty boring collection of music, so I next added last.fm. After keying in my account name and password, I was able to play my neighborhood, or manually key in tags or artists. I’ve found myself streaming a lot of last.fm into my living room since I hooked up the Sonos.
Usage
You can group your zones together, so that they all play the same music at the exact same time. Even without setting up specific groups, you can activate “All Zones Party Mode” to play the same music through all of your Sonos gear.
Each zone can have its own queue of music, which you can control. You can add new music — single tracks, whole albums, or all the music in your catalog — to the end of an existing queue, or you can replace the current queue with your selection. You can set up and manage specific playlists within Sonos, as well as feed it playlists you might have created in .PLS, .M3U or .WPL files.
You can listen to broadcast radio, which surprised me somewhat at first. You’re certainly not going to buy this thing just to listen to your local radio station, but it’s a nice feature to have handy.
Another nice feature is the alarm mode, which lets you specify what music you want to play in which zone(s). Multi-zone alarm clocks: cool! You can wake up to one music source, and you can wake the rest of the house up with another music source. The Controller allows you to snooze for 9 minutes, just like a normal alarm clock.
As for input:
Support for compressed MP3, WMA (including purchased Windows Media downloads), AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files.
Native support for 44.1kHz sample rates. Additional support for 48kHz, 32kHz, 24kHz, 22kHz, 16kHz, 11kHz, and 8kHz sample rates.
Wireless
Each Sonos device will get an IP address in your network. They speak to one another over “SonosNet, a secure AES encrypted, peer-to-peer wireless mesh network.” For giggles, I pointed nmap at each of them. The only open port it found was 1400/tcp, which was reported as cadkey-tablet. nmap reported that they’re each running Linux 2.4.18.
Curious, I ran wireshark for awhile as I used the Sonos, to see what sort of traffic I might see. The only thing it collected was lots and lots of Spanning Tree Protocol packets, presumably for the mesh networking. I got bored after that, and went back to listening to music.
Shortcomings
In a word: price. These things are expensive. The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is $1149.00. You can shave off $150 and just get the Sonos Bundle 150 if you already have speakers to use with the ZonePlayer 120. The ZoneBridge is $99. A spare controller is $400, and the Controller dock is $40. You’re getting an awful lot of functionality for the money, but it might be too high a price for some folks to stomach.
The other notable shortcoming is that these things don’t speak iTunes. It’s not an AirPort Express, but rather a whole lot more. Still, I’m somewhat surprised that you can’t stream iTunes to the Sonos. Similarly, you can’t play Apple FairPlay songs. Nor can it play WMA Lossless files.
UPDATE: I just got a call from the folks at Sonos, and they wanted to make it clear that while the Sonos gear won’t speak the DAAP protocol used by iTunes, it will play non-DRM media in your iTunes library if you make it available via an SMB share.
A minor nuisance is the scrollwheel on the controller. It works, but it can be a bit laborious to enter text using this thing. In fact, the interface on the controller is a little awkward in general. You have the scrollwheel, shortcut buttons for “Zones” and “Music” along with a “Back” button above the wheel, and simple music controls for “back”, “play/pause” and “forward” buttons beneath the wheel. Along the left are mute and volume. Then under the screen are three context-sensitive buttons. It’s these buttons that I found annoying: you need to actually look at the screen to find out what they do, and they sometimes do what you would expect the center button on the wheel to do. It’s not a deal breaker, by any stretch, but it would be nice to see a slightly more elegant interface in such an expensive product.
The bottom line: if you can afford it, I think Sonos offers the best multi-room wireless audio solution we’ve reviewed yet. Robust support for local and Internet audio sources, an extremely functional wireless handheld controller to manage all your zones, and a plethora of extra features make this a complete package.
You left out the most important point when discussing price: the iPhone app is free. Don’t buy a controller, buy a (cheaper) iPod Touch and get the free software. It’s a better controller plus it does more!
I specifically mentioned this in the sentence where I say “or you can use the free iPhone application to control everything.”. :)
I have had my eye on these for a while, they were by far the first company with a complete “music everywhere” solution that my grandma could install.
But totally agree the price would have to come way down.
I went the iPhone (remote) with airport express route instead. (Which is simply awesome) I figured this would have Sonos shaking in their boots. They get credit for being savvy enough to align with the competition, instead of pretending its not there.
http://www.sonos.com/demo/iphone/demo.html
Now one wouldn’t even have to bother with their clunky 4 year old remote, and spend the $400 dollars on an iPhone and some nice speakers.
I can’t believe that Sonos can exist today, especially at that price point and with no support for iTunes. You can set up an in-home streaming solution with AirTunes and the Apple iPhone/iTouch Remote app for about $400 (with decent speakers)and do almost everything Sonos does. In my books, Sonos is becoming more niche and more irrelevant every day.
i’ve been using the sonos ever since it came out (four or five years?) and now have probably seven different players and a few controllers. it has been incredibly reliable (i think i called tech support once) and they continue to upgrade the firmware with great new features.
definitely the coolest thing they’ve done yet is the iphone app – i can stand hundreds of feet away from my house in my backyard and control the music on my outdoor speakers without ever thinking about remembering to bring the remote (and it’s also great just to not have to get up from the sofa for the remote). expect all tv set tops to offer this functionality at some point.
while it would be great for them to drop the prices (yes, sonos, i know that bose keeps their pricepoints fixed but everyone kinda hates them for it), i’ll cut them some slack because of the reliability and the free iphone app.
i remember when i got the system a friend speculating that something cooler might come out before too long. turns out he was wrong – the sonos is the best digital music solution for the home, period.
I have had sonos for about a year, and it’s fantastic.
I’m constantly adding pieces, reconfiguring, putting new line-in sources on it… very flexible. Also, it always works – rock solid performance.
This is a uniquely good product.
oh, and for itunes, if I ever want it, I just put my computer as a line-in source.
And… why in the world would I prefer itunes played over sonos when everything I want is streaming for a monthly fee on rhapsody? Way more flexible.
I’ve had a gripe here or there, but FWIW, I’ve been ridiculously happy with my Squeezebox Duet and a subscription to Rhapsody. I can’t speak to the Sonos (when I bought my Squeezebox stuff, I wasn’t impressed with Sonos, though it sounds like they’ve evolved), but you may want to check out http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_duet.html as well.
Happy listening!
I have a Sonos and love it. The itunes thing is a bit of a pain but the issue has more to do with Apple’s silly DRM system which they refuse to open to anyone. It will change soon enough.
Of course, if you get a system that is this good don’t buy iTunes (the 128 kbps quality is really poor). I wouldn’t settle for anything less than iTunes plus which does play on sonos and are sold at 256 kbps. Lossless works fine for me.
I have an AirTunes setup. I purchased several AirPort Express devices off of ebay for ~$50 each. You can obviously use iTunes to stream to them, but most of the time I use Airfoil ($25) http://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/. Airfoil lets you capture the audio from any app and stream it to AirTunes devices. This way I can use Pandora and much more. Also included with Airfoil is Airfoil Speakers. Its a small app that lets any pc or mac act like an Airport Express. I don’t have a fancy remote, but I can stream anything from my laptop anywhere in the house.
Surprised that you didn’t compare it to the Logitech Duet, which appears to have the same (better?) feature/functionality (but not the same buzz) for significantly lower price. Perhaps out of scope, but with this review done, I’d love to see a review of the Logitech to compare.
Surprised that you didn’t compare it to the Logitech Duet, which appears to have the same (better?) feature/functionality (but not the same buzz) for significantly lower price. Perhaps out of scope, but with this review done, I’d love to see a review of the Logitech to compare.
Multi-zone alarm sounds really neat – though it might annoy the rest of the people in my house.
For what it does, the remote seemed a bit large to me, but not unsubstantial. Something that expensive and powerful should have some degree of heft.
I researched Sonos at length before buying a system. The thing that sold me was that is was almost impossible to find someone who didn’t love theirs. But what made me satisfied I made the right decision was that my not-a-geek-wife figured out how to use it in 60 seconds without any instruction.
Little known fact: Sonos is Greek for “Unjustifibly Expensive”.
Soo jealous they look great,
i have six ipod docks dotted all over the house for this.
Bottom line: Sonos rocks. Always has. Airport Express was tried first (over 4 yrs ago) and it was nothing but problems. Went to Roku Labs next; okay, but unreliable. Then after all the time, effort, and money spent on getting those others to work, bit the bullet and bought the Sonos. Easily the best technology spend I’ve ever made, and I make plenty.
I’m at 5 zones now, 2 controllers, and now the iPod Touch app. I’ve even used the zone players to bridge my wired network to wireless and back (to reach a Ethernet-only device in a building where no cat-5 exists). Rock solid in every way. Including the controllers that invariably get dropped by those late night partiers.
One point not mentioned here is the inclusion of Pandora in Sonos. Sonos has had radio and Rhapsody for quite a while (the latter being very fun for parties; you always have what people want to hear at your fingertips). But with Pandora, creating music mixes is super simple; pick a favorite artist or genre, and Pandora takes over. I love it.
Also, I’ve even pseudo-djayed parties with the Sonos. With an internet connection, the ZP-100 player with amp, my Klipsch RB-35 bookshelf speakers, and my laptop and 2 controllers, it’s a party in a box.
Finally, totally agree with the iPod Touch app. I use it all the time. Although, not in the jacuzzi; while the iPod is not water-resistant, the Sonos controller is, so I can keep the controller and my favorite music handy while relaxing in the bubbles.
-Benson
I absolutely love this product and this company, and I really d not like a lot of heavy electronic gadgetry. I’ve had the system for a little over 2 years now.
Of course, I think iTunes is an evil, backwards piece of software laden with ridiculous proprietary quirks and unnecessary DRM restrictions — so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I would not be caught dead with iTunes and prefer other music players.
The price is the real negative here. But there’s one thing as a two-year owner I can say about it: the software is bar none, and, after time, the software becomes more important than the hardware. Unlike the mobile phone market with its reliance on programmed obsolescence, the Sonos team has taken a different approach.
The hardware when I purchased it has not been “grandfathered”. Instead, Sonos’ free software revisions have continued to add features and value to the setup. And the way Sonos does software updates is perhaps an industry standard in terms of quality, in terms of avoiding the “dribbleware” problem, and in terms of ease and simplicity.
So while the Sonos is a good chunk of change to outlay, my experience has been that their software continually renews the system and the hardware has a much longer useful life than most high-tech products.
I’ve been using this for a while, and I agree completely. Low-cost, great performance, ultimate convenience– I rarely use the remote now, though, since the iPhone app came out– it’s better than using the remote Sonos sends you…
Great review. I have been using the Sonos for a couple years now and it’s well worth the investment. Ditto to all the comments about the iphone app. I bet Sonos would sell alot more of these if they figured out a bundle price that included an itouch rather than their own controller. I never use the handheld controller anymore.
I have helped people set up their Sonos systems and have used them extensively.
Sonos is a great system – it is super stable, feature rich and very easy to use.
The free iPhone app is HUGE. No longer necessary to buy the $400 controller if you already have an iPhone or iPod Touch – not too mention how much smaller and additional functionality they offer.
Additionally, I have had occasion to call Sonos tech support on several occasions and have was blown away. Sonos has A+ tech support – easily among the best I have ever called.
I have a company that sells Sonos,and we have installed hundreds of Sonos installations. There is no other system that gives so much customer satisfaction! When we are done the client is always impressed and normally refers new customers to us. The ZP120 is a class D 55watt digital amplifier and well worth its money. It might be a lot of money but certainly not expensive.
Sonos and a subscription to Rhapsody is the way to go.
Well I too am a convert.. LOVE IT! I will scream from the rooftops that Sonos “just works” and it’s just so easy and now we have a wireless house full of rooms of music. thanks to all who posted feedback, it really helped me decide. Worth the bucks!