Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I have played around with many systems, but Sonos is the only wireless systeem that is reliable and doesn't suffer from outages like with AirPlay, Bluetooth or systems such as the B&W a7. I have two Play1s and a Play5 and they are fantastic.

Sonos are great as you say. But reliability varies. My parents suffer occasional dropouts with theirs.

Whereas my B&W Zeppelin Air is rock solid outage wise.

Obviously both of our tales are anecdotal and both B&W and Sonos products have issues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: orbital~debris
Does no one find it odd to see a review for a product that was introduced almost a year ago? Have we just become too accustomed to seeing online reviews for NEW products?
 
No Airplay or AptX. I do wonder how these compare, say the Play:1 to Yamaha's new WX-010, which supports Airplay, AptX, NAS, their own app like Sonos. Maybe an update coming, the Play:5 reviewed is old now, the Play:1 is at least 3-4 years old.

Sonos are just about passable for sound quality, Yamaha similar or better?

Looking for something for my bathroom, toilet, and bedroom table.
All of these mini systems are "just about passable". But that's probably all you need for the locations you are considering.
 
As a musician, a partial audiophile, and music fan, I have high end stereos and speakers at home as well as an in ceiling speaker system. AirPlay isn't the greatest, but it allows me to use my pre-existing and gear without having to purchase additional speakers and amps which are not as good or as powerful as mine. Is this an option with Sonos? Or am I stuck with purchasing systems with the said components I don't want nor need?
 
As a musician, a partial audiophile, and music fan, I have high end stereos and speakers at home as well as an in ceiling speaker system. AirPlay isn't the greatest, but it allows me to use my pre-existing and gear without having to purchase additional speakers and amps which are not as good or as powerful as mine. Is this an option with Sonos? Or am I stuck with purchasing systems with the said components I don't want nor need?
As I continue to study the Sono system, I can say for sure that it is possible. they specifically have a component that allows your to connect your old system into their mesh. They have a Connect component that allows you to use your own amp and an Amp component that will drive your speakers directly (up to 55w per channel).
[doublepost=1471288553][/doublepost]
Nope, Sonos is best quality option. I actually prefer Play:1's since they are small and sound phenomenal for their size. Unless you are trying to crank very loud music in a large space. In that case I prefer two 1's working in stereo mode over a single Play:5.

I have played around with many systems, but Sonos is the only wireless systeem that is reliable and doesn't suffer from outages like with AirPlay, Bluetooth or systems such as the B&W a7. I have two Play1s and a Play5 and they are fantastic.

For those in the market, there is another system you might look at, made by Canadian speaker manufacturer Axiom. It is called the "Air": https://air.axiomaudio.com/ . As I understand, it has a Raspberry Pi inside as the brain, is fully portable (I think it broadcasts as a wifi hotspot for streaming from your phone) with a Lithium Ion battery pack, handles 24/192 audio streams, runs at 150 Watts, and has very high end speaker components. I haven't heard the Air in person, but our home theater is outfitted with 9 Axiom speakers + 2 Subs and they are absolutely phenomenal. It is a homegrown engineering project made by a real audiophile speaker company. Note: I am a fan of their speakers, not otherwise affiliated with the company in any way.

Thank you all for the comments. I have decided to wait until after the announcement in september to make my final decision. I am still wondering if Apple will do anything with their Beats line and develop something in this space (i know there are no major leaks or rumors, but you never know). Given my new 3 floor house, I expect I will need multiple zones (kitchen, living room, office, bedroom) and after all the comment and research, it does seem that Sonos (even with its limitations) may have the best solution at the moment. So unless Apple says it has something better ( and I can see them releasing it with a 1 year Music subscription included), I will probably pull the trigger on Sonos in Q4.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peterdevries
I notice the SONOS Play 1 is amazon.co.uk 80th best selling product of the entire amazon site.
Quite an achievement IMHO
 
After the Brexit-caused drop of the Pound, I quickly ordered an additional Play 1 and 5 to make use of the difference in currency exchange rate before they up the price in the UK.

I guess a lot of products will become more expensive due to exchange rate differences and import taxes after the real Brexit. I think a lot of the old people that voted for, did not realize that much of their daily products will become more expensive now: shampoo, TVs, basically much that is not produced in the UK.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deany
I have the following:

Play 1: Zone 1 (Kitchen)
Play 1: Zone 2 (Game Room)
Play 3: Zone 3 (Master Bedroom)
Play 4: Zone 4 (Parlor)

I have a Mac Mini that I use to run all of my apps on such as the Sonos app and Plex app. Now that they do Plex, I am one happy camper.

The app on the iPad and iPhone are not bad. They do work. I actually use SonosPad for the iPad because it plays very well with my iRule Home Theater Remote (It has a built in button to go back to iRule and I like the interface a weebit better).

We have a decent size house and all of the zones are spread out. I have yet have a single dropout. Again your mileage may vary. The wife likes it a lot since it is pretty easy to use. I have Pandora setup on it also since she really likes the stations she has curated on Pandora.

I want to expand to outdoor speakers via the amp and outside speakers, but the price is just a tad high for me right now.

Services I use with Sonos:
Plex (just started using it, since it came out in beta)
Pandora
Local via NAS (Mix of mostly High Resolution (Flac, AAC, ALAC, AIFF))

No complaints at all.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.