Sonos' new Play:5 speaker is bigger, sleeker, better sounding (hands-on)
Sonos has a brand new flagship multiroom audio speaker, and it's a major improvement over its predecessor in every way, although it does cost more.
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In the last few years Sonos has been steadily adding wireless speakers to its multiroom audio lineup, but its flagship tabletop speaker, the Play:5 hasn't changed in 6 years. Until now that is. This is the new Play:5 (2015), and it's a bigger, sleeker, and significantly better-sounding speaker. It costs $500, £429 or AU$749. That's around $100 more than the previous model, but after hearing it at a preview event at a hotel in New York City, I'd say it's worth the extra dough.
It comes in two colors -- white and black -- and can be placed either horizontally or vertically in three different orientations. I personally liked the look of it standing vertically, and while the Play:5 works well as a single speaker with a wider soundstage and better clarity than the previous model, if you can spring for two of these guys, you can create a stereo pair and get some real separation.
This speaker appears to be about 20 to 25 percent bigger than the previous Play:5 and it delivers significantly more bass -- it's got 6 drivers, including 3 mid-woofers and 3 tweeters -- so if you have a pair of them it isn't really necessary to add a separate Sonos Sub to get decent low-end performance.
The speakers do sound a little different depending on the way you orient them. Sonos says that when you pair them vertically they deliver "top-of-the-line stereo sound with a focused and intense sweet spot." Paired horizontally, they create "a larger stereo image" for more room-filling sound.
As you'd expect, the new speaker works with all of Sonos' existing "smart" speakers, which are designed to be wirelessly linked together in a multiroom audio setup with an initial wireless connection to your Wi-Fi router (Sonos speakers communicate with each other through their own mesh network).
Everything is set up and controlled through a free iOS or Android app on your mobile device, which acts as a remote. You can control every room in your home through a single app and stream music using such services as Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, Google Play Music and Groove, or play your own collection music stored on computer or networked drive.
Along with the Play:5, the company has also created a new Trueplay tuning system to help you get the best sound out of your Sonos speakers based on their placement in a particular room. Sonos discovered that customers were placing speakers in less than ideal spots -- on the floor in a corner, for instance -- and Trueplay compensates for bad placement with adjusted equalizer settings that helps punch up the bass and add more clarity.
You calibrate your speaker -- or speakers -- using a free app and the microphone on your iPhone or iPad. I got a demo with a badly placed Play:1 speaker and it definitely sounded better after the calibration. Initially, at least, Trueplay is iOS only.
The speaker itself has new touch controls that enable you to play, pause, adjust volume and change the track. And what's cool is that smart sensors in the speaker make the touch controls responsive to all orientations, so the volume-up is always facing up.
Sonos didn't give an exact release date for the new Play:5, only announcing that the speaker would be available later this year as the old Play:5 is discontinued. Trueplay will be available soon for iOS controllers and support Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 speakers.
While the new Play:5 is more expensive at $500 -- and perhaps a little out of reach for price-conscious consumers -- it's a big step forward in terms of design and performance. We'll have a full review as soon as we get our hands on a couple of review samples.
