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Sonos Speakers Coming to Apple Online Store Today, Retail Stores on October 5
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I've always been confused about what Sonos does (probably because of poor communication from the marketing depart). I would love a wireless 7.1 sound system for my TV in my media room, but I always got the impression all Sonos was good for was distributing sound throughout your house (which I have zero interest in).
It sound from your post like Sonos speakers can be used the way i want, even though after spending way too much time looking on their site for that info it didn't seem like it was possible.
It is a generational thing AND a customer thing
SonosNet has been rock solid stable since it's intro in 2002. My own experience with AirPlay, which I still use a lot, is that it's not close to being as stable as SonosNet. I have never had a dropout on my Sonos system, ever. I can't say the same thing about AirPlay. That being said I'm one of the people that want AirPlay compatibility. We **are** paying a premium for Sonos and it should be there.Hmm, Airplay does drop out on me, but only when the Microwave is turned on, and I'm streaming to one my wireless speaker zones instead of wired. Not sure that the $1000+ for the equivalent Sonos setup is worth it for me...It is a generational thing AND a customer thing
I know Klipsch is offering their own wireless speaker system that will do exactly that, but it is proprietary and I'm not that big of a fan of Klipsch gear...
I know Audioengine offers so streaming devices that would also work for that and are designed to work with any active speaker.
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I'd much rather spend the premium from a Sonos setup on better speakers and subwoofers anyway. My HSU 15" sub wants a sibling....especially when you could just chuck out that microwave, problem solved!
You had me listening to your point...until you said "a fraction of the cost". You forgot a pretty key component to your system that will have a material impact on cost...speakers!
If you get an AppleTV and/or Airport Express, you still need to have speakers for each "zone" you want to create. Add that you also need amplification (either built into the speakers or via a stand-alone amp) and Sonos is absolutely NOT automatically more expensive in every case, mainly depending on speakers you consider comparable quality.
As an example (and I am comparing list prices of relatively comparable setups): 2 Sonos Play:1s $400 (often on sale 2 for $350) vs. AudioEngine A2 speakers $250 + AirPort Express $100 (Side note: You would also have to have wiring between the 2 speakers as well as from the Airport Express to 1 of the speakers).
Could you get less costly speakers than AudioEngine A2s? Of course you could. Could you get things used? Yup. But to make blanket statements that alternatives are "a fraction of the cost" is simply not accurate.
The arguments for/agains Sonos v. AirPlay v. Google Casting v. Bluetooth will never be solved on a chat board. There are simply pros and cons of each one of them, ranging from subjective points (sound quality, "too expensive") to objective points (bluetooth has limited connectivity distances, SonosNet stability over wifi stability).
Sonos is great but for the money, I'll stick with AirPlay. I already have whole house music via TVs with nice sound bars or surround systems. I'd have to spend thousands of dollars in speakers to start over. Good for people just starting though.
I know, but I didn't want to shell out for the play 5. They should allow that for all models.
Someone help me out on this one. I have a pair of desk speakers wired to my MacPro. I have a second pair of speakers on a bookshelf behind me plugged into an Airport Express so they're using Airplay. It all works great if all I want to listen to is iTunes. But, if I watch a YouTube video or listen to anything else, since t's coming through a browser, none of that is Airplay enabled so it's down to just my desk speakers. Would a pair of Sonos handle all the audio (iTunes, Safari or otherwise) coming from my computer?
Using an aux jack to watch YouTube videos seems quite counter productive. What if I have an iPhone 7?!
But the idea with the airport express is quite good. Why haven't I thought of this earlier?! Is it easy to switch between aux and "normal sonos"?
Wow, this idea makes me actually consider a sonos. Thanks for that!
All true points, as an owner of the AudioEngine A2 speakers I can tell you they will blow away the sound of an equivalent costing Sonos speaker.... And to get true stereo imaging you would need a pair of Sonos Play 1s speakers so add that to you cost comparison.
The direct comparison is the Sonos Connect vs the Aiport Express. I wouldn't be that confused about Sonos if the Connect and the Connect:AMP weren't so overpriced.
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The Sonos play 5 has always allowed aux in and you can use the aux in without playing through the play 5 itself (i.e. Through another room). In my early days where I thought I had to have airplay I used it as an airplay input. Now I don't.
The new play 5s sound incredible (better than the B&w zeppelin it replaced). The system is reliable and rarely has a wobble.
For those in the market, there is another system you might look at, made by Canadian speaker manufacturer Axiom. It is called the "Air": http://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 dedicated home theater room 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 financially, or in any other way.
I think you can combine the speakers in OS X to overcome this. Here is an example of how to do it with Bluetooth. I think it should work with AirPlay, just skip to the midi setup portion.
http://audioengineusa.com/blog/the-easy-way-to-get-multi-room-sound-with-bluetooth
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Axiom makes fantastic speakers... I had a hard time choosing between them and the Monitor Audio Silver speakers I purchased.
Their app links with pretty much every music service out there. Who cares about the app its a means to end. And they have phone app and computer app.
I have sonos in every room in the house, I think it is brilliant, I have Play 1's, 3's and 5's, it works seamlessly.
I had AudioEngine A2s that were on my desk. For near-field listening they were fantastic. However, their bass response was inadequate and I had to add a subwoofer (total expense $350). I now have 2 Sonos Play:1 speakers located about 6 feet from me to both my right and left (total expense $350, normally $200 each but purchased in a boxed set when on sale).
In my opinion, and this is purely subjective, the 2 Play:1 speakers sound better than the pair of AudioEngine A2s. I will say that I have found that the Play:1s are very sensitive to speaker location. When I first bought them and placed them on my desk in the exact location of the AudioEngine A2s I could not stand them and actually returned them. Thought about better locations and re-purchased.
I do totally agree that pairing the Play:1s is "necessary" to make them stand out. As a single speaker $200), I would label it as adequate. As a pair, they are very good ($350-$400). Add a subwoofer, and they are outstanding (now you are at about $1,100). Expensive? That is purely subjective. People spend far less on audio, and people spend way way way way more on audio.
And I also totally agree with you that the better comparison of devices is the Sonos Connect vs. Airport Express vs. Google Chromecast Audio. Each of those devices is designed to integrate "other" speakers/amps into the vendor's ecosystem. And to that extent, the Sonos Connect is vastly more costly ($350 vs. $100 vs. $35). Add to that that the Airport Express is a router with additional functionality and it is a better "deal" if you are wanting the AirPlay ecosystem.
On a side note, I do use AirPlay as well, mainly when sending video to an AppleTV. But in the past I also used AirPlay to send audio to my Denon receiver with built-in AirPlay. Without getting into every detail, Sonos is a miles and miles easier to use and more reliable experience.
Soo, I see a lot of people asking why you would chose Sonos over Airplay.
I've tried most of the different systems for streaming such as Airplay, Sonos, Chromecast and I would just give my experience of it.
Of them all three, airplay was the worst of them all - audio delay when streaming movies, around 2 second delay when switching songs, music cut off if I went with my phone where the connection wasn't close to the router and the audio quality was just all right. At a later stage I switched to chromecast and the change of audio quality was enormous! I connected them to my B&O Beolit 15 & 16 speakers and before that to a pair of Audio Pro speakers. No delay, I could walk wherever I wanted without any cut-outs as it streams directly to the chromecast and not from the phone to the speakers which is the reason why the audio quality and delay are worse with Airplay.
Another bonus is that you can stream music and at the same time play games, take a phone call etc without interfering with the current streamed music.
I then switched to a sonos connect just to get audio both from the TV and stream from my phone. The technology are almost the same between the chromecast and sonos connect. The other bonus is that I could have a PLAY:1 to stream to that I have in the bathroom as it's water resistant.
Though the good thing about the chromecast was that I could use the Spotify app instead of the annoying Sonos app, although I'm glad I can soon use the Spotify app with Sonos Connect
I've tried most of the different systems for streaming such as Airplay, Sonos, Chromecast and I would just give my experience of it.
Of them all three, airplay was the worst of them all - audio delay when streaming movies, around 2 second delay when switching songs, music cut off if I went with my phone where the connection wasn't close to the router and the audio quality was just all right. At a later stage I switched to chromecast and the change of audio quality was enormous! I connected them to my B&O Beolit 15 & 16 speakers and before that to a pair of Audio Pro speakers. No delay, I could walk wherever I wanted without any cut-outs as it streams directly to the chromecast and not from the phone to the speakers which is the reason why the audio quality and delay are worse with Airplay.
Another bonus is that you can stream music and at the same time play games, take a phone call etc without interfering with the current streamed music.
I then switched to a sonos connect just to get audio both from the TV and stream from my phone. The technology are almost the same between the chromecast and sonos connect. The other bonus is that I could have a PLAY:1 to stream to that I have in the bathroom as it's water resistant.
Though the good thing about the chromecast was that I could use the Spotify app instead of the annoying Sonos app, although I'm glad I can soon use the Spotify app with Sonos Connect
The problem is when you want to play something from your iPhone or iPad that is NOT in your iTunes library. There is no way for instance to play podcasts which are stored in any other podcast app other than Apples own podcast app. I cannot play podcasts from Downcast or Overcast via my Sonos. I need to download them via Apple's podcast app (which I do not like using) in order to play them on my Sonos.
No the music continues to play in all zones, but the ambience of two zones blending as one moves through is very effective.
The Sonos/Airplay thing has been going on for at least 5 years IMO - so could be a new generation of audio users now.